I stared at his profile through my bangs. He had brought me to the bus station and we boarded bus 61, downtown. Not that I really minded but I was just curious as to where we were heading. It didn’t really matter though considering it was Friday. I flipped out my phone. Vince looked over at me probably wondering what I was doing. I dialed my home number.

“Hey, Yeah it’s Ethan…. No, I’m just calling to tell you I’m going to be out….” I looked over to Vince mouthing sleepover. I wasn’t sure if I should actually say it but what the hell? “Spending the night at a friends actually…. No I’m fine… no I’m not sick… no I didn’t do anything bad, seriously Carole I’m just hanging out with a friend.” I listened to Carole give me the responsible lecture. “Okay. Bye.” I hung up and looked over to Vince cracking up.

“What’s so funny?”

“Your mom was really surprised you were getting out of the house with a friend?” He laughed.

I sighed. “Yeah, she’s probably surprised I even made a friend.”

“A boyfriend at that.” He added and smiled.

I could see the ladies sitting behind us gasp a little and start whispering to each other. I wasn’t bothered by it, I was happy so I couldn’t care what people thought.

Eventually the bus came to a stop where Vince stood up. I quickly scurried to my feet to follow after. We were standing outside the entrance to the Japanese gardens.

“I really love this place. I come here every chance I get.” He smiled and took my hand into his. “Shall we?”

I blushed and nodded. We walked under an arch of roses into a flower wonderland. Colors of the rainbow and more filled the gardens. The aromas were enveloping the area with sweet, floral scents. The wind blew gently through the air and tickled my skin. Everything about the garden thrilled my senses.

“I come here a lot when I need to escape. It’s a really great place to just relax and enjoy. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I like it a lot.” I hadn’t realized but my mouth was open and my eyes were big with fascination. It was like another world.

We continued walking but he seemed to spot something. He pulled me around a large bush, standing at least 9 feet high.

“I’m going to take you to my secret spot.” He whispered while he ducked down a little. He released my hand to go through a small opening in the flowers. I crawled after him and the tunnel seemed to go on for a while. I finally saw light at an opening. When I got out we were at a large lake, covered by shrubs and trees. Light was sneaking through openings in the canopy above so the area felt even more heavenly. All the flowers were white roses that sparkled with droplet’s of water scattered across them. The water was sparkling. The whole area was a heaven on earth.

I of course, being so simple minded, gasped at the beauty. I had never seen such an amazing sight in my life.

“I really love it here. I come here to just think, you know? If you ever feel stressed and need somewhere to escape to, you’re welcomed to come here.” He smiled at me.

My face flushed as I stared at his gorgeous face. It almost seemed to sparkle with the aqua water. He grabbed my chin and angled it up. Gently, almost afraid he’d break me, he kissed me… and I kissed back. It was sort of embarrassing. When I though about it, I was kind of the girl here. Honestly, most girls would kill to be me right now and they all know it.

After about an hour at the gardens, we got back on the bus and headed into the city. It was Friday night and my mom thought I was at a friends. The only thing I was wondering…

“Aren’t your parents going to wonder where you’re at?” I questioned curiously.

“Hahaha, they haven’t seemed interested for the past year so I don’t see why now. Didn’t I mention? I live alone.” He smiled. I shut up, maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up. I think Vince noticed I felt bad though.

“Ahh no, no don’t worry about it or anything. The family and I just had different views on things.” He put his arm around my neck. “Don’t get bummed for me okay? I’m as happy as I can possibly be.” He smiled and lightly kissed me on the cheek.

“Okay…” I looked up to him and vaguely smiled. “So where are we going now?”

“Where else? It’s dinner time.”

“Dinner? You don’t have to! I mean…” I wasn’t sure what to say. Was this something normal? I hardly ever eat out so it’s a surprise to me.

“I know I don’t have to, I want to, silly. Anyways, you got to eat right? What do you like?” I blushed then thought about it.

“I… uhm… I like Italian…?” I asked more then I told him. Italian food has always been an interesting flavor to me. I always enjoyed it when Carole made chicken fettuccini or lasagna. The best dish though has got to be baked ziti, even if Carole always burnt it.

“Italian it is! Little Italy here we come.” He pointed onwards as if we were on a pirate ship. I laughed a little.

Our stop came quickly and we didn’t have to walk far to find an Italian restaurant. It was a simple place, probably family owned. It was quaint and comfortable. Just a few other people were in there chatting amongst themselves. As soon as we walked we could smell all the foods being cooked.

