I watched at my reflection in the mirror, pulled here and there on the Longsleeves I wore then controlled my hairs if it sat right like I wanted it to be. I took a second glance at my reflection and was finally satisfied with my look then hummed a Thai pop song that was recently in the chart. The door to my bedroom got open, my older sister P’Araya came inside, stood behind me with crossed arms over her chest and inspected me from head to toes. I saw in the mirror to her.

  „What?“, I asked her as I grew tired of her silence.

  „Nothing... I’m just wondering why you’re in such a good mood.“

  „Hahaha“, I laughed, my face turned red from embarressment.

Indeed I was in a good mood because something good was going to happen soon. Honestly I was so nervous that my heart thumped loud and I was afraid it could jump out of my chest anytime. Last time I felt like that was eleven years ago when I played football in the living room althougth my ma clearly told me not to and broke her favourite, expensive vase. Only that this time I wasn’t scared but extremely happy. I happily smiled at the event that would take place soon.

Oh damn it! I was too deep in my thought that I forgot P’Araya who was still observing me. She laughed at my never ending grinning.

A last look at my reflection let my self-confidence raise higher. I went the stairs downward, my older sister followed me there. I met my ma on her way to the kitchen.

  „Oh you look different than usual. Do you have an important plan for today?“

  „He has a date“, P’Araya came between us.

  „Who’s the lucky girl?“, my ma proudly asked. „Do I know her?“

P’Araya, you’re right that I have a date but ma? A girl? No ma my date isn’t a girl but someone else. And yes you know him, ähm her. My lips curved up to a bright smile but I couldn’t reply to her question since I didn’t know how she would react to my date being someone she would never expected.

I just grinned like a clown who played trick with his spectators and let them guessed the right answer for his riddle.

  „He won’t tell us anything“, P’Araya said.

  „Aha, now you have secrets too like your sister“, she shook her head.

  „I have many secrets you won’t ever know about“, was my reply for her.  

She laughed and shook her head in disbelief. „Just come home safely… and please be careful with the car of your dad.“

When I said my farewell, I finally left the house. It was slightly dark in the sky since it was already eighteen pm. I entered the car my dad let me use for today and drove away. It didn’t last long till I arrived at my destination where I parked at the parking lot. A young man waited in front of a house, patiently waiting for someone he was expecting. I approached the man, he crossed his arms over the chest. The light in front of the house shone on its face and revealed who the person was. Pete, my date! Today would be my first date with my boyfriend Pete.

I came before him and examined him from head to toes. He wore a dark blue Jeans and white Shirt, two top buttons of his Shirt weren’t bottoned, his pale but seductive chest was showing a little bit. He looked stunning, his eyes were shining more than the stars in the nightsky. His beautiful face, it caught all of my attention, I can’t take my eyes from him.

We looked at each others face, none of us wanted to greet the other first. What’s wrong with me? Say something, Earn… I forced myself to say something but unfortunately I can’t think of the right words to greet him.

It was already a week we got in a relationship but I still wasn’t accustomated to see him as my boyfriend. I mean we were best friends before but now I love him and think of many romantic things I want to do with him. It was all confusing. What should I do? Should I kiss him? No maybe a hug? Or better a handshake? I ruffled at my hairs, smiled like a teeny who was going on his first date and wanted to impress his partner. Wait, it was indeed my fist date.

Pete too remained silent, caressed at his neck and blushed at our little stare-contest. His porcelain white face turned red like a mellowed tomato, I couldn’t restrain myself from laughing so I chuckled. My giggling cleared the odd atmosphere between us a little bit.

  „Did… Did you wait long for me?“, were the first words that came out of my mouth.

  „Not really… I just came out, maybe two minutes ago.“

He caressed his arms, it seemed like he wanted to bring some heat onto his body. His body was shaking, it made me realize that he waited more than two minutes. Maybe he was here a quarter hour ago.

  „Should we go?“, I offered him to bring him out of the cold.

