Take to the Skies

Chapter Twelve

The anxiety that settled like a pit in my stomach had me frozen. Which sucked, because it was Halloween.

There are a lot of ways this interaction could go, but through meticulous overthinking, I've narrowed it down to two likely scenarios:

One, Tucker tells me that he appreciates the flattery, but he doesn't want to take this any further. Which would definitely hit a blow to my chest, but I'd survive. This is probably the most likely option.

Two, he tells me that he actually wants to see if there's something between us, and that he does want to take whatever is between us further. This seems less likely. I also don't know how I would react.

In this town, with my family, there is no possible way that we could be together. At least, not in a healthy way. We would be forced to hide and would have to be extremely careful what we did at all times. I like to think that I would do it anyways for him, but the fear that I couldn't handle it and would hurt him in the process was too overwhelming. I don't like the idea of making a promise to something I'm not positive I could keep.

And then you have the problem concerning me leaving for college. To be fair, I didn't know where I was going, yet. But it was not going to be in Alabama, and I would never ask somebody to move to a whole new city because of me.

'That's assuming he would even offer to move for you' I thought as I gripped my steering wheel. I was sitting in the parking lot of Coleman Coffee, the shop that Dana and I frequent. After asking to meet in person, Tucker had offered to drive out to Killen, but I felt bad and insisted on meeting at a halfway point. My feet won't seem to move, though.

It was five till one, which was the time we'd agreed upon. Taking a few more deep breaths, my body finally started to move, grabbing my phone and keys as I exited my truck. Immediately, my arms crossed across my chest. It was about 54° degrees and I, of course, forgot a jacket. It didn't last long, though, because the moment I opened the door, I was welcomed with the comforting scent of coffee beans and warmth.

"Pres!"

I hadn't even walked three steps before I heard my name. Looking around the little shop, my eyes settled on Tucker, who was sitting in the corner of the room at a small table. I couldn't help but smile as I made my way over, noticing two cups in front of him. He was wearing a black crewneck with Ghostface on it, baggy blue jeans and his dark hair fell into perfect pieces around his forehead.

He looked so good.

My eyebrow raised as I took the seat across from him, eyeing the cup. "You got me a coffee?" I asked, raising the cup to my lips.

Tucker shook his head fervently, the pieces of dark hair shifting with his movement, "No, I would never. Hot chocolate, of course," he assured as I took a small sip, sighing as warmth spread through my chest.

"Thank you," I said gratefully, "how'd you know?"

"I remembered you saying how you liked hot chocolate better awhile back. This shop is really nice," he said, looking around. It was busier than normal, with customers filling almost every table. Privately, I was thankful for the busyness, because it provided a screen of noise to drown out our conversation to prying ears.

I nodded awkwardly, "Yeah, I love it. How long have you been sitting by yourself?"

He shrugged looking down at his hands, "I don't know, probably about twenty minutes. No big deal, I just wanted to make sure I was on time."

The smile was refusing to leave my lips. 'He just gets better by the second,' I thought, 'Goddamn, this conversation is going to hurt.'

"So, um, about last night-" I started, my voice faltering as I met his eyes. He wasn't staring at me with intent, or expectation. His eyes were soft and inviting, like all he wanted to do was listen to me speak. It felt like I was about to kick a puppy.