First Date with the Vets - Miche

by axoxtxhxh

You sign up for a cooking class with your friend only to have her ditch you, but things look up when a handsome stranger volunteers to be your partner.

This was fair. This was totally fair and you deserved every second of this embarrassment for what you did to your best friend, Fen. No matter though. You stood there, thankfully in the back, of your first couples cooking class, but you were missing the couple part. You let out a huff of air and leaned over the counter. You definitely deserved this.

"Alright class!" The instructor walked in. An older blonde woman, swung her arms excitedly while she walked to the center of the room. "Everyone ready to cook?"

Everyone in the room chanted 'yeah!' in unison and you looked around, wondering if you'd walked into a cult meeting. How did they all know to say that? More importantly, why didn't you? Even more importantly, Fen wouldn't have signed you up for a cult, would she? You at least knew you didn't deserve that.

You looked around at the other couples in the class and sighed. What a terrible reminder that you were single. It's fine though, it's fine. This would be quick, possibly fun, and then you could go home and eat ice cream while you catch up on your favorite show. It wouldn't be so bad. You've had to sit through a lot worse. This was one cooking class.

"Today, we're making…" The instructor paused as if she was waiting for a drumroll to start. And honestly, you were surprised the enthusiastic couples didn't make one for her. "Vietnamese Spring Rolls!"

She opened up the little laminated pamphlet she had in front of her so everyone could see a picture. Everyone clapped while they 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed at the picture. You brought your hand to your head, second-hand embarrassment flooding your system. You needed to stop. This could be fun, but your bad attitude wasn't going to help. You tried to focus on enjoying yourself and stood up straight, focusing again on the instructor.

"We're going to get to eat things like—" she crouched down as if she was hunting and you tried so hard to hold a neutral face and remain interested "—shrimp, bell peppers, and even rice vermicelli!"

You started clapping, anticipating the excited students moves and wanting to join in. Except this time, for some reason, no one clapped and everyone looked at you. You wanted to die. You shrunk back into yourself and tried not to look around the room, hoping that maybe people would forget you existed. There was a man in the corner that caught your attention. He gave you a thumbs up and smiled, but you quickly looked away, needing to be invisible. Yep, this is what you deserved.

The instructor continued reading from her pamphlet, telling the whole class about the amazing spring rolls and things to remember when we're cooking. You tried your best to concentrate, but you could tell you were starting to lose focus and daydream.

She talked about the red bell pepper and the difference between a male pepper and female pepper and you started worrying that everything in this class was going to relate to being a couple. Even the freaking pepper had a partner. You shook your head, looking back at the instructor and watched her take a bite of one of the peppers, squealing at the delicious flavor.

The problem wasn't because you couldn't find your perfect partner, you just didn't want to settle. So many people settled these days, you didn't want to be one of them. You were happy the way things were with you. Besides, if you were in a relationship, he could be one of those guys that liked doing things like this and then you'd have to join cult cooking classes regularly.

You broke from your daydream, shaking your head and focusing back on the instructor. Yeah, you just weren't settling. You looked around the room at the other couples again, everyone's arm around each other, squeezing each other's shoulders in fondness. The guy in the corner who gave you the thumbs up caught your eye again. He was crossing his arms and looking at you and smiling. Not like a friendly smile, but a smile where he caught you doing something that you didn't want anyone to see and it creeped you out and worried you. You looked back to the instructor, a little more anxious about his eyes on you.

"Alright couples! Now that you know what to do, let's get started!" The instructor jogged up to her little kitchen in the front and started setting her things up, turning on music and expecting everyone to follow.

"Hi." A deep, raspy voice spoke from behind you and you jumped, turning around. It was thumbs up guy.

"H—hi." He was taller than he looked from across the room. Much taller. He was also much better looking. Like, dreamboat, hunky, drop-dead gorgeous, good-looking. He had those really light blue eyes that had you struggling to look directly into them.

"I uh… I noticed you don't have a partner." His hand moved a piece of his dirty blonde hair behind his ears, a piece that didn't fit into the small bun he had in the back, then rubbed the back of his head. "I'm also partner-free. Maybe we can work together?"

"What happened to your partner?" You were unpacking the ingredients from the bag on your counter as you looked up at him.

"I came without one." He smiled shyly.

"You came to a couple class without a partner?" You questioned, pausing your unpacking to focus on him.

"Didn't you do the same thing?" He teased. You opened your mouth to defend yourself, but realized it didn't even matter. He was right. You were also partner-less in a couple class.

