“I want you because of who you’ve shown me you are. You’re so honest, so selflessly helpful. You’re not full of yourself, and you don’t kiss ass to those who are. You’re smart…” He paused, a small hint of a smile pulling at his lips. “You’re beautiful, too. The whole package…”
He did his best to push his negative self image from his mind for the time being, and he succeeded.
With every word out of his mouth, Summer’s shoulders relaxed a little more. One hand swiped at the wetness on her face, smearing it away. “Okay. Okay. Let’s just … okay, let’s just go and have dinner, and, and we, you can count this as a first date. Okay? And, and … ” she pulled in a deep, shuddering breath, “please just … be yourself. What you want to do, don’t hesitate. Trust me to tell you if it’s not okay?” She fetched her backpack from the car, and looked over her shoulder. “And if I ever hear ‘you’re too good for me,’ come out of your mouth in a serious context again, I’m going to explode your ego.”
The faint smile grew just a little more as she spoke. “That sounds good,” he said, letting out a grateful breath, his thoughts a mix of maybe we can put all this awkwardness behind us sometime and thank you for another chance. ”So I can still make jokes about it…?” He asked, a little bit of teasing in his tone as he walked toward the restaurant’s door.
“Sure,” Summer shrugged. She reached out and grabbed his hand. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t joke around, I think. Tell me about this place. How’d you find it?”