A Step Closer to Love

“Thank you so much for tonight,” Arabella said as they stood outside the door to the house.

“I am glad you had a good time because I would have felt bad if I was the only one having a good time” Mark replies with a smile.

“I did have a good time” She returned his smile and he felt good about the situation. At least his friends were wrong when they called him boring. He was dropping a girl after a date and she was smiling.

“I hope I am not too late to drop you off?” Mark asked his eyes weary dancing around the house to see if Kieran was somewhere around.

“Oh don’t bother about him, I am a big girl,” she said as if she had just done something to be extremely proud of.

“Of course, you are a big girl” Mark was teasing her now.

“Wait that came out all wrong” she said with a laugh at the end of her statement.

“It did didn’t it?” he asked and she nodded.

“I better get inside now, good night,” she said pushing him towards his car.

“I will only go after I see you go inside” he said walking her back to the gate his hands holding hers by the wrist.

“Hold up,” she said wiggling her way out of his grip and raising her hands in the air as if they had been pulled over by a cop.

“What is it?” he asked his eyes darting all around. He even turned back to see in case there was something there he might need to be wary of.

“I have seen this kind of scene a lot in movies and even read more in books” she said and he scratched the edge of his eyebrow in confusion.

“What scene”

“This one where you tell me to go in and I tell you to go home and then none of us wants to let go” she said with a sly expression and then a smirk climbing her lips.

“You have a weird sense of humour do you know that?” he asked feeling his butterflies get into action. He only managed to keep his face from turning blood red as they stood outside in the cold.

She implied it as if they had been going out and were still not able to get over each other.

“Weird? No not weird I prefer creative” she said and he laughed.

“Sure creative sounds like a better word instead” he said and she nodded in agreement. She found the entire day kind of confusing to her because she had never been this comfortable with someone whom she was not close with.

“Of course it does” she replied with a sniffle. She was on the verge of catching a cold and somehow she did not know if she was ready to let go of the comfort yet.

“Go on in, it’s quite chilly so you might catch a cold” he said turning her around and then pushing her to the gate.

“I will only go in now because I do not want to make a scene” she said waving at him before pushing the pedestrian part of the gate open.

“Good night” she called to him. “Let me know when you get home” she said entering and closing the gate.

“Good night” she heard him through the gate.

“JESUS CHRIST” Arabella screamed as she stepped to the entrance and found a figure squatting right before the door.

What scared her the most was that she could not see the face of the figure and it seemed like an unidentified object that might be dangerous was just lying casually on the front porch.

“What are you doing there?” Arabella asked her hands on her chest and her soul almost escaped from her body. “You gave me a scare,” she said with a long breath.

“What do you mean by that? This is my mom so I can be wherever I want to be” Kieran answered standing and then turning to her.

“I never said you could not be where you want to be” Arabella said with an eye roll as she felt her heart rate begin to come back to normal slowly.

“Then what are you saying?” he asked when she did not reply.

“Can you calm your panties?” she said as she watched his face fall into a deeper frown. Until she met him she had never known that there were levels to frowns but he did them so effortlessly it was scary.

“Panties?” he asked as if the word was something so foreign and forbidden to him.

“I am trying to catch my breath after you scared me shitless” Arabella replied squatting to the ground with her mouth open as she tried to take all the air she could handle at once.

“Don’t sneak up on anyone like that?” she said after a while before standing to her feet.

“I did not sneak up on you,” he said as if he was trying to school her.

“Why were you crouched in that position on this poorly lit porch?” she asked putting her hand on her waist and taking a stance she had seen her grandmother take in previous years.

“I was just…” he trailed off. He had come out when he noticed she had not come back home after going out with a man she had never met before.

If he was being honest he did not know why he let her go. It was like he wanted to protect her against everything, especially that man. He could not tell her that he came out for her. What would she think of him?

“You were?” she asked taking one of her eyebrows up.

“Out for some air” he said pointing randomly into the sky.

“Air? And you were squatting like that?” she asked shaking her head at him. “If you really want air then you should take a walk around the area and then come back in after a while”

“Do you want to come with me?” Kieran said before his mind could process the words his mouth had said it all.

“What?”

“I asked if you wanted to join me for the walk,” he said and he shook her head. He knew that there was no harm in trying and after all the words had left his mouth so lying to cover up would have not been the best for him.

“No, I am good, my legs hurt so bad after taking a walk with Mark” Arabella tells him. “And I also feel a bit cold too” she added and he nodded.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Don’t stay out too late or you might catch a cold”