The 20 Dates Challenge

Thirteen - Date Number Six

Date Number Six

When the sandwiches are all finished, I pack bag for the night; my pyjamas, my pillow, a change of clothes for the next day and, because Alex said to, lots of blankets. We pack it all up in his car and he drives me to his house and we take it all into the living room, where blankets and pillows are piled over the couches.

‘What’s this for?’ I ask.

He pulls the piece of paper from his pocket.

‘Six, build forts out of furniture and blankets and wage war on each other with paper airplanes,’ he says, smiling wide.

‘Didn’t we used to do this when we were kids?’ I ask.

‘Yeah, but I bet it’s still just as fun.’

I dump my stuff in his room and bring out the blankets. We spend the next couple of hours working on our forts. I give mine a castle look by putting a table in the middle and stacking chairs around it like castle turrets and covering it all in sheets. I left a spot at the back so I can get in under the table and throw airplanes through a gap in the sheet, or on top of the table and throw them over the turrets. I have no idea what Alex’s fort is meant to be, it just looks like a giant, colourful cube with a few gaps in it. Mattresses and pillows cover the ground

After we have both finished our forts, we eat diner while making paper airplanes. Connie helps me fold planes. After, Alex and I go back into the living room. We both stash our planes around our forts and then meet in the middle of room.

‘Rules?’ I ask him.

‘Free for all?’ he says.

‘Deal.’

We shake hands and go back to our separate forts. I grab a few planes and slip them carefully into my back pockets.

‘When does this start?’ Alex calls from his fort.

I sneak around to the back of my fort and climb onto the table, hiding behind the turrets. Alex is looking through one of the gaps in the sheets and can’t see me. I take aim and send an airplane flying over the sheets and into his shoulder.

‘Now,’ I yell back.

‘Unfair!’

‘You’re the one who said free for all,’ I laugh back.

He launches a few planes and I jump under the table. We spend the next twenty minutes running around the room through paper planes at each other. Soon enough, all the planes are crumpled. I pick up a cushion and throw it at him. He catches it and throws it back. I jump out of the way before it can hit me.

I pick up another and turn around, hitting him on the side of the head. He quickly grabs another pillow and hits me with it. Paper planes that had been resting on the pillow fly into the air and fall around us. I keep hitting him with the pillow.

He drops the pillow and runs towards me, throwing me over his shoulder. I laugh as I struggle to get out of his grip. He falls to his knees, dropping me on a mattress and lying over me. I laugh as he tickles me.

‘Stop, please stop,’ I beg.

He just keeps tickling me. After a few minutes he stops and leans over me again. I stare up at his dark eyes and he stares back. He twirls a bit of my hair around his fingers. I brush his fringe out of his eyes. He slowly leans down and places his lips gently on mine. I close my eyes and kiss him back, breathing heavily through my nose. He pushes away and smiles.

‘Not as romantic as I imagined it,’ I giggle quietly.

‘What, am I a bad kisser?’ he laughs back.

‘I wouldn’t know,’ I admit shyly.

‘Ok, I knew you’d never gone out with a guy before. But you’ve never kissed anyone?’

‘No, I haven’t.’

‘Not even in truth or dare?’

‘I always picked truth.’

He sits up and helps me up.

‘So that was your first kiss,’ he says slowly.

‘Yeah,’ I say.

‘So this will be your second,’ he says quickly.

Before I can say anything, he leans forward and presses his lips to mine again. I close my eyes as he puts his hand on the small of my back and pulls me closer to him. I slide my arms around his neck. He slowly pulls back. I open my eyes and stare into his again.

‘I’ve been trying to pull up the courage to do that for a couple of years now,’ he whispers.

I smile shyly and bury my face in the nape of his neck. The loud bang of the living room door being opened has us jumping apart.

‘What are you kids doing in here?’ Charlene walks in with bowls of popcorn and chips.

‘Nothing,’ Alex says quickly, taking the food from her, ‘we’re just about to start a movie.’

‘Well, your sister is asleep and your father and I are off to bed so keep the volume down,’ she says over her shoulder as she walks out.

‘Will do, Mum,’ Alex says, passing me a bowl.

He sits back down and opens the cupboard full of DVDs.

‘So, what do you want to watch? Harry Potter or Starwars?’ he asks.