The Exception to the Rule

by Christina Lauren

I like a lot of things, but I don’t LOVE any one thing. It feels scary, you know? To worry I might commit to something because I have to but not because I love it.

even as the words “I promise I won’t” flow from my lips, I know I’m lying. Thank God it happened on Valentine’s Day, because the second I get home, I’m going to email C and tell him all about this.

“Do you ever have a feeling about someone? Like they’re your safe space and, I don’t know, like someday it could be more?” I swallow, nodding. “Yeah. Of course.” I’m looking right at her. “I have a feeling about him.” But the thing is, when she looks up at me and our eyes lock, I’m pretty sure she has a feeling about me, too.

“Dinner.” He cutely mimes spooning food into his mouth. “Sun goes down. People eat.” “Like a date?” “I hope so? I intend to flirt.”

He releases the laugh, tilting my face up with a finger under my chin. “I’m asking you.”

He walks around the hood and sees me at the same time I see the cupcake box in his hand. Forget flowers; give me a cupcake and it’s a perfect date.

“I don’t normally kiss before the first date,” I tell him. “But you’re the exception to the rule.”