Chapter 8
1698 Words
"It took you long enough!" Liam laughed as we walked up still hand in hand. "Miss Dylan." He nodded.
"Liam, how's it going?"
"Not as good as this is apparently." He winked at Owen.
"Baby steps man, she agreed to be my date to the festival."
"You do realize that in Southern terms you just agreed to a pre-engagement, right?" He laughed.
"Oh, well in that case, I take it back."
"Too late. You already said yes." Owen squeezed my hand with his.
"I know." I nodded and rubbed his arm with my free hand. "You seem a little nervous, Owen. Breathe."
"I really don't want to mess my one shot up."
"What makes you think this is a one shot thing?"
"Because you are already so far outside of your comfort zone by agreeing to a date in the first place." He reached up and put his hand on my cheek. "I know this is the only shot I get and I know it's a completely high schooler date, but it's the most innocent thing I can think to do."
"It's fine, Owen. Relax."
"You heard the lady!" Liam laughed. "Let's go!"
I was lucky that the guys humored me and agreed to just wandered around, I'm not much for the rides but one of my favorite things to do at fairs is to check out all the local vendors and various booths. That's what we were doing when we came across one vendor that was selling homemade jewelry.
"Do you mind?" I asked pointing to the cart.
"No, go ahead." He smiled.
"Thanks." I couldn't help but return his smile and Liam nodded.
Owen POV
"How serious are you about her?" Liam asked. "Because Jena filled me in and if you're not serious, you need to stop f*****g around and walk away."
"You're still talking to Jena, huh?" I smiled. "Good for you man, she's good for you."
"O, I'm being serious. She hasn't trusted anyone enough to go on a date in over four years. The last guy f****d her up. If you're not looking for-"
"Liam, enough man, I get it. But I am serious and I have never been so sure of anything in my life. I want to be with this woman and she's finally giving me a chance."
"That's all I needed to hear." He patted me on the shoulder. "Happy is a good look on you man, she looks good on your arm."
"She looks incredible no matter what."
"True." Liam nodded. "If you watch her any closer O, you're gonna burn a hole into her."
"I can't stop watching her. It's just baffles me that someone could hurt her enough to make her question how beautiful she is or even doubt what an amazing person she is."
"Did you tell her about why you're out on injury?"
"Just that it was a potential career ender."
"You should probably tell her."
"It's not life threatening, it's just my head gets a little messed up sometimes."
"Owen, I get that the mood swings have balanced out but if you stop taking your meds,"
"I'm not going to. I know that I can't play again until I can control the rage and in order to do that I have to fix my mind. The meds are working. It's under control and I'm seeing a therapist regularly." I shook my head. "I'm doing okay."
"Think about talking to her about it and soon, though. You guys don't want to be head over heels into something before you do and by then have it be too late."
"I know, man and I will. I just want to have a perfect day with hopefully my perfect girl."
"Yeah. Just promise you'll tell her."
"Tell me what?" Dylan smiled as she walk back up to them.
"A funny story about Owen when we were kids." Liam was quick. "You know those pie eating contests?" She nodded. "O, here decided he was going to join one. Got all set up, dug right in, and won."
"What funny about that?"
"I went on the tilt-a-whirl after."
"Ha, that is funny."
"Did you find something?" I nodded to the small bag in her hand.
"I did." She nodded and pulled it out. "I found three pendants. This one is for Jena. She loves dream catchers. I just thought this one was really cool. The design of it and the way the copper wire folds around the gem." She shrugged. "And then I got this one for myself."
"The tree of life." I nodded again. "Nice choice."
"They're all hand made. The twirling and weaving of the wire is worth the price alone." She smiled.
"Turn around. I'll put it on you." To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to touch her again.
"Thank you." She spun around and held her ponytail up to keep her hair out of the way. As I hooked the clasp and set the chain down against her skin I couldn't stop myself from pressing my lips to her shoulder.
"Sorry." I pressed my temple to the side of her head, with my hands set firmly on her shoulders. "I shouldn't have done that."
"It's, it's okay, I think." She smiled as she turned to look at me. "You made your feelings clear and you've been really respectful of my boundaries, more so than most would in your position."
"That's doesn't mean I should take advantage of it now."
"I know. But there was no harm done." I knew that she could sense my internal battle, I knew that she could see it written all over my face plan as day that I was restraining myself from reaching out and doing more. So I was thankful when she step away and held her hand out. "You coming?"
"Absolutely." I smiled and patted Liam on the chest. "C'mon man."
We continued our rounds, this time stopping at various food trucks for snacks and all around good for the soul junk food. Liam had convinced me to hit a few rides with him while Dylan stood by the exits waiting for us. We all played a few games Dylan's smile when she beat us at the toss games were probably my favorite. When it came time for the fireworks we had made our way over to the beer tent to sit at the table to watch the fireworks.
"Wanna sit here?" I pointed to an empty table.
"You guys have fun. I'm going to see if Billy needs help with the stage set up."
"Alright man, we'll be over unless Dylan wants to head out."
"Okay." After a hand shake and a bro hug, Liam disappeared into the crowd.
"So, do you do stuff like this for all of your first dates?"
"No." I smiled and sat on the nearest picnic table. "My first dates weren't really dates. They used to consist of asking a girl to a party and making out in the corner. I don't actually think that I know how to date."
"Could have fooled me." She smiled.
"Thanks. I was worried you weren't having fun."
"It was pretty damn close to a perfect day."
"Let me make it perfect then." I said, wrapping his fingers around the back of her head and pulled her to me. I couldn't stop it even if I had tried. Nothing short of her saying no would have worked. I pressed my lips to hers.
Everything I had said and done led to that moment. It was the moment I had wanted and damn near craved more than my next breath. Dylan's lips moved with mine, she stepped closer to me, allowing me to slide my hands from her hip to her lower back. I was able to pull her even closer than before. "Boom." I whispered against her lips as the first explosion happened. We stood there for a moment, both breathless, me looking down at her while she had a soft smile on her lips, she had yet to open her eyes.
"What?" She breathed.
"I'm sorry. I just couldn't wait any longer."
"Okay." She nodded. "You didn't have to stop."
"We have a few more things to do, Miss Jones. But I promise you when we get back to your house, I'll kiss you until the sun comes up, if that's what you want." I dropped a quick soft kiss on her lips before I spun her around to face the direction of the show.
I did what I said, I wrapped my arms around her waist, held her tight, and rested my chin in the crook of her neck.
"You're going to make this impossible for me to resist you from now on, aren't you?"
"What makes you say that?" I asked, my lips grazing her skin.
"You're winning and you know it." She looked at me over her shoulder.
"Then you'll say yes to a second date."
"The first one isn't even over yet." She smiled.
"I know and yet I have the third, fourth and fifth planned as well."
"How many steps ahead of me are you?"
"Enough to know that you love me before September."
"Kind of full of yourself now, aren't you?"
"No, I'm hopeful. There's a huge difference." He kissed her cheek, his lips lingering for a moment. "I have never wanted anything in my life the way I want you."
"You said something like that earlier." She smiled.
"There is something that I do need to talk to you about, nothing bad. But I do want to talk about it tomorrow."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's perfect." I nodded against her.
We stood there until the fireworks show was over, my grip growing increasingly tighter on her the louder the booms were. By the time it was done, she looked at me with concern but didn't ask. For that I was thankful. I led her over to the stage where the band had set up.
"Where's Liam?"
"He'll be here." I stopped suddenly and pulled her back to me. "Seeing how we got the first kiss out of the way, I'd really like to kiss you again."
- Writer
