“I wondered what happened when you offered yourself to someone, and they opened you, only to discover you were not the gift they expected and they had to smile and nod and say thank you all the same.” ― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper
*** *** ***
Today wasn’t the best day of Annie's life, but it was indeed a happy day. She was dressed in a sky-blue dress, which seemingly showed her curves, but nonetheless, it came out cute yet gorgeous for her. Her legs swung excitedly, the momentum enough to propel her body off the swing as her black cone heels scuff the grass beneath. She wore a toothless grin – a type of smile she rarely wore, that stretched from ear to ear as she placed her book down on her lap. Her imagination is running wild, creating new tales that carried her from faraway places faster than she can process. She was sitting on her favorite spot – the swing, which seems like Luke and Annie's official meeting place.
You may be wondering what’s happening right now. Well, nothing much, except the fact that today was Annie's first ever date in her entire lifetime. Luke texted her last night that they should go for their first date today since it was Saturday, and they have no classes. He told her that she should think of where they should go and he would follow, but the last destination would be Luke's surprise.
Annie agreed, although she debated whether or not to accept if for thirty minutes; eventually, she gave in. She can’t help but feel giddy and excited as it is her first time after all, although the thought of Kaiden still lingered on her mind. Her smile faltered a bit at the reminiscence of the past, but she immediately composed herself as she saw the figure coming from afar. She argued with herself on whether to smile or to show off her infamous pokerface, but due to Luke's long legs, she reached Annie's faster than she expected, so she did what first came to mind, which is to smile brightly.
“Hey,” Annie tried to smile as bright as she could, but it ended with an awkward smile.
He chuckled, “Hey. You ready?” Luke scratched the back of his neck – a habit that Annie noticed he usually does on awkward situations, like what is happening right now.
“Err…. Yeah. Let’s go.” She didn’t feel like chatting for a moment as she was really feeling excited, so she dismissed the conversation and told him that they should go already.
Annie wanted to mask her excitement, but she failed miserably. Luke noticed, but he didn’t tell her as he didn’t want her to get embarrassed.
Sweet, right?
He looked at her from head to toe. Not that he was judging her or something, rather he can’t help but feel like he’s with the most beautiful girl on Earth. He scanned her but stopped as soon as he saw her heels.
“Babe, are you fine with walking in those heels?” He asked and tsk-ed as he racked his head in frustration, “Aish. I should’ve brought my car.”
Annie slightly flinched at the nickname. She wasn’t used to people calling her Babe except for Harry and Kaiden before, or maybe just Harry since it’d be awkward if Kaiden called her with that nickname in the first place. “I’m fine. I’m used to wearing heels. Besides, they’re just three inches high. Nothing much.” She waved him off and continued walking.
Luke's eyebrows were knitted together, a bit frustrated by the matter, but eventually, he sighed, giving up. He didn’t want to ruin the date. Furthermore, he didn’t want to deal with a pissed Annie. Who would anyways?
Annie lead the way while Luke was obediently following her like a lost puppy. They rode a bus to the London Bridge. They didn’t really converse on the way, but it wasn’t awkward, maybe for Annie at least. Luke was a bit feeling awkward. He dated before, yes, but this one was a bit different than his previous dates. He was used to the girls throwing themselves on him. Let’s make this clear though, he was not a playboy. He was just too nice to reject girls before, although he learned how recently, with the help of his ‘5SOS’ friends.
A few minutes of awkward silence later, they finally reached the busy streets of London. Luke looked around the streets that was filled with couples their age, looking happy and content.
He noticed that almost all of them were holding hands, so he mustered up his courage and confidently held Annie's hand. Annie was surprised and her face flickered almost immediately. Her gaze fell down to their intertwined hands, then back up to Luke's face. She didn’t know what to feel. Should she feel happy? Angry? Sad? Excited? She didn’t know exactly what to feel, but one things for sure, his hand on hers did felt right, as it gave her some sort of security and protection. She felt content, just like how the other couples around them felt.
She smiled a bit, and Luke mentally sighed in relief. He wore a blank expression to mask of his nervousness, but mentally, he was shaking in anticipation. He got scared that Annie may take her hand off; fortunately, she didn’t, which is a huge achievement for Luke.
