𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

A L E X A N D E R

"Funny, I could listen to you talk about your passion project all day. You go right ahead." I say, meeting her eyes once again and finding it impossible to look away. She's got an intense stare, especially when I see the gratitude and adoration in them, directed towards me. She doesn't try to hide a thing, wearing her heart on her sleeve.

"Well alright then, where should I start?" She asks, looking straight ahead and smiling.

We walk and talk like that for hours, and I get to hear all about Charlotte's game and her plans for the future regarding it. She asks me a few questions here and there, regarding my approach to our identical course load for this year and how I plan to use it.

The sun starts to set and it's the only reason that I'm aware of the approximate time, as I haven't checked my phone since we arrived. We turn around where we are, having been wandering down the beach aimlessly, going back towards our spot hand in hand.

"I've had a really good time, Alexander," Charlotte says, tucking a few stray hairs that have escaped her braid behind her ear.

I squeeze her hand. "So have I. I meant what I said about next time."

"That we'll play volleyball and you'll be a sore loser?" She laughs.

"That there will be one. That I want to do this again, with you," I admit, letting go of Charlotte's hand and wrapping my arm around her shoulders, suddenly feeling as though the space between us is too expansive. It's hot, but the sun has since hidden behind a large group of clouds, so our skin doesn't melt off as we touch.

Using my left hand, I flip my baseball cap around to the back of my head, keeping the other firmly around her as she speaks up after a moment of comfortable silence. "I want that too." Her voice is quiet, almost hesitant. "I can't quite believe it. If this is all happening a little fast for you, I completely un—"

"Charlotte, stop worrying. We're good. I'm enjoying this, and that includes the pace at which we're moving," I assure her and her shoulders loosen underneath my arm. A slight breeze picks up and suddenly I can smell whatever products she has in her hair and it is heavenly. She looks and smells like an angel, and she wants me.

Her only red flag so far is odd taste in men. Man. Me, at least.

After we've gathered all of our things and trekked back to the vehicle, I open the door for Charlotte before throwing everything into the backseat as she climbs in. I receive a gorgeous grin for that tiny gesture and it somehow makes me nervous.

As much as I've wanted to, the two of us have never so much as kissed, and now we're on our way back to her place after our first official date. Charlotte is this cool, sexy, surprisingly geeky girl and I'm just the guy she seems to want.

I'm not blind enough to think that I look like I've crawled out of a dumpster, but I'm a big nerd with a limited capacity for small talk and very minimal sexual experience, so I worry that the way she looks at me is because of how she feels about what's on the outside. Come for the abs, stay for...what exactly?

"Are you wearing contacts?" Charlotte asks, breaking me out of my reverie as I sit down and turn the car on.

"Uh, yeah," I answer and she just nods, looking extremely comfortable while I'm over here internally freaking out a little bit.

"You remind me of Superman. Obviously the same with our without, but different too. In a good way."

"Thank you," I say and mean it. Her random point draws me out of my head enough to relax in the driver's seat, reverse the car, and drive. "You look like a Disney princess with your big eyes and perfect hair. Imagine the animation they'd have to do to get this—" I reach over to feel her hair in my hands, tugging on her braid teasingly "—perfect. Need a whole team. Like Rapunzel." She smiles

"Wouldn't that be fun? Making the software to create stuff like that. Just the word create gives me goosebumps."

"Nerd." I tease, earning myself a light slap on the arm but what I really wanted was the giggle that sounded throughout the car in addition to it. We lean into the superhero topic, moving on quickly from Dc to Marvel, as Charlotte is apparently very passionate about all things MCU, as she should be.

I find myself disappointed when we pull up to Charlotte's dorm building because I want this to be the perfect end to a perfect first date, and that means that it ends here.

We walk together, hand in hand to the front door where she uses her fob to unlock it, the two of us coming to a halt. Instead of any awkward tension like I was expecting, Charlotte tilts her head to the side, looks up at me, and smiles softly.

"Want to come hang out?" She invites me up and despite the devil on my shoulder screaming for me to say yes, the other one reminds me of my intentions.

"As much as I would love to, my plan is still to walk you to your door, kiss you goodnight, and see you again as soon as you'll let me."

"We'll come back to that second part in a second. But why not tonight? I'll just close the door, turn around, and then it will be next time." She says cheekily, teasing the hell out of me.

"Charlotte..."

"Fine, I'm still taking you up on that kiss though." She grins, wrapping her arms around my neck and standing on her toes to reach me. The two of us stand like that for a minute, eyes locked on each other's and I watch as hers close, leaning in to bridge that gap between us when suddenly the building's fire alarm goes off. Charlotte's eyes open wide and she purses her lips together, fighting a disbelieving smile while I do the same.

Her arms are still around my neck and we quickly realize that we're still in front of the door as loud, grumbling students make their way down to the lower level, exiting the building at the slowest pace I've ever seen someone exit a building that may contain a potential fire.

"It's been happening multiple times a day. Usually, the first one is taken seriously, but by the end of the day, some people even stay in their rooms." Charlotte explains, giggling and pulling me off to the side. "I guess we should say goodnight now. Reed will be out any minute and I should keep her company."

We smile at each other for a minute before I take her hand in mine once more time as I walk backwards, letting it slip from my fingers and fall back to her side.

"See you in class, Rapunzel."

"Goodbye, Alexander." I think she just likes saying my name as much as I like hearing her say it.