Don’t do it, Kimi, she told herself as she stared into his deep blue eyes. She felt as if she were drowning in those eyes… She had forgotten what he had asked her. She gave her head a slight shake before speaking.
“I’m sorry, what did you ask me?” She asked.
He smiled a cute smile and asked her, “Will you go with me to the dance tonight?” He waited for her to agree.
Yeah, keep on waiting, she thought. I’m not going. “Why?” She asked instead.
He scrunched his eyebrows together and frowned. “What do you mean?”
Wow, he looks so adorable when he’s confused, she thought before shaking her head again. Stop, you have to focus! “Why are you asking me?”
Understanding lit up his features and he smiled again. “Well, I think you’re really cute,” He replied.
Wrong answer, she thought. I’m not cute at all. Not as cute as those cheerleaders waiting for you by your car.
“And I think we’ll have a good time together.” He continued. “So, what do you say?” He waited earnestly for her reply.
No, Kimi! She told herself. He’s just another jerk who won’t even pay attention to you. He probably just asked you because it was a dare from one of his stupid jerk friends. He’ll ditch you for one of those cheerleaders as soon as you get to the dance. Say no, Kimi.
He raised his eyebrows when she still didn’t reply. “Kimi?”
“Yes?” She asked politely.
“Do you want to go with me to the dance?” He asked again.
She stared at his flawless face, his perfect hair, his adorably endearing smile, and felt herself falling…
Stop right now, she told herself. Don’t even go there! You can’t do this to yourself, Kimi! Just say no and you’ll be fine.
As she struggled for an answer, she saw him getting irritated with her. See? He’s getting p***** off already, she thought. What will happen at the dance? He’ll get p***** off that your dress isn’t the exact shade as his tie or that you’re not completely fascinated about his story about how he single-handedly defeated the opposing team with the winning goal at the last game. Face it, Kimi; he’s not interested in you. He just needs to follow through with the dare. Just say no!
She took a deep breath and looked into his eyes again. “No,” She said.
She saw shock cross his features, and then watched as disappointment took over. He frowned and scrunched his eyebrows together. He was quiet for a moment before he nodded and started to walk away.
“Wait!” She heard herself say. He turned around with a hopeful expression. “I’ll go with you.”
She watched as his face broke into a wide smile and his eyes lit up with joy. She felt a strange feeling course through her as she stared into his gorgeous blue eyes, and felt her own face break into a small smile.
“I’ll pick you up at eight!” He said enthusiastically before giving her another smile and turning away. She shook her head in disbelief as she watched him walk towards his car. She couldn’t believe that she’d agreed to go with him. Oh, well, she thought. Can’t do anything about that now, can you?
When he reached his car, she watched as he stopped to talk to one of the cheerleaders still standing there. She watched him turn and point back at her. She felt her face heat up when the girl looked at her with a disbelieving look on her face. Kimi sighed and started off towards home.
[Symbol] [Symbol] [Symbol]
That night, as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, her doubts began to surface again.
Why are you going, Kimi? She asked herself.
Because he seems like a nice guy? She answered.
All guys seem like nice guys at first. But then you get to see what they’re really like on the inside when they ditch you on the dance floor.
She pictured his face in her mind and sighed. She pictured his beautiful blue eyes, his perfect face. She pictured the way he had smiled at her when she’d agreed to go with him. She felt that same strange feeling go through her again. What was it? She shook her head and concentrated on her reflection again.
She had on a simple, green dress. Her mother had helped her with her makeup. Not too much, since her mother claimed she had “flawless skin and beautiful features”; just a touch of mascara and eyeliner. Her mother said the dress was the exact shade of her eyes, and the eyeliner helped to accentuate them even more.
I look so plain, she thought. I don’t have those full, pouty cheerleader lips, or a nice, toned body.
I can’t even dance! She thought in despair. Nico will be so disappointed.
He doesn’t care about you, remember? She told herself. He just needs to complete the dare. She sighed and focused on her hair. She had curled it and clipped it back from the sides.
