Connections

Continuation of Chapter 2 of Connections. This time, I posted it one and a half month after connections 2....so I hope you guys will like it.

Chapter 3

All the basketballs that the coach had put out were bouncing around like crazy. Some of the students were just dribbling around, while others were playing horse or other pick-up games. Needless to say, there was also a large group of kids just sitting on the benches just talking and watching the activity around them.

Philip stood in front of me ready to block me while I held the basketball with both hands. His had taken off his shirt and his sweat glistened from the sunlight that came through the windows of the gym. He smiled mockingly while I started to bounce the ball with my left hand. I made a dash forward, faking to my left. I ducked under his waving arm, dashed to the right and bounced the ball right passed him. I shot the ball and made a lay up without making it bounce against the rim or the backboard. I laughed and raised both my arms in victory.

"10 to 8...I WON!!!"

Philip smiled and panted while putting both of his hands on his waist. He still had that perky smile on his face like he felt like he won the game. But I was the one who WON...for the first time in my life against Philip. Although I wasn't really too hyped up that I won since I kind of felt like he was letting me win. He's really good! Well, I knew he was since he was better than most everyone in my gym class and he also told me before that he joined his elementary school basketball team and he was picked once as the M.V.P. His past...something I don't hear that much.

He walked closer to me and thrust out his arm for a handshake. "Nice game!"

"Yeah right! You let me win! I could tell," I said giving him a fake 'look'. He laughed and shook his head, "Swear to God, I didn't! Just look at me, I'm sweating like a pig here!"

Suddenly, the fire alarm went off, ringing so loud that I couldn't even hear the bouncing balls in the gym floor anymore. The coach cried out with his strong Italian accent, "Everyone out of the Gym! Let's go, let's go!"

Philip grabbed his shirt from the bench while I waited for him on the other side of the gym. We both walked out of the gym while ambulances and police cars arrived in front of school. The teachers shouted at us to hurry up and get off the school property. This was no drill since there were actually police and firemen around. Philip and I stood on the left end of the school property trying to see what was happening by standing on our tiptoes. All I could see was a blonde person lying on this long stretcher being pushed around by firefighters. I really couldn't tell whether it was a guy or a girl, all I could see was one side of his/her face was burned, while the other side looked a bit pinkish. There were others coming out, some were also on stretchers, but fortunately some were walking. Their clothed looked like they had been in or near a fire. Some of them actually had holes in their clothes. I gasped and so did the other thousand students that stood and watched the events unfold. "The fuck...w-what happened?!"

"I dunno," Philip said with his eyes fixated on the scene. Then we heard someone calling our names and we turned around and saw Adrien and Eric standing there behind us. Eric stood there covering his eyes with one hand. I said, "Hey guys. Eric...what the hell happened?"

"It's...Eric," Adrien cried trying looking at Eric's face. "What?"

"F-Fire came outta nowhere in cooking class. I...god...I was lucky enough that I went to the washroom or else I would've been burned...fuck..." Eric mumbled. I shook my head and my heart pounded like crazy. My lungs became tight and my legs felt like they were going to collapse any second. "C-cooking class...?"

"...Yeah. It was horrible...when I came back I saw...shit!"

"Oh...my god...Leo's in that class! Is he okay?" I asked feeling like the whole world was sinking. He shook his head, "I don't know, by the time I saw people getting burned...I just RAN!"

"Did you at least see where he was?"

"I said I don't know! I didn't have time to look at who was there or who got burned, alright?" Eric growled. I backed off realizing that Eric was the one who was really in shock just by seeing the event himself. My heart beat like crazy and my eyes became glassy from worry. I pushed against the crowd while calling out Leo's name, but Philip held my wrist trying to hold me back. I pulled his hand off my wrist and wandered around shouting out Leo's name checking if he was somewhere in the crowd watching what was happening. My eyes became blurry until I could barely see anything. "Leo!"

Someone came out of the noisy crowd and stood in front of me with a girl holding his arm. I looked up and saw Leo standing there with his face blackened from I the smoke. I sighed and felt relieved; I almost jumped to hug him...but I didn't. I smiled and pretended that I wasn't crying or the least BIT WORRIED about him, but I guess that already showed. He smiled placing his hand on my shoulder, "I'm okay Jake."

