As Brett walked up to her, neither said a word. Lilly was standing still, doe in the headlights, too transfixed by his dark melted chocolate eyes to yet feel any embarassment from such unnecessarily long and unbroken staring. A mist of silver-gray snow dust blew from across the landscape. Mother nature subtly reminding the two of her plans for a less than romantic winter storm to come.
Whether he noticed the impending storm or just wanted the girl, Brett was the first to cut the tense silence. "Let's go put peanut butter on something and then eat it!" began the New Jersey boy confidently as he grabbed her mittened hands. This brought a shy grin onto Lilly's small face.
"Not for coffee? Or at least a hot chocolate to warm up?"
"Miss, coffee on a first date is entirely arbitrary. As arbitary as first date peanut butter, except my idea is sticker" grinning.
"When did this become a date?"
"Ah, dont be sly, you're the one chasing me for it!" the silly boy yelled as he ran back to the concert hall back entrance, with a laughing lady running behind him. The two collapsed onto his dressing room settee redfaced from the cold outside and the punching heat indoors. As Llilly unwrapped her scarf and removed her mittens, she looked around the room. It was a typical dressing room without any frills. "How are you here?" she blurted, wondering how it was he came on stage in the middle of her act and finished so perfectly. He approached the question another way, "Well Miss Lilianne, at your age I was sure you'd already know," and he leaned dangerously closed and heard her breath. "But you are indeed quite lucky," he purred, "as I am a fantastic teacher."
Lilly was wide eyed and hadn't noticed her fingertips turning white from gripping the seat edge. And he suddenly pulled back, having a great laugh to himself, and explained in earnest, "To be honest, I've heard your song quite a while ago, [chuckling as he notes that Lilly's still heavy breathing], but I never knew it was you. I say this not as a slight to your stardom," he jested. Recovering, but catching her breath again as she remembered about his joining her singing just moments before, "but…" and stopped as he continued with momentum. "And you really caught my breath away, so I thought it was my turn to catch yours. Don't be in the dark anymore Lilianne" he cleverly used her song lyrics. "And here we are, exactly where we're supposed to be. [pause] Except, not really in this specific room. I just meant, with you." And he sat down on the settee next to her. Him, exhausted from a soul's most naked soliloquy and her, stumbling headfirst into another cold turbulent ocean of feelings, gasping for breath.
Just a month earlier, Lilly had escaped her life and spent half a year in rainy old England. And rain there it did, as Neil, his charm and his Queen's English accent nearly drowned her in love, confusion and despair. She fell in love with that perfect nook in his shoulder where her head rested at night. She fell in love with arranging his tousled hair, always to no effect. She fell in love with him. And that was a mistake.
And people make mistakes.