To Live Again

Chapter Six: The Date

She opened the door on Sunday afternoon to see Jesse standing on the front step holding a single long stemmed rose.  He was already a hair over six foot, but he was still in that long-lean awkward stage where he seemed to be all arms and legs.  Daniella knew in a couple years he would fill out and bulk up with muscle and have all kinds of woman swooning over him like a young Brad Pitt.  He held out the rose to her, and smiled in a sweet, shy, boyish way.   

“Wow, is that for me?”

“Well, I brought it for Bev, but it looks like she’s already gone to work so…”

 Daniella laughed and slapped him playfully on the arm.  “You look really good, by the way.”  He was dressed in a blue silk shirt and a pair of black trousers.  She stepped back and welcomed him into the house.  How had she gone her whole life without ever REALLY seeing him?

“You always look good,” he replied smoothly, but his ears were turning red. 

Daniella gave the rose an appreciative sniff, and then went to find a vase.  “Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

“We…” suddenly he was standing very close to her, his hands resting gently on her hips, his brown eyes staring down at her intently, “Are going on a date.”

She felt her cheeks warm up, but she broke into a big smile.  “A date?” she squeaked.  “A real date?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, “Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” she was looking at his lips and trying to remind herself that she was innocent, 18 year old Danni… and this was innocent 18 year old Jesse.  And the things that she was thinking about probably weren’t appropriate to this place in time.  She met his eyes, “I think it’s about time.”  She ducked out of his embrace and went to go collect her purse and her shoes.

“You…really?” He blew out a tense breath and raked his hand through his blonde hair.  “Jeez Danni, if I’d known that, I would have asked you out a lot sooner.”

“So why didn’t you?”

He stuffed his hands back in his pockets.  “You are such a great friend… I didn’t want to mess that up if… you know, if you weren’t interested in that.”

She finished tying her laces and stalked over to him.  She reached up and put her hands firmly on his shoulders.  “I promise you, Jesse.  No matter what happens from here, I’ll always be your friend, until the day I die.”

“Me too Danni.  I got your back, no matter what.”

“Good, now where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.  Are you ready?”

They got into his truck and drove down the mountain toward Rutberg.  It wasn’t a big town, and there wasn’t a whole lot to do there, but up behind the old mall, Castleton University had an indoor ice rink.  At night they hosted hockey games and figure skating competitions, but during the day there was open ice-skating.  “Oh my god, ice skating?  Do you know how bad I am at skating?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”  He had his own skates packed in a duffle bag, but he rented a pair of skates for Daniella.  He patiently helped her slip them on, and lace them up tightly so that her wobbly ankles would be well supported.  She hung on to him for dear life as she wobbled across the mats toward the doorway to the rink. 

“But Jesse,” She whispered, “What if I fall down?”

He patted her gloved hand.  “Then I’ll help you up, and we will go again.  Don’t worry, people fall down all the time.” 

She stepped out onto the ice, and immediately started slipping and toe-picked her way over to the side to hold herself up.  “This is so embarrassing!”

“No its not.  Everyone has to start somewhere.  Let go now, and push out.”  It took forever for her to make one, slow, painfully awkward lap around the rink.  Other skaters were whizzing past, some skating backwards or going to the middle to practice doing loops and circles.  Jesse stayed right beside her, even though it had to be terribly boring for him.  On her second lap around she got braver, and started letting go of the wall for longer and longer periods while she glided for short distances.  On the third trip around, she thought she was getting the hang of it, and she boldly started picking up speed.  On the fourth trip she wiped out and fell hard on her backside.  Jesse laughed at her, so when he offered her a hand up, she grabbed it and pulled him off balance.  He pinwheeled his arms a few times comically, and then landed with a heavy OOMF beside her.  She was now laughing so hard that she didn’t even notice the cold dampness soaking through her pants, or other skaters that stared at them as they glided by.  Music was playing over the sound system of the rink, and Danni tried to add an extra element of difficulty by dancing and skating at the same time, which resulted in two more falls and one accident where she couldn’t stop and ran smack into the wall.  But she’d long since forgotten to be embarrassed and self-conscious, and was now just laughing and having fun.

“Jesse!  Jesseeee!” She skated straight into him, and he caught her in his arms, spinning them around.  She was laughing and breathless, her face flushed prettily from the cold and the exertion.  “This was SO  much fun… but I think I’m getting a blister, and I really have to pee.  If I fall down again, I’ll wet my pants.”

“Well, we don’t want you turning the ice yellow.” He said in mock seriousness.  “We better call it a day.”  He helped her step out of the rink, and they wobbled back to the table where they had left their things.  She peeled off her skates and admired the red spot on the back of her heel that would probably turn into a blister shortly, and then she put on her own socks and shoes so that she could run to the bathroom. 

By the time she got back, Jesse had put on his shoes and returned her rental skates.  “Everything come out okay?”  He asked, tongue in cheek.

“Cut it out.”

“Okay, how ‘bout we go down to the Midway Diner for a cup of hot cocoa?”

“Oh yes, please!”

He threw his skating bag behind the seat in the truck, and held the door for her while she climbed in.  They drove the short distance into the city to the old fashioned Midway diner.  They sat across from each-other in the booth and nursed steaming hot mugs of hot chocolate, with great white mounds of whipped cream on top.  Although they’d gone on this outing under the pretense of this being a date, they were already so comfortable and familiar with each other that they had lapsed back into that easy place of chatting and teasing, laughing and having fun.  “Ah shoot, I’m doing this wrong,” Jesse lamented.

“What do you mean?” Danni took her spoon and stole a bit of his whipped cream.

“We’re supposed to be on a date, remember?  I’m supposed to be… I don’t know, romancing you.”

She paused with the spoon midway to her mouth and stared at him with big, soft blue eyes.  “Who says you aren’t?” She said softly.  She popped the whip cream into her mouth.  She might not have been trying to be seductive, but watching her lick the sweet cream off her lips was totally turning him on.  All the secret fantasies that he’d kept locked in his head for all these years were clawing their way to the surface, like… what if… what if he leaned over the table and kissed away that last bit  of whipped cream in the corner of her mouth?  Her expression seemed to be inviting him to find out.  He slowly pushed the cups out of the way, and waited for her to object, before her curled a hand around her neck, leaned over the table, and kissed her softly.  Her lips were soft and yielding, and she whimpered a little bit when he licked away that spec of sweet cream.  Conscious of the fact that they were in a public restaurant, he kept it brief, and pulled back before he embarrassed both of them.