"Thank god. For a minute there, I thought you were one of the guys who got hurt in the fire!" I said looking down so he wouldn't see my glassy eyes. He giggled and when I looked up his fingers dug down on his hair patting it. "Well, some of my hair DID get burned, but that's no reason to go to the hospital."

I started laughing and took a glimpse at his blonde hair that he managed to save. He stood in front of me with 'someone' locking her arms around him. I looked right at who it was and there stood that blonde bitch Angela. I just have to say that she's a bitch! Groping Leo like she owns him. She said in this squeaky voice, "He is soo brave, he managed to get out there safely, even after he helped some of the people who were too stunned to get out by themselves! I'm so lucky to have Leo as my boyfriend! My hero!"

"Boyfriend?" I asked feeling like I hadn't known him for years. "What did I miss this past weekend anyway?" He wrapped his arms around Angela's waist and grinned, making me feel kinda angry inside. I smiled anyway and waited for an answer. But then Angela suddenly blurted out, "C'mon Leo let's go. I'm really worried if some of my friends are part of this."

"Okay..." he said gazing at her eyes. Then he looked at me and said, "I'll...see you okay?"

"Yeah...ok..."

He left and disappeared in the midst of the crowd. The ambulances' and police cars' sirens deafened my ears as I tried to sort out what I was feeling. Maybe...I'm jealous? YEAH RIGHT! I was soo over him ever since a few weeks ago, but I guess I never thought that he would go out with someone. Maybe that's why it's making me feel bad, I never realized that he ACTUALLY has a life and his own needs! I mean he's a guy for Pete's sake; no guy in the world can keep his hormones in check forever. Shame on me for always thinking about myself and what I want and need all the time.

Adrien, Eric and Philip came out of the crowd and walked toward me. Philip stared at me concerned, but I smiled back in a way that made him know that everything was all right. He asked, "So...is Leo okay?"

"Yeah." I smiled.

The rain poured like crazy and the thunder slammed fiercely down from the sky. I gazed out the window seeing nothing but the rain and lightening that clashed down frequently. Philip hugged me from behind and asked, "Anything wrong?"

"Naw I'm okay. I...just feel bad about what happened at school, that's all. Is Eric okay?" I asked. I could see Philip nodding from the reflection of the window. He kissed me on my left ear and said, "Adrien's taking care of him. Eric's really in shock but he did calm down a bit before I left them both at Adrien's house."

"That's good." I said sighing. He hugged me tightly, "Okay, for real, you're freaking me out. Cat got your tongue? You've barely spoken to me unless I asked you a question."

I giggled and shook my head. I turned around to look at him. Then I laid my arms on his shoulders and placed my forehead on his, locking my eyes with his hazel eyes. "Nothing's wrong, I told you I just feel really bad that something like that actually happened in our school. I mean...who knows by tomorrow we might find out one of our friends is in the hospital because of this incident."

"I know...I feel bad too, but the good thing is because of this we don't have to go to school tomorrow!" Philip said unwrapping his arms and sitting on the edge of the bed. I had this confused look on my face as he explained, "Well, that's what I heard from one of the teachers when we were allowed to leave school early today. I guess they feel like we've gone through enough today, which we all did by the way, and plus if cooking class is dangerous...then who knows what other places in school are dangerous."

"That's good too! But I'd rather have school than knowing someone actually got hurt or seriously injured in OUR school...I mean Jesus Christ, when I thought that Leo was hurt...I was really scared."

"I know...you were crying," he said quietly. My eyes widened and I pointed at myself. "ME? CRY? HA! Whatever Philip!"

"Yes you did! You weren't bawling like a baby...but tears showed...I saw that," he explained quietly while standing up to walk closer to me. I looked away and faked a laugh. Then I said, "I guess you think of me a sissy now huh? Jakey the crybaby."

"No," he said. I looked up surprised. He had a smile on his face as he slowly placed his right hand on my face. His thumb slowly rubbed my cheek as he explained. "No...I don't think you're a sissy, I think it's sweet of you to care a lot about others. If you care about Leo that much then I think I know how much you must care about me. That's why I'm lucky to have you. I don't have to worry about you not giving a damn if anything ever happened to me."

"You're always the optimistic person you know that?" I said throwing my arms around his neck again. He grinned from cheek to cheek and kissed me on the lips. Then he placed both of his hands on my waist slowing rocking me left to right. "I know."

"Look...I have to go, it's raining hard and my parents gonna be worried if I don't come home early," he said kissing me again. I smiled and nodded hugging him one more time. "Be careful okay? Don't let the boogie man catch you."

