Going On a Date


I had asked her out.That was the hard part. I had lain on my bed for at least half an hour holding my phone over my head with a text saying "hi. u want to go out sometime?" waiting to be sent. I just lay there thinking thoughts of "She'll say no, she'll say no" running repeatedly through my head.

Finally, with a little goading from my roommate Jack, I summoned the courage to hit Send then promptly wrapped my phone in one of my T-shirts and stashed it in the farthest corner of my closet. Of course I still heard it when she replied so I slouched over to my closet, my mind full of all the ways she could say no, and retrieved my phone. But when I looked at the screen I was flabbergasted to see her response.

"sure :) how does saturday sound?"

My finger flew into a frenzy of frantic typing.

"that sounds perfect :D how about a movie?"

"sure :) what movie?"

"how about !!!!!!!!!!"

"sounds fine to me. ill see u there"

I fell backwards onto my bed in pure exultation. Not only had I actually asked her out but she had accepted my invitation.

The next three days seemed to drag on like molasses as awaited that Saturday night. Of course the doesn't mean I was always excited. More then half the time I was scared out of my wits. I had never gone out with a woman before in my life. I was so nervous I was sure I would explode.

On the day of my date I got out of bed at seven (several hours earlier then normal for a Saturday) took a shower, and cleaned my room just for good measure. I ate breakfast and browsed the internet until about an hour before I had to go. Thinking it was better to be safe then sorry I hopped in my car and drove off to the theater cussing my head off every time I ran into a red light.

I arrived at the theater and checked my watch which said it was still forty-five minutes until the movie started. So I sat down on a bench outside the theater and waited.

Every time a car drove into the parking lot I would stand up thinking "Surely this must be her" even when a hulking Express drove in full of a band of old ladies.

After about half an hour of waiting in drives a white Corolla with a bumper sticker that says "Kiss my ass". The car parks, the doors opens, and out walks Aran wearing a light blue camisol and a frilly yellow skirt. She waves and I wave back fighting the urge to flee.

We exchange greetings then walk up to the ticket booth to purchase our tickets. I offer to pay for both but she insists on going dutch. We walk into the theater and take our seats. We talk quietly until all the previews are over and the movie starts.

I can't pay any attention to the movie at all. I just sit in my seat staring blindly at the giant screen in front of me. I think to myself, Okay, Mark don't worry. Everythink'll be fine as long as you don;t do anything stupid. Of course my body wants to betray everything my mind is telling me so my arm slowly reaches over and around her shoulders. No, no, no, I think, I told you not to do anything stupid! Surprisingly though, she doesn't shrug my arm off. Instead she snuggles deeper underneath it. I let out a mental sigh of relief.

Finally the movie ends and we exit the theater making idle comments about what we thought of the movie (Though I don;t remember any of it)

It's dark out and a few fireflys buzz around the parking lot lighting up the night with their soft greenish glow.

I walk Aran over to her car and bid her goodnight. But, just before she opens the door, she leans forward and kisses me softly on the lips. I'm sure I was blushing but I didn't care. She quickly opened the door of her car and slowly drives off as I weakly raise by hand in farewell. Then I walk over to my own car and proceed to drive myself home with my face still blushing profusely. I ride with a grin on my face and one word running through my mind.


"YES!"