"I guess you're right." You laughed. "Okay, partners it is."

"Great!" He quickly moved backwards to grab his stuff from his table and you resumed checking your inventory. "I'm Miche, by the way."

You looked up and he was back, holding his hand out for you. You took it.

"Y/N."

He moved back to his table and you watched him grab his black leather jacket and a backpack. Of course he would be wearing a black leather jacket. He had this whole rocker look going on that you definitely didn't hate, but it was a bit predictable. He set his stuff down with yours and rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt to wash his hands.

You watched him pump soap onto his hands and lather them up. He had pretty nice hands. They looked strong. Most of him looked strong though, but there was something about his hands that seemed really strong. You were starting to get lost in watching the soap lather up and roll away, the white bubbles disappearing as they slipped over the thick veins in his hands. You had no idea what his job was, but if you had to guess, it was something with his hands. Thick fingers, protruding veins, calloused palms when you shook his hand, definitely construction.

"So what made you come here partner-less, Y/N?" His question woke you from your daydream and you looked at him as he dried those strong hands.

"You first."

"Me?" He turned around and leaned against the ledge of the counter, crossing his arms. "It was sort of an accident."

"How so?"

"Well I try to take one of these classes a couple times a month. Not the couple one," he corrected with a laugh, "but the regular one."

A regular attendant of the cult cooking classes. Of course.

"Why do you take them so often?" You pulled out the knives and the cutting boards.

"Single guy, living alone. I got sick of eating garbage every night." He bent down to help you pull out the tools you needed. "I'm actually pretty good with breads, but that class was full. That's why I'm here."

"A breads class would have been fun." You spoke, but your mind was still stuck on the 'single guy' part.

"It's tons of fun. There's one open in a couple weeks, you should join it with me." He smiled and you realized that even his smile was beautiful. It's weird that from across the room he looked a bit creepy, but now he was nothing but charming. "Your turn."

You both unloaded your armful of utensils and bowls from your arms and you considered how much of the real story you wanted to share with him. Did you really need a guy this good-looking, with this much potential so far, judging you?

"I kind of pissed off my best friend and she tricked me into coming here so she could ditch me." Not really a lie, but certainly not the full truth.

"That's some friend."

"No, she is honestly a great friend. She really is." You sighed. It wasn't fair to give him a bad impression. You shrugged your shoulders and paused for a second. "I deserved it."

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this." He organized everything on the counter so there was a cutting board and knife in front of each of you. Bowls were set behind the cutting boards and he moved the pan over to the stove.

"I don't even know you. Why would I tell you my problems?" You crossed your arms and smiled at him, secretly enjoying the fact that he seemed quite interested.

"I am the exact person to tell. I will automatically be on your side." You thought about what he said, a scrutinizing look on your face. "I'm not wrong."

"You're not."

"Alright, let's hear it then." He mirrored your crossed arms.

"Okay, but let's start making the sauce before we fall behind."

You started reading the list and handed Miche the ingredients. Both of you measured them out and Miche mixed it all together.

"So, my friend, Fen—"

"Already don't like her."

"Hey!" You quickly looked at him and he laughed.

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding." He laughed, whisking the sauce in the small bowl and shaking his head.

You heard him mumbling something to himself, but couldn't quite make out what it was. You could have sworn he said 'so fucking cute' but that didn't make sense to you. Unless he was talking to the sauce. Even that didn't make sense. You looked away quickly, biting your lip and moving some vegetables around the table awkwardly.

"You definitely have your friend's back." Miche continued, stopping his whisking to look at you. "So far, you seem like a great friend to me."

You took a deep breath, hoping he couldn't feel the heat coming from your face when you turned back to look at him.

"Well, you haven't heard the worst part." You continued. "Fen invited me to a work party. She sort of has this thing with her coworkers."

"What kind of thing?"

"She hates them all."

"Nice." He laughed again. You've never giggled before. At least not that typical girly giggle that women do in movies when they're flirting, but man did he make you want to giggle when he laughed. You held back and stuck with biting your lip.

"So I may have promised her I would go with her to make it a little easier, but last minute I got tickets to this concert." You were doing your best to focus on your fingers lightly pulling on the stem of the bell pepper and not on the beautiful man standing next to you whose eyes you could feel looking at you.

"Oh."

"So, I maybe… kind of…" The pepper was in your hands now, shifting from one hand to the other as you spoke. "… texted her right before the party and told her that I couldn't go."

