After our dinner and hug, we met twice for coffee and once for breakfast. We went grocery shopping too. We kept finding excuses to run into each other.
I called him for breakfast because I was lazy to prepare my own. He called me for coffee as he was near my office and craved something hot. He came to the grocery shop near my home as he 'just needed to stretch his legs'.
One fine afternoon, I was knee-deep in my work and forgot to have lunch. It was another normal day at the office.
I received a text from Dean asking if I had lunch. I replied "no" and he immediately called me.
I picked up and he started to scold me without even a "hi".
"Are you trying to starve to death? It's 3 PM and you didn't have your lunch?"
"First of all, Hello to you too, Dean. Second, I am not starving. I ate a muffin, ok 2 muffins, during my break and I am still full from that".
"Muffins for lunch? Who are you, a toddler?"
"Hey! Don't hate on the muffins. Why aren't you at work? Why are you yelling at me instead?"
He seemed to calm down by then. "Sorry. I wasn't yelling at you. I want you to take care of your health. I finished my work early and thought of catching a movie. So I called to ask if you wanted to go with me".
"A movie? Sure, why not? I desperately need some time away from work. Shall I meet you at the mall?"
"No. The movie is at 8 PM. I will pick you up at your home, if you don't mind. It's been long since I drove you".
"Ok. See you at 7.30?"
"Sure, baby". It was a long time since I heard him calling me baby. I didn't realize I missed it until I heard it.
Wow! How was I going to survive our movie date?
I left for my home a little early and started getting ready. Should I even call it a date? We never explicitly mentioned that word to describe our 'hangouts'.
But hey, in my mind, I can call it whatever I want. Judge me and see if I care.
I decided against taking a shower as it might make me late. I changed my shirt and sprayed some cologne and prayed that I wouldn't smell bad.
I heard the doorbell around 7.20 and realized he was early as usual. I smiled at that thought and opened the door. My breath hitched as I saw him wearing a leather jacket and clutching a helmet at his hand.
He looked like he was just out of a cover of a cliched romance book I have read during my teenage years. Ok, I lied, that was yesterday.
The only thing missing was a bunch of tattoos. I wasn't sure if he had any. Not that I wanted to look. Wow! What started as an innocent thought escalated quickly. Abort! Abort!
"H-Hi. Do you want to come in?" He smiled as I stuttered.
"Are you ok, Alex? Do you have fever?". He touched my forehead gently and my heart suddenly decided to forget how to function.
"Yeah, no, just the cold wind". In my mind it sounded like a perfect excuse. He looked like he doubted me but didn't seem to question it further.
"Shall we go? The movie starts at 8 and I don't want us to be late". As expected from him.
"Sure. Let me lock my door".
I was skipping ahead as I looked forward to riding on his motorcycle again.
"Someone looks eager to get on the motorcycle". He commented and helped me to put on my helmet.
"Yeah. As I said, it was great and I wanted to ride again".
I wrapped my hands around him which was like an added bonus. He took off and I got to enjoy the free therapy once again.
We arrived at the mall 15 minutes early and got our tickets for the "Warlord - the beginning of a saga". He insisted on getting the tickets so I bought a big tub of popcorn for us to share.
You could ask me why I didn't buy two tubs. But tell me honestly. You know the answer already, right?
The movie was good but being in a dark theater with him was like a torture. But in a good way. I was hyper-aware of his shoulders next to me.
Our hands collided multiple times thanks to the single tub of popcorn I bought. It was safe to say that the popcorn fulfilled its purpose. I felt the electricity each time I touched his hand but he looked relaxed.
He even went ahead and held some popcorn near my mouth for me to eat. I tried a pathetic attempt of a scowl to hide my surprise and he withdrew his hands with a smile on seeing my reaction.
My mind started spiraling and I started worrying at some point. Did he not feel the same?
Was I the only one imagining everything? What should I do? Keep my distance? I didn't think it was possible for me. I was already deep in it. Should I confess?
A/N: What will you do if you were in this situation? Do you think Alex should confess?
Confidence is not easy, right? Anyway, we shouldn't base our worth on being liked by others.
If YOU love yourself enough, you won't give a damn about what others think. I know, I wish it were that simple too! But let's keep trying :)