"He won't, goodnight," he said before kissing me one last time. He left my bedroom and I heard him greet my mother downstairs. She offered to drive him home since it was such a stormy night, but he was too shy to say yes so he left on foot. I saw him running with his bag over his head across the street. I smirked at the site before pulling down the shades and lying down on my bed.

The next thing I remember was the sunlight trying to make it's way through my shades. I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my small clock. My mind, half awake and half asleep, tried to make sense of the numbers on my digital clock. Shocked at the time I saw, 8:30 AM, I jumped quickly off my bed and headed to the washroom. I took a quick shower that took no more than 3 minutes and then dashed naked back to my bedroom. It never occurred to me that my mom could have seen me "streaking" down the hall. I dressed quickly and ran down the stairs to the kitchen where my mom was finishing preparing her meal for work. She looked at me strangely and asked, "Where you going?"

"Umm...school Ma! I'm still 15!" I said grabbing a pop from inside the fridge. She laughed hysterically and said, "Newsflash! There's no school. It was on the news last night because of the accident you told me about yesterday."

"Oh shit, I totally forgot about that...even Philip told me about it last night" I said closing the fridge while pounding my head against the freezer door. "Well since you've already taken your shower, run back up and change out of your school clothes and change into your regular clothes, I have a chore for you to do."

"What? Hey Mom, this is a great opportunity to catch up on my sleep! I don't get many days off from school!" I moaned putting the pop back in the fridge. I went back to my bedroom and changed to my everyday clothes and went back down and grabbed a long list of groceries my mom wanted me to pick up. The only thing that made me really happy was that she gave me a hundred dollars and told me to keep whatever was left over, which looked like it could be a LOT! Before I left, my mom asked me, "About yesterday...don't you feel bad at what happened?"

"Yeah...a lot I guess. I never knew something like that could happen to other people. Even worse, in MY school."

"So do you need...you know...help or something?" she asked. She sounded uncomfortable asking that question. I answered, "What help?"

"You know...counseling."

"Oh...no, NO, I'm not that 'disturbed' so don't worry about it. I mean I really didn't see that much from where we were standing. I did see the stretchers being carried out from the building and loaded into the ambulance's though", I explained. She nodded and smiled. "Ok, I was just worried that's all. If it was me, I would've been in shock and they would probably have to take ME to the hospital."

"Heh, that I KNOW...have fun at work and I'll see you tonight mom," I said kissing her on the cheek before leaving. The road was pretty dry, but it was really humid from last night's storm. I could feel my clothes sticking to my skin. As soon as I got in the air-conditioned grocery store, I sighed in pleasure. I grabbed one of those big carts and took the wrinkled grocery list from my pocket. Walking around while humming the song that played, I picked whichever vegetable looked the freshest. Like Jerry Seinfeld said before, buying food is like gambling, you can't tell a good veggie from a bad one without tasting it. The only vegetable that I really hated was olives and the leaf end of celery. It's just...bad! I like broccoli, but most people hate it. It makes more sperm too!

After a few minutes, almost all the items were checked off my list except for the detergent. After I paid for all the things I bought, I went to the store next door to buy the other stuff that my mom wanted. Naturally, the brand of detergent my mom wanted was on the top shelf. Now I had two things going against me, I was trying to grab something beyond my reach, and still hang onto the groceries I had just bought. I sighed and dropped all the plastic bags on the floor and stood on my toes trying to grab one of the boxes from the top shelf. I was practically waving my arms just to touch one of the boxes there.

"Here let me help."

A blonde guy reached up and handed one of the boxes down to me. I smiled and turned to say thank you, and I was shocked at who turned out to be my Good Samaritan, Leo. He smiled and said, "Hey Jake, what a coincidence meeting you here. No wait, don't tell me, your mom made you come here because there was no school?"

"Yeah...thanks by the way," I said grabbing the big box from him. "Oh sure no problem."

"I'll see you around okay?" I said holding the red box with one hand and all the plastic bags in the other. I felt kind of uneasy with him. I don't know if it was that he has a girlfriend or the fact that he knows I'm gay. Did he think that I was some kind of a sick person who sucks cock for a living? He stood there quietly scratching the back of his head. "Oh...ok....I'll see ya maybe tomorrow."

"Yeah...I'm guessing your mind is concentrating on your girlfriend. Anyway I'll see ya."

