“I didn’t know you were irreverent.”
We haven’t started walking again, and I know we should get back to the stands, to her friend Jade, but I don’t want this moment to end. The way she’s smiling at me right now creates a Jessie-size crater in my chest that I’m never going to recover from.
“Did that offend you?”
“Not in the slightest,” I say, and Jessie bites her bottom lip, breaking our eye contact and starting the walk to a concessions booth.
“I guess you don’t know me that well,” she says, more observationally than anything.
“I don’t, but I’d like to. I already know your favorite band. And that your only hobby is fountain pens.”
“And reading! I read.”
“Nerd,” I say, but she smiles.
“I bet you read too. I bet you read nonfiction, like sports memoirs or something.”
“I do read, but I’m more like a sci-fi and fantasy kind of reader.”
“Oh, likeGame of Thrones?”
“I did readGame of Thrones,” I say.
“And watch it?”
“Of course.”
“Season eight?”
“Sorry, the show ended after season six, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jessie nods approvingly with a smirk on her face, and our conversation veers into other TV shows we like, books we’ve read, and similar things we have in common. Which turns out to be just enough to surprise Jessie and delight me.
The food line is shorter, and we get nachos and more candy quickly enough that Jade won’t riot, but not slowly enough for me. Jessie lets me pay without a word, but she does scowl at me.
Before climbing the bleachers to rejoin Jade, she pauses, placing her hand on my arm.
“Hey, didn’t you say you had something to tell me?”
This is it. This is my chance. But looking into her eyes now, it suddenly feels like the wrong moment, our arms full of beer and nachos. Smiles linger on both our faces and bubbles of joy are still popping in my chest. What if I tell her now and she doesn’t just laugh it off? What if she’s annoyed I’m bringing it up here? Maybe she didn’t know, and if that’s the case this definitely isn’t the right way to break the news.
There’s still time to tell her. And I’m going to. I just need to find the right moment.
This…isn’t it.
“Just that I…saw Black Phantom is releasing a single on the album this coming week and I’m really excited.”
“Oh my gosh, me too!” Her face lights up, eyes practically glowing, cheeks nearly touching her eyelashes. She asks me what I think the album will be like, more pop or folk, and we walk back up the bleacher steps to rejoin Jade.
I spend the rest of the first half of the game with Jessie and her friend, rejoining my friends after halftime. Xavier gives me a hard time, but I’d do it all over again if I could rewind and redo the night.
There isn’t a doubt in my mind tonight was the wrong night to confess to Jessie I was Shakespeare. She didn’t seem annoyed by me all night, and I got a glimpse of what it might be like to be friends with her. Real friends. Maybe even a glimpse of what it might be like to date her.
I didn’t know she had such a silly, playful side, but seeing that side of her tonight only made me like her more. Sarcastic, smart, playful, irreverent, gorgeous—she’s the total package.
I’m not a praying man, but I ask whatever god is listening for more time with Jessie, and soon.
’Cause I’ve got it bad.
