Author's note: I also had to split this one up because I moved a chapter to a different POV.
Chapter 9 – Exploring the Town Part 1
Finally, we manage to stop kissing, both of us panting softly as if we had just run the 5 miles we did this morning. "You want to drive or you want me to? You'd learn the area better if you drove." I ask, knowing that he's going to tell me that his car is full, and he doesn't want to drive it.
"My car's still a mess."
I give him a mischievous smile. "I know. You know how to drive stick?" He nods. "You ever drive a BMW?" He looks at me suspiciously and shakes his head 'no.' "You want to drive one?"
"You serious?" He looks skeptical.
"Of course. The Mini's a stick too, but not as fun to drive."
"I think I would feel better driving the Mini." Trowa chuckles.
"Ok. The Mini it is." I grab his hand and lead him out of the bedroom. I stop in the middle of the living room and look at our joined hands. "You ok with this?" I look from our hands to his eyes.
Trowa blushes and squeezes my hand tightly. "As long as you are okay being seen with a nobody like me. I've got no one here I would be hiding it from, since I'm new here and all your friends probably have a fairly good idea that I'm interested..."
I nod. "Just let me know if I do something that makes you uncomfortable. I'd rather know than have something that is bothering you fester between us." Hopefully, he takes me seriously and trusts me enough to know that I mean it
He hesitates for a moment. "I've never been one to share my feelings. I have a really bad habit of just sitting on things until they resolve in my head."
I look at him awkwardly and squeeze his hand. "Well, it could be something to work on." I stop and look at him, worrying that I just scared him away. "I mean, if you want…" I stutter trying to get a reading off of him and fail miserably. "I'm sorry, that was too soon to say anything like that."
Trowa smiles at me and pulls me close. "I can't predict the future. I wish I could, but I can't. I promise to try my best." I know that it is his way of telling me that if everything goes well, he's up for trying to make this work. Whatever this is. Kisses and hand-holding are wonderful and comfortable, but the fact that they are there do not mean there is an actual relationship. Like the kind where you introduce the other person as your boyfriend or partner. That is what I consider an actual relationship. I just hope I don't have to wait too long to figure out what is going on.
He pulls me close and my body surges with the electricity from his nervous and awkward but highly enthusiastic kiss. I hear his stomach rumble along with mine, and I pull away with a little laugh. "We better go eat. Our stomachs are trying to tell us something."
Trowa nods in agreement. "So what do you want?" He asks as we walk hand-in-hand to the door.
"Hum. I know a great local place that has every type breakfast food imaginable. How about that?"
"Sounds good. So, am I still driving?"
I grab the keys for the Mini off of the wall. "If you still want to. We can take the long way there, and I can show you where everyone lives. Or we can go the short way, eat first, then go exploring."
Trowa grins and chuckles. "How about we go get food first. I'm hungry and I know you are too. Then we can go exploring."
"That works." I grin and toss him the keys. He catches them with nimble fingers. Oh, I would so love to see exactly how nimble those fingers are. On the way out the door, I snag the house keys and lock up behind us. Trowa catches my hand and he looks at me expectantly, as if to make sure that this was ok. With a slight nod I let him know that holding hands is perfectly ok, he beams back at me and off we go.
He has to finagle the seat of the Mini a little, being a bit taller than me. Though he's not so much taller that kissing and holding hands is awkward, which is nice.