The Summer that Changed Everything (Complete)

Chapter 22 - Saying Goodbye

The next day Lynn had a dentist appointment to get her teeth cleaned and when they got back her Mom dropped her off before heading back to work. Brady,  Wes and Max were in their driveway playing basketball. She smiled and said hi to all of them before going inside and getting ready for her date with Tucker. 

She threw on a pair of her favorite jeans and a tank top and layered it with a long grey cardigan. She put her hair up in a cute messy bun and put on some light natural makeup. She was just finishing up when she heard a knock at the front door. 

She headed down the stairs and opened the door to see Tucker standing there wearing jeans and a t-shirt with tennis shoes. They had agreed to dress casual for their date so it was perfect. 

"Hey Lynn, You look beautiful," he said, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You ready to go?" 

"Yep. I'm ready," she said with a big smile, following him outside to his black Jeep. 

As they walked past the driveway Brady was in the middle of a game but she noticed him looking over at them as they left. She gave him a wave and a smile as they pulled away. 

"So where are we heading?" she asked. 

"I thought we could go to dinner and a movie. Is that alright or is that too boring and predictable? We can do something else if you want." 

"No Tucker. That's completely fine. I swear," she said with a smile and he reached over and took her hand in his and weaved their fingers together. 

She smiled at him and studied his cute face and realized how lucky she was that a good looking guy like him would like someone like her. She knew she wasn't ugly but she felt plain, boring, shy and invisible. 

They went to a nice sit-down Japanese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you while the chef does tricks, flipping the food up and catching it in his hat, creating a fire volcano out of an onion and tossing an egg up in the air and landing it perfectly on the side of the spatula where it split in half. 

They clapped and enjoyed the show and the food ended up being really amazing. 

"So what movie were you wanting to watch?" she asked. 

"Well ....... there's a special showing of The Notebook going on so I thought you might like to watch it." 

"The Notebook?" she laughed. It reminded her of the day she teasingly tried to get Brady to watch it with her but he refused. 

"Yeah The Notebook. The local theater is playing old classic romance movies all week. Is that ok?"

 "Yeah that's fine Tucker," she said with a funny smile, taking a bite of her food. 

After dinner they drove to the movie theater and scanned their tickets at the window and there were only 4 other couples in there besides them. They  took their seats right as it was starting and he took her hand in his and rested it on his leg. 

During the scene when Noah and Allie had their first kiss Tucker leaned over and whispered, "Can I kiss you?" 

Her face flushed red and she looked over at him and he looked so cute in that moment. 

"Yeah," she whispered. 

He cupped a hand around the back of her neck and slowly leaned in and pressed his lips softly to hers. His kiss was gentle and sweet. Nothing like the way Josh Sanderson had kissed her at the party. His kiss had been drunk, sloppy and aggressive.

He pulled back and looked into her eyes.

"I really like you Lynn," he whispered before leaning in for another soft kiss.