The Perfect Balance

Chapter Twelve

"You do realize it's nearly midnight, right?" I respond as I allow the blinding light to shine in front of us.

"Yeah, so?" he retorts. I look around and find that we're at a field. I squint and see soccer goals in the distance. I furrow my eyebrows and look to Diego, who is shifting the basket to his other hand. "Let's go."

I follow him, feeling the grass brush against my ankles. I shouldn't have worn my white vans but there's no going back now. His hand lightly brushes mine and I take initiative and grasp it. I intertwine our fingers and glance at him to find him grinning. He looks at me and chuckles. "Nice...buddy."

I go to tear my hand away but he tightens his grip and it's my turn to smirk. We walk until there's a clearing where the grass isn't overgrown and up to our mid-calf. I shine my light on the spot he points to and watch as he opens the basket. Diego pulls a blanket out and lays it onto the flattened grass. My eyebrows shoot up and he looks at me. "Again, I'm not trying to make a move on you."

"Last time you said that..." I trail quietly as I blush in embarrassment.

"I ended up on top of you with my tongue in your mouth?" he blurts, catching me off guard. If possible, my face reddens more. "I remember."

"Me too," I mumble, sitting down on the stereotypical checkered blanket. I place my phone so the flashlight is facing up and he does the same with his. We're surrounded by light and he drags the basket so that it's between us.

"I know you said you're not hungry but..." he trails as he pulls out a tray of assorted chocolates. He reaches in again and retrieves two soda bottles. Hurriedly, he places the basket back in the corner of the blanket and smiles at me.

"You're a hopeless romantic," I mutter as I fight off a grin.

"Who said this is an act of romance?" he retorts. "I'll take my things and go."

"No," I say as I place my hand on the chocolate box.

"You only care about the chocolate," he notices.

"No..." I trail and I reach out and touch his hand. "I care about you, too."

"Sure," he mumbles with a playful glare and a small smile. "You should lay down."

"What?" I say, a little surprised. I thought we'd flow into the whole making out thing, if that's what's happening.

"To look at the stars," he adds as he fights off a blush himself.

"Awe, you're blushing," I note.

"Seriously? You call out my blushing. You're bright red 99% of the time but I never say a thing," he responds.

"No, I'm not!" I hiss. "Only when I'm around you." I ignore his cocky response as I crane my neck to look at the sky. My eyes train themselves onto the stars appearing one by one. "They're beautiful," I mumble quietly and he laughs.

"Just like me," he whispers back. I scoff loudly as I turn my gaze on him. "You don't think so?"

I tilt my head to examine him as he stargazes. I know he's only joking but I don't want to give him a joking answer. "Yeah, I do," I confess and he turns to look at me.

"Huh?" he replies.

"You are kind of beautiful," I explain.

"Oh, really?" he says.

"Do you want to know something funny?" I start and he nods his head excitedly. "Remember when you were moving in and I walked upstairs with my dad? You were standing there with with Diablo and he tried to attack me but you restrained him."