She heard the doorbell ring and straightened out her dress before walking to the top of the stairs. She listened as Nico talked with her parents.
“Hello, sir. Hello, ma’am,” She heard him say. “How are you doing tonight?”
“Just fine, thank you.” Her father replied. “How about you? It’s Nicolas, right?”
“Yes, sir, that’s my name. But I go by Nico.” He replied.
“Of course, Nico, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, sir.” There was a slight pause.
“So, you’re taking Kimi to the dance?” Her father asked him, to her complete embarrassment.
“Yes, sir, I am. I’m quite excited about it, too.”
“I’m sure you are.” She heard the slight displeasure in her father’s voice.
“Um, is Kimi ready?” She detected embarrassment in Nico’s tone.
“Yes, I think she is. I’ll go check on her.” She heard footsteps getting closer to the stairs. She took a deep breath and walked down. “There you are, Kimi. Come on, Nico’s here.” She took Kimi’s arm and guided her to the doorway. “Here she is.”
She watched Nico’s expression turn from slightly embarrassed to completely shocked when he saw her. She watched his eyes travel from the top of her head to the bottom of her shoes, and then back to her face. “Wow,” He said. “You look amazing.”
She felt a small thrill go through her at his compliment. Careful, Kimi, she warned herself. He’s just playing with you. Don’t let him see how much you appreciated his small compliment. She controlled her expression and looked up at his face. “Thank you. You look really nice, as well.” She gave him a shy smile before looking away.
He held out his hand to her. “Shall we? It’s eight-fifteen.”
She let him take her hand in his and guide her out on the front porch. He turned around and spoke with her parents one last time.
“I’ll have her home by eleven.” He promised them.
“All right, have a nice time!” Her parents called after them.
They walked towards his car and she tried not to reveal just how much she liked the feel of his hand holding hers. He opened the door for her, which completely melted her heart and she felt herself falling again.
Don’t, Kimi! She heard herself think. Don’t fall for him. It’s not going to bring you any good!
She shook her head and concentrated on what she would do once he ditched her at the dance. I could probably just walk back home, she thought, and read that new book I picked up from the library. Or watch a movie. Or just sulk in my room.
Her thoughts scattered when he spoke to her. “Hey, are you there?” She looked up and saw his adorable smile directed at her. “Earth to Kimi, this is Nico speaking.”
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She felt herself blush.
“I said are you excited about the dance?”
“Oh, sure, I guess.” She responded.
His mouth pulled down into a slight frown. “Well, you don’t sound very excited. Is something wrong?”
She shook her head and sighed. “It’s just that I’ve never actually been to one of these in a long time.”
He nodded and smiled. “Oh, I see. Don’t worry. They’re pretty fun. I’m sure you’ll have a great time. Besides,” His smile widened. “You’re with me.”
Wow, look at that overconfidence, she thought and mentally rolled her eyes. He glanced at her and she gave him a small smile.
They sat in comfortable silence the rest of the way. He, however, kept shooting her glances every so often. Kimi didn’t know whether to feel flattered or creeped out. She settled for indifferent and stared out her window. When they arrived at the dance, he opened the door for her again and grabbed her hand to lead her inside.
When they walked in, hand in hand, one of the cheerleaders, Melanie or Miranda, came forward to talk to Nico. Kimi recognized her as the girl who talked to him by his car. When she reached them, she gave them a dazzling smile.
“Hey, Nico!” She gave him a hug which he returned briefly before holding Kimi’s hand again. Kimi felt a rush of warmth when his hand touched hers before she shook off the feeling. “Hi, Kelly!” Melanie-Miranda turned to Kimi and gave a tight smile.
“It’s Kimi.” Nico corrected her before Kimi could open her mouth. Both girls looked up at him when he spoke. Kimi felt that warm feeling again, and it was harder to shake off than before.
Melanie-Miranda grimaced slightly before giving him another dazzling smile. “Of course, my bad!” She turned to Kimi and smirked. “Kimi. How could I forget?” The last statement was practically sneered.
