I woke up the day I was supposed to meet Kelsey with a big smile on my face because of the thought of seeing her. I got out of bed and opened my blue silk curtains to see the sun hanging high in the sky. I walked over to my dresser and checked the time. Oh it was only 12:54. 12:54???!!! How the hell did I sleep for that long? I ran to the bathroom and almost face planted on the cold, white tile floor. My mom always told me not to run in the house. Was this why? I didn’t have time to think about these things. I took a quick shower, and quickly towel tried my hair. I ran to my closet and tripped over the clothes on the floor, which almost made me crash into my closet door. When I regained my balance I opened it and scrambled to find anything to wear.

When I was done I was wearing a red, open checkered shirt over a white t-shirt, black jeans, and all black high tops. I looked at the clock and it was 1:10. I would have to run to make it, but I really didn’t want to make Kelsey wait. I ran out the front door and down Maple Street, made a left on Coral Drive, and ran straight for about 4 blocks. When I finally did arrive on Jefferson Street, an old woman stopped and asked me directions. Obviously being new to town I really didn’t know where the place she wanted to go was. I apologized and tried to go around her when she started beating me with her purse for “not caring about older folks.” I tried to run away but I swear this old woman worked out. She jumped on my back and put me in a headlock. I couldn’t breathe, and she kept asking me if I had had enough. I repeatedly said yes until she let go of me, fixed her jacket, and walked off like nothing had even happened. This town was seriously crazy. I continued to run until I saw the Starbucks, and then stopped to calm myself down. I was panting heavily, and I was a little self-conscious since an old woman pretty much just beat the crap out of me. When I walked into the place it was 1:25, and I was relieved that I had made it in time.

I scanned the store for Kelsey, and when I finally did spot her it was like the breath was directly out of me. She was stunning. She was wearing a flowery dress thing, with a white cardigan over it, and white vans. Her long black hair was straightened perfectly, and her hazel eyes stood out thanks to the solid black eyeliner she had on. I reminded myself to breath, and walked up to her.

“Hey Kelsey, “ I said, “You look pretty.” She blushed again. Did she blush this much with everybody, or was it just me. I hoped it was just me.

“Thanks Henry, you look great too.” I think she just said that as a friendly thing. It had taken me less than fifteen minutes to get ready; I’m 100% positive that I looked nowhere near as good as her. I asked her if she was ready to go because I wanted to see everything. She got up and led the way. When we got up she said she would take me to Jefferson Square. While we were walking I started getting nervous and dug my hands deep into my pockets, while she looked like she was hanging onto her cardigan for dear life. Was she as nervous as I was? Not possible. After we finally arrived, she went all tour guide mode on me. I smiled because I could tell she was trying to lighten up the mood, and I appreciated her effort. She pointed me in the direction of a restaurant called Ronnie’s Italian Cuisine that was right next to us, and then she pointed at an arcade. As soon as I read the sign I asked her if we could please go there. I expected her to blush again but instead she said,

“Yeah, sure. I guess if we’re gonna be friends you should start losing at games now, instead of getting your hopes up about winning.” She smirked at me and I stared at her wide eyed. After I recovered from the initial shock of having such a sweet girl say that to me I replied with,

“Oh that’s cute Kelsey, how you think you can beat me.” I brushed passed her and made my way across the street to the arcade. I turned around to find her still standing in place so I called over to her, “Come on Kels, you’re not scared are you.” She turned around with a thoughtful look on her face and followed me into the arcade. I wondered what she was thinking about.

*1 Hour Later*

“ONE MORE TIME,” to say I was humiliated wouldn’t even compare to the feelings I was actually experiencing. I don’t even think there is a word in the English language to explain the embarrassment I was feeling. She had beaten me sixteen times in a row at air hockey, and she had beaten me by a lot.

“Henry, this has been the sixteenth time. I beat you sixteen times Henry. Is that not enough?” She burst out in laughter at my facial expression, and I finally gave up.

“Whatever, this is a girl’s game anyway.” That was the worst excuse I had ever come up with in my life. This was a girl’s game? I was the one who suggested we play it.

“You’re the one who suggested we play it.” Wow. This girl could take the thoughts right out of my head.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll admit you are pretty good, but next time I’ll beat you. By the way I’m kind of hungry, is there a good place around here where we can eat?”

“Yeah, sure what are you in the mood for?”

“Anything really.”

“Okay then let’s go to Ronnie’s.” She led the way out of the arcade and across the street to Ronnie’s. When she opened the door and we stepped in, the smell of Italian food hit me straight on, and my stomach grumbled. I walked past her and sat at a booth all the way at the back of the restaurant. The cold green vinyl booth was comfortable and Kelsey slid in across the booth while I observed the décor of the restaurant. It had Italian tourist places painted on each wall, and overhanging lights hung on top of all the tables. I was so focused on the decoration that I hadn’t noticed when the waitress arrived.

