As soon as we arrived back home, Nichole quickly thanked Nick and ran off into the house, sensing something was up between the two of us. We sat in silence for a bit, before Nick suggested we go somewhere to talk. He drove quietly, both of us staring straight ahead, not talking. Finally, he stopped at the park around the corner, one of our favorite places as children. Forgetting everything for a brief moment, I grinned.
"Race ya to the swings!" I ran towards the swings as fast as my platforms would allow and hopped on one of the swings, swinging higher and higher, letting my long hair down, trailing it behind me, flying in the wind.
Nick sat in the swing besides me, facing the opposite direction as me, watching me go higher. I slowly came to a stop, fixing my skirt, realizing I was still in my party clothes. The uncomfortable, tense silence crept back.
"Are..Are you mad?" I asked shyly, wanting to say something but unable to think of anything intelligent. "No, not really," he replied.
"Oh...ok," I muttered, sitting back and waiting for one of us to speak.
"Maddie? What you were saying, before, at the party?" Nick took over, 'It's ok, we both overreacted."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I was pretty harsh.." I apologized.
"But now I think you deserve an explanation," he spoke gently.
"No..It's alright," I protested.
"It's not. Maddie, can't you see it? Things have changed. It's not alright. We need to talk this over or everything will get screwed up. There's not turning back now," Nick explained.
"I-" I made an attempt to respond, but he abruptly cut me off.
"No, Maddie, just hear me out. It's my turn to talk for once," he instructed, "Alright, here goes. Lately I've been thinking like....I dunno, things are different. It's like I've had this great best friend for the longest time, the same awesome person. But now she's suddenly this girl, this amazing girl. I'm finding myself attracted to her," he blushed and lowered his voice, "But I'm trying to stop myself. She's the same person, but I'm scared that things are going to be different, and I'm not quite sure what to think. So, instead of dealing with it, I've kept it to myself because I don't know what she'll think and what will happen..So, I understand your confusion....." his voice trailed off.
"Nick?" I reached out and touched his hand.
"No, I'm not finished. So, I'm sorry I've been weird lately and I understand if you think I'm completely crazy and-"
"Nick?" I cut him off.
"Yeah?" he finally let me talk. I smiled at him, both of us knowing exactly what the other was thinking,
"Just shut up and kiss me."
He grinned and awkwardly leaned forward, putting his hands on the chains of my swing and pulling it closer to him. Our lips met gingerly at first and then the kiss deepened, as I placed one hand on his shoulder. When we finally pulled away, we were both breathless and the silence returned, but this time it was welcoming and comfortable.
"Well, what would you think if this 'wonderful, amazing girl' felt the same way?" I smirked, "Hey, it could happen!!"
"I'd say...Wow.."
I took him by surprise as I kissed him again. "Happy?" I laughed, "Can we go home now? It's getting late and I my parents will be wondering."
"Let's go," he got up and held his hand out for me, which I gratefully accepted, helping me up.
However, once standing up, I didn't let go. I shivered in the cool night air, noticing I had stupidly left my sweater in the car. Nick picked up on this immediately, and put his jacket over my shoulders, putting his arm around me and pulling me close against him. We walked to the car like this and drove away, both looking back upon the park which now held one more special memory.