Page 7 of Accidentally Falling For My Best Friend
“Good answer,” heteases.
We rush to finish our lunch and get to class early enough to ask them. Luckily, I do know who Grace is, we were assigned as partners for a project last year. She’s very nice and way more outgoing than I am, and she seems really happy about the date when I ask her.
I got a cellphone last year, and I double-check that I still have her number saved from that project, which I do, so I tell her that I’ll text her with details after I figure it out with Oakley.
We’re seeing an animatedmovie since we aren't thirteen and can't see anything rated higher than PG. It’s about a family that all have superpowers, but society has decided superheroes are a liability and they have to hide their abilities. It’s a great movie, so I’m not too focused on the whole date thing.
Oakley and I ended up sitting in the middle, with our dates on our other sides. I glance over and see that he and June are holding hands.Crap, is that something I’m supposed to be doing too?
I try to casually look at where Grace has her hand, and it’s resting on the armrest between us, so I decide to go for it. I grab her hand gently with my own and interlock our fingers like I saw Oakley and June are doing.
Grace turns to smile at me, giving my hand a slight squeeze, so I think that made her happy.Good.I would hate to upset her because I didn’t know that I should be doing something as easy as holding hands.
We watch the rest of the movie and I enjoy it way more than I was expecting to. We head out to the lobby afterward, and the girls giggle as they go into the bathroom while Oakley and I wait off to the side.
“I texted my dadthat the movie just finished, so we should have, like, fifteen minutes before the driver is here to pick us up,” he tells me.
“Cool,” I nod, looking at the coming soon posters hung up on the wall.
“That should be plenty of time to kiss them,” he adds.
“Wait, what?” I question, shifting my attention to Oakley.
“Well, I didn’t want us trying to kiss them in the car in front of the driver, he’ll tell my dad and he’ll turn it into a whole big thing,” he explains. “And we’re almost teenagers, we should have kissed someone by now,” he laughs.
I guess that this is another one of those things I haven’t thought about. I don’t dislike the idea of kissing Grace. I just wouldn’t have thought to do it on my own.
The girls come back and we all walk outside toward the benches in front of the theater. Oakley holds June’s hand again and leads her to their own bench, so I do the same with Grace. I can hear Oakley talking to June, but with the city noises, I can’t make out what he’s saying.
“This has been really fun,” Grace says brightly, pulling my attention back to her.
“Yeah,” I agree, even though I’m feeling awkward.
How do you kiss someone? What if she doesn’t want me to kiss her? But what if she does, and I’m too awkward to initiate it? She’s a great girl and I don’t want to hurt her feelings.
“Can I kiss you?” I blurt out.
She flashes a big smile at me, scooting closer on the bench. “I’d like that.”
I lean in so that our lips touch, I have no idea what I’m doing, but luckily Grace seems to, and she moves her lips a bit so they rub against mine while I try to mimic her movements. We pull apart and she gives me another big smile. It must not have been too awful.
I was honestly so in my head about doing it wrong that I’mnot sure if I even liked it, but I smile back at her. I think this was a good date, I don’t have any complaints and she seems happy.
Oakley’s driver gets there and drops the girls off at their houses before taking us both back to mine. We have a hockey game in the morning, but his parents said it was okay for him to spend the night.
“I feel like we’re more mature or something now,” Oakley declares when we get to my room and out of my parents’ earshot.
“Because we went on a date?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yeah,” he agrees excitedly. “And finally had our first kisses,” he adds.
“It was cool we got to do it together,” I add, and he nods in agreement, a huge smile on his face.
4
OAKLEY
THIRTEEN YEARS OLD
