Somebody to Love - A Joe Mazzello FanFiction

Chapter 11 - The First Date Part 2

"Then, I listened to every cd, read every book about them, and watched every movie by them. I was obsessed. Like very obsessed. But, no matter how cringey I was then, they opened the door to me discovering all of these bands that I either knew before or never heard of. One of them was Queen, but there were so many more as well." He adjusted himself in his seat so he resting his chest on the edge of the table. He was leaning closer to me. I was sat straight up in my seat, but with him even slightly closer, I could feel my heart rate quicken.

"What about your job? How did you start that?" I smiled.

"I did it as a hobby. I had been singing for as long as I had been talking, maybe even before. I love singing and I just wanted to sing and play songs that I loved. It just turned into something I could make money from. So I dropped my graphic design job a couple months ago and just followed my singing. It ended up leading me here." I gave him a small smile.

"Do you like where it lead you?" He cocked his head to one side as he removed his hand from his face and just rested his arms on the table. I smiled like a little girl.

"Yes, of course, I do. But, I think you're asking if I like being here with you, right?" I let out a little laugh as he nodded. His lips curled up into a shy smile. "I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else." I gave a nervous/shy smile as I rested my hands on the table for the first time tonight. There was a small pause as I rested my head in my right hand, leaving the left one on the table. I played with a small part of my hair with my right hand without removing my hand from my face. I gave another nervous smile directed down toward the table. I had felt like I said something wrong. I was never that forward with a guy before. Like I said, flirting was never my forte. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Joe's arm shift so it was also resting on the table. His hand inched closer to mine and slowly wrapped around the outside of my hand until he was holding it. His hand was under mine as I felt his fingers slowly adjust to their final position.

I breathed in sharply and quietly so that he wouldn't stop if he heard my reaction. He started rubbing his thumb along my fingers trying to soothe me. I was so stunned. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I began trying to slow it down by taking in soft, quiet deep breaths.

"Me neither," He said. I couldn't help myself. I giggled and smiled super wide. Joe raised his eyebrows at me. "So, that's how you really feel about me." I smiled even wider, which I didn't think was possible and nodded. "Feels nice." He smiled wide too. We sat there laughing at our lack of control over our feelings and went back to talking. Joe kept hold of my hand, and I never wanted to leave that spot. The thought that Joe's hand would not be there forever made my heart sink. We kept talking; the whole time laughing and smiling more than we had before. We had broken whatever tension was left, and we knew how we really felt about each other. We liked each other a lot.

I got him talking about Jurassic Parka little more and he told me about how he got 'Happy Birthday' sung to him right after getting hit in the head with a raptor claw. I smiled and laughed all the way through the story. It felt so natural; talking and being with him. I never wanted to leave. Our food eventually came and we would take breaks between eating to talk about bands and movies we loved. I talked about my favorite songs to sing and which ones my audience liked the most, and he talked about some of the celebrities he worked with. He mainly talked about Steven Spielberg because I had asked him to. He didn't have a problem talking about him because it sounded like he was a personal hero of Joe's. I loved watching him talk about acting because I could see how much he loved it in his eyes. Whenever I got him talking about it, I could see that his eyes were smiling.

We finished up eating and the check came. I started reaching for my purse to pay for half of the bill. He outstretched his hand, stopping me.

"I got it. It's my treat. It's not very often that I get to take such a pretty girl out on a date." I could feel myself blushing and smiled. Joe even smiled when he saw me react. Thankfully, he couldn't see how flushed my cheeks were in the dim light. I could feel the rush of blood to my cheeks and ears. I could tell that in regular light, I was as red as a ruby. The waiter came over and took the check away from us. He was back in no time and we got ready to leave. As I rose from my seat, Joe was right behind me with his hand on my back once more. He leaned closer to my ear and almost whispered, "Ready?" I nodded with a smile and he led me back toward the front of the restaurant, his hand never leaving my back. We kept a slow pace, trying to keep contact between us for as long as possible.

When we got to the car, he opened the door for me once more. I sat down and the door closed behind me. Once he couldn't hear me anymore, I let out a huge sigh. Something I didn't realize I had been holding in. He made me feel like a teenager again, and I loved it. He sat down on the driver's side and started the car with another smile. As we started back toward my place, the silence between us was different. It was no longer awkward, but understanding. We both knew how we felt about each other and it felt good to have those feelings out in the open. When the car stopped in front of my building, I didn't want to leave. I slowly got out of the car and closed the door behind me. I looked at my building. It seemed to have a happier glow around it now. Maybe it was because I was so happy. Joe rushed around the other side of the car and landed at my side. We walked to my door as slowly as we could. Neither one of us wanted to go home, but we knew we had to. We had spent two hours together, but it felt like 10 minutes.

"You know," I looked over at Joe. He had his hands in his pockets again. A trait of his that I was beginning to love because I knew it was because he was nervous. "I had a really good time tonight. Like, a lot better than I thought." I raised an eyebrow at him and let out some air in a soft laugh. "Oh, not like that." He raised his arms in defense. "I knew I would have fun with you, but I had way more fun than I thought. Just, take it as a compliment." He nervously smiled and looked down at the ground. His shoulders were tensed up to his neck.

"I will." I chuckled. "And I had a lot of fun with you too." I smiled at the ground as well. We stopped at the step in front of the front door. The yellow light above the door flooded down upon us. It felt like a spotlight on us. The warmth from the lamp stung my face, but it felt nice. We turned toward each other, not sure of what to do next. I pointed at his hands in his pockets, "Do you always do that when you're nervous?" I joked with him. He quickly yanked his hands out his pockets after a small frightened look. "No, I like it. It's really cute." I smiled at him as he looked up at me. He wasn't smiling. He looked serious. He just stared at me with intensity. I didn't know what was going through his head. I thought the stare went on forever, but it was only a few seconds at most.

I swallowed and nervously smiled one more time. I intentionally leaned closer to him. I wanted to kiss him so badly, but I didn't know if that's what he wanted. When I was the closest to him in my lean, he put one hand on my right arm and his other hand found its way to my chin; pulling my head up to his. We were so close that I could feel his warm breath in the cold air. I stared into his eyes, trying to give him telepathic signals to kiss me. I wanted it so badly. I had wanted it since I saw him the first time. I let out a breath and relaxed my head and body after his touch. After days of trying not to melt in front of him, I couldn't keep it together anymore.

He smiled and pulled me closer. When our lips touched, I felt chills and goosebumps. He moved his hand away from my chin and placed it on the back of my head. I moved one of my hands to his shoulder. The first kiss was soft; our lips barely touched. But, once we both knew that this is what the other person wanted, we kissed harder. Sinking deeper and deeper into the touch of the other person. Kissing each other in the cold winter air. Keeping each other warm. I don't know who pulled away first, but the kissing stopped. We were both breathing a little harder. My eyes were still closed, trying to stay in the moment as long as possible. When I opened them, his hand was still on my arm and he was staring into my eyes. I smiled wide once again.

"I hope we do this again soon," I said. He laughed. His eyes left mine for a second. When his eyes landed back on mine, he spoke.

"Me too," he responded with a smile, "I'll call you." He leaned in a kissed me on the cheek.

"Bye, Joe."

"Bye, Julie." I stepped inside my building and made it into my apartment. I closed the door and placed my back on the door. I pulled my hands up to my face as I began to feel my face flush. I was blushing and giggling uncontrollably. My smile was as wide as it had ever been. Joe was mine, at least for a little while. And he was a gentleman and a romantic at that. I couldn't believe how much of a catch he was. And he liked me. A lot.