September, 2019

September was a whirlwind. We continuously talked and flirted I occasionally. Very early in the month, the 2nd to be precious, we met up at a neighborhood park by my house. We walked around the park and he had his skateboard in one hand. A little shy at first, it was only our second time seeing each other in person, we had awkward silences between short lived conversations. A little ways into our slow walk, he got on his skateboard and showed me how it worked. He was relatively good, better than I could I've ever done. We talked more and as time went on reached hard subjects. I built up the confidence to ask him about his ex as I'd heard a lot about her from anyone I mentioned his name to. Turns out they'd dated for a year and a half and had only broke up a little over six months ago. Never haven been even in true relationship, I was intimated and flooded with questions.

Why did they break up? Who's fault was it? Were we going to have the same problems they did? What if he thought I was immature compared to her? Worst of all, what if he still had feelings for her?

She was pretty in her own right, taller than me by almost a foot, blond and blue eyed. The Hollywood picture of an american girl. I was far fetched from that description, an exact opposite in a way with my dark skin and coily hair. Don't be mislead; I was and still am very beautiful in my own right, just not your typical description of beauty while his ex could've easily been. And so, I had to wander why I'd sparked an interesting in him.

"Bree and I are still friends," he'd stared. "In fact we went out for coffee just last week."

My heart had dropped at that. Forget what he said, who goes out for coffee with their ex after the relationship is six month long gone? It made no sense back then, but now looking back at this moment with all I know, it does.

I was calm when I replied, "oh?"

He went on, "yeah. We're good friends, but again my feelings for her are long gone."

I made the effort to half smile. "Why?"

"Well we kinda just fell into the relationship. And I mean, it was good a lot of the time, but towards the end it turned bad." He paused a little, perhaps thinking.

I wanted him to continue. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. She would get mad at me for hanging with my friends. Ask why I wasn't doing things with her even when we hadn't made plans. It was annoying, I like hanging with my friends. I liked being with her too, just.."

"It was a lot?"

"Yeah. I like my space."

I smiled at him and made a mental note of his words. "That's okay, I like my space too."

He smiled too, and we continued walking until we reached that little park again. We sat down side by side on a little bench with the playground in front of us. The park was empty, with the exception of us. I can't remember if we talked or just sat in silence but one way or another, his arm made it's way around my shoulders and he gently pulled me in. I remember smiling up at him, and maybe we flirted for a second before he leaned down and we kissed. So there it happened, our first kiss. Soft and slow for a second before we got comfortable and made out for all the world to see. But there was no one that day. Just us and the little world we were starting to create.

A while later, we pulled apart and he asked me to be his girlfriend. Head spinning and elated from the kiss, I happily agreed without much thought.

DF: 1.25.20
WC: 656