Finding Cinderella

“Don’t open your eyes,” I whisper, still staring at her. “Give me ten more seconds to stare, because you look absolutely beautiful right now.”



She tucks her bottom lip in with her teeth to hide her smile, but she doesn’t move. My hand is still on the back of her head and I’m silently counting down from ten when I hear the waitress pause at our table.



“Y’all ready for your ticket?”



I hold up a finger, asking the waitress to give me a second. Well, five seconds to be exact. Six never moves a muscle, even after hearing the waitress speak. I count down silently until my ten seconds are up, then Six slowly opens her eyes and looks up at me.



I back away from her, putting several inches of space between us. I keep my eyes locked with hers. “Yes, please,” I say, giving the waitress her answer. I hear her tear off the ticket and slap it down on the table. Six smiles, then begins laughing. She backs away from me and falls back down in her booth.



I breathe and it feels like the air is all brand new.



I slowly take my seat in the booth again, watching her laugh. She scoots the ticket toward me. “Your treat,” she says.



I reach into my pocket and pull out my wallet, then lay cash down on top of the ticket. I stand up and reach out for Six’s hand. She looks at it and smiles, then takes it. When she stands, I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her against me.



“Are you going to tell me how awesome that kiss was or are you going to ignore it?”



She shakes her head and laughs at me. “That wasn’t even a real kiss,” she says. “You didn’t even try to put your tongue in my mouth.”



I push open the doors to walk outside, but step aside and let her out first.



“I didn’t have to put my tongue in your mouth,” I say. “My kisses are that intense. I don’t even really have to do anything. The only reason I pulled back was that I was sure we were about to experience a classic, ‘When Harry met Sally’ moment.”



She laughs again.



God, I love that she thinks I’m funny.



I open the passenger door for her and she pauses before climbing inside. She looks up at me. “You realize that classic scene is Sally proving a point about how easy it is for women to fake orgasms, right?”



God, I love that I think she’s funny.



“Do I have to take you home yet?” I ask.



“Depends on what you have in mind next.”



“Nothing really,” I admit. “I just don’t want to take you home yet. We could go to the park next to my house. They have a jungle gym.”



She grins. “Let’s do it,” she says, holding up a tight fist in front of her.



I naturally bring my fist up and bump hers. She hops into the car and I shut her door, dumbfounded over the fact that she just fist bumped me.



The girl just fist bumped me and it was probably the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.



I walk to my side of the car and open the door, then take a seat. Before I crank the car I turn to look at her. “Are you really a guy?”



She raises an eyebrow, then pulls the collar of her shirt out and takes a quick glance down at her chest. “Nope. Pretty damn girl,” she says.



“Are you dating someone?”



She shakes her head.



“Are you leaving the country tomorrow?”



“Nope,” she says, her face obviously confused by my line of questions.



“What’s your deal, then?”



“What do you mean?”



“Everyone has something and I can’t figure yours out. You know, that one thing about themselves that’s eventually a deal-breaker.” I crank the car and begin to back out. “I want to know what yours is right now. My heart can’t take another second of these tiny little things you do that drive me completely insane.”



Her smile changes. It grows from a genuine smile to a guarded one. “We all have deal-breakers, Daniel. Some of us just hope we can keep them hidden forever.”



She rolls down her window again and the noise makes it impossible to continue the conversation. I’m almost positive the overwhelming scent of perfume is gone, so I’m curious if her need for the noise is why she rolled down the window this time.



“Do you bring all your dates here?” she asks.



I think about her question for a minute before answering. “Pretty much,” I finally say after silently tallying the ends of all my dates. “I did take this chick out once in eleventh grade but I took her home during the middle of the date because she got a stomach virus. I think she’s the only one I never brought here.”



She digs her heels into the dirt and comes to a stop in the swing. I’m standing behind her, so she turns around and looks up at me. “Seriously? You’ve brought all but one girl here?”



I shrug. Then nod. “Yeah. But none of them has ever wanted to literally play before. We usually just make out.”



We’ve been here half an hour and already she’s made me watch her on the monkey bars, push her on the merry-go-round and now I’ve been pushing her while she swings for the last ten minutes. I’m not complaining, though. It’s nice. Really nice.



“Have you ever had sex out here?” she asks.



I’m not sure how to take her bluntness. I’ve never really met anyone who asks the same straightforward questions I would, so I’m beginning to feel a little sympathetic to the people I put on the spot like this. I glance around the park until I see the makeshift wooden castle. I point to it. “You see the castle?”