“It’s okay.” Kimi mumbled, her face turning red.
“Oh, I wasn’t apolo-” Melanie-Miranda was cut off when a boy wrapped an arm around her waist and planted a swift kiss on her cheek.
“There you are!” He smiled at Nico. “We’ve been waiting for you to get here forever! So, who’d you bring?”
He didn’t seem to notice Kimi standing right next to Nico. Kimi felt her face turn even redder.
Nico, however, smiled and wrapped an arm lightly around her waist. She felt the warm feeling start up, but fought it down again. “This is my date, Kimi,” He said proudly. Kimi didn’t know whether he was serious or was just proud that he’d won the dare.
Probably the latter, she thought. She fidgeted nervously while the boy looked at her critically.
He smiled warmly, but there was a hint of malice in his eyes. “Nice to meet you, Kimi,” He said in a tone that made her want to scrunch up her nose in disgust.
The boy walked off to dance with Melanie-Miranda when a song started to play. Kimi glanced at Nico, who was smiling at her shyly.
He tightened his arm around her waist and led her towards the dance floor. “Do you want to dance?” He asked.
She felt her cheeks grow warm and conflicting feelings warred in her head. Isn’t he supposed to ditch me now? The dare is done. He succeeded in getting me to the dance as his date, so why is he still here? She panicked and said the first thing that came to her mind. “Don’t you want to hang out with your friends?” She pointed to a group of jocks and cheerleaders laughing and having a great time together.
He looked towards where she was pointing before giving her a hopeful look. “Well, we could go there later. I’ll introduce you to all of them. But first, I want to dance.” He saw the panic in her eyes and backtracked. “Unless you don’t want to. Then that’s cool. We can go hang out for a bit. Is that all right?”
She nodded and he steered her towards the tables along the side. He got them both a drink and sat down with her. He stared at her with an unwavering gaze that made her fidget and blush.
“What?” He asked her after a while. She had been constantly glancing behind him at his group of friends. “Who are you looking at?”
She blurted out the first thing that came to her head again. “Shouldn’t you be with your friends?” Her face turned a brighter shade of red and she dropped her gaze to her lap.
“Why?” Confusion seeped into his expression before understanding lit his eyes. “Oh, you want to meet them now?” He stood up and reached for her hand, but she flinched and he stopped. “Well, what’s wrong?” His eyebrows scrunched together and he sat down with a frown on his face. “Are you feeling all right? You seem kind of flushed.”
I’ll bet I looked flushed! With those beautiful eyes fixed on you, who wouldn’t be flushed? “I just want to sit down for a bit.” She told him. She stared into his eyes. They were full of concern and confusion, and she felt that warm feeling again…
Kimi! Remember what you told yourself? You can’t fall for him! He’s just here to do the dare!
Then why is he still here? She asked herself.
He nodded and they sat in silence for a while, staring at each other. A slow song started, and she saw Nico’s expression turn hopeful. “Hey, it’s a slow song.” He smiled at her shyly before taking her hand. “You have to come for this one. We’ve been sitting here for ten minutes now.” He hesitated. “So, do you want to dance?”
He gazed into her eyes and she felt herself nodding before realizing it.
Oh, who cares? She thought. It’s just one dance… And she let herself be swept away to the dance floor. He smiled and put his hands on her waist, while she put hers around his neck. He pulled her closer, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. They were standing so close that she could see her reflection in his eyes.
He smiled at her warmly and leaned to whisper in her ear. She shivered as his breath tickled her ear. “You know, I really like you.” He said shyly.
Stunned, she pulled back to stare into his eyes. She saw sincerity there and not a hint of dishonesty. She felt the warm feeling again and didn’t fight it this time.
Maybe he really is a nice guy, she thought. Well, there’s only one way to find out…
She smiled at him, leaned closer, and told him the truth. “I like you, too.” She said just as shyly. The warm feeling blazed when he smiled delightedly and pulled her even closer.
She smiled back and stared into his eyes as they continued to dance.
Are you really going to give your heart to him, Kimi?
Yes, she thought, I am.