I'm really sorry guys pls don't hate me I had to babysit this week and I didn't know and I didn't have much time to write but I did when I could and now we're here and I'm really sorry it took so long ajskhksjs but here it is okay I'm sorry again!

I stared at what I could see of Eli as I anticipated his answer. My hands were turning clammy and I tried wiping them off on my skirt but they just ended up getting clammy again as I waited for Eli to finish his thought.

"Well," he repeated and I wanted to scream at him to just tell me how he felt so we could get this over with, "How do you feel?"

"Fuck," I whispered under my breath. I didn't want to go first, I didn't want to tell him my feelings and have to deal with disappointment afterwards, at least if he went first I could pretend that I didn't have feelings and attempt to throw them in my DO NOT THINK box in the back of my head. But I took several deep breaths and started, "Alright well um, I like you, as more than a friend. That kiss was definitely more than just a kiss for me or maybe it was because it was my first kiss, I don't know. But I do know that I wouldn't have wanted my first kiss to be with anyone except you and that's cheesy and dumb, I know but it's also true. If you don't feel the same way, it's fine I totally get it-"

"And how crazy would it be if I said I did feel the same way?" Eli cut me off.

I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. I was literally speechless, it would be extremely crazy if he said that he did feel the same way. I mean, it would be the only wish that I wanted more than anything and for it to be happening, right now, with the person I would want it to happen with the most seemed unbelievable. I went to pinch myself just to make sure that this wasn't a dream, but when I pinched myself, I didn't feel it at all, not even a little. So this had to be a dream, I was in a deep sleep and I just wasn't waking up, that was it.

"Is there a reason you're pinching me right now?" Eli's voice broke into my dream, or what I thought was a dream. I wasn't pinching me, I was pinching Eli.

"Sorry." I muttered, taking my pinching hand away from Eli's arm, "I just can't believe that you actually feel the same about me."

"Why not?" I couldn't see Eli's face but I could feel that his face got closer to mine.

"Because you're you, I'm me. My life has been boring until the minute I met you. Life was just walking around doing daily things and seeing the same places until I got here. You were my first kiss and that alone was something special but for you like me back, that's crazy."

Eli chuckled, "You give yourself way less credit than you deserve."

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely not getting it.

"I mean, you're trying to make yourself think this is a dream because you don't think anyone would like you back. You don't think you're good enough for someone to like you back but you are. I like you, Summer Mitchell, I like you as more than a friend and want to be more than friends. This isn't a dream, this is real life."

I blinked a few times just to make sure but then I realized if it was a dream, I would have woken up by now and Eli being so close to me wouldn't feel so real. I didn't want to but I had to ask, I had to make sure, "So, you like me, you really like me, right?"

"As much as I can like 17-year-old equally sarcastic, indie listening, cutely awkward girl, I like you, Summer Mitchell, I really like you." He said, getting closer to me with each word, I couldn't see him but I could feel him, "And I have a confession."

"Spill." I said, as his face was a mere centimeter away from me, making my breath shorten as I couldn't see him but only could feel what would happen next.

"Since that night at the pool," he paused like he didn't want to continue but since he started had no choice but to finish, "I haven't stopped thinking about the next time I'd be able to kiss you."

My heart stopped, my eyes widened and I was so thankful for the dark being able to hide the excessive amount of blushing that I had just surfaced on my cheeks. I didn't know what to say, what did you say to something like that? I couldn't sit here thinking about what I'd want to say for a long amount of time until the point where things would get awkward. I had to take a chance, I already took one tonight and it worked out in my favor so I had to trust that I'd say the right thing this time.

I took a deep breath and continued before my brain could tell me to stop, "Well, I'm right here."

And before I knew it, Eli and I both grabbed for each other so quickly that Flash would have been jealous. I wrapped my arms around Eli's neck pulling him as close as I could possibly get him and he did the same but his force was much stronger so I ended up being pushed against the wall by him. He had his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me so close to him that I was sure even air had no chance of getting in-between us. My hands had moved from Eli's neck to his hair, knocking his beanie off as my hands had run through his hair. As Eli's hands ran across the parts of my lower back that weren't covered by my crop top, chills went up my spine and through my veins. Those fireworks that everybody bragged about were replaced by bombs. Massive bombs that wouldn't stop going off as Eli's hands moved and my hands were getting tangled in his hair and our lips clashed and my heart was beating a million beats per second as Eli's body pushed closer into me and I pushed closer to the wall.

"Alright, it sounds like you two have made up considering I hear it all the way out here!" I had actually forgot that he was outside but was reminded when Cam's voice came through the door, "When you guys are done, the door is unlocked!"

I had no choice but to laugh as I heard Cam which also resulted in me pulling away from Eli. As I laughed, Eli's head went into my neck and he started laughing too. Then we just stood there holding each other and laughing until Eli pulled away and looked at me.

"What do you say to us getting out of here?" he said.

"And doing what?" I asked.

"Anything we want." He smirked, and I could only see his smirk partly with the light that lightly came in through the small window, "I have a car and we live in big city, there's countless amounts of things to do."

Eli made it seem so easy and adventurous as he said it that I had no choice but to agree to it. I'd be upset all night if I stayed when I had the option to go anywhere I wanted, in Toronto of course. I pretty much hadn't been a teenager until this year and I wanted to make as many moments as I could before all this was just a memory and I had regretted not taking the chances I could have.