  „Yeah…“

We headed to the car. I wanted to be a gentleman for once and open the door for him but he too reached for the door, our hands touched each others. I took my hand away, scratched at my head.

  „Earn?“, his soft voice called me.

  „Huh?“

  „We’re together but act like the old Earn I use to know“, he mumbled with his gaze fixed at the ground. His voice raised a little bit, „Just be yourself. You don’t need to disguise yourself and act different than usual. It’ll make everything uncomfortable“. He lifted up his head and looked at me with his shining eyes that made me speechless for a moment. „I’m already in love with you so you don’t need to impress me by acting unusual“. A genuine smile appeared on his face.

It was the first time I saw him expressing his feelings through so many words. He changed and I began to like this open mind of him and be accustomated to it. I love him more and more. His gentle words and his smile, they suddenly took my breath away. My worries, my nervousity and my anxiety that I could mess up our fresh relationship faded away. Now I relaxed and gave him a little smile. We entered the car. 

Our first date took place in a football stadium. The match between Chiangmai FC and Songkhla United began more than eighty minutes ago. Pete and I were fans of Chiangmai FC football club that was why I bought 2 tickets of the match for us. At first he was happy for the surprise I made for him but yet I regretted buying the tickets for us. Nothing was going well for me since the start of the match. Pete was sulking and I didn’t know how to cheer him up. The reason for his bad mood was because of Chiangmai FC losing the match. It was 1-1 for both teams but it looked like Songkhla United would win in the end.

Pete refused to give vent to his anger so he was shaking his leg up and down for some minutes now. I noticed the fire burning in his eyes and wanted to cheer him up that our team won’t lose for sure but I couldn’t speak up since I didn’t believe myself that our team would win. Actually I’m angry too for two things. First, my favourite club was losing the match. Second, my date was going down the tubes. The only thing I could do was leaning my fists against my cheeks, starring into space and sighing for my misfortune.

  “It was a bad idea to bring him here on our first date”, I mumbled by myself.

Someone behind me rammed his legs against my back as he abruptly stood up and screamed out to Chiangmai FC to speed up and block the opposite team. The hot dog he was chewing fell on my head as he shouted with mouth filled with food. His loud voice nearly destroyed my eardrums. I covered my ears to protect myself from going deaf. Songkhla United now had the ball, they passed it to eatch others till the striker had the ball and shot. It went in the goal. A loud clamour echoed in the air. Some screamed for this victory but most of them shot out from anger. Pete clenched his hands to fists. Fans of chiangmai FC suddenly jumped on the field and went after the players of Songkhla United. Fans of Songkhla United angrily jumped after them.

Some threw flashbangs on the field. Fume covered the entire stadium. My heart beated fast, I stood up and was ready for the threat coming at us, more like ready to run away with my boyfriend. The anchorman made an announcement that everyone should be evacuated.

  “We have to get out of here”, I told my boyfriend.

I immediately grabbed Pete’s hand and took the way to the entrance. Too many people were around us so it would last long till we arrived outside. I tighned the grip holding Pete and never took my eyes from him. Some fans were fighting beside me. The turmoil was out of control, they were shoving and pushing eatch others. All the sudden someone ran between Pete and me and ripped us apart. Now I lost sight of him, I looked around me but couldn’t find him amoung the crowd. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

  “Pete?” my voice raised.

No answer from him.

  “Pete?”, I screamed for a second time.

When I didn’t receive any reply from him, I called his name many times. My heard thumped hard like crazy, I was in panik, worried about him and afraid something could happen to him. Only now did I remember something like a phone that could call him and I could ask about his whereabout. I took my mobile phone out and dialed his number. Someone spoke at the end of the line. It was Pete. My heart calmed down from hearing his sweet voice, I sighed from relief. But before I could speak the first word, someone bumped against me, my mobile phone fell on the ground. As I was about to grab it, feet of another woman kicked it aside. I went after my phone in the opposite way of the crowd leaving the stadium but too many people shove me aside that I finally lost my mobile phone.