"Bye..."

I struggled with the groceries at the checkout counter, but managed to somehow pay for the detergent and head out the store towards home. Dragging myself from one concrete block to another, someone gently grabbed the box of detergent out of my right hand. I looked right and saw Leo walking beside me with his face looking straight forward. "I don't see why I can't help."

"No...I guess not...thanks!"

He smiled and walked beside me quietly. "So...ummm...how are you and uhh..."

"Philip?...okay. How about you and Angela?"

"She's fine. And since I couldn't go to her house today...I decided to get something from the store and come back home. Then I saw you," he said, not daring to look at me. "Oh."

We walked silently, and then he asked, "So that was some scene yesterday huh?"

"Uhh...yeah...I guess." I noticed him looking at me without turning his head towards me. "Eric's okay huh?"

"Yeah, Adrien took care of him," I explained briefly. He continued, "Cute couple."

I grinned and gazed at him. "You wish."

He locked his eyes on me and smiled, "Not as cute as you both."

"Jealous?" I asked. He snickered as we walked down the street. "Sure bet."

We continued walking in complete silence; it kind of made me think of what will happen to Leo and me in the future. Maybe it's just a new beginning or something, but I really hated what was happening right now. I wanted to just...TALK! Whatever came to me; gay jokes, gossip, insults, WHATEVER! I felt like I was confined to one to three word sentences! It's killing me! Leo gazed at me and asked, "Uh...something wrong?"

"Oh...it's nothing," I said. There it is AGAIN! "Okay."

"This is some conversation huh?" he asked. I giggled, "I was thinking of that too!"

"I'm sorry, it's me isn't it?" I asked. I stopped and turned to look at him, the plastic bags swinging back and forth. He nodded brushing a few strands of hair back. I shook my head, as we both walked again, "Leo, I don't know why, maybe it's 'cuz...well...I guess...how come you're not acting different?"

"Different? Why do you want me to act different? How did I become the cause of this?" he asked. "I...I don't know! I mean aren't you suppose to act weird? I mean you found out I'm gay last week and since then we haven't talked until now. And now...you're talking to me like nothing ever happened. Aren't you a bit disgusted or feel like you don't want to hang with me anymore? I mean I don't want to judge you as how the world sees it but it's just weird that you're not acting weird. I mean if Clarrissa found out...she would freak! But you...why? Why aren't you a bit depressed that maybe in the future I won't have any kids to play around with yours?"

"Jake, it's totally okay for me. I wasn't shocked when I found out, but I admit I was a bit depressed when you told me about it. Then when you told me that you were going out with Philip, it made me realize about things in the future for you and me, and I did act weird on that weekend. I tried to call you but I was scared and confused. I was afraid I might say something that would hurt or offend you. But really, because of today, it made me realize that all I have to do is act the same way as I always have. I don't want to act differently towards you. I just wanted to act like it's nothing so it wouldn't bother you. I know that as a gay person, you will have enough problems with strangers, you don't need problems from your friends too. Does that...answer your question?"

"Yeah...thanks by the way," I said. Still, even though I know now that he's completely okay with me, I still feel awkward towards him. I don't know...maybe I just have to get used to this feeling.

"How could I've been so clueless? I should've known you were gay a long time ago."

"What?"

"Well, you're unlike other guys. You're too kind, too nice, too sweet, and plus you smile a lot, umm...you can understand women better than I can. You can cook, you have a sense of style, and PLUS you're...'prettier' than me," he said smirking. I started laughing, "The right word is...I'm more beautiful than you! So anyway, let's change the topic. It's so silly when we talk this way."

He laughed, "Really? I don't mind at all. I actually love talking 'openly.' Like, that's sooo gay huh?"

"It sure is."

It's been two weeks since the fire, but my mind could still not get back into the grove of school. I sat at my desk staring outside, watching the clouds move across the sky. The teacher was mumbling something, but my mind was not into whatever she was saying. I stared at the back of Philip's head and sat there quietly. Just being in school brought back the memories of the fire. No one was allowed to use the kitchen until next semester, and there were a lot of people who changed their schedule after what happened. There were more social workers and counselors around now, so I guess everyone could turn to them if they really need help.