You looked up at him slowly, his eyes were on you, slightly narrowed and he looked back to the bowl of sauce he had been whisking.

"Damn, you are a bad friend." He shook his head.

"You said you would be on my side!" Your mouth dropped open and he threw his head back laughing as you stared at him and jokingly pushed him away from you.

"I'm sorry, I'm only kidding." He put his hands up, still laughing. "Everyone's done something like that before."

"Yeah, well, she isn't talking to me now." You turned back to the vegetables on the table.

"I'm sure she will if you give her time." He bumped his hip into yours and set the bowl on the counter in between where you both were standing and your eyes were drawn to his bracelet.

"I appreciate that." You nodded, looking back up at him. "Oh! You know who is talking to me?"

"Who's that?"

"The year 2004. It wants its leather cuff back." You pointed to his wrist.

"Ah, very nice." He laughed and looked down at his bracelets. "Well see, these are glued on."

"Oh, are they?" He rotated his arms so you could see both sides of the cuffs.

"Yeah, I was pretty badass when I was younger." He joked, taking a step closer to you.

"Mhm." You laughed lightly, words were becoming more difficult to think of as he got closer, the heat from his body reaching yours without even needing to touch you.

"So yeah, they can't come off now." He smiled and you slowly looked up to him. "Permanent fixture."

He wasn't standing over you, but he was definitely leaning over you and you could feel the pressure of his size. You sucked in a quick breath of air, unable to think of anything other than just how close he was to you as he moved his hands to rest on either side of you, lowering himself so his face was level with yours.

"Cute." Your bottom lip slipped in between your teeth. At this rate your lip would be bleeding by the end of the class.

His smile grew and in this position it would have honestly been incredibly uncomfortable if it weren't for the genuine comfort you felt constantly rolling off of him. You sucked in another breath and smiled at him. He was about to take a step closer until the instructor's voice caught the attention of both of you and you turned to look at her.

"I see some of you out there getting closer!" She walked the length of her table, and went back to chopping. "This is what cooking is about! Being close to your partner, really tasting the food. It's a sensual experience. You need to feel the cooking with your partner!"

You noticed Miche removing his hands from resting on the counter and turning to stand next to you, starting to chop the bell pepper to follow the instructor. You moved over to your cutting board to do the same.

"No one here should be feeding themselves!" The instructor started moving around again, lifting her arms in a gesture to show she wanted more. "All of the ingredients are fresh and juicy and delicious! Let your partner taste it from you!"

You were about to start laughing, turning back to the red onion you were chopping when you felt Miche staring again. Ignoring it was your first thought, but when he shifted his position, leaning his back against the cutting board, you couldn't help but look up.

He was holding a small sliver of bell pepper in his hand and holding it up to you.

"I—uh… we don't have to do that." You spoke, flustered, looking back at your cutting board.

"Come on."

"We're not even a couple, we don't have to follow what she says. It's more for the other people here." You gestured with your knife to the other couples feeding each other.

"Something tells me even if we were a couple, you would still argue against this." He put his hand on yours and you stopped chopping, your eyes moving to his. "You don't get chances like this often. Live a little."

You weren't sure what he meant by 'chances like this' but whatever he meant by it, he was right. It was easy to forget that a lot of the time, especially for you. You had a tendency to take things too seriously and when you were uncomfortable, which was quite often, you passed up 'chances like this', chances to have fun, chances to try something new, chances to get fed by a cute guy you just met. It was strange that Miche had already figured that out that about you.

He moved the bell pepper towards you and back away in a little dance of temptation and it made you laugh. You sighed, resisting the urge to roll your eyes and you opened your mouth.

"Wait, do you want to try it with the sauce?" He asked as he pulled the vegetable away from you.

"Might as well." You shrugged. He scooped a small amount of the peanut sauce onto the pepper and cupped his hand under it as he lifted it to your mouth. He had a weird look on his face as he watched you chew. You couldn't tell if he wanted you to like the sauce or wanted you to like the fact that he fed you. "It's good."

You've had peanut sauce before, but this one tasted different. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't something you wanted to be sticking plain bell peppers in. You had to admit though, the instructor was right, the bell pepper really was juicy and getting it fed to you was pretty nice too.

"My turn." He smiled and nudged your cutting board closer to you to feed him. You looked at him confused.

"You want me to feed you an onion?"

