Kiss Me Again

I'm so fucking nervous.
Excited, but nervous.
I'm going on my date with Tay in like, 30 minutes. I'm freaking out about how I look. I've been in the bathroom teasing with my hair and spraying cologne and repeatedly trying to straighten out my shirt.
I decided to wear a red top with a black blazer, some black skinnies, and my gray converse.
Do I even look good enough??
I've used up almost all of my hairspray can already. Oh gosh..
"LEEEEXXX! YOU LOOK FINE! GET OUT OF THERE BEFORE YOU'RE LATE!" My step-mom, Janet called from downstairs.
Janet is one of the most nicest people I've ever met.
Why she married my father? I don't know. They just fell in love a few years after my mom died. I was a little toddler when that happened, so Janet ended up basically taking the place of my mother, and raised me as her own. She's honestly a better parent to me than my own father. She supports me, we joke and we laugh, and she's easy to talk to.
I call her Jane, and she calls me Lex. We have a pretty close relationship.
"UGH, FIIINNE!" I called back, leaving my room and heading downstairs.
Jane smiled at me and took a sip of coffee.
"Now Lex..I just came home for the week so I could spend Christmastime with my boy, and you're ditching me the first day I'm here!" She joked.
"I'm sorry, Jane. I love you, you know that." I gave her a kiss on the cheek.
I looked up at the clock. I only have 10 minutes to pick her up!
"Shit! I gotta go!"
Just as I was about to bolt out the door, she stopped me.
"Won't you be needing these?" She waved my keys around in her fingers.
Yes! I'm off punishment!!
I took the keys from her then headed out. "Thanks, Jane! Love you, bye!"

I drove to her house, feeling a blast of confidence now that I have my shiny, blue baby back.
Tay was pacing her front porch, looking kind of upset.
Shit. Why'd I have to keep her waiting so long? I'm such a fucking dick. Fuck my life!
I got out of the car and started walking up to her. She quickly snapped her head up, and looked at me kind of shocked.
"Hey, are you-"
"Alex! Hey! Yeah, I'm fine! Let's go!" She said all too quickly, speed walking to my car.
She seems kinda weird today...
I was a little confused, but I just shrugged it off. I am officially on a date with Tay Jardine. Nothing else could possibly be on my mind right now.