The final bell rang at last and I sighed in relief. I've only been in school for one day, but I couldn't take it anymore. Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday. Philip stood up and walked over to my table and waited for me to pack my stuff. His expression told me that he wanted to say something to me, but I guess he was holding back until we got out of the classroom. It was kind of weird leaving the classroom with just Philip. I got used leaving the class with Philip and Leo beside me. I guess Leo skipped like he has in the past so he could be with Angela. It was kind of a sweet thing to do but I think there's a point were schoolwork has to be more important than anything else. God, I'm such a hypocrite!

Since it was Friday, I was trying to decide where to go tonight. Nothing came to mind except going out to the mall and watch a movie or stay home and watch a movie. Whichever choice Philip picked didn't really matter to me since all I wanted was to spend time with him. I was going on and on about where we should go tonight when all of a sudden, he shook his head and said, "Hey...how about giving me a chance to pick a place for our date."

"Okay, where do you want to go?" I asked as we stood waiting for the bus. From that bus stop to where we drop off, he stayed quiet. I figured that either I had to pick or there'd be no date. But then, just before we went our separate ways, he asked, "Can you pick me up at like 7?"

"Seven? Isn't that a tad bit late?" I asked readjusting the strap of my bag. He grinned and said, "I just want a yes or no answer."

"With you...I'll always say yes," I said sweetly. He blushed and scratched his side burns. I giggled at the site of him blushing. I love making him feeling this way. He looked away when I said, "You look really cute when you blush you know that?"

"Stop it!" he said blushing so deep that even the exposed skin above his chest was turning red. He grinned and I nodded. "Oh...kay."

"Good, you're going to pick me up at seven tonight. Make sure you come exactly at 7 okay? I have to do a major make over!" he said making me giggle. We looked around and when we noticed a lady walking across the street, he bit his bottom lip and said, "Guess no sugar for this afternoon."

"Not to worry. There's always tonight," I said backing off a bit. He looked at the woman again and sucked his bottom lip now. "True...but that's too long for me...Oh what the hell!"

He pushed himself closer to me and pecked at my lips. Surprised, I blushed and my fingers reached up to my lips. He smiled and took a step back. "Meet me tonight exactly at seven okay?"

I nodded, still blushing; I couldn't believe he did that. I really thought that he was the most insecure person of all time, but now I'm thinking otherwise. He just KISSED me in public! Okay, maybe he kissed me in front of one woman who may have been too old to notice anything, but still! He was still grinning and blushing a bright crimson as he walked away towards his house. He paused to look at me one last time and waved. He's so unpredictable, one day he's hidden away inside his closet' and in another, his closet's' halfway open revealing his true feelings. I walked back home pondering what Philip just did. I touched my lips again feeling like this was our first kiss, even though it must've been the thousandth. I just couldn't believe he did that when someone was around.

When I got home the phone rang almost immediately. In an effort to answer it quickly I almost tripped on the carpet runner in the front hall. "Uh hello?"

"Hey umm...can I speak to Jake please?" Leo asked very politely. I giggled as I slowly walked up to the second floor with the phone sandwiched between my head and my shoulder. I said jokingly, "No you may not!"

"Very funny. What's going on?" he asked. I dropped my bag on the floor and laid down on the bed. "Nothing really. I just came home from school. Speaking of school...why didn't you go to class halfway."

"Wow...I never knew you noticed when I was gone. I didn't think you even thought about me now that Philip's around."

"Leo I'm serious, and what's that supposed to mean?" I asked in a serious voice. "I just thought that you were hypnotized by Philip and you never thought about anything or anyone else."

"Leo, stop it!"

"Okay, I was out with Angie..." I cut him off. "Angie?"

"Oh Angela, I call her Angie, it sounds better than Angela. Anyway, I really wanted to get back to class but she wanted to make out with me," he said. I said rolling my eyes, "TMI!"

"Sorry, you're the one asking why I didn't come to class." he said. I nodded and smiled, "I know, and I only want the BEST for my bestest bud in the whole wide world...ahem, YOU. And the best thing for you is to get rid of Angela, so do it now!"

"I'll make you a deal...you break up with Philip and I'll break up with Angela so we can be together forever!" he said giggling. I grinned and suddenly remembered what I had to do. "That reminds me, I have a DATE with Philip in two hours so I've gotta take a shower and fix up my hair and get dressed!"

"Hey can I come over and stay until you leave? I have no where to go tonight."

"Yeah okay. I'll leave the front door open so you can come in. I'm gonna be in the bathroom for a long time," I said. "Oh...can I slip in the shower with you?"