"With sauce, please." He opened his mouth, lowering himself down a little. It made no sense to you but you weren't really going to judge him. You picked up a slice of onion and scooped some sauce, slowly carrying it to his mouth.

You watched as his face started out happy and then switched to confused as he chewed more. From there it moved to almost disgust and you saw his nostrils flare as he finally swallowed.

"That's not right." He coughed, drinking a sip of water.

"You ate it with an onion, Miche." You laughed.

"I think it's the sauce." He scooped a tiny bit on his finger and tasted it, his face immediately puckering.

"It wasn't that bad." You leaned forward to smell it.

"No, it's definitely the sauce. Here, try it." He scooped some sauce on his finger and brought it to your mouth. You were about to taste it, but stopped, looking at the sauce on his finger and then to his face. As the smile grew on your face, his smile grew as well.

"You really thought I would fall for this?" Shaking your head, you turned back to your cutting board and he laughed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't realize what I was doing until after my finger was in your mouth." He laughed again, licking the sauce off his finger. "The sauce is actually pretty good."

"So what is it that you do?" You asked him, not looking up from your onion.

"I'm a drummer." He finished washing his hands and leaned against the counter next to you.

"I mean, like your job."

"I'm a drummer." He laughed and you looked up, staring at him.

"Oh, you're serious? I'm sorry. I thought you were being funny because the leather cuff thing." You hoped your face wasn't radiating as much heat as you felt like it was and that he couldn't feel it.

"I like to think I'm funnier than that." He laughed, crossing his arms. You could feel him looking at you again. "I get it though. Not a lot of people see it as a real job."

"No, no, I—" You saw him smiling at you. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Ugh, I'm sorry."

You set the knife down and closed your eyes. Perfect. You've insulted him. Sometimes you wondered why you bothered opening your mouth at all, stumbling over your words, saying things that come out rude. You've barely known him for twenty minutes and you've already offended him.

"I'm just teasing you." He tapped your foot lightly with his. "You should come to a show. My band is playing in town tonight."

"I should. It's the least I can do." The moment you said it, you knew how it sounded and you tried to correct yourself.

"The least you can do?" His eyes widened and he laughed. "Don't do me any favors."

"No, I know how that sounded. It's not—I don't pity—it's not out of pity… oh my gosh." You covered your face with your hands and faced the counter. Miche was cracking up next to you.

"I'm not offended, Y/N." He tapped your shoulder. "Stop hiding."

"It's like I have a permanent foot in my mouth. I'm sorry."

"Damn, you're fun to tease." He smiled and you stood up straight, taking a deep breath trying to pull yourself together a bit. You watched him lean over the counter and rest on his elbows, looking back at you. "What is it you do?"

"It's not as interesting as being a drummer." You leaned over the counter with him. "I'm a children's book author."

"Oh wow, not what I was expecting. How long have you been doing that?"

"Wait, what were you expecting?"

"Nothing, honestly. I just don't meet a lot of authors." You gave him a look with narrowed eyes. It was only fair that he offend you at that point. It wouldn't be the first time that someone looked at your face and wondered how someone who looked so cold could write children's books, but most people judged you too soon anyway. "Really, I wasn't expecting anything. So how long have you been an author?"

"It's basically been my only job. I wrote my first book when I was seventeen." You shrugged. "So that's, what?"

You did the math in your head. Math has never been something you've been good at. Miche was watching you try to add the small numbers in your head and laughed.

"You need help getting there?" He teased.

"Shut up." You laughed. Math was hard. "Seventeen. Seventeen years."

"I think you're a little off."

"Am I? Thirty-four minus seventeen is seventeen, right?"

"You're thirty-four?" He stood up straight, his eyes wide. "I thought you were like twenty-five."

"Sorry to disappoint you." You smiled, knowing that's not what he meant, but also wanting to enjoy being the teaser for once.

"No, not a disappointment at all." He smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Y—you… you look great."

"Thank you." That smile really did a number on you because you sat there staring at him until at some point you realized that twenty minutes had gone by and you both really hadn't done anything as far as cooking. "We should probably keep cooking."

You both went back to your cutting boards and continued working. Miche finished slicing the bell peppers and you noticed that he was staring at you quite a bit more than before. Not just that, but he was also moving closer to you. It's not that you were complaining at all. Honestly, you were very okay with it, you were just wondering what the change was. You finished your onion, moving to boil the water for the rice vermicelli and starting on the cabbage.