I drove down to Thames Street, where there were a bunch of shops, a movie theater, a bar, and some restaurants. This is one of my favorite places to be. It's always been a hangout spot for me and my friends, there's so much to do.
"Wow, this looks pretty cool!" Tay said as we got out the car.
"So what do you wanna do first? Anything you want is my treat." I smiled at her.
"Oh geez, I dunno..." She looked around.
"Let's uhh..check out this place!" She started walking into a shop, and I followed her in.
It was a women's clothing store, and since it was winter, it had a shit ton of sweaters.
Tay was looking at a big pink one, holding it up to her body.
"You like that one?"
She shrugged. "I don't know..it probably won't look that good on me anyway.."
I took the sweater from her.
"It'll look great. Is there anything else you want?"
"N-no...Alex, you don't have t-"
"We're getting it." I gave her a stern look, and she stopped talking and looked down at her feet, as I proceeded to the checkout line.
This is how it went for the next 3 shops we went into. I was holding about 7 bags in my hands, and let me tell ya- shopping with chicks? Not my thing. Nuh uh. Never again.
"How ya holdin' up over there?" Tay turned around and giggled at me, lagging behind her as we walked down the outlets.
"UGHHHHH!!!" I rolled my eyes in response.
She giggled at me even more.
I hope she's happy, with her fucking cute ass laugh..
She turned into Starbucks and I followed her, immediately collapsing into a seat and dropping the bags next to me.
"I'm gonna get coffee, you need some more pep in your step, Mr. Gaskarth! And I'M paying this time..." She smirked at me, then went up to the counter and ordered our drinks.
I watched her from my seat.
She's so beautiful..with her straightened hair and her boots..
Next thing I know, she's walking over with a fancy looking drink and a normal coffee. She gave me the fancy drink, and she took a sip of the coffee.
"Hey! How come I only get the Frapuccino and you don't?"
"Because you deserve it."
"No!" I pouted, and crossed my arms.
"What! So you're just not gonna drink it?"
"Depends. What flavor is it?"
"I ordered you a special flavor, it's cinnamon roll."
"Hm..well I need you to test it out for me."
"Alex, its good, trust me."
"Nuh uh. It isn't fair."
"Ugh, fine Alex! If I drink some, will you please stop being such a baby?"
I grinned and nodded my head.
"Fine!" She stuck the straw in and took a sip.
"Mmm..see? There. I drank the Frapuccino. Happy?
I laughed. "Yeah, it's cool."
I brought the cup back over to me and took a sip from the same straw.
She rolled her eyes at me and shook her head, before taking another sip of her coffee.
We sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, then she started talking.
"Alex?"
"Hm?"
"Why'd you do all this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why'd you insist on coming here with me and buying me all this stuff?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, I felt the need."
"Why?"
"I don't know, you're..you're like-" I tried to find the right words.
"You're just really special to me, and you've just made everything great, and I just wanted to repay you in a way, for our...friendship.."
She instantly turned to a shade of crimson.
She got up, walked to my side of the table, and gave me a hug.
"There's no need to thank me, Alex. You're honestly a more amazing person than I am." She giggled.
I got up and smiled down at her. I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and gazed deeply into her eyes. We stayed like that for a moment. All I wanted to do was to connect our lips and feel the explosion of fireworks through my body. I wanted know what her lips felt like on mine. But then I stopped myself.
Christmas, Alex. You're rushing things.
I awkwardly turned around and picked up the bags.
"Uh, come on, lets get back to the car..it's uh..getting late.."
Her cheeks heated up even more as she broke eye contact with me and looked down at her feet.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
I held all the bags in one hand, while we walked down the sidewalk, side by side.
She sighed, and kept her head down.
I reached to hold her hand, and she tensed up, then took her hand away quickly from mine.
Fuck!! I'm so frustrated at this point.
"What? I'm not allowed to hold your hand or something?"
We both stopped walking. She turned to me, not quite meeting my gaze.
"Usually, that means something else, Alex..."
"Like what?!"
She sighed, clearly kind of annoyed and uncomfortable.
"FRIENDS don't do that."
I scoffed.
"And who made up that rule?"
She sighed in defeat. The next thing I know, she grabbed my hand, and even interlocked our fingers.
The feeling of her hand in mine just radiated heat through my whole body.
We continued walking hand in hand down the sidewalk.
At this point, it was about 7pm, so the little white lights dangling from the tops of the shops were lit up, and it looked absolutely magical. This moment with Tay is magical.
We eventually reached the car, and got in. I didn't start the car just yet. I wanted to make this last forever.
"Hey, Tay?"
"Yeah?" She turned to face me.
"You're beautiful, don't forget that."
She blushed instantly.
She's so cute...
"W-why do you say that?"
"Because it's clear from earlier today in the shops that you don't seem to believe it...and I feel that I am destined to make you believe it."
She stayed silent for a moment and thought to herself.
"Thank you, Alex." She finally said.
"It really blows my mind."
"What does?"
"How you can't see how beautiful you are, Tay."
"Alex, please."
"What? You deserve to be told you're beautiful every fucking day!!"
"ALEX, PLEASE STOP! You can buy me things, give me coffee, whatever. Do whatever you want to flatter me, but I don't believe it, and I never will, because you know what? IT ISN'T TRUE. Just do me a favor. Please..do NOT sit here...and lie to my face...telling me..I am beautiful..when I know I am not." She was flat out sobbing.
I quickly reached over and wrapped her in my arms and let her cry into my chest. I rested my chin on her head, and kissed her hair.
"Tay...I don't know what you've been going through, or why you feel that way about yourself, but just know that I will never EVER lie to you. EVER, in ANY situation. I don't know what you've heard, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say, that you, Tay Jardine? You are the most beautiful girl I've ever met."



*******READ NOTES*******

Notes

Hey! I managed to write out this whole chapter while I was packing up the last of my stuff. So, if you saw my author's note earlier, then you know that I am moving tomorrow, and I don't know when I'll be able to update again. Which is why I wanted to at least get this chapter out of the way. If I don't get my computer back sooner, I'll miss you guys! <3

Okay, and if you've noticed, I made a few changes to this story. I added Jenna in the characters, because I figured she's as much in the story as Oli is, so why not?
Also, I changed the rating of this story to NC-17, because along with smut, there will eventually be more major triggers throughout the story later on. Considering this, I thought it might as well be rated this instead. So yeah.

Oh, and I really enjoy reading your comments, you guys are the sweetest!! Please feel free to comment again! <333
Thanks! :)

Title cred: First Date- Blink-182