We entered a very petite yet cute coffee shop. It was called Small Paris. I looked over at my date to see him smiling at me. I smiled back, watching him look away and guide me to the counter. I looked at the extensive menu and heard him ordering 'his usual with today's special'. I ordered some tea that was too hard to pronounce and had to have to point out, said to me correctly, and on which I repeated quite wrong. With the weird French tea, I had ordered a 'wild berry crepe'. We paid and sat down with a plastic number.
"What do you think?" I heard him ask.
"It's so cute. I'm guessing from how you said 'your usual' that you come here often?" I chuckled.
He giggled, "Yeah. It's my home away from home. I'm glad you like it."
We chatted for a little bit. I noticed how his body language was when we were chatting. He kept pushing his hair back, messing with his sleeves, crossing his legs, and looking down if I said something 'cute'. Our friendship had become so strange to me that I had forgotten he was my teacher. He didn't even seem like my teacher at this point. We had inside jokes, talked on the phone, and hung out a lot.
"I meant to say this when I first saw you, but you look really nice today. It was a surprise to see you in something so casual." I said, taking a sip of my unpronounceable tea.
"Really? I almost changed..." He looked away.
"No, no. You look great. I mean you generally always do. I couldn't pull off half of the things you wear," I paused, "...too complicated to take off..."
He was taking a drink of his coffee and choked, "Frank!"
I laughed, "I couldn't help it! I saw the chance and I took it!"
His face was bright red and that made me laugh even harder. Our food came and I was still laughing. He apologized on my behalf and the chick simply chuckled and said it was fine. When I had finally stopped, he looked like he was on the verge of slapping me. But when I made eye contact with him, his expression softened and he went to his food. I dug into mine and on the first bite, I was extremely pleased.
"Good?" He asked.
"Fucking amazing..." I sighed.
We ate and talked about this and that. At one point I had slipped up on my words and called him 'Gerald'. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Another awkward thing happened as well. I adjusted my legs and had grazed his leg with my foot. He stopped in his tracks and lifted a questioning eyebrow at me. He did it back, watching me turn pink in embarrassment.
The fair was really cool. I saw a lot of gay/lesbian couples and a few of them waved at us. We went to this one booth where we got a few pins and things. I got a pin that I thought was really funny. It wasn't really related to what their whole thing was about, but they explained that this was how her daughter made extra cash, so I took it, laughing. It was a yellow pin that said "encourage lesbianism".
My date had pinned it on for me and then laughed when he said that I looked really proud to wear it. I told him that I was extremely proud to wear it. We looked at a few more booths and chatted with some really friendly people. I even got to meet the famous cousin that gave us tickets to come here. She was very nice and ran the booth with her girlfriend and their friend. She complimented my button and laughed for awhile. She pointed out that I looked very proud to wear it.
We left her booth and then walked around for a little bit more. I felt his hand brush against mine and looked up at him to see him looking at me. We both looked away, flustered.
Wait.
So, you know how I've been more comfortable with my sexuality ever since I've met him? Was it because...
No.
No.
There was no way I liked him! This was not going to be like some of the many fanfictions I have read.
I looked back up at him and he was turning pink. His hand touched mine again and I looked straight forward, "You know," I started, "we are on a date. You can hold my hand if you want to."
I was just testing things. That was it. This wasn't wrong. I was testing my sexuality and... if I liked this or not.
I felt his hand again, this time not just a ghost of a touch. He snaked his fingers with mine and I could hear him sigh. My stomach jumped. I hated to admit it to myself, but this felt nice. I looked back at him and he was bright pink, hiding a smile, looking down. He caught my glance and his smile grew. I looked down, smiled, and then made eye contact with him again. It was kind of funny. I had held people's hands before, but none of them ever fit as nicely as his in mine.
Was this...?
No, I couldn't ask.
It was wrong to ask.
Even if I am 18, I would still need my parent's permission for this.
"I, uh-"
"Frank, I-"
"Go ahead."
"No, you."
"Alright... is this okay?"
"Would I have suggested it if it wasn't?"
"Fair point." He giggled.
