“No way!” Damien shouted as he shoved a greasy fry unto his mouth. “I don’t believe it. You can’t do it.”
I smiled wickedly. “Oh yes I can.”
He shook his head, his eyes telling me to not dare. “Nope.”
It was 10 pm, I was with a person I wasn’t too close to, and I was in a 24-hour pizza parlour. Who says I don’t have a life?
After Damien practically hauled his motorcycle to the shop, we were now enjoying a big box of pizza, fries, and a bowl of pasta to ourselves. My mom would never approve, seeing that all she cares about are the toxins that need to be ejected in our body. Well, I ejected that philosophy as I took a forkful of spaghetti in my mouth. Wow, heaven is a place on Earth.
We were the only people in the run-down place. Luckily, Damien’s cute friend, James, was on shift tonight so we managed to snag free drinks.
“But thinking about it now, I feel just a tad bit curious.” He wiped a streak of spaghetti sauce on his cheek with a pink napkin. “Show me.”
“Well, let me feed your curiosity.” I said, putting the fork back on my almost empty plate. “Pun intended.”
I feel like a food vacuum. I clucked my tongue for warm up. He grabbed a chunky piece of pizza and urged me to go on.
“Here it goes.” I poked my tongue out and started reaching for the tip of my nose. At first my tongue didn’t budge and only brushed my upper lip but I knew better.
After endless, boring days in summer vacation, I managed to master the art of touching the tip of my nose with my tongue. I probably looked like a dweeb right then but I started going at it with intense determination and voila – I felt the friction between my tongue and the tip of my nose.
I quickly pulled my tongue back inside my mouth and looked at Damien. He looked as if he froze in the middle of eating the pizza. I laughed.
“That was,” He stuttered in a monotonous voice. He dropped the half-eaten pizza on his own plate. “Phenomenal.”
He started clapping in this excruciatingly slow and sarcastic way and I threw my napkin at him. “Shut up, you’re just jealous of my God-given talent.”
“I’m dying out of jealousy.” After he said that, he sipped some Coke from his can with a straw.
My phone beeped.
I looked at the sender. Magda.
Of course. Mom would probably be away and dad may have locked himself up in his office again.
Where r u? ur not out drunk and wasted r you? ur parents will worry
“Uh, I have to go.” I said.
On my way home. Not drunk nor wasted. Don’t wait up. Alli
I placed the phone on the table. Magda sounded calm in her text but I can tell she was really worried. I always made trouble, but I never break the house rules. You can say I’m like a good girl but in a bad kind of way.
“Don’t tell me you’re way past your bedtime?”’
“Sort of like that. I’m so sorry, but I really do need to go now.” I slid out of the booth. “Thanks for the treat and the time. See you around.”
He stood up as he decided to wear his backpack. “Wait, let me take you home.”
Oh no. I can’t let him see my house. Once he sees the huge gate, the massive garden, and the water fountain, it wouldn’t take him long to figure out that I was uh, gifted with the luxuries of life. People tend to get really intimidated by me and my family, which is the main reason why I don’t have that much friends.
“Oh no need,” I started walking backwards. I have to get away, quick. “I can walk.”
But that may take me thirty minutes, and I’m not that familiar with the streets…
He quickly made his way over me and smiled. “I insist.”
“I insist that you stop insisting.” I said, already heading out the exit. “Seriously, it’s fine. Good night, Damien.”
It felt bad just leaving him hanging, but I felt like it was the best thing to do.
I slammed the screen door back to its place and walked brusquely away from the pizza place. I don’t actually know where I’m going but I’ll just wing it.
I saw the huge parking lot and spotted Damien’s motorcycle parked perfectly in the corner. I kept on walking.
Maybe I should just take a cab or look at Google Maps for directions. It was pretty late, and there are potential thugs around our area. Maybe I shouldn’t have denied his request. But then I realized; Who cares if I was rich? My riches don’t define who I am, only I can do that.
Should I turn around? But I’m so far now. I’m at least a few meters away from the place. Besides, Damien could have already left. I did insist for him to stop insisting…crappy cakes.
“Allison!” I heard Damien shout. Or maybe it was me imagining the shouts, but it was Damien all right. I turned around and saw him jogging his way towards me. When he halted to a stop, he was trying very hard to catch his breath. “Wow, that was a work out.”
I looked at him baffled. “What the-“
“Your phone-“ Huff. “You left-“ Heavy breathing. “On the table-“He sounds like he was gonna pass out.
