Stars in my Sky

Star 6: Forgive and don't hold grudges

July 14. I stared at the calendar and sighed. In a couple of months, Daniel will leave and I didn’t know what to do about that.

Over the past month, he had been my best friend and I couldn’t ask for a better friend. We’ve spent almost every day together and I really loved him.

Why did the perfect guy have to leave by the end of the summer? It wasn’t fair!

My phone beeped, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I read the text from Daniel, saying that he’ll be here in a few minutes, and quickly ran to my closet. I took out a short white cotton skirt and a red tank top and quickly put them on.

I tied my hair up into a pony tail and tucked the few shorter strands that fell out behind my ear.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I jogged downstairs, barefoot because I didn’t have time to put on my shoes, and opened the door.

“Hey,” Daniel said, smiling at me.

“Hi,” I said, giving him a hug.

“Ready to go?” He asked as I checked him out. He was wearing khaki shorts and a light blue shirt.

“Alexia?” He called out, amusement clear in his voice.

“Oh um,” I stuttered, blushing. “Just a minute, I have to put on my shoes. Come in.”

He smirked but didn’t say anything else as he walked in.

I went up to my room and he followed me. He sat on my bed as I opened my drawer and took out a pair of white socks. I grabbed my red converse and sat next to him on my bed as I put on my socks.

“You have tiny feet,” he commented and I laughed.

“It’s better than having huge feet,” I said and he nodded.

“True,” he agreed. “Tiny feet are cute.”

He pinched my cheeks and I slapped his hand away.

He chuckled as I bent to tie my shoelace.

When I was done, I straightened and turned my head to the right where Daniel was to tell him that we should go but I found him already staring at me.

I blushed and cleared my throat.

“Sorry,” Daniel muttered, blushing as well. I smiled and stood up.

“Let’s go,” I said as I grabbed a small white purse, shoving in it my cell phone, keys, and some money. “The park is waiting for us!”

He laughed softly as he got up too and followed me outside.

“Can you believe her?” I kept on rambling as Daniel and I walked down the street to go to the park. “She just said ‘I’m sorry’ like that’s going to fix everything! I bet she only did that because Mark dumped her for his new girl toy.”

I was telling him about the surprise call I got from Claire yesterday. It had been around a month since the incident with Mark and now she remembered that she had to apologize?

“But she apologized,” Daniel said.

“After a month!” I exclaimed.

“Maybe she wanted to give you some space. Talk to her, Alexia,” he said.

“I don’t want to,” I grumbled and glared at the ground.

We had reached the park by now and I sat down on one of the benches. Daniel sat next to me and we stayed silent for a few seconds.

“What she did was wrong,” Daniel broke the silence. “But Alexia you should forgive and not hold grudges.”

“But she knew that I liked him!” I complained.

“And she did a mistake but she apologized and that’s what matters. Everyone makes mistakes. You shouldn’t look at the flaws in a person. Just accept people the way they are,” he said, looking into my eyes. I knew he was right but it was so hard to ‘just accept people the way they are’.

“Okay,” I finally said, sighing. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was being a bit harsh especially since I didn’t even like Mark anymore. “I’ll talk to her later.”

“Good,” he said, smiling at me.

He suddenly turned serious and asked me, “Do you still like him? Please be honest with me.”

I stared at him, seeing the worried look in his eyes.

“No, Daniel, I already told you I’m over it,” I said. He bit his lip, still looking a little skeptical.

“Besides,” I added. “I like someone else.”

“You do?” He asked, his eyes widening slightly. In his green orbs, there was a mixture of hope and nervousness.

“Yeah,” I replied, smiling.

“Are you going to tell me who?” He asked when I didn’t say anything else.

I grinned. “He’s an amazing guy that I met when I had that fight with Claire. I believe the first words he said to me were ‘Stay at home when you’re PMSing’,” I said, trying to imitate his voice.

Daniel grinned as well. “Maybe if you didn’t yell at him like a mad woman he wouldn’t have said anything.”

I inched closer to him. “If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t have met him.”

“Hmm,” he said, moving his face even closer. “Then I’m glad you yelled at me that day.”

