Dear Ana,

Ad altiora tendo

I was pouring myself a glass of juice.
My mom was sitting at the kitchen counter staring at me.
"Why are you smiling?" She asked curiously.
That made me smile even more.
"Nothing major."
I could barely hide my excitement.

These past few weeks, I've been sitting with Evan and his gang a lot.
They call me their friend, I can't believe I made friends. As in, more than one.
Evan has been really nice and we've gotten quite close.

Yesterday
Class had ended and I pushed my way through the Friday-crowd.
I heard chatter about weekend plans and all that, I got my books out of my locker and walked out of the school.
"Amy." I heard behind me.
I looked and saw Evan jogging towards me.
"Hey."
"Hey Evan." I wondered what he wanted, we didn't talk much after school.

He rubbed the back of his head.
"I was wondering."
"Yeah?"
"Do you have any plans on Sunday?"
I thought of the homework I will have finished tomorrow.
"Not really, why?"
"I need some stuff from the mall, maybe you'd like to come with me?"
"Sure."
"Great, I'll text you a time and place."
He ran off.
I unlocked my bike and cycled home, it took a while to process what just had happened.
Did he just?
No. That can't be.
I waved the idea away with my hand.
He couldn't have meant it as a..
Date?

Even if he didn't mean it like that, I started to believe it was.

Today
I dressed myself into denim skinny jeans and a black guns n roses t-shirt, pretty casual.
Evan texted me last night, we were meeting in front of the mall in 20 minutes.
I said goodbye to my mom, who still seemed suspicious at my happiness, and cycled to the mall.

I was 5 minutes to early. Typical.

"Always be casually late, you'll look too eager if you show up early."
Rose had told me this once, I thought it good advice.

Alas I could not think to follow it.
I was staring to feel queasy, the combination of the overbearing warmth and the butterflies in my stomach was too much to conquer.

A boy was walking towards me, he started waving.
Evan looked good. He looks gorgeous even.

"Hey." He said smiling.
"Hi."
We walked into the mall, first discussing the warm weather, then we switched.
"So what did you want to get from the mall?" I asked Evan, he seemed to look a bit cheeky.
"Not much, just some new shirts, the last time I had new shirts was quite a while ago."

He wanted me to come with him to buy new shirts?

We had a lot of fun, we talked about ourselves, he was interested in me.
Time seemed to fly by.

He bought me a milkshake later on.
The voice in my head upsized again:
"You can't drink that, honey. There's at least 400 calories in that."

I listened.
She was right after all.

I took small sips, I talked a lot, avoiding drinking too much.
My cup felt heavy still as Evan was almost finished with his.

When he did finish, I threw my cup away together with his.

When we reached my bike it felt like we had to say goodbye.
Something told me we both didn't want to yet.
He grabbed his bike.
"I'll bring you home."
I smiled. "You don't have to."
"I know, but I want to."
He was persistent, but I like a guy who knows what he wants.

We cycled and talked more about his friends, I asked him a lot about Yumi.
"I think you'll really like her, she's pretty cool. I don't know her that good though."
"She seems really nice."

We reached my house, now it really was time to say goodbye.
"It was really fun today Evan."
It seemed the polite thing to say, even though I wanted to tell him.
Tell him how much it meant to me.

That I like him.

"It was fun, do you maybe want to do it again sometime?"
He smiled nervously.
"Yes!" I bursted out a little too hastily.

He laughed loudly at my enthusiasm.
"Good." He decided. "It's a date."

Date. A date.
He did mean it as a date. I can't believe this was a date.
And he wants to go on a date again.
With me.

"Shocker."

I began to blush profusely.
I have to say goodbye now, he'll think I'm sick if he sees how red I am.

"Well, I'll see you at school then Evan." I waved at him.
He approached me and leaned in.
He hugged me.
My hands were at my side, I lifted one hand to his back. Then my other hand.

He felt so strong, he was tall and hugging him made me feel protected.
Like it was just the two of us.

I released my hands and we broke our embrace.
I headed to my front door and watched Evan step on his bike.
We waved goodbye and he cycled off.

"Careful, it seems you're falling in love."