"Fine but before we go, I have to go see Cam." I said, as we walked out the closet and it seemed like a blast of cold air had been shot at us.

"Alright, I'll be waiting outside and tell him thanks." He said as he walked out the door.

I headed back into the auditorium to find Cam, which was pretty hard considering there was more than one Batman in the room and they all decided to have their masks on. Hoping that Cam didn't have his on, I scanned the room for his hair first and as I did, I found him back at the punch table where he was when I first saw him before he dragged me into the closet.

"Not enjoying the dance much?" I asked as I walked over to him.

He looked at me through the side of his eyes and said, "Not as much as you. Headed out?"

"Yeah, I came to say thanks though." I said, hugging him, "And Eli said thanks too."

"I bet he did, all the face sucking that was going on, I deserve an award for getting you two together." Cam said, with a smirk, "But I'll accept a thanks because of your happiness."

"Awww," I said, hugging him again but tighter than the first hug as no one ever really looked out for my happiness as a priority and here was one of the first people to ever do that, "You're gonna be okay tonight without me, right?"

"Yeah of course, psssh, I have more than just you as a friend," He said, "Okay maybe not but you have your fun night, I'll be fine, there's enough punch to last the night!"

Part of me wanted to stay for Cam, I knew how it felt to be alone at a dance while watching everyone else with at least one person and you just had a cup to keep you company. But Eli was outside waiting for me, I never had the problem of having to choose between two people but now I knew how hard it felt. I didn't want to seem like I was blowing off my friend for a make out session but I also didn't want to blow off Eli when I already agreed to go. I watched the clock tick quickly as I tried to made up my mind.

"Alright, well if you get too lonely, don't hesitate to text me!" I said, as I waved as him as I was walking away.

Cam nodded and waved back and once he did, I turned around to run out of the auditorium considering I spent about 10 minutes talking to Cam and Eli was probably boiling out with sarcastic remarks throw at me. As I ran outside and down the steps, Eli's car was standing in front of the steps with a classic rock station playing out loudly and he was nodding his head to the music slowly with his eyes closed.

"Hey!" I said, causing him to jerk out of his daze and look at me.

"Oh finally, I decided to take a nap for our little date since you were taking so long."

"Oh so it's a date now?" I said with a smile for the fact that this wouldn't just be our first date but my first date as well.

"Of course it is, you know I don't just take any girl to a dance and then ditch the dance with her." Eli said, smirking, "But you're not just any girl. Now, let's get this road on the show."

A movie, that was what this night felt like.

I was sitting on top of a vintage convertible on a cliff that overlooked almost all of Toronto. It seemed like the city was so much more full of life at night but I never got out to see it. Everything was brighter and more lively. The lights were almost blinding but in a good way, blinding like everything else was no longer important, nothing was worth worrying about if I could sit here in this exact spot, wrapped in Eli's hoodie as the air was more cooler in the night and stare at the city lights and forget anything and everything that made me think. Thinking was a foreign concept as I stared at the grid of lights that were laid in front of me.

"So, Summer Mitchell," Eli's voice broke into my thoughts, "Tell me about you."

"About me?" That was such a vague topic, heck, it was a MySpace fill in box, that I also could never fill in fully, I never knew what was important enough to put there just like I didn't know what would be important to say now.

"Alright, tell me about your life before you got here. What was the wonderful city of New York like to you?"

"Well it wasn't wonderful." I said, looking at my nails and starting to scrape the nail polish off, I always had to find something to distract my mind as I talked about non-enjoyable topics and as I reflected on my life New York now, it definitely wasn't enjoyable, "But I don't think it was New York that wasn't wonderful. I think it was my surroundings. I surrounded myself with people who didn't really care about me as much as I cared about them. I felt so small and unimportant and being in a big city like New York, it made me feel even more unimportant like I didn't matter to anyone, if I disappeared no one would care. And it's funny because I basically did disappear by moving here and no one has managed to see how I am, because I don't matter to them. All anyone wants is to be wanted, whether they want to admit it or not. I'm terrified of being alone for the rest of my life, the thought of sleeping alone every night until I die scares me so much. But I mean, we're born alone, we die alone, we just try to make it seem like we're not alone through friendships and relationships, right?"

"I think you're just scared." Eli said, still leaning back but instead of looking at the city, he was looking at me.

"Scared of what?"

"Scared of getting attached to people for the fear that they'll up and leave. You think everyone will do that to you and you think that because everyone leaves, you'll be alone. But some people don't leave and you can't push everyone away because you'll end up with no one eventually."

"Yeah but that's what you end up with anyways." I said, shrugging, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal to me when it was.

"Well, I'm not leaving. You can push me away all you want and I'll still come back."

I wanted to come back with a remark but there was nothing I could say to that. I was speechless, tongue-tied, cleared of thought. The only thing I could think of to respond to that was to hug him. It was a dumb, cheesy, middle school move but that was all that came to me. I just snuggled close him, holding him tightly and closing my eyes as I inhaled his signature scent of burnt vanilla and mint and smiled. He was here, he wasn't leaving. He was the first person to ever formally commit to me and I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to be that person.

Alrighty hopefully the chapter helps you forgive me a little! So please review and tell me what you think because that's what I care about ok I really wanna know! (you can even tell me how much you dislike me atm for taking so long or whatever your pretty little hearts desire, I'll be happy okay thanks!)