Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.
-Lemony Snicket

Thankfully, after a long weekend of that fucked up tournament, everyone went home.

So I was able to relax.

That was until Eliza who accidentally ran into EJ on her way down the driveway which led to him inviting himself along with Isabella Hem- -who is one of my high school friends and EJ's bestfriend- -and Celeste who invited Malory- -my work friend- -when picking me up from King Elliott Mechanic's.

Through the glass, I can see the adorable guy at the front counter I checked out a while back.

But today I just feel so defeated that when he looks up at me I just turn away, dunking my head down in what I feel is almost shame.

We all sit down, me and Eliza quiet as Mal makes sarcastic comments towards the Hilton siblings and Isa.

Then suddenly, the adorable guy is standing in front of me with his short but thick frame awkwardly holding out a piece of paper.

"Hey, I'm um, I'm Teddy." He says, handing me it with a shaky hand as he smiles nervously. I blink at him, probably looking stupid. "Call me?"

Jaw dropping just a bit, I nod, feeling as the blush creeps up my neck and burns my cheeks.

"I, I, I mean like, totally, I will." My stammer clearly doesn't go unnoticed as Teddy's smile widens. "T-thanks."

Teddy flushes too, "Welcome."

Nodding, I stuff the note in my pocket, gulping as I watch him run to the back room.

"How is it you're sitting at a table with three of the hottest chicks alive and a handsome twink, all of whom flirted with the waiter, and Eliza who is feral that scares people away but is drop dead gorgeous, and you're still the only one who got his number?"

"Because he's tall and blond!" A guy, who I just noticed sitting at the table across from us shouts, grinning. "You're Theo's type. I'm Chip, his most amazing best friend, and I agree with you on the gorgeous but scary part. Yikes, man."

I turn to look at him, eyes still wide. "And he's gay?"

Chip nods enthusiastically, kicking his feet up on the table. "Hella."

"I don't blame him for giving you his number," A girl with dyed blue hair speaks now, putting down our drinks on the table. "You probably wake up looking like the most gorgeous person alive."

Embarrassed for a reason I couldn't explain I find myself shaking my head and saying "I drool and my bedhead is insane." which Eliza, who narrows her eyes at me, knows is a lie.

"Yeah, it's disgusting." She continues, blue eyes so sharply pointed at me that I'm pretty sure it's a threat. "And his hair? I've seen those curls break combs."

The girl hums in reply, returning to the counter as EJ and Chip strike up a conversation.

"I'm one to talk as the resident lonely recluse," Malory says, nudging me in the side. "But I do think you should go ask him out instead of make him wait for a call."

Ask him out instead of make him wait.

It's been so long since I asked anyone out and even then, I've very rarely ever been asked out before.

Is it normal to have this much anxiety?

Ugh.

Anxiety.

"How do I...do that?" I ask back, blinking at her.

Malory looks confused, "Didn't you get asked out a lot during high school? Or hit on a lot? Like... do those things, but not creepy."

"I wasn't asked out during school," I hiss back, flushing. "People didn't ask me out. I wasn't ask-outable or something. Fuck."

The twins like to tell me that during high school I looked or acted out of everyone's league or something ridiculous, but I obviously don't believe that.

Almost sympathetically she nods and gives me just a bit of instructions, shoving me towards the blue-haired girl.

Glancing back, she gives me a thumbs up.

I look at the girl, she raises an eyebrow at me.

"I'm um, I'm Atticus Thatch," I hold my hand out to her and amused, she takes it. "Am I allowed to go ask Teddy a question in the back room?"

She grins, "As long as it's not offensive, be my guess."

Grateful, I nod.

As I'm walking away she shouts, "I'm Mikayla by the way, good luck!"

Walking back, my nerves double and I know I definitely look nervous when I knock on the door frame of the back room.

"Um...I-" I pause, not expecting the adorable look in his eyes as he stares at me. "Oh, I um, I-I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the movies...maybe? Um, I can, I don't know, I don't do this often can you...you do want to?"

"Go to the movies with, with you?" Teddy asks, wide-eyed.

I nod, biting my lip as my anxiety kicks in.

It's for nothing though, as the other man starts to grin and nods enthusiastically at me. 

"That'd be really nice!"

"Cool," I laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. "Do you mind if I sit?"

He doesn't so I sit down and we just start talking, his small laughs and my enamored flush just helping to move the conversation along.

As a forewarning- -which I do understand is horrible pre-date etiquette- -I end up telling him about Violet, how a lot of my time is spent doing things for her.

Teddy doesn't mind.

That...that makes me really relieved, in a way I can't quite explain.

"So, you're bisexual or...?" Teddy asks, tilting his head as platnium blonde hair falls in front of his eyes.

"Yeah," I nod. "Are you gay or um-"

"Yeah...if you don't mind me asking, why um, why did you ask me out?"

Surprised, I blink a few times. "What do you mean? You gave me your number and I thought that I should cut to the chase," I pause. "Should I have waited?"

The barista shakes his head, face red as he stares at me. "I meant like... what is it about me, that made you? I'm doing this thing, where I act confident because Kayla-" I bet that's Mikayla, his blue-haired friend. "-says if I act confident, I'll become confident. But I didn't expect you to take my number, let alone ask me out."