“Hey Kelsey,” she said, she was around forty-five years old, with her blond hair tied up in a ponytail. Her uniform was all black with her shirt reading “Ronnie’s Italian Cuisine” on the middle. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Is this your boyfriend?” She winked at me, and I chuckled, not at the wink, but because of the blush that was forming on Kelsey’s cheeks.  The more she blushed the more I questioned if she liked me. 

“No Ashley he’s not my boyfriend, his name is Henry Lau. He’s new to town, and asked me if I could show him around.” I didn’t know why, but I felt a little bad when she said that I wasn’t her boyfriend. Obviously I wasn’t, but that didn’t stop the little twinge of sadness that welled up inside me. The waitress lady turned to me again this time with a little knowing in her eyes.

 “Ahh, so you used the old, ‘Hey, I’m new to town, could you show me around trick, huh? Not bad, not bad.” I stared at her wide eyed. Was it that obvious what I had done? I thought it was pretty original actually, but then again it did seem like something a lot of people would have used before. I couldn’t think of anything to say but luckily Kelsey jumped in,

“Ashley can you give us a few minutes to order?” The waitress nodded, and walked away. I shook my head and opened the menu. Wow! That thing was like a book. Kelsey was right about them serving sushi at an Italian place, but I couldn’t find anything to order in the extensive menu.

“Do you need help ordering?” she asked. I looked up at her and nodded. “Well um,” she started, “the thing is that the only thing I’ve ever ordered from here is the cheese ravioli. It’s really good if you wanna try it.”

I resisted the urge to tell her about my love of cheese, so I just smiled at her and said, “Sure, anything’s fine with me, but that menu is seriously big. By the way, why is this place so empty?” She looked around before looking back at me.

“I don’t know actually. This place is usually pretty packed.” The waitress came back after that and Kelsey ordered for the both of us. While we were waiting we talked about the decoration and I decided I should wait to tell her my audition. When the food arrived I realized how hungry I was and was about to dive right in when I heard the door open. Kelsey must not have noticed because her eyes were on her food. I looked up to see Kim walking through the door, and I tried to look away before she noticed me but I swear it was as if she could sniff me out or something. When she saw me her eyes went wild and she smiled at me. That smile made me want to gag. She began walking toward me and her smile faltered when she realized I was there with Kelsey. I already knew this wasn’t going to be good.

“Hey Henry!” she sounded way too pleased. She then looked at Kelsey who had what I’m pretty sure was a whole piece of ravioli in . Kelsey looked up and gave Kim what I would define as a “Leave me alone because I don’t care” kind of wave, which got a smile out of me. Kelsey missed that smile because she went back to looking at her food, however, Kim must have took my smile as one for her because she then decided to continue the conversation with me.

“So what’s up Henry?” She had that smile on her face again. It made me lose my appetite.

“Um…,” I replied, “nothing much, just hanging out with Kelsey here.”

“Yeah.” Kim stated flatly “I can see that.”

 I was starting to get annoyed so I replied with, “Then why’d you ask?” Kelsey chuckled and I suppressed the smile that was threatening its way onto my face. I was positive that I had made it clear to Kim that I didn’t want to hang out with her, but she must not have noticed because the next words out of were,

“Anyway, why don’t you come eat with me and ditch little Kelsey over here?” She was really starting to bother me.

I tried to let her down easy but honestly this girl wouldn’t quit. “Because I don’t want to,” I said coldly. The look on Kim’s face was one full of surprise, I could tell that she wasn’t used to rejection. She turned her back me and faced Kelsey. As soon as she looked at Kelsey, something inside of me went on full alert.

“Hey Kelsey…” Kim said

“Yeah?” Kelsey replied. Kelsey picked up Kelsey’s plate and spilled it all over Kelsey’s dress. Kelsey, looked down at her dress, trying to hide her unshed tears, but I didn’t miss them. Seeing her sad was all it took for me to practically explode. I shot out of my seat and got right up in Kim’s face. She was shorter than me by a lot so I had to look down, but I couldn’t stop the words from spilling out of my mouth.

 “What the ?” I shouted “Who the hell do you think you are to do that to here? Is there something wrong with you? Don’t even think of coming anywhere near her again or we are going to have some serious problems, you understand me?” My mom always raised me with the mindset of never yelling at a girl, but Kim made the only girl I had ever cared about cry, and I would never apologize to her for it. I knew at that moment that I couldn’t let Kelsey go. Ever.  I knew I shouldn’t care about her this much, especially after just meeting her, but I knew that no matter what happened I would always be there for her. I loved her. I would protect her from everything that would try to hurt her.