Miche reached around you for the carrot, his chest pressed against your back, he set his hand on your upper arm and you looked up at him. His blue eyes sparkling so close to yours. You blinked slowly and looked down at his lips. He had the most perfect lips, full and soft and the most kissable shade of red. He was smirking and it made the corners of your lips turn up until you let out a silent exhale as you watched him lick his lips.

You felt like a kid. Like when kids see the ice cream truck and their face lights up and they start licking their lips and salivating, anticipating what that ice cream is going to taste like. That's how you felt when you looked at Miche. A drooling child.

Each time you caught yourself staring like an idiot, you told yourself not to do it again, to keep your focus. But when he was brushing past you, touching your arms lightly, smiling at you, laughing with his big laugh, it was so hard not to look like a drooling child.

"Alright class!" The instructor's voice broke you out of your thoughts. "We're coming up to the last ten minutes. I see some of you falling behind, but that's okay! You want to start thinking about plating your food soon!"

"What the heck?" You looked to Miche with your eyes wide. "We barely have anything done. We haven't even cooked the shrimp!"

"We still have ten minutes." He reminded you.

"To plate!" You moved to the shrimp. "You take over the chopping, I will cook the shrimp."

How in the world did forty-five minutes pass already? You knew you were having fun, but you both literally have only cut a bell pepper and an onion. Thankfully you had started boiling water for the stuff that took longer to cook. You dumped the shrimp in the pan and looked over to Miche eating the only vegetables you had cut.

"Stop eating it and plate it." He jumped at your voice and you honestly wanted to laugh, but you were freaking out about how you were going to finish everything. He moved closer to you.

"Don't worry so much." He stood behind you and rested his hands on your shoulders. His hands were moving slightly as if he couldn't decide if he wanted to give you a massage or not. "Do you want me to do that?"

He moved to take the spoon from you, but you shook your head. You were feeling the pressure of the time and you had a feeling he could tell. The big red clock in the front of the room that showed nine minutes wasn't helping. It's not like you wanted to ruin the fun, you were having fun before, but now… you just weren't.

"Here, eat this." He brought a bell pepper with peanut sauce on it to your mouth.

"Miche, I just want to get this done. We're already—"

"We're already what? This is a class we paid for, we can do whatever we want." He watched your eyes move to the clock and back to him and he smiled. "You're really bothered by that, aren't you?"

"I just don't want to be late." You sighed. He lifted the bell pepper up again.

"You'll feel better after you eat this."

"I doubt that." He pretended to frown at you and it made you smile. "I will eat it, but then you need to julienne the carrots."

"Whatever you say." He put the pepper in your mouth.

You chewed as you turned back to the stove and added the rice vermicelli to the boiling water, looking back over to how Miche was doing. He put the bell peppers on the plate with the onions and was cutting the carrots into cubes. Large, uneven cubes.

"Julienne, Miche, julienne!" You complained. Miche dropped the knife on the cutting board.

"Who the fuck is Julienne?" He whispered turning to you. You stared at him. He had a serious look in his eyes. He genuinely had no idea what you were talking about and it was so wholesome that it took everything you had not to squeeze him. This giant man was so adorable, it was killing you.

You put your hand on his shoulder and started laughing. Once you started, you couldn't stop. Your shoulders were shaking and you put your face into your elbow, trying to muffle the sound.

"Did I say something?" He watched you, but all it did was make you laugh even harder. You moved to pull your hand from his shoulder to cover your face and he grabbed it, holding onto it and smiling at you. You weren't sure if maybe you had just given up on making anything correctly or you finally realized it didn't matter, but seeing Miche smiling as you nearly peed your pants from laughing seemed way more important to you in that moment than anything else.

You got yourself to stop laughing and didn't even bother looking at the clock. Your eyes were watering from laughing so hard and you wiped them, still giggling when you thought about how ridiculously cute this guy was. He was still smiling and finally dropped your hand only to hold your cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe whatever tears you missed.

It was strange to you how oddly comfortable you were in that moment. You hated when people touched you, especially people you barely knew and meeting Miche less than an hour before definitely put him in that category. But standing there with him holding your cheeks didn't feel uncomfortable at all. You hesitantly set your hands on his ribs, unsure if he was okay with your touch. It was a weird place to hold, but it felt like a natural placement until he moved closer to you and they slipped around his back and you let out a quiet gasp. It had been a while since you had been this close to a man and you were actually kind of enjoying it.

