(Tuesday, July 16)
"Everybody take it from the start!" Allie screamed as she played the song again. "One two three, gentlemen! One two three, bow! One two three, IN POSITION! And one two three four, one two three four, one two three four five!" she said as she clapped her hands while counting.
"Why is she screaming", I said as I danced with Chan.
"She thinks we can't hear her", he laughed.
"Now. One two, twirl", she carried on till the end of the song. "And bow together."
Everyone was basically dying of tiredness. Panting like crazy and lying on the ground as if we had run a million miles. But Chan still seemed to be doing fine.
"How are you not even sweating?" I asked as I panted while talking.
"I work out quite a lot, this is nothing", he said as he helped me back up.
"Everyone there will be a break of about a month until the next class. So there is only one day left before the break and I want everyone present that day. Everyone does know the dance but we'll have to work a little more on synchronisation. After the break we'll catch up from where we left. Class dismissed", she said as she took her bag and left.
"One more class and then I'm freed from this for a few weeks. I don't think I could hold it any longer", I said as I took my bag.
"The real question here is that you have been doing this for almost a month, how are you not used to it already?" he said jokingly.
"You see I can do this dance one time a day, perhaps two times. But from the moment you make me dance this three times in a row, expect me to sweat like crazy and be tired as hell. I'm lazy and this has been a lot of effort", I said as we walked back to the car.
"Well, people start somewhere," he said. "Anyways, Luna?"
"That's me."
"Today we won't be able to get coffee, me and my parents are going to talk business from the company. We're going out to eat and it's quiet important", he said as we both got in the car.
"Ah, business. That's important, you shouldn't back away from that," I said actually a bit disappointed, because I really liked going to get coffee with him. But business is business.
"I promise I'll make it up to you", he said.
"Chan-"
"Chris", he corrected quickly.
"Chris, you don't have to it's not like you owe me something. I owe you a lot of things", I said.
"So you don't want me to make it up?" he asked hesitant.
"We'll go like always after class. Okey?", I said sliding down a bit hiding my red face in my shirt.
I could hear him laugh next to me but I didn't make it quite obvious, or at least I tried to.
"Friday it is then", he said as he drove me back to my place.
We hadn't talked about our 'date' tomorrow, or at least he didn't bring it up. But before I could leave the care he talked again.
"Don't forget. Tomorrow at seven", he said giving me a smile.
"Tomorrow at seven", I said with a smile and went to my house.
I closed the door and for a second I was standing still and then I just started jumping up and down out of excitement and just let out everything.
"Why are you so damn loud when you enter!"
I let out a scream because I thought no one was home. "I thought you weren't home!"
"Well I am!" he said, throwing his hands up. "Now, what was it that you were excited about?" he smirked.
"Don't make me say anything, it cringes me when I say it aloud", I said while he raised an eyebrow. "Let me just hold it short then. I'm excited to go out tomorrow", I mumbled.
"You what? Didn't quite catch that", he said with a smug smile.
"I'm- excited", I said allowing myself to smile.
He started laughing loudly which made me throw my big duffel bag in his direction, knocking him back on the stairs. "I hate you, Felix. I really do."
"No you don't", he said as he stood back up with a laugh and walked to his room.
The rest of the day was just me watching movies to distract myself a bit, instead of thinking about tomorrow.
The next day around evening I dressed myself in a jeans short with a plain black T-shirt topped with a black and green coloured flannel, choosing for my black vans to complete my look. I tried to keep my hair plain and decided to leave it loose.
I received a message from Chan that he was waiting outside. I quickly took my bag and ran to Felix's room. I opened the door not bothering to knock. "Felix I 'm leaving", I said in a hasty tone.
"Right, just wait one second", he said as he shuffled in his spot, reaching for his phone on his night stand. I was kinda confused by his actions because he would never ask me to wait before I left.
He left his bedroom and looked me in the face, looking down because he was taller than me, obviously. "What are you waiting for let's go downstairs."
"Felix what is going on with you?" I said as we walked downstairs.
"Nothing, I'm just waiting till you get to the car", he said as he opened the door.
"Right, because you do that every time I leave?" I said confused.
"I'm looking out for you", he said with a worried expression.
"Felix it's not not like I'm going out with some mafia gang leader. It's just Chris", I said . "Come on tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothing", he said putting back a smile on his face. "Have fun."
"Felix..."
"Luna, have fun", he said smiling with a sad face.
"You too, I guess", I said and all of a sudden Felix gave me a hug. "Felix are you alright?"
"Totally fine", he said as he loosened his grip on me. "Now go, Chris is waiting."
"Bye, take care of yourself. I left some money on the counter so you can buy pizza or something else. And if something happens or you don't feel so good, call me", I said as I walked down the steps to Chan's car.