“Me too,” I replied before his lips met mine.

You know how books describe that kiss where fireworks and sparks and butterflies and unicorns all appear when their lips touch?

That wasn’t what I felt.

What I felt was something I couldn’t describe with words.

It just felt very, very right. There was nothing that would make me ever regret this and at that moment I knew that this will always be the best kiss I have ever had.

My heart was beating too fast, it was scaring me. I had never had such a fast heartbeat!

Just to make sure, I moved my left hand from Daniel’s face to the left side of his chest.

Under my hand, I felt his extremely fast heartbeat, matching mine.

“Daniel,” I murmured against his lips.

“Mm,” was his response as his hands slid down to my waist and he pulled me closer to him, kissing me passionately.

A few seconds later, I pulled away and looked into his green eyes.

“I love you,” I said breathlessly.

“I love you so much more than you can imagine,” he replied, resting his forehead against mine.

I grinned and hugged him tightly.

“So, girlfriend,” he said a few seconds later, still holding me. “Want to play on the swings?”

“Girlfriend?” I asked and he immediately pulled away.

“Oh I-I just thought… I-” he stammered, his eyes wide and I laughed.

“I’m just kidding, Daniel,” I said and he glared at me.

“Come on, boyfriend!” I said, pulling him with me towards the swing set. “I want to play!”

“Do you want me to push you?” He asked as I sat in one of the swings.

“Nope,” I said.

He shrugged and sat on the swing next to me.

I gasped when my skirt went up and quickly slowed down the swing. “Wearing a skirt wasn’t the best decision,” I muttered and Daniel laughed.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “You look sexy in that skirt.”

I blushed and muttered a ‘thank you’.

“You’re too cute,” he commented, amused.

“Shut up, Daniel,” I said, scowling at him and he just laughed.

“It’s boring here if I can’t play on the swings,” I complained.

“Do you want to go home and change?” He asked.

“No,” I replied. “Let’s just go eat somewhere.”

“Always hungry,” he muttered under his breath but I heard him so I slapped the back of his head.

He smiled sheepishly and I rolled my eyes at him as I stood up from the swing.

“Let’s go,” Daniel said, grabbing my hand in his. I smiled as he intertwined his fingers with mine.

We started walking down the street, trying to decide where to go.

“Pizza?” Daniel finally suggested and I nodded.

“Okay, pizza it is,” I said and we started walking to the most delicious pizza place here.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

“Hey mom,” I said into the phone.

“Hi sweetie,” she said. “Where are you?”

“I’m with Daniel,” I replied. “Why?”

“Just checking,” she said.

“Oh,” I replied.

“So you’re spending too much time with Daniel,” she said and I could imagine the cheeky smile on her face.

I cleared my throat. “Yeah,” I said awkwardly.

“Are you two dating?” She asked.

“Uh um I-I…” I stuttered, feeling my cheeks turn red.

“Invite him for dinner on Saturday,” she said. “We should meet your boyfriend.”

How did she figure it out? Am I that obvious? Or is it just a mom thing?

Well there was no use in lying now. Plus, my mom was really cool with this stuff and I could actually tell how happy she was that I had a boyfriend.

I sighed. “Fine.”

“Good,” She chirped happily. “Bye!”

“Bye,” I muttered.

“Your face is the same color as your shirt,” Daniel teased.

“Shut up,” I muttered, embarrassed.

He laughed lightly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him.

“So um are you free Saturday night?” I asked.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Daniel joked.

“No, I’m inviting you over for dinner. My parents want to meet you,” I said, wincing slightly.

“I’d love to meet your parents,” he said, surprising me.

“Really?” I ask my eyes wide. “But no guy likes meeting his girlfriend’s parents.”

“If a guy really loves his girlfriend he would love to meet her parents,” he said and I smiled.

“You’re perfect, Daniel,” I said, kissing his cheek.

“I want to be perfect for you because you deserve a perfect guy,” he replied and I blushed.

“You’re doing great,” I whispered and he smiled at me.

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Happy Birthday to Thousand_Hearts! Have a wonderful year! <3