We eventually left the fair and dicked around until the movie started. We cruised around town for a bit in his convertible (yes, a Volkswagen convertible), and then chilled at an arcade. My inner nerd kinda exploded when I saw that they had the original Pacman game there. He gave me a couple of bucks to play small arcade games. Like the original ones. None of that newer stuff. No one can ever top the old arcade games. I even got GW to play air hockey with me. He won. We had spent quite a long time there, and shared a few moments that really made my inner gay go 'fuck'.
For example, I helped him figure out this one game that he was trying to play. I came up behind him and showed him how to do it. It was really funny because he couldn't find out what to say and just ended up being a blushy, stuttering mess. It felt strangely nice to be that close to him. My chest touched his back and I had rested my head on his shoulder, telling him how to play it... It made my chest feel warm...
Was that bad?
Now we were standing in line to get popcorn, chatting about the arcade.
"I never knew you were such a nerd." He giggled.
"Aren't we all some kind of closeted nerd? Mine is arcade games and aliens... What are yours?"
"Oh, me?" He looked away, "Uh... D&D and comic books..."
I giggled, "Nerds alike."
"I can help you over here, sir." A guy called out to us.
We walked over to him, and I could've sworn I saw a flash of recognition in my date's eyes, but I stayed quiet about it. We got a medium popcorn and medium coke to share. I walked close to my date to the theater. It was just previews as of now. I had my arm resting on the armrest and saw a hand reaching for mine out the corner of my eye.
"Oh, uh, may I?" He whispered.
"No need to ask," I responded, glad the dim lighting made my blush hard to see.
He took his hand in mine again. The lighting dimmed even more and the opening credits of the movie came on. The movie was a cheesy horror film about a realm of 'shadow people'...? But at one point, there was a heated kissing scene and I felt his hand squeeze mine. I don't think it was intentional, but I did feel him glance at me. I mean, I have noticed his lips before in that way before. They looked kissable...
I shook my head gently and continued with the movie. The movie wasn't that bad for its time. There was a lot of really weird romantic scenes with this chick and the movie's hero. I didn't mind it, but it made for some awkward moments. I was kinda tired by the end of the movie and almost found myself dozing off. The lights went back up as the credits ran and we got up, talking about our thoughts on the movie.
He said he enjoyed it but could do with a little more blood and just a smidge less cheesy romance scenes. I agreed but said I thought a few of the scenes were cute. He nodded, saying that some of them were. We then went on to mock this one scene.
"Harris," he said in a high voice, "don't go! You'll certainly be killed!"
"But, Mary," I said pulling him close like Harris had done, "I must go. I must save this town."
He tilted his head back as she had done, "But what about us? Won't you stay for me?"
"Mary, this is a matter we must save for later. I'm not just doing this for you anymore. I will be back." I moved my hand to his hip, mocking the pose that they had done in the movie.
"At least kiss me goodbye, Harris." He whispered, looking back at me, almost doing it just as Mary had.
"Who says I'm not coming back, Mary? I'll kiss you when I return."
I twisted out of our pose like Harris did and he reached out to me, feigning the sad expression Mary had as Harris left. We burst into laughter. If anyone had seen us, they probably wondered what the hell we were doing in the parking lot. We were still laughing as we got into the car. When he started it, the station that he had on started playing Bohemian Rhapsody and we both just kinda looked at each other and started yelling the lyrics.
We sang all the way to my house, and he turned the radio off. He looked at me, unsure of what to say or how to act, "Should I walk you up there...?"
"Uh, yeah, sure."
I led him to the porch. My parents were obviously asleep, but they were nice so they left the porch light on. I looked up at Gerard. His body language was nervous and awkward. I half smiled, "I really enjoyed today."
"I did, too. Maybe we can do it again sometime?" He asked.
"Yeah. I'd like that."
I knew how dates went. If it went well, they would kiss. Or at least that's what my mom told me. I wouldn't know cause dates weren't really a thing I was experienced with. With the way he was looking at me, it looked like he was trying to figure out whether to hug me or do anything for that matter. I sighed and just said fuck it. I went for the middle of the two extremes.
I stood up on my toes and kissed his cheek, "Goodnight, Gerard."
His hand touched his cheek lightly. His face was turning pink and he smiled, shocked, "Night...Frankie..."
I waved gently, going inside.