Before I closed the door of the car I looked back at Felix giving him a small wave. I didn't know what got into him but I felt bad leaving him. It looked like he wasn't feeling all too well.
"You alright?" Chan asked.
"What? Oh, yeah it's just- I'm worried about Felix. It looked like he wasn't feeling all too well", I said.
"Well, if you want you can check up on him. We can go to the fair another time", Chan said.
"I don't know, maybe he wants some alone time. I don't know what he wants", I said laying my head against the headrest. "I'm just gonna text him otherwise I might die inside."
Me: If you need anything text me right away. If you feel like something is off call me, okey?
Felix: I'll be fineeee, don't think too much about me and have fun.
Me: I'm serious if there is something wrong call me.
Felix: Okey I will.
"Better?" Chan asked.
"Yeah, Let's go", I said and we drove off to the fair.
Our destination wasn't so far so we were there in no time. We parked the car and walked to the entrance of the fair.
"So what are we doing first?" he asked.
"That's up to you, today everything is up to you", I joked.
"Okey let's start with this ride then", he said pointing at the scariest one.
I made a face which made him laugh. "Maybe everything should be up to me. I say we go to the bumpers first", I suggested not wanting to go on the scary one.
"You scared", he smirked.
"Psht, no", I said, obviously lying. Not that I was trying to hide it though.
"Whatever you say. Guess we go to the bumpers first then", he said.
We walked to the bumpers and as always he refused on letting me pay. Whenever we would go out for coffee, he refused to let me pay and today was no different.
"Let's do a few together and one alone", he said excited.
We stepped in the big one together and did a few rounds in that car. I couldn't hold myself from laughing as we kept being bumped by other cars, while Chan was failing to bump other cars.
"You're such a failure", I jokingly said as I tried to step out of the small car.
"Where are you going", he asked as he held my arms lightly.
"You can play one round without me because we only have one token left. I have to see you play from outside", I laughed as I stepped out.
"Prepare yourself I'm going to crush everyone here", he said as he waved his hand to point at everyone in the ring.
"Sure", I said as I walked to the side.
I watched as he tried to bump other cars and the sight was too funny, seeing how he was failing badly at it. I took out my phone and waved at him and the moment he looked at me he tried to pose for the picture. He smiled so brightly that a smile appeared on my face. I did a thumbs up and laughed as he got bumped by a little boy. I laughed a little harder and he fake glared at me before he started laughing.
When it ended he walked up to me. "Show me the picture, I wanna see how badass I look."
"Badass? You mean looking like a fool after being bumped by an eight year old?" I joked.
"Shut up", he said but more in an amusement way. "Show me the picture."
I opened my phone and he walked a bit behind me, hovering over my shoulder. I could feel his breath on my neck which made me shiver. I tried to not show how affected I actually was and just showed him the picture. "I look like I'm about to fall out of the car", he pointed at the screen as he let out a breathy laugh, again making his breath tingle my bare neck.
I cleared my throat and did as if it didn't affect me. "Next ride!" I said nervously as I started walking the direction of another ride.
We decided to go on the scary ride, or in other words, he dragged me to that ride. I begged him to not make me go, but I had been tricked. It were his eyes and smile I'm sure of it. But that whole ride thing was not a good idea. After the ride, I was crouched down behind the ride, near the exit. To put it short, I almost shit my pants in that ride and never am I going on such a thing again.
"Can't believe you actually made me go on that devil ride," I said trying my best to stay stable. "I'm like actually damn dizzy."
"Sorry, but now you can say that you tried something adventurous like this", he said on which he earned a glare from me.
"I think I'd rather eat three bags of fries then go back on that 'adventurous' ride", I said as I stood up, stabilising myself. "I'm okey, I'm fine", I said as I held out my hands to my side to help myself from falling.
"I'll make it up to you, wanna eat three bags of fries?" he jokingly said.
"Are you challenging me?" I asked. "I'm not going back on that ride nor am I eating eating three bags of fries. We're getting hotdogs", I said determined.
"Whatever you say", he said as both of us walked to the hotdog stand and bought some.
"Next ride?" he said.
"Nothing too harsh, we just ate. Maybe the Ferris wheel?" I asked.
We walked to the Ferris wheel and paid our tickets. Once up, the Ferris wheel stopped right when we were almost on the top. The sun was doing down and the sky had an orange and slightly pink colour, clouds still up high. I looked up in awe as the sun slowly lowered and the colours became more vibrant. When I looked at Chan I saw him looking at me with a small smile.
"What?" I asked as a nervous smile crossed my face.
"Nothing", he said as he turned his head and looked at the sky, his ears a slightly pinkish colour. "Let's take a picture. For memories."