"Oh, um, I'm not that confident either. I mean of course, I really wanted to ask you out but my friend was the one that gave me the courage too." Nervously, I bring one leg up on the bench. "Honestly? You're just...really cute. And I don't mean to offend you but for some reason you remind me of a hamster, and that makes me more comfortable around you, I guess."

Teddy laughs, "You really don't do this much, do you?"

Smiling sheepishly I shake my head, "Is it that obvious?"

"We're not even on our first date yet and you've already compared me to a hamster," He says, amused but clearly not offended as he shrugs. "So yeah. But you called me cute, and that definitely earns you brownie points."

I chuckle, shaking my head at myself. "Well, brownie points are always a good thing." Putting my chin on my knee, I lick my lips before asking, "When does your shift end?"

Taken aback, Teddy frowns a bit. "Ten minutes ago." When he asked me out. "Why?"

"Well," I shrug. "It's a Saturday afternoon, we want to go on a date and at this rate, we have all night to do just that."

Cyan eyes widen at me, the striking color unable to be ignored. One look and this man catches all of my attention.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Yeah," Biting my lip, I glance down before meeting his eye again. "If that's okay with you-"

"Yes! I mean," Teddy cuts me off, laughing in disbelief. "Yes. That's okay with me, are we -are we leaving now? Isn't that a little impromptu?"

Holding my hand out, I can't help my smirk. "Take a risk, Teddy. I heard sometimes, it's worth it."

We're both laughing as I pull us out of the room and past his friends, who whistle at us, and my group who either cat-call me or stare with open mouths.

It's Chip who cheers, "About fucking time! Have fun and use protection!"

"Don't worry," Teddy giggles out "I won't get him pregnant." before snapping his head up to me like he can't believe he said something that implied, well, that.

"You know," I say, stopping a loud laugh from leaving me as I stare down at him. "That was actually pretty funny. Come on, Teddy, let's go."

"Where are we going and on what?" He asks, looking across the parking lot before back at me.

Shrugging, I ruffle his hair playfully, thinking how cute it is how short he is. "You said yes to movies, right? So, let's go there." Stepping away from him, I tap the seat of my bike. "And on this, unless you don't want a ride."

EJ did drive my truck here after all.

"No, no, I definitely want a ride." Teddy flushes more, I get a little confused but don't ask why. "Do you have two helmets?"

"Yeah," I pull open the storage and hand him the extra helmet before shrugging off my leather jacket. "I'm a really safe driver, but people are assholes." Handing him the jacket I motion for him to put it on. "This will keep you from getting scrapped up if anything does happen."

"You don't give good pep talks." He squeaks, but puts it on.

Dweeb.

"It's not a pep talk," Grinning, I roll my eyes and fix the collar for him. "It's a precaution."

Stepping away, I climb onto my bike, offering a hand up as it's definitely a bit high for him. As soon as he's on he starts to shift uncertainly, yelping as he almost tumbles off and grabs onto my shoulders.

"Hold onto me, lean when I lean, and just enjoy it."

Grumbling, I don't catch what he says but soon the rumbling engine cuts him off and we're zipping through the streets.

Parking in front of the movies, I climb off first before helping him down, him quite ungracefully tugging his helmet off after a few struggling attempts but used to it, I take mine off with one swift movement before smoothing my curls down.

We agreed on a horror movie, I think it's called Escape Room.

Before it begins I lose against him in air hockey not once, not twice, but three times. The fourth game is undecided because an absolutely lucky shot came in the form of me hitting the edge of the barista's end and knocking the puck into my own goal, letting him win the game.

Teddy enjoyed kicking my ass.

And I enjoy that during the movie, every time he'd get scared he'd clutch onto my arm or bury his face in my shoulder, squealing silently during the tense scenes and cursing the characters during the action ones.

It's over all too soon.

I find myself standing outside his apartment, my leather jacket wrapped around him as we laugh about the end of the movie even though I don't think it's even that funny.

I find myself staring down at him, his cyan eyes blinking owlish at me as he grins and tilts his head at me in a way that is all too-cute.

Suddenly I realized that we're both blushing and chuckle to myself.

Teddy raises up onto his toes the same time I lean down, making me smirk as I hold onto his love-handles and he holds my face gently in his hands.

And we kiss.

And it's nice and slow and it feels good.

"Atticus," He mumbles my name, pulling away from the kiss only to hug me tightly. "Thank you for today."

"You don't have to thank me but um, does those brownie points I earned earlier get me one more of those?"

Grinning, he raises up again. Sighing against him, I wrap my arms around his middle for more support, leaning against his apartment door.

I'm glad that he's soft.

He could be all muscle, loud and sharp tongued. He could be a classical bad boy, a soldier or a gym frequenter.

But the muscled men tend to be angry and I can't handle anger well even if I'm fit too. And when people are always loud, they scare me and make me jump. Sharp tongues make me wince, even if I love the person to death, it gets hard to be around.

I don't want to be wary around him at all, I don't want to be seen around him as a broken person only he could fix.

Strong minds are so much better than strong bodies.

Some people might say that he needs to have abs, or shouldn't be soft but I know that he just needs to have a good heart.

He needs love.

He needs kindness.

He needs smiles.

The world has enough harsh men.

Fuck anyone that asks things of him his soft body can't give, fuck anyone that shames him for loving other soft men.

God already has strong men, the government has soldiers, this town has enough gym junkies, the college has enough fuck boys but I don't have enough of him.

I want him to stay soft.