“Do you want some water?” I asked dumbly.
At first I didn’t know what he was talking about because I can vividly remember that I placed it on the…table. Yup. I did forget my phone. He opened his right hand (because the left one was carrying his helmet) and there, on top of his palm, was my beloved iPhone. I grabbed it in one swift motion.
“Thank you so so so so much!” I planted a kiss on the screen of my phone. “I think I’m going to go mental if this gets lost. I owe you a lot.”
“Yes, yes you do.” Maybe this would be my cue to tell him I actually needed the ride.
He cleared his throat and I noticed the silence that I didn’t even know was there. “Hey, Damien?”
“Yes?”
“About that ride…”
“I knew sooner or later you’ll need it.” He suddenly hung the black savvy helmet on top of my head and plopped it on me.
“What’s this?” I asked, opening the sliding thing on the helmet to let me see.
“Protection.” He shut the glass slide shut and knocked on my head (or helmet) twice. “So you’ll be safe.”
“How about you?” I asked.
“I can manage.”
Playing the gentleman card now are we?
***
“So, this is it?” Damien said as he examined the cottage I led him to. Seeing that the shack was literally just beside our one mansion of a house, I figured that it would be pretty safe to pretend that this was my home. We were standing a few meters away from the white fence that apparently protected the dead Bermuda grass and dusty lawn gnome.
“Yup.” I said, eyeing the small house and the flickering light bulb on its front porch. “It’s not much, but it’s home.”
From what I’ve known, this place was pretty much owned by an old lovely couple. Dennis and Helen, I think. They always came over for dinner every Christmas because our family apparently reminded them of their respective children’s families who now lived in Australia or Uganda or something like that.
He nodded thoughtfully. “Are your parents home?”
Hmm, they probably were. Or not. I literally have no idea.
I shook my head. “Not that I know of. They’re on vacation, I think.” Argh, he sensed hesitation. “Wait, it’s not I think, I know that they’re on vacation. In the Bahamas. On a cruise ship. The kind of cruise ship that gives out Pina coladas. Yeah.”
I finished my smooth alibi with a reasonable smile; which was kind of stupid because I was still wearing the protective covering that we would likely be calling a helmet.
“You’re not telling the truth, are you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“You twirl your hair unconsciously when you’re lying.”
“Huh. You don’t know that.”
I looked down and saw a few pieces of my hair stuck in a mid-twirl. I quickly disentangled the strands from my finger.
“Yeah,” He said as he took one step closer to me. Damien lifted the glass sliding shield thing and looked me in the eyes. “I do.”
I felt my tummy tighten. Oh my god.
“I know that you’re not afraid of Santa Clause too.”
He unbuckled the helmet off of me. Making my hair cascade down my shoulders like a beautiful waterfall. Just kidding, more like a benevolent tornado.
Okay, things were getting pretty tight.
“So my only question is,” He said, his voice sounding almost soft and sweet. “What are you afraid of?”
I am in a real pickle. Should I tell him the truth? Or should I just lie about me, myself, even my house?
You know what, this is pathetic. I can’t believe I’m lying to a person just so they can like me better.
I’m telling the truth.
“I’m afraid of animals, Damien.” I closed my eyes, waiting for his series of exaggerated what’s and why’s. “Cats to be exact.”
It never came.
I slowly opened my eyes. Damien was just looking at me confused. I knew it. Now he’s going to think I’m a stuck up. A confused, thin line in his mouth turned into a weak smile. Now it was my turn to be confused.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“Because, I wouldn’t want to be less of a person.”
“Hey, fearing animals wouldn’t make you less of a person.” He lifted his arm, and I thought he was going to run his fingers into his hair again but I was surprised when I felt his fingers tenderly stroking my cheek. “In my book anyway,”
He pinched my cheek softly. “…butt face.”
Shocked, nervous, and anxious are words to describe what I was feeling.
“And the way you treated Winston…it never even occurred to me you were afraid of him.”
The warmth of his sleek fingers still lingered when he removed his hand away from my face. I didn’t even have time to react to his little pet name because I simply could not speak properly. And for a moment, we just stared at each other’s eyes.
I took a deep breath. Wow, he’s beautiful.
The way the sun portrayed Damien in daylight did not do any justice to how beautiful he looked tonight. His hair was a little all over the place because he risked not wearing a helmet on the motorcycle. And then suddenly I remembered the way his lips quivered when he was scared on that basement, and everything he had done for me.