"How is everyone feeling?" The instructor's voice pulled you back into the kitchen and you blinked, moving to turn your head, but Miche held your face. His smile widened the tiniest bit before he squeezed your cheeks lightly, squishing your face forward and he let go, laughing to himself. You narrowed your eyes at him, but couldn't help but smile when you saw him laughing.

As you turned to the instructor, having missed most of what she said, you realized that the moment you and Miche just had seemed to give him permission to be closer to you because he was completely pressed up against your back, hands on either side of you as they rested on the counter. If there was a way to describe the feeling of being pleasantly caged in, you would use it to describe how you felt. Maybe cozy was a good way to describe it.

"It's finally time to eat what you and your partner created so grab those plates and let's get to the dining area!" The instructor danced her way to the dining area and you and Miche looked down at your plates and laughed, carrying what you could to the dining area.

The dining area was just a small room with a lot of windows, a wall of plants and ten or so bistro tables. It sort of seemed like a large greenhouse and was cute in a small café sort of way. The sunlight coming through the windows also added a great feeling.

You and Miche set your plates on an open table and sat down. He immediately slid his chair a bit closer to you and you both turned to the instructor, listening to her long-winded way of saying 'enjoy the food' and finally turned back to each other.

"At least we know the sauce will be good." You dipped your rice paper in the hot water and pulled it out before it got soft, trying to put whatever vegetables you could in it, laughing as you sifted through the chunks of carrots. You rolled it up and dipped it in the sauce, watching Miche make his.

His rice paper was still hard and he folded it over instead of rolling it. The paper got too soft too quickly and he couldn't get it off the plate. You sat there and smiled, trying not to laugh as you chewed your food. As his spring roll fell apart when he lifted it, you finally had enough.

"It's not a taco, Miche. Here, let me do it." You took a fresh rice paper and dipped it in the water, added the vegetables and rolled it up. You dipped it in the sauce, holding it up for him and he opened his mouth. "You need me to feed you?"

"I'm sure it will taste better this way." He smiled, resting his hand on yours to steady the roll before taking a bite and sitting back, chewing. You didn't want to sit and watch him eat, but you couldn't get yourself to look away. The way his jaw worked and flexed as he chewed, the way his eyes closed as he tasted the food, the way he let out a small groan to tell you how good it was, the way he gave a little thumbs up, you didn't want to miss any of it. "So good."

"It would probably be better with carrots." You teased.

"Let me make you one," he said excitedly.

You weren't really sure you wanted that. You saw his first attempt and you really didn't want to be eating crunchy rice paper with chunks of carrots and onions. You eyed him as he started, he was definitely watching you make the last roll for him because this time his roll wasn't that bad. You opened your mouth and took a bite, watching as Miche put what was left in his mouth.

"What do I have to do to get you to come to my show tonight?" He asked as he wiped his mouth.

"You still want me to come?" He smiled and nodded.

"Definitely."

"Well class, it's been a fun hour, but the next class will be coming in soon so it's time to clean up!" The instructor spoke about how great everyone did and how we can sign up for her other classes at the front desk. No one was required to clean and you watched as everyone stood up to leave.

"Before we leave—" Miche put his hand on yours and you looked at him. He opened his mouth but nothing was coming out, he just sort of stared at you, trying to find words. "Do you… Um, maybe, do you want to get ice cream or something? I know a good place. It's really close."

He was asking you out. He was definitely asking you out. He even looked nervous and it was twisting your insides into the tightest knot you've ever felt. The excitement and shock sent a flush of heat to your cheeks. There was no way you could play it cool, even if you tried. Your heart was beating so hard against your chest in the best way and you opened your mouth to respond, but he kept going.

"It doesn't have to be ice cream, if you don't like it." He added quickly, laughing to himself as his hand went to rub the back of his head and his cheeks tinted pink. "I just kind of want to spend more time with you."

"I love ice cream." You smiled, biting your lip. Fen might actually kill you for coming out of this experience with a date. Especially a date as amazing as Miche. He let out a sigh and smiled, standing up and taking your hand.

"Should we go?"

He was right about the ice cream place being close. It was more of a cart and only a couple blocks away from the cooking class. You weren't actually sure if this was considered a date, but this ice cream cart location was certainly a perfect date spot. It was right next to a park with a cute path for strolling.

"What can I get you?" He pulled out his wallet.

"I can pay, you don't have to pay for me." You dug around your purse.