I handed her my red checkered shirt and put money on the table, I glance at Kim, looked her straight in her still terrified eyes and said “Oh and if you haven’t figured it out yet, stop flirting with me I’m not interested.” After Kelsey had gotten my shirt on I led her out of the restaurant. Once we got outside I pulled her along with me for a few minutes having no idea where we were going. It was mostly to calm me down from the incident that just happened. Without letting go of Kelsey’s hand I asked her if there was a place where we could just sit and talk because I had to tell her something.

“Yeah, Russo Park is only a couple blocks away” she said shakily, and I held her hand tighter as she led the way. When we finally sat at the picnic table at the park is when I let go of her hand. She sat on the opposite side of me. We stayed quiet for a while as I tried to find the right words to tell her what it was I wanted to say. There was so many ways to say it, but I wanted to see her reaction to it if I said it flat out.

“Well do you remember how I told you my cousin Zhoumi was in the group Super Junior- M?” She nodded slowly in response. “He called me a couple of days ago. There is an audition for getting into the group in a couple weeks, it’s in China, but my mom gave me her approval, so I’m gonna go audition.” I didn’t know why I was so nervous for her response. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that if she told me I shouldn’t go then I wouldn’t. I would give it up just like that. I was going to tell her that when she burst out,

“My gosh Henry! That’s great! Isn’t this what you were telling me about in chem? You said you always wanted to be a singer.” Complete happiness filled my heart at those words and I felt extremely girly, but I didn’t care at that moment. The important thing was that she supported me.

“Yeah, I’m so excited! I’ve been waiting so long for this opportunity I can’t believe it’s here. I have to practice so hard. I really want to get in Kelsey, this is my dream and it’s so close to coming true.” She smiled at me before speaking again,

“Henry that’s so great. I hope you do well, it’s amazing how determined you are to making your dreams come true.” I felt like the weight of the world had been taken off my shoulders, but I still wasn’t sure why I was so nervous about telling her about this.

“Thanks Kels, I’m not going to able to go to school the week after this one because I have to get to China for the audition.” I paused wondering if I should tell her how I felt about her. The mood was right for it. There wasn’t a reason for me not to tell her. “But there is something that I want to tell you now.”

“Okay sure, go ahead.” So I did.

“Well, the thing is, umm, well the thing is, I-“ I didn’t know what was wrong with me. The words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. It was like some nervous little elf thing took control of me and turned me into a mumbling idiot.

“Wait can you repeat that I couldn’t hear you” That was so embarrassing.

“Oh umm, the thing is Kelsey, well I sorta kinda-“ I must have started mumbling again because she leaned in closer. ‘Be a man!’ my conscious told me. I looked at her again positive that I was going to tell her when our eyes met, and I decided that I couldn’t do it now. I was going to have a heart attack from all the stress this was giving me if I kept at it. “Nevermind Kels, it’s not important.”  

 “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s not something that has to be said now.”

“Oh…Okay,” I was glad that she didn’t keep at it.

After that we just talked about random things. I lost track of time, and my phone rang. It was my mom. She told me I had to get home and help her clean the house and get stuff ready because one of her bosses was coming for dinner. I told Kelsey I had to leave, and she got up to give me my shirt back.

“Keep it.” I said.

“Oh uhm.. Thanks”

“We should hang out again soon,” I told her.

“Yeah we should. This was fun, well except for, you know.” She still looked upset

“Don’t let that kind of stuff get to you Kelsey, I mean I know it’s a pretty big deal, but I can tell that Kim isn’t the kind of person that can handle rejection well.”  She laughed and told me to call her when I wanted to hang out again. I told her okay and said I would text her later. Then we walked of in different directions.

When I walked home I couldn’t help wondering if I should have told Kelsey how I felt. That would have been the perfect opportunity to know if she felt the same way. I thought back on how exploded on Kim when she almost made Kelsey cry. The overwhelming emotions for Kelsey I felt then weren’t one time things. I still felt the same way. If only she loved me back and felt the same way about me that I felt about her, I would be the happiest guy in the world. I hadn’t realized that I arrived home till I saw my mom’s familiar red car in the driveway. I walked in and was immediately hit with tasks to do to make the house seem perfect. My mom said that it was for a promotion for the company she worked at.

After countless chores I was exhausted and plopped down on the couch. Right as I did the doorbell rang and my mom called for me to answer. I dramatically groaned and got up and opened the door to what I was sure was my mother’s boss. I already didn’t like him. He had a cocky ‘I’m the best and I know it’ kind of feel to him.

