When I Met Him In The Summer

Eighteen

As soon as I see the text, I open it without thinking, my heart doing little flips in my chest. My thumbs hover over the keyboard and I kick my legs in the air and squeal with ecstasy, and then a feeling of panic settles over me when I realise, I don't know what to say, and I cannot leave him on read either. Shit! Holy fucking crap!

What? I never said I was the best at talking to boys—I'm kind of new at this boys thing, and the one and only boy I've been with before made it super easy...we did not have to talk, because we were both in it just for the sex.

My chest constricts as the third minute goes by, his 'hey you' still on read. He has probably lost interest right now. I would have if I were him.

I do the only logical thing I can do right now, and I call Val. She's not the dating expert either, but she has a lot of wisdom.

"Danny, thank God. I've miss—"

"Val, a boy texted me, and I don't know what to say, and he has already been on read for thr—oh god, four minutes now," I ramble into the phone, and cover my mouth to stop hyperventilating.

"Danny, calm down. Please breathe, and then tell me what the fuck you're talking about," she says, and I nod. I breathe in and out a couple of times, clear my throat and explain everything to Val.

I tell her about the beach, and I repeat word for word everything he told me about himself.

"Do you think you maybe want to know his name first? Wouldn't that be a good place to start?" she asks, and I can hear the condescending pity in her voice as I roll my eyes.

I open my message app, type What's your name, and then delete it. I try Who is this?, but that just sounds rude. Instead, I type a few question marks, and then delete those too. This is excruciating.

"I'm going to call him," I say suddenly to Val, who is patiently listening on the other end.

"Calm down, Danny. Try hey, and build it up from there. Don't overthink this. Just be yourself," she tells me.

I was myself for one whole afternoon, and I'm lucky he even decided to text me after that. I'm going to call him as soon as I hang up with Val. I'm not any good at texting anyway, and I'm too on edge to overthink anything else, like if he's really laughing at my jokes, or if he's just sending a bunch of laughing emojis while he cringes at my unfunny shit.

"Oh, Danny... it's lights out over here. But think about what I told you. And I can't wait to meet this mystery guy, whoever he is." Val says, and hangs up.

As soon as she cuts the call, I tap his number and chew on my fingernails as it rings.

"Hey, uhm..." I say in a voice which is supposed to be shy and cute when he picks up.

"Sora," he volunteers, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Hey Sora," I repeat, and I love the way his name rolls off my tongue. I'm already thinking about what it would sound like in my second language, moan.

"Hey...uhm,"

"Daniel. But you just call me Danny, or whatever—" I tell him with a shrug, and he chuckles.

"Hi, Whatever," he drawls, in that sexy bedroom voice of his, and my stomach erupts with butterflies.

Ugh. He is too fucking cute that I'm not even bothered by his bad joke in the slightest. It's quiet for a long minute, and fear settles in the pit of my stomach.

Is he waiting for me to speak first? I don't think I can even put together a coherent sentence right now...my thoughts are scattered all over the place.

I sigh, and I guess he picks up on my nerves, and thinks back to the beach, because he speaks first.

It turns out, Val was right. All I have to do is be myself, to say the first thing that comes to my mind, and not overthink anything. After the shit about names is out of the way, we talk and talk and talk.

We talk while I'm lying down, and we talk while I pace my room, and we talk while I'm hanging upside down over the edge of my bed, and we talk about everything,I'm afraid we won't have anything to talk about ever again.

He's really funny, and I've done the stupidest thing and let myself give him my heart just hours after knowing him.  Also, it turns out, some people like being asked what their hobbies are, and Sora is one of those people.

We have a few in common, like reading and music, but he also cooks, plays the guitar—and that too, for fun— and he's supposedly also a self proclaimed great lover in his free time.

It's almost one in the morning when I'm too drowsy to speak, and he too has to go.

"Goodnight," I slur into the phone.

"Goodnight," he says back and clears his throat. "And Danny?"

"Hmm?"

"I'll take it," he says, and for a second, I'm wide awake with confusion.

"Huh?"

"Your body, at discount price free. I'll take it," he says, and cuts the call before I can say anything back. Now, I am definitely, very wide awake.

There's a knock at my door as I scream with joy into my pillow, but I'm not in the mood tonight. Heck, I might never be in the mood ever again, for that matter.

"Go to bed, Austin," I say, pull the covers over my head and start planning my wedding.