"You can...if you'll do the honor of scrubbin' my back!" I said giggling. He giggled, "I'm there!"

"Okay, see you!"

"Bye," he said before hanging up. I went down and unlocked the front door before I headed for the bathroom. I planned on taking a long shower that afternoon. Even from the shower, I knew when Leo had arrived because I heard the music from my cd player. Dripping wet and with only a towel covering my lower body, I took a step outside the bathroom where Leo saw me and blushed. I asked, "What?"

"Wow, you won't believe how lucky Philip is," he simply said smiling from cheek to cheek. I went to my stereo and lowered the volume and then went to my closet, holding the ends of my towel with one hand. Leo rested on my bed with his hands tucked behind his neck. "Aren't you supposed to be out somewhere with Angela, I mean it is Friday night."

He turning to his side to look at me and relied, "I know...I just wanted some time away from her...No offense but I don't want to spend twenty-four seven with her every single freakin' day. "

"I'm not offended, in fact that's good! But anyway, you know...part of having a relationship with someone is being there," I explained slipping my underwear under my towel. He nodded, "I know...I just can't stand being with her sometimes. Did you know that she actually told me the whole story about her doll collection?"

"Ouch."

"I know...see what I mean?" he said. I nodded dropping the towel on the floor leaving me standing naked except for my underwear. I quickly put on my black pants to cover my shaking legs. I grabbed a dark gray Club Monaco shirt to go with my black pants. Then, I finished the outfit with a pair of suede shoes I bought two months ago. Leo came out of nowhere and grabbed me from behind. His arms reached around my waist surrounding me. I saw myself in the full-length mirror with Leo close behind me. I smiled when I noticed how cute I looked WITH Leo. God, he's so handsome, I wonder what would've happened if Leo was gay and asked me that night instead of Philip? He placed his chin on my shoulder. "Hey, you look cute you know."

"I know."

"And we look good together," he said smiling. I blushed, laughed, and pushed him off. I went to my cabinet and grabbed a watch while I explained, "If Philip saw what we just did...he would've killed you."

He hugged me again from behind and said, "Him, yeah right, he couldn't hurt a fly."

Pulling his arms away from me gently and walking to the mirror to put a bit of mousse in my hair, I asked, "Why are you acting this way? You never acted this way towards me before."

"'Cuz," he said walking up behind me and again hugged me from behind, placing his head on my shoulders to look at himself on my mirror. "I feel good when I hug you."

"Leo...are you flirting with me?" I asked giggling while gently rubbing the mouse down to my hair. He giggled, nodding, and sang the love song that was playing on the radio. "Time...I've been passing time watching trains go by. All of my life lying on the sand watching sea birds fly wishing that there would be someone waiting over me...oh yeah...something's telling me it might be you...yes it's telling me it might be you all of my life..."

"I love this song," I whispered. He nodded, "I know."

After the song ended Leo moved away from me and headed downstairs to put his shoes back on. Suddenly I realized that it was almost seven o' clock. Leo returned to while I was making the final preparations by sprinkling on a tiny bit of cologne. I asked, "Do I look alright?"

He nodded, "You look perfect enough to kiss. Philip's really lucky to have you."

"You think so?"

"I know so," he said. We both grinned and he giggled when I blushed a little. He rubbed both my shoulders with his hands before he hugged me again. He whispered on my ear, "You have a fun time alright? And if anything goes wrong just give me a holler, I'll be home."

I hugged him back tightly feeling his warmth engulf me like it does whenever Philip hugs me. I kind of felt awkward when the hug lasted one second too long. He looked at me but avoided my eyes, "Well, I'd best be going."

It was dark as we walked silently towards Philip's house. When we reached the intersection where Leo and I had to go our separate ways, I suddenly felt lonely. The feelings didn't linger as thoughts of Philip returned to my head, quickly brightening up my mood. I picked up my pace in anticipation of the evening ahead, and before long I realized I was jogging. By the time I reached Philip's house I was near exhaustion.

I knocked softly on his door. About half a minute passed before Philip came to answer the door. Looking in his eyes, I sensed the same happiness that I was feeling. He smiled and greeted me with a hearty hi. He was wearing a dark gray turtleneck sweatshirt with pants that looked like mine. I grinned and felt my cheeks burning from blushing. "I looked down at his pants and whispered back, "Umm...hey! Sorry I'm late n' all."

