7. Kieran #2
I rush back toward the school. Honestly, I’m kind of used to Jace and his friend’s bullshit at this point.
The thing I can’t stop thinking about is if Danny helped them.
The lockers are assigned by last name, and I might not know him, but I know his last name is Rodriguez so I head straight to where I think the R last names would be.
I’m not sure if I should be relieved or more nervous when I see Danny still standing at his locker, but at this point, I’ve hyped myself up enough about confronting him that I don’t slow down until I’m right next to his locker.
“Hey, Danny,” I start, slightly out of breath from my rush to find him. He looks up at me with obvious confusion. But is he confused I’m randomly talking to him for the first time, or is he confused I’m not locked in the shed? Only one way to find out.
“Listen, I know this probably didn’t involve you at all, but I need to hear from you that you didn’t write that note. I need to know if Jace just used your name to trick me into going into the equipment shed or if you helped him lock me in there,” I ramble quickly before I can lose my nerve.
He blinks up at me, still looking confused before his expression slowly shifts from concern into a smile.
He turns to face me fully and offers his hand.
“Hey, Kieran. Nice to officially meet you. I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if I understood correctly, Jace locked you in a shed? I am so sorry that happened to you.”
He sounds genuine enough, so I reluctantly shake his hand and mutter, “Nice to meet you too.”
“So, wait. There was a note that you thought was from me?” he asks.
Maybe I didn’t think this plan through. But at this point, I don’t think there’s any turning back as embarrassing as it might be to admit to him. “Yeah, there was a note in my locker that said it was from you asking if I wanted to hang out in the equipment shed and ditch the pep rally.”
“What did you think we were going to do in the shed, Kieran?” he teases suggestively.
I groan, covering my face with my hands so I can only see his amused expression from between my fingers.
Shaking my head, I drop my hands. “Ugh. This was a horrible idea. You clearly didn’t help Jace.
Please forget this conversation ever happened.
Sorry to have bothered you.” I try to spin away, but Danny sticks his arm out to block my path.
He’s a couple of inches shorter than I am, and I could easily move around him if I needed to, but I don’t.
“You’re not bothering me, Kieran. I was just going to suggest that we exchange phone numbers, so you’ll know for sure it’s me when I actually ask you to hang out.”
Well, damn. I wasn’t expecting us to bond over this.
“Oh. Uh, yeah. That would be cool,” I agree as I pull out my phone.
He rattles off his number, and I text him my name, half expecting it to be fake, but his phone buzzes on the shelf in his locker.
He immediately picks it up, taking a moment to type out a response.
Danny:
Hey, would you want to hang out? I still haven’t seen the Facebook movie if you’d want to see that. Or there’s some horror movies out too, but they might have creepy storage sheds so probably better to avoid those.
I snort a laugh at the storage shed comment before responding aloud. “I haven’t seen the Facebook one yet, either. I don’t have any plans this weekend, if you’re free.”
“Awesome, I’ll text you tonight after I look up the times for tomorrow. Want to grab food too or just the movie?”
“I’m always down to get food.” We smile at each other for a moment before I realize what we just planned.
“Wait, is this a date? Or are we just hanging out as friends?” I ask, then immediately regret it, because I sound so uncool.
Good thing he didn’t actually write the note because I’m not giving off confidence at all right now.
But Danny’s smile grows even bigger. “Do you want it to be a date?”
Do I? The last hour of my life has been a whirlwind. But when I first thought the note was from Danny, I’d been excited about the possibility of spending time with him. I’ve never been on a real date. Dinner and a movie sounds nice.
“I think I want it to be a date,” I admit with a nod.
“Good.”
I give him a smile and turn to leave school for the day, feeling excited about this possibility.
Danny is cute. He’s got dark hair, bright brown eyes, and a warm complexion, and he seems naturally confident. Unlike Jace’s fake note.
And as promised, he texts me later that night to confirm the details.
My dad lets me borrow his car, so I offer to drive us.
We get tacos before the movie, and conversation comes easily.
Danny’s fun, and I’m really enjoying myself, but I don’t think I actually want him to be my boyfriend.
It feels more like I’m hanging out with the old Liv.
When we’re heading to the car after the movie, Danny stops before he gets in, turning to me. He looks at me curiously, and I give him a small nod. Maybe this is where the spark will come from. He reaches up and cups my face, guiding me to kiss him, and it’s… nice.
A perfect first date ending with a lovely first kiss.
But there’s no spark.
Nothing like I’ve been waiting for or heard the other kids at school describe when they kiss someone they like.
When we part, he gives me a crooked grin, like he’s thinking the same thing too.
“Well,” he starts. “Maybe I’m not ready to…”
“Better off as friends?” I add, cutting off his trailing thought. There might not be chemistry between us, and I’m not desperate for more in the way I think I’d like to be with someone I’m dating, but I think we could be really good friends.
He lets out a relieved chuckle, nodding. “Yeah. I’m glad we gave it a shot, though. Now we know. I really would like to keep hanging out as friends.”
“Me too.”
We make plans to see another movie next weekend, and I can’t help feeling a little smug at the way things turned out. Jace might have wanted to embarrass or scare me into blending in more, but his plan led to me making a new friend.
I even got my first date and my first kiss out of it too.
I can’t wait to tell Liv.