Bexley’s P.O.V.
So close! I was so close to kissing her if it weren’t for her Uncle!
As soon as Coach Henley asked if we were done, Janelle backed away from me so fast.
I wanted to pout, but at the same time, being caught wasn’t something I wanted or planned.
It’s a little embarrassing.
“W-We’re almost done, Uncle Henley.” She stuttered shyly.
“Alrighty then. Let me know when you're done, I’ll drive you home.” He says, making my heart deflate.
“Well,” She starts saying, looking my way. “Bex is driving me home tonight,”
Is that what we planned?
Not that I complaining. Completely the opposite, in fact. I’m extremely happy she said it. For a second, I thought she was going to agree with her uncle and leave me here alone.
“I can take you home. I was going to see your mother anyway,” Coach Henley insisted.
Janelle chews the inner side of her cheek, something I notice she does when she’s nervous.
“We weren’t going straight home after this. Bex told me he would get me some ice cream to celebrate my cast being taken off,” She says, fidgeting a little.
A flat-out lie.
We never talked about that, but I sure as hell ain’t going to contradict her!
If it means I can spend some more time with her tonight, I will go along with it.
“It’s true. I kind of promised. And you know I don’t break my promises.”
He looks at us, gawking at our reaction.
“Are you sure you won’t come with me?” He asks again.
Why is he insisting so hard?
“Yes, I’m sure, Uncle Henley.”
He ponders her firm response for another moment.
“Alright. Make sure you text your mom. Knowing her, she’s anxious for you to get home. Especially after everything.”
I can tell Janelle is a little upset with her uncle's words.
Could it have something to do with what she doesn’t want to talk about?
I hate that something did happen to her. I want to protect her from now on.
I am going to protect her from now on!
I don’t know when I started feeling this way, but Janelle had become very important to me. I care for her and I just want her to be happy. She has become my first thought in the morning. My last one at night. My light when it rains, my cloud when it’s sunny.
Gosh! When did I become so cheesy?!
We step off the ice and make our way to my car.
I open my door and lean my arm on top of it.
“So, I’m taking you for ice cream?” I chuckle, lifting a brown to go along with my smirk.
Her cheeks brighten a deep shade of red, making me chuckle again.
“I didn’t want to go home just yet, and it’s the first thing that came to mind! What was I supposed to say? Sure, Uncle Henley, I’ll go straight home with you after almost kissing my crush!” She says, making me straighten up.
She must have realized what she said, the way her eyes bulged out in almost pure horror.
“Oh god! Ground that’s under my feet, please swallow me whole!” She cries out, covering her face with both her hands.
“Come on, get in,” I laugh, “Let’s really get you some ice cream for real,” I say, sitting on my seat and turning the keys in the ignition.
For her sake, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear what she just blurted out.
I’m not even sure I heard her right.
She couldn’t have really said she has a crush on me, could she?!
She settles in her seat, looking out the window and trying to still hide her embarrassment, but her reflection is still very visible in the window.
I can almost hear what’s going through her mind.
I smile again before putting the car in drive and making my way to the best ice cream parlor in town.
She picks out her favorite flurry, vanilla mixed with peanut butter and chocolate pieces.
Mine is a simple strawberry sundae with nuts on top.
We sit at a corner booth table.
“So, how did you find skating tonight?” I ask, taking a huge bite of my sundae.
I regret it almost instantly.
My eyes twitch as I rub the side of my head with my palm.
She laughs wholeheartedly, her head falling backward.
“I think you should take smaller bites,”
“I… Know. But guess what,” I say, blinking away the brain freeze that’s finally going away.
“What?” She asks, leaning forward.
“I never learn my lesson!”
She laughs again, taking a small bite of her flurry.
We talk about anything and everything for a while, but even with all our talking, I can't get her comment out of my mind.
I know I told myself I would let it go, but I just can’t.
“Janelle, I need to ask you something,”
“OK,” She says nervously, almost like she’s expecting the worst.
“Did you really mean what you said earlier?”
“What I said?” She asked, furrowing her brows.
“Yeah. About you having a crush on me,” I say, blushing a little, just like she is.
She babbles incoherently a few times before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in to, I assume, calm her nerves.
“I did,”
She rubs her hands on her thighs nervously, unable to keep eye contact with me.
“Are… Are you mad about that?”
Now it’s my turn to furrow my brows.
“Why in the hell would I be mad about that? To be honest, I’m relieved!”
She looks at me in surprise.
“Relieved? Why?”
“Well, I kind of have a crush on you too,” I reply, glancing her way shyly.
“You do?!”
Her exclaim makes me giggle.
“Yeah. I don’t really know when it started, but I do really like you. You’re smart and kind, even after I was such an asshole to you when you first got here. You’ve helped me tremendously with the junior trainees. And they love you, by the way.”
Her smile widens from one ear to the other.
“Your eyes shine so brightly when you are excited about something. You value your family and your friends. You skate as if there is nothing else in the world, just as much as if the world was everything in reverse. You are perfect in every way that makes you, well, you,”
“You’re just saying that,” She says, casting her eyes down.
Taking her hand in mine, she looks up.
“No, I’m not just saying that. I mean every word that I just said.”
“I don’t know what to say to all of that.”
“You don’t have to say anything,”
Just as she’s about to actually say something, her phone pings.
She looks at it and sighs.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yes. It’s just my mom asking if I’ll be home soon. She's getting worried that I’m out this late.”
“Let her know you’ll be home soon,” I say, grabbing my keys from my pocket and standing up.
She hesitates for a moment but then gets up and follows me out.
We don’t say much on the way to her house. I’ve dropped her off many times since she started helping me at the rink. I could almost drive there with my eyes closed!
Parking in front of her house, I don’t wait and stepped out, walking her to the front door.
“Thank you for driving me home. And for the ice cream. I really appreciate it.” She says, balancing from one foot to the other.
“It was my pleasure. We should do that more often.”
“I’d like that,”
We stand there, neither of us seemingly wanting to part with one another.
“Well, I guess I should go in before my mom gets worried again,”
“Yeah, sure. I wouldn’t want her to be worried,”
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at school?”
“You’ll definitely see me at school,” I smile as she opens the door.
But at the last second, before I have a chance to turn around and head back to my car, she rushes towards me and kisses me on the lips!
Not a deep, longing kiss. But a quick one. The kind of kiss that says, I like you, but I want to take things slow, kind of kiss.
Before I can even react, she’d already closed the door with a loud thud.
She kissed me…
She kissed me?
Holy mother… She kissed me!!!
Wishes truly do come true if you believe in them hard enough.
Aksara