Annie broke their gaze first and tugged his hand. She pointed at the tacos' stand nearby. He looked at her questioningly, but nonetheless smiled at her. She found her cute and unique, unlike the other girls he dated before. His previous dates wanted them to go to famous and expensive restaurants. He didn’t mind though since money wasn’t a big deal for him, but he felt like those girls only liked him because of his looks and money.
His thought were broken as they reached the taco stand. He didn’t even noticed that they already arrived. Annie immediately ordered one serving of tacos, and one serving of grilled cheeze. After a few minutes, their order arrived. Luke took his money out and paid for the snacks before Annie could do so. The latter rolled her eyes at the boy and smiled slightly.
“Gentleman. How cute,” she inwardly thought.
Luke took two sticks on the side and gave Annie the other one.
“Why did she order only one bowl of ddukbokki? She wants us to share?” Luke thought. He smirked and looked at her challengingly.
“What?” She looked at him, puzzled.
He didn’t reply and took a piece of taco instead. Annie was about to wave him off when he placed the taco in front of her mouth, feeding her.
She blinked a few times, processing the situation. She reddened when she came to realization. Luke's smirk widened, if that was even possible, as he saw her blush.
It was true that Annie only ordered one serving since it was what her research said. Yes, she researched about dates. It actually last night after accepting Luke's offer. She wasn’t really knowledgeable on that field, and she didn’t want Luke to feel like she’s a burden since she is not that knowledgeable, so yeah… she researched.
She didn't want to go to this date without getting prepared.
Annie mini-glared at Luke but opened her mouth and accepted the food anyways.
After their feeding moment – Annie fed him too but he whined, which caught some unwanted attention, so she fed him to shut him up – she led him to the t-shirt store located at the nearby store. His hand held hers again, and this time, she didn’t falter. She didn’t even mind their intertwined hands this time. The bell chimed, indicating customers. The saleslady greeted them warmly as they entered.
“Why are we here?” Luke asked.
“I don’t know. I thought couples do this?”
Again with the smirk. “So we’re a couple now?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She flushed but composed herself almost immediately. She scoffed and looked away. Luke chuckled and went after her as she went to look at the racks. Luke noticed that she was looking through couple shirts, so he smirked… again. “You did a research on couples, didn’t you?” He nudged her arm.
She moved away from him and huffed as she continued her mini-search for couple tees. Luke kept on nudging him so she had no other choice but to give up as she didn’t want to get angry at him on their first date.
“Fine. I did. So what?” She looked at him staring right through his eyes.
If looks could kill, Luke could’ve died right at this moment, but instead of dying, he rather became captivated by her. He admired the girl in front of him right now. Sure, she did have some flaws, but no one’s perfect anyways, right?
Their eyes pierced with each other – Annie's glare and Luke's serious stare. Annie's glare turned into a serious one, just like Luke's, and after a few seconds, she noticed that he was leaning in.
“W-What’s h-happening? H-He wants t-to k-kiss me?” She thought.
She froze. She didn’t know what to do. According to her research, kisses usually happens on first dates, so this should be a big deal, right?
By now, their faces were two inches apart. His eyes that were fixed on her lips came up to stare at her eyes, as if he was asking her for permission. She can feel his minty breath because of the closeness, and it did distract her a bit.
She didn’t nod nor shake her head. She was just staring at her. Luke's face feel for a second and he got ready to back away when Annie kissed him all of a sudden.
It’s somehow considered a smack, although it lasted for about three seconds. Luke's eyes were wide, even wider that Calum's. After they backed away, Annie noticed that almost all the store’s employees were staring at them, to which most of the female employees were looking at awe. She flushed embarrassment, both from the kiss and from the stared. She didn’t want attention, and this wasn’t called for.
She grabbed Luke's hands and dragged him outside, covering her face in the process. She heard the chuckles and comments like “how cute” and “aww” from the employees nearby so she speed-walked outside. She dragged him for about seven stored away from there and stopped to catch her breath. She regretted wearing heels as she felt her feet aching. She can almost imagine the blisters she’ll get when she gets home.
After catching her breath, she looked at Luke who’s face is still shocked. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and plastered her infamous pokerface.
Luke blinked and looked at Annie as his thought were broken. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Errr. A-about the kiss…”
“Oh... Ermm….” She didn’t know what to say. After a few moments of awkwardness, Luke finally decided to take the lead and start leading the date this time.
“Let’s go.”