“Hello gentlemen, two this evening?” A middle aged women dressed well asked in a heavy accent.

Vince spoke up, “Yes, thank you.”

She smiled and led, “Right this way then.”

She took us to a booth in the back. Not to many people were in there to begin with but there seemed to be fewer in the back. Almost as if she knew we were together like that.

“Can I get you something to drink?” She asked as she handed us our menus. On the front, in cursive, said ____________. I liked how it seemed more authentic.

“I’ll have a cremosas and he’ll have…” Vince paused and looked over to me.

“Oh…uh… what’s a cremosas?” I asked.

“It’s an Italian soda with lots of cream on top. They’re really good.” Vince explained.

“Oh… alright I’ll have one of those too.”

“Alright, and what flavors would you both like?” The hostess asked.

“I’ll have strawberry.” Vince smiled.

“I’ll have…” I paused for a second. “…Lemon?”

The women smiled and walked into the kitchen. Vince looked over to me and chuckled a little. “Do you like lemon?”

“Well… yeah… kind of… a lot.” I laughed.

“I like it to but strawberry is so sweet you know? I can’t resist.” He shook his head then laughed. I looked down to my menu and looked through all the options they had. They offered so much it was hard to pick something. I scanned it more and narrowed it down just a bit more. No seafood.

“Having a hard time?” He asked.

“…Just a little. What are you getting?” Maybe he’d give me some input on what to get.

“I’m getting the spaghetti with Italian sausage.” He pointed to it on the menu.

“…oh! I think I’ll get the spaghetti and meatballs. Classic right?” He laughed and nodded.

The lady came back and gave us our drinks and took our orders. She seemed to laugh a little as she walked away. I didn’t know why though. Was something funny?

The drinks were very good. I drank mine slowly though to savior the taste. Vince seemed to chug it down.

“Did you enjoy any of that?” I laughed.

“Oh yeah, big time. I’ll order another one when she comes out with our food.”

“Ha, ha, okay then.” I looked around the walls. Old pictures and posters of Italy decorated the walls. The authenticity of the place really made me happy. I hadn’t even tasted the food and already I loved the place.

I looked back to Vince who was concentrating on my face. Almost as if he were searching for something on it. I stared at him puzzled but didn’t say anything.

“Ah-…” He realized I was staring at him back. “- sorry, I was just wondering something.”

“Wondering what?”

“No… it’s just… you look so adorable… not physically, but you are!… no it’s just…” He was stumbling over his words a lot. “The way you respond to these new places is really cute.” My face went bright red and I looked away. He smiled and sighed.

“…I never really go out exploring much… all these new places, smells, people… it’s all so amazing. I’ve never seen much more then inside my room and around the neighborhood. This is all… is very… nice…” My head hung down and my eyes focused on my drink. My face was still red, if not brighter.

I couldn’t see his face but I wanted to. I was just to embarrassed to see how he looked. Was he laughing at my ignorance to the outside world? I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I finally brought myself to look up to him. Instead of seeing what I imagined I saw something totally opposite. His eyes were happy and he had a huge grin on his face. He looked very happy.

I was caught off guard by this and blinked a couple times to out of confusion.

He rested his head on his hands while maintaining the exact same expression as before. I was still lost.

“If that’s the case, then we are going out to explore together. All over!” His hands popped into the air as he motioned ‘all over’.

“Ah-…” I stuttered, lost for words. I was actually very happy.

Before I could even think of anything to say, the hostess came out with our food. It was still hot and you could tell since steam was coming off it.

We began to eat. The food was amazing. It must be authentic because everything about it lit my five senses a blaze. I was glad it was so good because I had no time to talk. No time to say anything stupid.

“Hey, do me a favor?” Vince asked. I swallowed what I was eating and nodded. “Okay, close your eyes and say ‘ahh’. ” I wasn’t quite following but I did what he asked anyways.

I closed my eyes. “Ahhhh…” I felt something at the bottom of my mouth.

“Now close.”

I opened my eyes to find one long string of spaghetti connected between us in our mouths. It took me a second to figure out what he was doing. I instantly blushed when it clicked.

Slowly he ate his way down the noodle and I did so too. In not time we were half way meeting each other and our lips met. A light, romantic kiss with the dim lighting of the Italian restaurant. Perfect.