I nodded and quickly switched places from in front to next to him. He swung one arm around my neck and shoulder and took out his phone to take a few pictures. He didn't loosen his grip, no, he just lowered his arm and was now placed on my sides. Was I affected? Hell yes. Was it noticeable? Probably. But his hand fit there so nicely, a feeling of safety. I didn't want him to loosen his grip just yet. I didn't want to loose the warmth.
The Ferris wheel started to move Again and snapped me back to reality. I shouldn't let myself fall so deeply. What if he ends up not liking me that way, then everything would be ruined. Our friendship, perhaps Felix's too and awkwardness would rise every time our families would meet. So no, I am not supposed to get my hopes too high.
The ride came to an end and he stepped out first, almost falling in process. The stand was a little bit too low so jumping would be for me the only solution for me. I walked to the end where Chan was standing with his arms in front of him. "Don't think I'm gonna let you jump."
I walked a bit more to the edge and placed my hands on his shoulders while he placed his hands around my waist to help me on getting down. And yet again a weird feeling went down my spine at his touch. "Thanks Chris", I said after my feet touched the ground.
I loosened my grip on his shoulder but he lightly pulled me back while his hands were still on my waist. "What?"
"That took you long." By the look on my face he understood that I didn't understand what he was trying to say. "It took you long to call me Chris."
"Oh well, you made me get used to it", I shrugged.
"How long will you be able to pull that off. I don't thinks it's gonna be long until you say Chan again", he said with challenging eyes.
"Are you challenging me? Again? Watch me Christopher", I said quirking an eyebrow up.
"Hello, you two. The people are waiting to get in the ride, would it be possible for you two to walk to the exit?" The owner of the Ferris wheel said making both of us walk to the exit out of embarrassment.
The second we were out of sight we burst into laughter. "I laughed a thousand times today my cheeks are hurting! Why do these things always happen to me! The man probably thinks weird of us right now!" I said through my laughters.
We went on a few more rides, did a few shooting games and lastly we bought cotton candy to end the night. We went to a grass field that was just behind the rides and laid his jacket and my flannel on the ground to sit there and watch the stars and moon.
"And if you connect those it looks like rabbit", I laughed as I pointed to random stars.
"Of course it does and those look like my shoes", he joked.
I lightly hit his shoulder as our laughter calmed down. First I looked at him and then I looked back up to the sky slowly laying down. "You know- thank you."
"For what?" he asked as he laid down too.
"Everything. Helping me out for the wedding, Darren, the coffee nights, this", I said as I turned my head in his direction, greeted with him already looking at me while he was laying on his side with his arm supporting himself. "Thank you for making my boring life just a bit more enjoyable."
"I should thank you", he said wit a soft smile.
"And why is that?" I asked barely speaking a tone higher than a whisper.
"For making me forget my busy life. For making me worry less about some things and for giving me an opportunity to take a break from being the busy person that I am", he said not breaking the eye contact.
"That's what friends are here for, right", I said not liking how I friend zoned him. It was me that liked him, it was me that wasn't supposed to do that. I should draw myself out of the friend zone and the only thing I was doing was pulling myself closer in it.
"oblivious girl", he said with his usual breathy laugh in a low tone.
"What?" I asked confused. He used that a time ago too but I didn't know why. "What do you mean?", I said whiney, because he didn't answer me.
"You're just a little insensible", he said with a smile he was trying to stop from coming as he shrugged lightly.
"About what topic?" I asked, still confused.
"I'll show you rather then tell you", he said his voice lower than before, a little husky. He still looked at me, searching my face. "But don't hate me."
"For what?"
"For this", he said and without a warning he leaned in closer, making me hitch when his lip touched mine but soon I closed my eyes and synced with his movements, allowing myself to taste every bit of him. I placed my hands around his neck as he came down a little bit more, almost hovering over me. My heart hammering in my chest with every touch.
His one hand supported himself from falling on me and his other hand went around my waist. I pulled him just a bit closer to deepen the kiss and he went along with it.
He pulled away looking at me while I returned the stare with wide eyes, panting. "Wow", was all that I was able to say, which made him laugh and sink down as his breath tingled my neck.
"Was it so hard for you to understand that I liked you too?" he asked with a slightly raspy voice, looking back into my eyes.
"I- I'm", I stuttered, my heart still pounding. "Chris, you knew?"
"Of course I did, Luna. And I obviously like you too", he said with hopeful eyes, still keeping the eye contact. "And I would like to have the honour of not being friend zoned and being just a bit more than that. What do you say?" He said the last in a whisper looking at me with twinkling eyes.
This is a chance I should take.
I looked at him, in his eyes and smiled. I nodded at his words and smiled brightly. "Yes."