Then, he flashed a smile.
Oh my god, I think I may be starting to like him - and not platonically at that.
***
All of a sudden, he felt the urge to touch her. I mean, he was touching her, but he wanted to be closer to her than that. He lowered his eyes to her lips, in the most innocent way possible, and realized that he wanted to kiss her.
Not in a hot and heavy make out session kind of way, but like, to feel her lips against his in the most subtle way possible. Now that he has caressed her cheek, it felt like the softest thing he had ever touched. He was aware that his fingers were probably shaking in excitement when he touched her, but he tried to hide that with his tone and voice.
Looking at her round and captivating eyes, he began to feel something on the bottom of his stomach. It wasn’t because of the artery clogging food either. Was it possible that he was starting to like her? And not platonically at that.
As he thought of all of these, all he could do was smile at her.
***
Why is he looking at me like that? Why am I looking at him like this?
What is this feeling I am feeling in the pit of my stomach? Time seems to stop and the only thing that I feel is the heat radiated from his finger to my face. He was looking at my lips, I was sure of it. Reciprocating his action, I found myself looking at his too. They were chapped, probably because of the cold, and I was suddenly entertaining thoughts of how to moisturize them.
…
…
…
What the hell am I thinking?
And before I knew it, he was leaning in. I saw how he slowly parted his lips and I kid you not everything started to go in slow motion. I closed my eyes, not quite sure what I was doing but going with the flow nevertheless.
As we got closer and closer, the paranoid voice of my inner self started bugging me.
Eww, you just ate a pretty heavy meal. You don’t just kiss people when you just ate!
What if you lean left and he leans right? You’ll just end up in a head butt.
What if he kissed his lovely felines back in the shelter?
I think I really am crazy. I pushed those thoughts away and puckered up.
Surprisingly, Damien’s breath still managed to smell minty and fresh that I started to become more cautious and insecure. Maybe I should chicken out and turn my head away. Why do I have to be so indecisive?
Before our lips touched, I turned away quickly. I looked at Damien, trying to tell him through my eyes that I just didn’t want him to be disgusted by my potential bad breath.
A pained expression – that was what I saw.
“Damien, I-“
“Allison! Is that you? What are you doing in neighbor’s front yard? I ordered Manny to open gate! Are you with somebody?”
Dang. Magda why now? I haven’t even told Damien the truth.
Damien swiftly tried to hide his disappointment and let out a tiny smile. “Oh, looks like your neighbours are still awake.”
“Actually,” I bit my lip. “They aren’t my neighbours.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s our house helper, Magda.”
He frowned. “So I’m guessing this isn’t your house.”
“No…”
“And this isn’t your front yard?”
“Nope…”
“And that’s your water fountain?” He looked as if he was figuring all of these out every minute.
“Yes…” I felt like turd. “I’m so sorry. I understand if you never want to talk to me again.”
I turned around but my hand was suddenly pulled back.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. I still want to talk to you.”
I stared at my shoe. I just want to go inside and hide in my bedroom.
“I’m just, it’s hard to explain okay.” I let my gaze up, but not able to look him in the eye. “I have reasons as to why I didn’t tell you the truth.”
“And I’m sure that you’ll tell me why, but for now, and probably for a long time, I still want to talk to you.” He looked up at the stars and back at me. “I like talking to you. And I don’t see why you think that I don’t want to – ever.”
Well mama llamas. ”Miss Allison, is that you?”
I guiltily ignored Magda.
I finally looked him in the eye.
“That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He just smiled at me sheepishly and I just can’t help it, I kissed him on the cheek. When I pulled back, I saw that Damien was literally just stunned. I smiled at him.
“I don’t want to ruin the moment or anything but if you don’t want to get bombarded by questions,” I whispered as I heard footsteps coming towards us. “I suggest you make a break for it.”
He nodded. “Right. I’ll text you.”
He effortlessly put his helmet on and started to start up his vehicle.
“But you don’t know my—“
“I’ll text you!” He looked back at me and gave me a thumbs up before driving off.
“You don’t know my number, you goofball!” I shouted back to a lamp post. Just as he was already far from me, Magda finally went her way to me and tapped me on the shoulder.
“It’s so late, Allison. Your parents are waiting inside. Come on.”
Yeah, right.
“Who was that with you, by the way?”
“Just a friend.”
Or is he?