She turns her head to look at the castle. “You had sex in there?”



I drop my arm and slide both my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “Yep.”



She stands and begins to walk in that direction.



“What are you doing?” I ask her. I’m not sure why she’s heading toward the castle, but I’m almost positive it’s not because she’s weird and wants to have sex in the same spot I had sex with Val two weeks ago.



Does she?



God I hope not.



“I want to see where you had sex,” she says, matter-of-fact. “Come show me.”



This girl confuses the hell out of me. What’s strange is how much I freaking love it. I begin jogging until I catch up with her. We walk until we reach the castle. She looks at me expectantly, so I point to the doorway. “Right in there,” I say.



She walks to the doorway and peeks inside. She looks around for a minute, then pulls back out. “Looks really uncomfortable,” she says.



“It was.”



She laughs. “If I tell you something will you promise not to judge me?”



I roll my eyes. “It’s human nature to judge.”



She inhales a breath, then releases it. “I’ve had sex with six different people.”



“At once?” I say.



She shoves my arm. “Stop. I’m trying to be honest with you here. I’m only eighteen and I lost my virginity when I was sixteen. Plus, I haven’t had sex in about a year, so if you add it up, that’s six people in just a little over fifteen months. That’s like a whole new person every two and a half months. Only sluts do that.”



“Why have you not had sex in over a year?”



She rolls her eyes and begins to walk past me. I follow her. When she reaches the swings, she takes her seat again. I sit in the swing beside her and twist my body until I’m facing her, but she faces forward.



“Why have you not had sex in over a year?” I say again. “You didn’t like any of the boys you met in Italy?”



I can’t see her face, but her body language reveals that this could be that one thing. The thing that changes it all for me.



“There was this one boy in Italy,” she says softly. “But I don’t want to talk about him. And yes, he’s why I haven’t had sex in over a year.” She looks back at me. “Look, I know my reputation precedes me and I don’t know if that’s why you brought me here or what you expect to happen at the end of this date, but I’m not that girl anymore.”



I lift my legs until my swing spins forward again. “The only thing I was hoping for at the end of this date was a kiss on your front porch,” I say. “And maybe an accidental boob grab.”



She doesn’t laugh. I suddenly hate that I brought her here.



“Six, I didn’t bring you here expecting anything. Yes, I’ve brought girls here in the past but that’s only because I live across the street and I come here a lot. And yes, maybe I brought all those other girls here to have a little privacy while we made out, but that’s only because I more than likely just wanted them to shut up and kiss me because they were getting on my everlasting nerves. But I only brought you here because I wasn’t ready to take you home yet. I don’t even really want to make out with you because I like talking to you too much.”



I close my eyes, wishing I hadn’t just said all that. I know girls like guys who play the uninterested asshole part. I’m usually pretty good at playing that part, but not with Six. Maybe because I usually am an uninterested asshole, but with her I’m as interested and curious and hopeful as I can possibly be.



“Which house is yours?” she asks.



I point across the street. “That one,” I say, pointing to the one with the living room light on.



“Really?” she asks, sounding genuinely interested. “Is your family home?”



I nod. “Yeah, but you aren’t meeting them. They’re evil liars and I already told them I was never bringing you home to meet them.”



I can feel her turn and look at me. “You told them you were never bringing me to meet them? So you already mentioned me?”



I meet her gaze. “Yes. I might have mentioned you.”



She smiles. “Which one is your bedroom?”



“First window on the left side of the house. Chunk’s bedroom is the window on the right. The one with the light on.”



She stands up again. “Is your window unlocked? I want to see what your bedroom looks like.”



Jesus, she’s nosey.



“I don’t want you to see my bedroom. I’m unprepared. It’s messy.”



She begins walking toward the street. “I’m going anyway.”



I lean my head back and groan, then stand up and follow her toward the house.



“You’re a piece of work,” I say as we reach my window. She presses her palms against the glass and pushes up. The window doesn’t budge, so I push her aside and open it for her. “I’ve never snuck into my own bedroom before,” I admit. “I’ve snuck out before, but never in.”



She begins to lift herself up over the ledge, so I grab her by the waist and assist her. She throws her leg over the edge of it and slips inside. I climb in behind her, then walk to the dresser and turn on my lamp. I make a scan of the room to ensure there isn’t anything I don’t want her to see. I kick a pair of underwear under the bed.



“I saw those,” she whispers. She walks to my bed and presses her palms into the mattress, then straightens back up. She scans the room slowly, taking in everything about me. It feels weird, like I’m being exposed.