Hey everyone,
Today is National Short Story Day, apparently. In honor of that, I am posting this one. I would love feedback, even if you want to say I completely suck at writing! Bonus points if you’re a published author providing the feedback. 🙂
“Carrie, you look amazing,” and she did.
“Thank you, Chris,” she replied, “Shall we?”
We left. Carrie, it seemed, had always been a part of my life. We had been friends for almost 10 years, and after years of all of our friends giving us grief about being so close but never dating, or so much as a single kiss going on between us, had decided to go on an actual date. I was scared to death. She had always been the one person I told everything to, and we had gotten each other through so many major life events. I needed her. I was afraid of losing that if this didn’t work. When I asked her out, she first called me a liar. I assured her I meant what I was asking, then we pinky-swore that no matter what happened, we would be friends for the rest of our lives.
I had decided to keep it nice and casual for our first date. I figured it was going to be a little awkward, especially at first, so I thought a nice cliched dinner and a movie date would be perfect. I really just wanted to give myself as small an opportunity to make an idiot of myself as possible. If I could get through dinner, I’d have to shut up during the movie.
“How’s your mom?” I asked her, slightly annoyed at my feeble attempt at small talk.
“She’s much better, thanks. Can you do me a favor and relax? We’ve gone to dinner many times. We’ve seen many movies. Breathe.”
“I know. I’m sorry. You know I’m an idiot. I just want everything to go perfectly.”
“I’m on a date with the one person in the world who knows me better than anybody. It already is.”
With that, she rested her hand on top of mine, which, as always, was on the gear shift. My pulse quickened. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I just tried to concentrate on driving. She had never affected me, though I had always known she was an incredibly beautiful girl. I guess since I had always, until recently, thought of her as my best friend only, I had been immune to it. Now that I was at least exploring what feelings I may have had for her, I was more attuned to her charms and beauty. Like how cute her little grin is when she’s shocked me in some way. She’s wearing it now. It’s driving me nuts. I really want to kiss her. Never thought I’d say that in a million years. She knows me. She probably knows what I’m thinking right now. I need to say something…
“So how about those Braves? That was a great game last night.”
“Yeah, Mecklenburg pitched a beauty. Can’t believe he carried a nohitter into the 7th against the Cardinals.”
“Yeah, he has absolutely stepped it up this season in a major way. 14-3, started the all-star game. He may carry us to a division title if he stays healthy.”
“It’s a contract year for him. I just hope he sticks around next season.”
“He will. He’s from Marietta, and went to college at UGA. This is home for him.”
At least we were having what was, for us, a perfectly normal conversation. Sports. She loved them almost as much as I did, and she knew what she was talking about. This conversation carried us all the way to dinner. I hadn’t lost the awareness that her hand was still resting on top of mine. She still had that cute little grin on her face, too, and she smelled like a little slice of heaven. Whatever perfume she was wearing, she had never worn before. It was incredible.
We sat in relative silence for a few moments as I drove us to Sal’s, a local Italian joint we frequented and loved. It had been open for around 40 years; the owner had recently retired, with his son taking over. The food never disappointed. When we arrived and got out of the car, Carrie slipped her arm in mine and we walked into the restaurant as such. I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot when she did that.
Business was pretty slow, and we were seated quickly. We exchanged small talk over the menus and each ordered a glass of wine. The wine served to loosen me up. Conversation flowed, and I was certain that things were going better than I ever dreamed. I don’t know if it was because we were actually on a date and I was paying more attention to her as a result, or what, but I was noticing things about her I never had before. Like the way her eyes just sparkled whenever she smiled. For that matter, I had never noticed how breathtakingly beautiful she was until tonight. With easy, casual conversation, we finished our dinner and I paid. When we left the restaurant, she slipped her hand into mine for the walk to the car. It seemed to be the most natural thing in the world, almost uncanny how her fingers intertwined so perfectly with mine. When we got to the car, I thought, “why in the world did we wait basically 10 years to do this?” We left for the movie theater, which was a short drive down the road. She immediately put her hand back into mine when I started the car. I pulled it up to my lips and kissed it. She sighed, a sound I recognized. It meant she was happy and content. It completely eased any lingering nervousness I had. I was really looking forward to kissing her good night.
Just a couple of blocks from the theater, we came to a red light. I didn’t really mind, as I was basically on cloud nine. Things were going well. The light turned green and I went.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get that kiss good night. I never saw the other car. At least we kept our pinky-swear.
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