Popsicles

She had been watching the world go by. He had offered popsicles.

Now they were sitting in a quiet corner of the mall enjoying each other's company while eating popsicles. Popsicles with a mostly waterish taste, that was.

"You know you´re the only one I can think of, who would call ice cubes popsicles. But this is really funny though." Dee said with a smile.

Patch blushed a bit. "Yeah. It seemed like you could need something to get your mind off things."

"Yeah…" Dee said, fidgeting with her makeshift popsicle. "Patch… can I ask you something?"

Patch took a deep silent breath before answering "Yes, sure".

Dee was fidgeting even more with her popsicle as she continued speaking. "I-I… uhm…I normally don´t like this, I mean speaking so frankly and all… but I need to know something. And with you being a guy, you must know. "

Finally getting to the point, Dee said "I just don´t get Lex! He makes me so frustrated. Today I s-" Until that moment Patch had had a small hope that she was going to say she liked him. As much as he was beginning to like her.

He didn't pay much attention to what she said. He just kept looking at her out of the side of his eye. Wondering if she ever was going to realize he was right there. That he cared for her, much more than Lex did.

"Patch, are you even listening?!" Those words made him come back from his thoughts.

"Uhm, sorry – what were you saying? Lex did what?" Patch said, abscentmindly scratching the back of his neck. Suddenly he saw tears falling from her eyes.

"Well if you can´t even bother paying attention when I´m… when I´m…. when I´m trying to spill my heart out to you, then fine! I like you, Lex made me realize that today - but apparently you don´t care!" At that point Dee had a hard time controlling her sobs as she run for her room. And in that moment Patch was sure that his heart must have stopped, and with that all his vital functions. `Cause he was frozen to the spot, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

When the lightning struck him, it hit hard. He ran for her room. She liked him. His stomach took several back flips while thousands of butterflies had a wild party. He needed to correct this, to make her understand.

Dee felt awful. "This is why you never let your guards down", she thought bitterly. She had thought Patch might be different. But she had been wrong again.

Trying to control her sobs, she cried silently down into her pillow. She hated this, exposing herself. And he didn't even care. That made it so much harder.

Patch slowed down as he came closer to Dee´s room. Although she was trying to hide it, he could clearly hear her sobbing.

"Dee, uhm… can I come in? Can I please talk to you?"

Pulling herself together, Dee stopped sobbing and sat up in bed with her back to Patch. With a cold, ironically voice she said "Sure, you can. Although your message was quite clear. I won´t be bothering you again, don´t worry!"

"Dee I´m sorry, I didn't meant to hurt you. " As Dee was trying to interrupt, Patch quickly continued. "Look, I´m sorry I wasn't listing. I actually thought you were going to talk about how much you like Lex and all. So my mind kind of drifted away… thinking…about you"

"Thinking about me, how, Patch?" Dee spoke in a somewhat gentler, anticipating tone, as she was turning around, facing him. At this point Patch was rambling, speaking nervously fast, his eyes keenly focused on his left shoe.

"Well...uhm… I was just sort of wondering if you were ever going to notice me. I mean …I… I kind of like you too. A-a lot actually. But you talk a lot about Lex, so I thought you preferred someone like him instead of a weird g-"

Into Patch´s line of view came a pair of multicolored socks interrupting his rambling. He carefully lifted his glance meeting Dee's eyes. As their eyes locked Dee asked, "Patch…do you really mean that?"

"Y-Yeah, I do"

In those moments there was silence. Not a sound could be heard. Not even from the rest of the mall. This was clearly a contrast to the thousands of butterflies making a hell of a noise inside Patch. He had no clue of what to do next. Although he knew what he would like to do.

"So…I´m really not very good at this….but…D-Dee I-I really would like to k-kiss you, if that would be all right?"

Dee smiled at his awkwardness. "I guess"

"I may?" Patch said with a surprised quirky voice before continuing

"B-But I better warn you, I haven´t done this before, so I might b-"

Again Patch was cut off. But this time by Dee gently kissing his lips. The sensation sent shivers down his spine. Finally he was doing what he secretly had been wishing to do for a while now. As Dee pulled away, Patch stood dumbfounded, turning a deep crimson from head to toe while a big smile grew on his face.

They broke eye contact. Both suddenly keenly interested in their feet. Patch took a quick side-glance at Dee. In that moment she had chosen to do the same, and they both quickly dropped their gaze.

Patch took a deep breath and closed the space between them with a small step. Somehow they both leaned in this time, closing the remaining space between them. Their lips locked, and in a fraction of a second Patch wondered if this was all but a dream. He gently slipped an arm around Dee, hoping he wasn't out of line. In response, Dee found herself caressing his back and neck, causing Patch to let out a small moan.

They parted when the need of air became too strong for the both of them. Still standing in a tight embrace, Dee felt safer than she had done for a long time.

"So,uhm.. D-Dee… would you like to be my g-girlfriend? I-I would really like that."

"Yes, I would like that very much, Patch" Dee said with a big smile.

With an even bigger smile than before, Patch pulled her in for another kiss. He was never going to get tired of kissing Dee.