on my upper back. I pulled away slightly to get a look at his face and he smiled down at me. Oh, I could easily get lost in those blue eyes of his.
“Are you having fun?” he asked. I only nodded and rested my head back on his shoulder. “It’s just that Aria mentioned she had dragged you to the last few dances and all you did was hang out in the movie room. She gave me strict orders to ask you to dance tonight.” His eyes seemed to sparkle as he gave me a crooked little smile.
“Yeah, that’s probably all true,” I confessed, thinking that he probably thought I was weird.
At that moment Kyle crept into my head for a second and I didn’t know why. The way he had acted toward me still stung, but at this time I was with a nice, good looking guy who could probably make me forget all about Kyle. I looked up at Jensen with a bolder attitude and remembered his first question. “And yes,” I said determined, “I am having fun.”
Jensen smiled back and put his cheek on the top of my head, pulling me a little closer as he did so. I snuggled in, glad that we were dancing to the extended version of Enigma’s Sadeness Part I. The moment was right and I felt like I didn’t ever want to leave Jensen’s arms, but before I knew it, Smells Like Teen Spirit started blaring through the speakers. I didn’t know how anyone could dance to grunge.
“I think we’re about to get swallowed up into a big mosh pit,” Jensen shouted as he pointed to where there were fewer people. “We might want to go over there.”
Jensen was right. As we walked out of the commons I could see dozens of people moshing and running around, and it wasn’t long before we found Aria, Jack, Krissa, and Krissa’s new boyfriend, Dean Anderson, lounging on chairs meant for people eating food from the student store. By the look on their faces, I could tell Aria and Krissa were dying for details, but I decided they would just have to wait because I wasn’t ready to share.
“Do you want to go outside for a bit?” Jensen took hold of my hand before I could answer. He had to shout because the music seemed to have gotten louder. “Let’s go outside. I’d like to talk and get to know you better.”
The cool air hit us as we opened the doors and stepped outside to where a few other couples had already retreated to. The stillness was immediate, even though you could hear a dull sound of unintelligible music coming from the building. Walking across the parking lot, we sat down close to one another on a concrete structure with a wooden built-in bench. Neither one of us said much at first so I smiled to break the ice.
“You should do that more often,” he said, reaching over and moving a piece of my hair out of my face and tucking it behind my ear.
“What? Smile?” I asked. “How do you know that I don’t?”
“I’ve seen you around school,” Jensen explained. “Actually, Aria pointed you out to me earlier this week and told me I had to meet you. She also said something about you just coming out of a bad relationship.” I cringed at his words and wondered how much Aria had told him about Kyle. It wasn’t a relationship at all, but he had affected me.
“So,” I said, changing the subject. “Aria tells me you skipped Kindergarten and went right into first grade?”
“Yeah, I didn’t go to Kindergarten. But,” he added, “my birthday is in December, so it worked out just fine. If I had gone I would be graduating at nineteen instead of eighteen like the rest of my friends. The school system has weird rules for how old you can be before starting school.”
Leaning back against the wooden bench, I moved a little closer to Jensen, prompting him to put his hand on my arm. It felt electric, but I wasn’t quite sure what my next move would be. Fortunately, Jensen made it for me, touching my cold face with his warm fingertips. He was doing a good job of making Kyle only a distant memory.
Jensen slowly pulled his hand away and replaced it with his index finger. “Eyelash,” he said as he whisked it from my cheek and held it up for us both to see. I smiled, but felt a little let down that he wasn’t kissing me instead.
“Oh, am I supposed to wish on it or something?” I asked.
He nodded and held the lash to my lips. “Then you blow on it,” he said with a low voice. I blew gently and it fluttered away in the dark.
“Great,” I said, a little too loudly, “now someone will find it and do something funky with my DNA.” Jensen only laughed at my joke.
Suddenly changing the subject Jensen asked, “Are you going home with Aria or Krissa?”
“Oh, um, Aria’s mom is picking us up. I was thinking of staying at her house tonight,” I answered, wondering where he was going with his question.
“Well, if you’re not going to stay at her house, I’d like to drive you home … if that’s okay. It gives me more time to spend with you.”
“Yeah, I’d like that,” I told him.
For the next ten minutes, we shared small-talk about ourselves before Jensen said again that he would take me home and got up off the bench to go get his car. Before he left me, he suggested I tell my friends that I was with him so they wouldn’t worry.
Roxette’s It Must Have Been Love was winding down when I entered the building and crossed the dance floor. The lights then suddenly came on and I had to blink a few times to find my bearings, but it didn’t take me long to spot Aria over against the far wall waving me over. I half-walked, half-jogged to where she stood being absolutely certain that she could see the excitement on my face.
“You’re all flush; what’s going on? Did he kiss you?”
“Actually, he’s giving me a ride home so we can get to know each other better,” I said, ignoring her question completely. I could tell she wanted details, but I had none … yet. “I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes.”
With that, I was off and running outside. I passed Krissa and Kylie on the way out and yelled a quick goodbye. Krissa raised her eyebrow at me in a knowing way, but I only put my thumb and pinky to the side of my head like a phone and mouthed the words ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’
Jensen drove me slowly home in his parents’ black BMW, explaining along the way that he was only borrowing it until his Jeep was out of the shop after getting a lift-kit put on. I was sure I’d like his Jeep, but his parents’ car was a nice ride. We soon pulled up to my house and only talked for a little while longer before Jensen yawned and said that he needed to go. I felt like we were on the verge of something more, but he kept a careful distance and told me he’d call me the next day.
Thanksgiving arrived and both Jensen and I had plans with our families. That didn’t, however, keep us from spending a few hours on the phone getting to know one another. Jensen told me about his three siblings starting with Emery, his older brother who was in his first year of college at UNLV. He then told me about Alicia, who was in tenth grade, and Jessica, who was a senior. By his description of his sisters; Jessica with her long, blonde hair and Alicia with her medium-length, light brown hair; I remembered seeing each of them only once or twice at school.
Jensen went on to tell about his family’s downtown jewelry store, which was operated by his mother. His father filled in at the store occasionally, but for the most part he worked in investments. It suddenly occurred to me that his family wasn’t just well off, but
