As we walk onto the playground, all the memories flood back in. I can literally see my little self and Sally running around this same park, playing a tag of some sort.

"Are you okay?" Andrew asks, grazing my arm in question.

"Ya, why?"

He looks at me in worry, but then I notice the tears forming in my eyes.

I look away from him, wiping my soon to be wet face.

I feel embarrassed that he saw me this way, I never cry.

"Come," Andrew says, giving me his hand to hold, waiting for permission, and I obey with his touch as he leads me.

He ducks under the blue old slide of the wood chip playground.

"Where are you leading me? You have a tendency of bringing me to weird places," I tell him, growing excited despite what I just said.

"Here."

He sits down under the playground, the slide above him along with the platform where you walk on.

I roll my eyes.

"Whatcha think?" he asks, clearly pleased with himself.

I laugh.

"What?" he questions.

I continue laughing, forgetting all my troubles as the laugh echoes through the small park.

"Come on," he nudges me.

"Ha, you-..." I can't help it, I continue laughing.

He begins to chuckle along, forgetting what's happening.

"Oh...Andrew, Ha, You're the best!" I wipe away the laugh tears from my eyes, and I sit beside him, under the small park too.

Our laughs are fading away as I listen to our breathing, going along the wave of the breeze. The year is getting colder, so I snuggle closer to him as a shiver enters my cold body.

He snuggles back with me, his arms wrapping around me.

"We could stay here all day," he suggests.

I hum back a reply.

Closing my eyes, he rocks my body in his arms, feeling a sense of peace travel through me, letting go of myself as I grow comfortable, no longer worrying.

"We could stay here all day," I whisper back to him, agreeing, "But I have a feeling this wasn't the surprise."

I look up at him, wiggling my eyebrows, knowing very well I'm right.

He huffs, rolling his eyes, "All right, you're right,"

"Yes," I say in victory as we stand up.

"Come this way." He shakes his head, trying to act annoyed, but I'm too excited to let his act get in my way.

He holds my hand, leading me out from under the blue slide, out the park and into the wood that surrounds this small street, trees bringing peace along with the whisper of bird songs.

"Oh, no, are you going to kidnap me again?"

"Get this straight in your head, girl, I've already kidnapped you,"

I laugh in reply.

We duck under the trees, avoiding the branches from hitting us as we enter the small forest.

Walking in silence on the wood chipped path, we finally stop at one point and Andrew lets go of my hand.

Silence follows as I just listen to the wind of the peaceful suburban forest.

"Nina," he says, breaking the silence but the peace is still there.

I don't reply, instead, I give him space to talk and he does while I stare ahead at the glistening trees as the sun bounces off the bark and leaves.

"I-, I've never gone on a date with a girl before," he says.

In shock, at what he just told me, I turned to face him, my eyes wide.

I don't speak though, I just let him digest his words and wait for him to explain himself as he stares ahead at the trees.

"Only one time when I was like eight, and it was just a friend, the rest of the girls you see are just people who flirt with me,"

I laugh. "Not that you're much of a flirt,"

"Hey!"

I smile at his remark.

"Then why did you go on a date with me?" he asks.

I'm caught aback by his question, not knowing how to answer him, my mouth opens and then closes as I finally tell him a defensive lie.

"C-Cause ... I pity you," I answer, knowing it's not true as I look up at his profile, his eyes dropping down at my confession.

He goes silent again and I regret what I said.

Why am I so stupid?

Why do I have to lie?

"No, Andrew, I don't mean it like that," I defend and face him, holding both his hands with my own, forcing him to look down at my eyes.

He looks at me and when I look into those eyes, I forget about everything.

He looks in peace as he looks into my orbs, the recent conversation flooding away as we get lost in each other's gaze, our surroundings acting along with the peace we're feeling.

He's probably thinking I'm ugly though.

I look away, because of the thought in my head, turning my head to the side to the dirty ground beneath me.

I feel Andrew's hand on my chin, a cold chill following.

"You're afraid," he says, seeing right through me.

I don't answer, my gaze still looking down.

"Nina, you don't have to be afraid, I want to get to know you," he informs me, his voice encouraging and soft so I look back into his eyes.

Weakness enters my limbs and I feel wobbly from his gaze. I grab hold of his elbows at impulse to hold myself up and continue looking into those deep intranzing eyes for support.

"Andrew," I gasp.

He continues staring at me.

"Since when do you want to get to know me?" I ask, my voice lower than a whisper.

"Since always, you never noticed me,"

"What? No, you never noticed me." I feel confused as I look into his eyes.

He chuckles.

Silence follows again, he looks away from me, back to the forest engulfing us and I can't make him look back my way.

"Andrew."

He still looks the other way.

"- I- I.... Uh.... You're right,...  I am afraid."

I look away too, feeling ashamed by my confession.

"It's okay to be afraid, we're going through this together," I hear him say as I distract myself with the wave of trees beside us, but his words make me smile and break the gaze towards the woods.

I look back at his longing brown eyes.

~~~~~~

He drops me off, this time with a kiss on the cheek -  which still gives me the same affect, with a blush rising up my checks.

I smile.

I wave at him and he smiles back.

Closing the worn out green car door, I walk to my house.

The sky is already dark above me as I make my way down the driveway to the door

I must've been out late, but I don't really care.

I look behind me again and watch him waiting for me in the car.

He's perfect.

I shake my head at my thoughts, still smiling as I enter my house.

When I close the door, I lean against it, sighing in relief with eyes closed and a smile.

Something has definitely changed in me.

When I let go of the door, I half expect my mom to be there waiting for me.

I'm grateful she isn't, because if she knew I was hanging out late and with a boy, not only am I already grounded, but she would be super pissed.

I walk up the stairs, stepping in every creak of the stair, but I don't care.

Entering my room, I jump onto my pink cozy bed, making it bounce underneath me.

I sigh happily, looking up at the ceiling before turning over excitedly, a big smile plastered to my face, grabbing my phone out of my pocket and immediately going to text Andrew.

Me~ That was fun

Me~ We should do that again

He answers almost immediately.

      Andrew~  Ya, that was fun
                
          Andrew~ How about tomorrow

I giggle, already getting excited at what might happen.

Me~ I'm gonna fail all my classes if I do that again

Yet again, he answers right away.

                Andrew~ We can hang out during lunch ;)

Me~ Stop texting and driving

Me~ I don't want you to die

         Andrew~ Oh, so you worry about me

Me~ Stop it☺️☺️

 Andrew~ Ha, I got you

Me~ Okay, you did, now stop texting before you die

Imma go to bed 😘

I text him the kiss emoji without a second thought, but then anxiety erupts inside me, wondering if I'm crazy for writing that.
Something has definitely changed in me.
But before I can overthink it more, he replies with the same kiss.

                                      😘

I can't help but smile.

I let go of my phone and spread myself out on my bed.

I'm going to sleep great.

Sighing, I curl up in a ball and fall fast asleep.