About Last Night
"Kelsi!" Ryan said with a big smile as he slammed his hands on the top of the baby grand piano in the lesson studio at Baum's Music Store.
Kelsi jumped at the loud noise, ripped out of the daze she found herself in for second time that day. The first thing she had done that morning was smile, and she still couldn't wipe the hazy expression from her lips as her mind kept on drifting back to the divine evening before.
"Ryan! Hi, uh, what are you doing here?" she asked as she shook her head and stood nervously to welcome her friend.
"I promised I'd bring you a tea on your lunch break today remember?" he said, chuckling at her flustered appearance. "You either forgot or you've got something big on your mind, is everything okay?"
Kelsi blushed as she took the tea Ryan handed to her and silently led the way out of the room. Ryan eyed her inquisitively, looking for clues on her face as to why she was acting so odd this afternoon. He concluded it could only mean one thing.
"I'll just grab my lunch and meet you on the patio table out to the side, okay?" Kelsi said as she turned for the back room with a large 'Staff Only' sign on the door.
Ryan smiled and went to sit at the table, patiently waiting for Kelsi, turning over in his mind who the lucky guy could be. As soon as she sat down, he caught her off guard by cutting right to the chase.
"You hooked up with someone last night didn't you?" he said, leaning over the table and wagging his eyebrows at her.
She felt her face go what must have been a hundred different shades of red as she unwrapped the sandwich she'd brought for a lunch. Was it really that obvious? she thought. As her mind drifted again over their amazing night, her thoughts becoming lost in the memory of his skin on hers, she drew in a shallow breath and nodded.
"I thought you seemed odd," Ryan said with a grin. "So who was it?"
Kelsi hesitated, still too embarrassed to look her friend in the eye, but he probed again, concern lacing his voice.
"Come on Kelsi, you've been home what? A week? Who did you get so cozy with so fast?"
"Promise you won't laugh?" she said.
"Of course not, I'm just looking out for you, I promise," he replied with a comforting hand on hers,
She finally gave in and told him, "Jason."
Ryan's eyes went wide, sparking with happiness. "Jason? Jason Cross?!" She nodded. "No way!" Ryan smiled brightly, practically giddy for her. "It's you and him finally?"
"What do you mean 'finally'?" Kelsi asked.
"Well everyone knew you guys were sweet on each other. When he hadn't stepped up to ask you to prom that's when I stepped in. You were such a good friend, I didn't want you to go alone possibly waiting around for him."
Kelsi offered a weak smile, "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask him what happened with prom. I was so confused after what we had that summer." She went on to tell him all about their lunch date, his car, the dancing, their first kisses, and even threw in a couple details from their night together before he waved his hand to stop her.
"Okay, you don't have to go into that much detail! But wait, you had to ask him to stay? He was gonna leave?"
Kelsi slumped on the seat and sighed. "Yeah, he didn't want my parents to catch us, but I asked him to stay. I felt like absolute shit when he finally did leave because he was rushing out late for work. Then my parents caught me at the door sneaking him out. I guess there was a real gentleman hiding under that cocky jock facade in high school… it made me fall a little harder for him," she admitted.
Ryan heaved a deep breath. "Wow, so what did your parents say?"
She was about to reply when her phone started ringing. Pulling it out and smiling impulsively at the name on the screen, she turned to offer Ryan a weak smile as she stood. "That's him, excuse me for a minute."
Jason leaned against the chipped brick wall outside the auto shop, phone pressed to his ear, a nervous flutter in his stomach. The lunch break had barely started before he'd dialled Kelsi's number, eager to hear her voice.
"Hey, gorgeous," he greeted, trying to keep his tone casual despite the butterflies.
"Hi, Jason," Kelsi's voice was soft, a hint of awkwardness lingering in her tone. "Um, there's something I need to tell you..."
Jason's heart skipped a beat. "What's wrong?"
"My parents... they caught me at the door when you left this morning," Kelsi confessed, her voice barely a whisper.
A wave of guilt washed over him. "Oh, Kels, I'm so sorry. I should've been more careful."
"It's okay," she reassured him, a hint of laughter in her voice. "They were just surprised, it was a little awkward, but it's fine. They'll probably be wanting you to come by sometime soon, my dad said we need to be sure we're all on the same page this summer."
Jason breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, for sure. I wouldn't want to start things off on the wrong foot with your folks."
"And there's more…" she said softly, "Ryan knows, he surprised me for lunch and apparently it was all over my face and I had to tell him."
"Oh," Jason said, a nervous huff escaping his lips, "Well I don't want us to be a big secret really so I guess that's okay." The conversation flowed more easily then, the awkwardness fading as they shared details of their morning. Jason couldn't help but grin, his buddies shooting him knowing glances and exaggerated winks. "So," Jason began, a hint of nervousness creeping back into his voice, "I was wondering... would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow night?"
A pause made him hold his breath as he waited for her answer. "I'd love to."
"Great! I'm sorry, I'd ask you over tonight, but the guys are already coming over for poker night."
"That's okay, I have an event tonight that I'm playing piano for anyways." Kelsi said.
"Tomorrow we'll have the place to ourselves, just you and me." His voice was soft and sent a thrilling shiver down Kelsi's spine.
"Tomorrow sounds perfect," Kelsi replied, a smile evident in her voice.
"I'm looking forward to it, I'll cook something special," Jason promised, excitement bubbling up inside him. "I get off work at 5, how about you?"
"I'm off at 6:30, closing shift," she replied.
"Great, I'll be there at 6:31 to pick you up." As Jason hung up, a wide grin spread across his face. He determined then to make tomorrow night unforgettable.