  “, why… Why me?”, I cursed my own stupidity.

Maybe he would wait outside for me. I gave up on searching for my phone, followed the crowd outside and searched for Pete like an insane man who lost his way for home. It was already dark in the sky, dark clouds were also visible at the nightsky, it looked like it would rain soon. The darkness made it difficult for me to find him. Since I couldn’t find him, my heartbeat raised. My chest hurted, my throat felt suffocated.

  “Please, let him be safe. Don’t let anything happen to him”, I chanted like a sutra for who even know who, maybe for God or Buddha or every good Spirit in the world.

I went to some people who were waiting for cabs, gave them Pete’s features and asked them if they saw him. None of them could help me. I was finally out of breath and panted heavily. A thought crossed my mind: It could be he was waiting at the parking lot where I parked my car.

With this positive thought in my mind, I ran in the direction of the parking lot. Since I haven’t found a place on the parking lot of the stadium, I had to leave my car somewhere on a side street. It would take me there 10 minutes by feet. The more I ran, the merrier I felt the cold. It was too damn cold this night. I stopped on the middle of the street to let some warm breath in my palms.

  “You’re such an idiot… I messed up the date I wanted so much”, my hand went through my hairs, grabbed at some strands of my hairs and pulled on them. Now I made a mess out of my hairs too, pathetic.

  “I don’t think so”, a gentle voice spoke behind me.

Pete!

As I turned around, I saw Pete chuckling in front me. A relieved sigh came out of my mouth.

  “Where were you the whole time?”, my voice softened since I was too tired to speak loud and too happy to see safe and sound.

  “Outside.”

  “Pete”. I went to him, gazed at him to see if he had any injuries.

  “I’m fine”, it seemed he noticed that I worried about him.

My hand moved on its own and touched his skin, my thumb caressed on his soft skin. He touched at my chest. Suddenly a loud crack sounded in the sky. A thunder? Seriously now? We just came out of this turmoil and now the sky was giving me another hard time. Today was not my day.

I took a glance at the cloudy sky. Another thunder echoed in the sky. As I turned my attention to Pete, I noticed his body skaking. His eyes were filled with anxiety and uneasiness. He just shook his head and took a step back.

What’s wrong with him?

  „What’s wrong?“, I asked him out of concern.

  „No… No“, he stuttered. „Nothing“, he managed to speak.

It flashed and cracked nonstop. Pete closed his eyes but couldn’t stop trembling. Now I recalled an event from some weeks ago. When Pete and I were having a fight in a broad daylight and I severed our friendship, it rained, thundered and flashed heavily like today. He shook in fear like this time too. Could it be that he was afraid of thunder?

  “Are… Are you afraid of thunder”, I asked after some hesitation in the beginning.

His gaze fell on me; he couldn’t speak nor move in the moment. I covered his ears. It seemed to calm him down because his body stopped shaking. A little smile appeared on his face. I recently cursed my life for ruining this precious date but now his little smile faded the heavy feeling slumbering inside me away. It made me smile too. Rain fell down from above. I took my jacket, held it over our heads to prevent us from getting soaked. We saw a little shack where a lady was selling food and ran there to take refuge from the heavy rain. I glanced from the corner of my eyes to Pete. He too took a look at me. We smiled at each others then laughed about our misfortunes.

I admitted it that our date was doomed from the beginning but this little romantic moment made everything excited. Even if it today was a bumpy road, I didn’t regret it since I had to see him smiling this brightly. It was worth it.

My note: Somehow nothing did went well for Pete and Earn but next time Earn'll give more effort in their relationship. Or maybe Pete'll take the lead and plan for something exciting ;) Everyone knows that not every date end well like you planed it or wanted it to be. Soon you'll find out why Pete is afraid of thunders :D

Thanks for the exciting comments you guys always left under my story :) It made me happy and somehow proud (proud to be a fan of Pete/Earn and made a fanfic about them)... Hope you'll like this chapter