"I invited you. Don't worry about it." You stared at him. You hated when people paid for you. It felt weird and you felt like then you owed them something and you weren't really sure where this was going for you to be able to pay him back. Miche saw your hesitation and smiled. "How about I buy you ice cream and you can pay me back by coming to my show."

"Still trying to get me to go, huh?"

"I will keep trying anything to get to see you again." He laughed. "I'll even let you buy me a drink. Deal?"

"Deal." The smile that grew on his face made your heart dance around in your chest. You got your ice cream and walked together along the park path. Whether it was a date or not, it was a really nice afternoon that you weren't expecting to have had based on where you were a couple hours before.

"So you're trying to become a vet?" You asked him. You were both sitting on a bench you found halfway through the park's path as you finished your last couple bites of ice cream.

"Not really actively yet." He laughed. "I've taken a couple classes and I love animals so I think I might do it."

"It would definitely suit you." You nodded licking your ice cream.

"You think so?" There was that smile again. He always looked so grateful and happy. You found it so comforting, but also confusing because you looked the exact opposite and couldn't understand why he kept calling you cute. "If my apartment allowed pets, I would probably have a bunch of dogs by now. I guess it's good that they don't."

"So how long have you been a drummer?" You ate the last bite of your cone. "As a career, I mean."

"Not long. Maybe five years." He shrugged.

"What were you doing before that?"

"I don't know that I want to talk about that yet." He laughed nervously.

"That bad?"

"Not bad. I just didn't really like myself very much then. I didn't… I wasn't very happy." He shifted in his seat and you worried that you made him uncomfortable, but he was still smiling so it must not be that bad. "Not all of us found our dream job at seventeen."

"I wouldn't call it my dream job." You laughed. He was smiling, but his face dropped, looking almost worried. He started leaning closer to you which made you lean back away from him. Was he trying to kiss you? If he was trying to kiss you, he picked the most random time to do it. Not to mention, he had a look on his face that didn't seem like he even wanted it. He held your chin and touched your hair and you looked at him. He wasn't even looking at you, but you still waited for him to lean in more. Instead, he sat back on the bench.

"Sorry, there was a bug in your hair." He flicked it away.

"Oh." You looked down, internally laughing at yourself. "I thought you were going to kiss me."

You quickly looked up in front of you, not meaning to say that out loud to him. You opened your mouth and a nervous noise came out. Miche started laughing and you looked at him.

"Don't worry." He tapped your shoulder. "I won't kiss you without asking."

"Oh." There was definitely disappointment in your voice and you were hoping maybe he couldn't hear it even though you thought it was painfully obvious.

"Would you let me though?" He asked.

"What?" You looked back at him.

"Kiss you?" That little smirk sat on his lips and distracted you from his question to the point that you had to look away.

"I think I would." You nod slowly.

"Why did you lean away then?"

"It's a reflex, I guess." You explained and he smiled, his hand going to his facial hair and rubbing.

"So… then can I?"

"Can you what?" You looked back at him and felt stupid for looking back and forth between him and the ground. It was dumb for you to feel nervous when he clearly looked nervous himself. His hand was on the back of his head where he was rubbing, a slightly unsure smile on his face.

"Can I kiss you?" He laughed. It was amazing how good you were at making things so incredibly awkward. You were about to grab him and kiss him yourself just to end this conversation because you were sure it was only a matter of time before you said something really dumb. Like maybe 'it's the least you could do'.

You nodded your head, hoping that was enough for him to understand. He lifted up from the bench, leaning towards you, his face approaching yours quickly as his hand reached for your cheek. He was really going to do it then? You felt yourself leaning away again and tried to stop, but you couldn't. His eyes closed as he got close enough to you and you panicked a little.

"Wait, wait." You put your hand on his mouth and he opened his eyes. "I give you permission to kiss me, but not like this. Sorry. I don't know why it's awkward when I know it's coming."

"You want me to surprise you?" His eyes went wide with shock. He didn't move back from how close he was to you, instead stayed right in front of your face and chuckled.

"It's not like I want to be scared." You laughed, shifting a little in your spot. "I just feel like I need to wait for the right moment to enjoy it or it's awkward."

"Why is it awkward?" He leaned back, his hand resting on your shoulder.

"I don't know. I just… I don't know." You sighed. "I'm sorry. I guess I ruined this. I just…I take things too seriously."

"Oh, I definitely figured that out." He laughed, closing his eyes and laying his head back. "And stop worrying, you didn't ruin anything."