"No, it's ok. I was kind of a bit late too. Come inside, I still need to tie my shoes," he said opening the door wide open. I went inside quietly losing my grip when I smelled his cologne. He was crouching down tying one of his shoelaces when he asked, "Hey can you go to the dining room? I accidentally left my keys there."

"Okay," I said walking carefully to the dining room. When I opened the door leading to that room, my heart almost melted. I never expected the sight before my eyes. Different kinds of colored candles were placed in patterns around the room. The flame that burned in each candle released a sweet rosy fragrance in the air. A long banner was placed on the window side of the room that said, 'Happy 1st Month Anniversary!' The table was neatly done with two pink candles slowly burning and two plates set side by side. There was also a pink rose in a small vase that stood majestically. Suddenly, a love song started playing somewhere quietly making this night even more surprising. Philip approached me from behind and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed me on the ear and whispered sweetly to my ear, "Surprise!"

I stood there speechless, rather, frozen. My chest started hurting as soon as I started breathing quickly. My head was spinning and my legs felt like jelly...as if I could almost lose my balance in any time. Everything started to go blurry when I couldn't take that weird feeling inside anymore. Covering my face, I started crying like mad; weeping, sniffing...EVERYTHING! I rubbed the tears off my eyes crying non-stop behind Philip. He eventually went around to face me. He held both my hands and gently pulled them to uncover my face. Once I looked up at him with teary eyes, his grin disappeared and he asked, "W...w-what's wrong? D-did I something wrong?"

I shook my head. But I looked away. This was too unreal. He held me tightly like he was scared of something, "J-Jake?"

"Philip..." I looked up shaking my head. I hugged him tightly gripping my arms around him very tight. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

"R-really?"

"Yeah," I whispered. I looked up to stare at his gorgeous hazel eyes and smiled. He cupped my face with one of his hands and rubbed the tears away from my cheeks. He grinned once again and kissed me. We both looked around to see the candles and the banner. "Thank goodness, you scared me half to death."

We both giggled and after I murmured to him, "Sorry for crying! This...this really surprised me...totally...but I don't have anything for you. In fact, as bad as it may seems, I didn't even know that it's our anniversary."

"It's okay. But you already did give me the gift that I wanted."

"Huh?"

"Jake...I have you. And out of all the things I did for tonight, the only thing I was expecting from you was a big smile on your face. And I got it, and you even cried. See, I don't need anything as long as I have you. Making you happy makes me happy."

I blushed as red as one of the candles before I hugged Philip again and kissed him. I heard a faint beeping sound coming from the kitchen and when Philip heard it, he sprang up and quickly said, "I'll be back okay? Food's ready! Take any seat at the table. I'll be back in a minute."

When he left, I sat on one of the two chairs there, fidgeting and shaking, while listening to the lovely jazz music in the background. The flames flickered on top of each candle in sync with the beat of the music as if they were dancing slowly. I smiled and looked at the banner, 'Happy 1st Month Anniversary.' Where had the time gone? I could still remember that first night when he kissed me. I doubt that I'll ever forget that memory. It's like engraved in my mind. I sighed and thought how sweet Philip was to do all this. No wonder he wanted to pick where we were going tonight.

He came back with two platters in his hands, one for me and one for him. He placed them on the table and grinned wickedly. "It's a small buffet!"

I giggled as he went back to the kitchen to get more food. He whispered, "I know it's impossible for both of us to finish this, but at least if one's awful, there's another choice! And look what my brother bought me!"

He went back to the kitchen and came back holding a wine bottle and two wine glasses. I giggled and said, "No way!"

He nodded and popped the cork opened, it fizzed a bit but it didn't bubble that much. Red wine, my favorite! He filled our glasses and sat down finally and held his glass up high. He whispered "A toast..."

"...To our relationship...that it may last forever!" I said giggling. He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah...to 'us,'" he whispered. We tapped our glasses gently. As I slowly sipped the wine I locked my eyes into Philip's in the same time, this sudden rush of knowledge came into me. I just realized that this was the REAL beginning of everything between us. Maybe Philip had noticed it already but I don't think so. Now this is the real thing, and I can't turn back, as if I wanted to. But I don't care. As long as I have Philip, nothing in the world matters to me anymore.

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you guys liked it and I'm hoping this wasn't too short because I couldn't make a longer story (twice as this) in a whole month! Thank you and if I'm too late...then happy belated christmas and a happy new year.