“Hey Kiddo, you must be Henry, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Nice to meet you,” I replied. “I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you.” That seemed to make his ego drop a little bit. “Oh please do come in.” I added. He strode past me and into the house.

He had to be in his mid-50’s with short, gray cropped hair. He had blue-grey eyes, and was actually pretty skinny; it looked to me like he tried to work out often. I cringed remembering the old lady who had kicked my in the morning. He wore a black suit with a black tie. His outfit to me seemed a bit too formal for a promotion dinner with one of his employee’s but what did I know?

“Oh, Hello Jane.” He said to my mother when she walked into the room.

“Hello Mr. Richards welcome to our home. This is my son Henry, Henry this is Mr. Richards, my boss.”

“Yes, we’ve been introduced.” He replied to her with somewhat of a displeased look on his face, what a jerk. I didn’t know why people like him were always the heads of companies.

“Please have a seat.” My mother pointed him to the brightly lit dining room. She had made a whole turkey. A freaking whole turkey for her stupid boss. He for some reason sat at the head of the table while I sat across from my mother. She began carving the turkey as her boss attempted to make small talk with me.

“So… Henry. What is it that you want to be later on in life. A doctor? Scientist?”

“I want to be a singer.” I replied straight forwardly, and a deep frown immediately set on his face.

“Why would you want to waste your life with dreams that most likely won’t come true? It’s a waste boy.” I didn’t expect someone like him to understand, so I just let the conversation drop. My mom must not have realized this because she told him about my audition. He turned to her again and said, “And you’re okay with this Jane? Your son just wasting his life like this? I would have expected better of you. I mean look at this boy, he will never make it in any agency. He has arrogance about him that no one in their right mind would ever accept. It’s a waste of money too, paying for his plane ticket.” I was about ready to put this guy in his place but my mom beat me to it.

“So,” she started calmly, “What you’re trying to say is that my son has no actual talent, and there is no way he would be able to make his dreams come true because he is how you put it “arrogant”.

“Well yes Jane. That’s exactly what I’m trying to say. He would much better be a doc-“

“Get out.” If I was surprised he was downright shocked.

“What?” he asked obviously extremely confused.

“There have been enough people in my child’s life that have tried to hold him back from doing what he’s always dreamed of doing. A few days ago I almost held him back to, but not anymore, and I’ll be damned if I let some stuck-up, two face, ignorant man try and tell my son what is best for him. I suggest you leave. Oh, by the way, I quit. I’ve been meaning to for a while actually, you don’t pay well.”  As you could imagine, Mr. Richards looked like some invisible force had just smacked him right in the face. He stood up red faced and beaming, and stomped out of the house. We were quiet for I while before she spoke up. “Well Henry I didn’t make all this food for nothing, let’s eat.” We sat and at talking about simple things here and there, between those conversations I kept reminding myself of how lucky I was to have a mom like her. When dinner was over and everything was put away, it was around 11:00pm. I headed up to my room and changed into my pajamas and lay on my bed. I had the overwhelming urge to talk to Kelsey, and since I told her I would text her I decided to.

“Hey, are you asleep?” I texted.

“Nope, Just watching Nail Shop Paris” Woah, I loved that show.

“…You watch that too?! O.O?”

“Haha, I didn’t know you watched it! And yeah, it’s the best show?”

“Are you team Alex or team Kei?

“Team Kei ofcourse :P”

“What? :O That’s ridiculous, Bunny should be with Alex!”

“Are you serious? Why Alex?”

“Because she was supposed to be with him first, she liked him first not Kei.”

“That doesn’t matter. I think you’re just jealous of Kei :) its okay he is pretty cool.”

I chose to be brave in order to make up what I didn’t tell her at the park earlier today. “…That makes no sense Kelsey. Why would be Jealous of Kei, when I have you?” I couldn’t believe I just texted her that she must think I’m some weird ert.

“Haha, you’re funny ^^” she answered back after a couple minutes

“Lol yeah, thanks :) but I wasn’t joking, goodnight Kelsey!!!!!!!!” I decided to end the conversation there before I said something that totally freaked her out.

“Night Henry” I put my phone away a little upset. I wondered how she would react when I told her I liked her. When would I even tell her, I totally choked today!

 I sat there for a while later just thinking about how I felt about the girl I had only met three days ago. Was it possible to love someone so much so quickly? It wasn’t obsession in the least bit. It wasn’t like I needed to see her every hour of everyday for my life to be complete; I just cared about her greatly. I wanted to protect her from anything that could possibly hurt her. But what if she didn’t feel the same way about me, what if she didn’t like me back? The horrible truth and anticipation crept into me, what would I do then? I obviously could not let her go.