"Should we try again?" You sat forward and looked at him. You've only known Miche for an afternoon and he was already realizing one of your worst traits.

"So you can just go through the motions? No." He smiled. "Kissing is fun. You don't need to wait for any right moment to do it. You just take control and make it yourself."

"I don't know that I—"

"I'll tell you what." He sat up and looked at you. "I'm going to get you to make the special moment that you need all on your own and you are going to kiss me."

"You—"

"No arguing. I'm starting now." He laid his head back on the bench and closed his eyes and you stared at him confused as to how him doing the exact same thing he was doing was going to make you kiss him.

You waited, looking at him for a good couple minutes, but he didn't move. You looked around the park, thinking maybe inspiration would come from the ducks in the pond across from you. You were honestly trying. Moments didn't just come out of nowhere though. You looked back to Miche and he was still in the same spot and you really thought that he might have fallen asleep.

You sighed, setting your back to the bench again and Miche's hand made its way around your back and pulled you against him. There was a moment where you tried to look up at him, but his hand was resting on your head and he guided you to lay your head on his chest. You tried to keep your breathing steady, but you did feel a little strange cuddled up to him like this. It wasn't until he moved his hand to your waist that you felt like you could breathe.

You took a deep breath, trying to relax yourself into his body. It still didn't feel like a moment, but it was definitely something worth enjoying for a little. You took another deep breath, bringing your hand to rest on his chest, just under your chin and closed your eyes. You probably could have fallen asleep. Between the slight breeze in the park, the warmth of Miche's chest under your cheek, the slight scent of his cologne or deodorant or possibly really nice body odor, the continual rise and fall of his chest, the sounds of the ducks dipping into the pond water and the faint thud of Miche's heartbeat under your ear, you could sleep. You focused on the rhythmic beat of his heart, slow and steady. The calm, even, unchanging drumming against your cheek.

You slid yourself a little closer, trying to position yourself to better hear it and you heard it change, shifting slightly. You stopped your movements, focusing on hearing the change. It was easier to hear in this position and you could not only hear the change, but you could feel it. His heart was beating faster, harder against his chest. You smiled and slid your hand across his stomach to lower your ear. He inhaled sharply and you felt his pulse race again. You brought your hand back over his chest and his hand lightly rubbed your waist.

Your entire body was tingling and you could only think that maybe his was too. Your heart was racing as you heard the speed of his heart beat. This was fun. This was more than fun. This was amazing. You were in total control. You were completely focused and in complete control of this moment. This moment was yours and it was going to be as special as you wanted it to be, as special as you made it.

You were at your limit, an unexpected pull forcing you to lift your head, look up at Miche, and smile. He finally lifted his head to look at you and when he saw your face, he smiled back. It's as if you were a different person. Any other time, you would feel the need to wait an arbitrarily appropriate amount of time before you could kiss someone. But this time was different. There was no waiting, your hand moved to his cheek, your thumb rubbing his cheekbone softly before you hurriedly lifted yourself to reach his lips.

The moment your lips met, his free hand moved to the back of your head and he helped pull you closer to him. He had this weird way of holding you tightly, but at the same time so gently. He sat up a little more as his lips moved against yours. It surprised you that you were the first one to slip your tongue out and sweep it across his top lip. Miche sighed into you, opening his mouth, and quickly pulling you into his lap, his tongue quickly making its way into your mouth. He lifted you until you were straddling his legs and kept his hand on the back of your head to keep you close to him.

The reminder that you were sitting on a park bench in public flew across your mind and quickly disappeared as Miche's hands moved up your back, bringing your chest to rest against his. The warmth of his cheek under your hand and the way he kept sitting up to get closer to you was making it increasingly more difficult to keep the kiss a suitable rating for any eyes that might be watching you. Your body was growing hotter and Miche's tiny sighs into your mouth weren't helping. A particularly loud sigh, bordering on a moan, finally had you put your hand on his shoulder and lean back.

Miche's eyes were still closed when you opened your eyes to look at him and he licked his lips. If there was a limit to how handsome he could look, you were sure that was it. His eyes were fluttering lightly as he held them closed, his cheeks were pink and his lips were sitting in a small smirk, wet and still that perfect shade of red.

"Hm..." You smiled and his hands lowered to your hips as he opened his eyes. "You're a much better kisser than I thought you'd be."

"I'll try not to take offense to that." He smiled and leaned back into you, pressing his lips against yours again.