The following morning, Ginny woke up and realized she had fallen asleep in the middle of the call. She looked at five new notifications on her phone. Without clicking on the messages, she read more comments by the same classmate.
She hugged her body and brushed her arms to hide her goosebumps. "What the hell is her problem? Ah, right. Message her."
Within seconds later, she received a response from the classmate. She agreed to meet at a cafe nearby the school. Since diplomas were ready for pickup, Ginny thought that it would kill two birds in one stone. Quickly, she sent a reply saying she was fine with the time and location.
Shortly after, she texted Alan the details. He responded with a panda sticker raising an "okay" sign. She didn't know what time Lily got home last night, so she didn't message her. Since Alan already promised to accompany her for the meetup, she didn't feel that it was necessary to tell Lily anymore.
Perhaps she would mention it only when a related topic comes up in the future. If not, then there wouldn't be a need to purposely bring it up. Getting out of bed, she hurriedly fixed her hair and went to work.
(Day of the meetup)
Alan showed up at the cafe half an hour early. When Ginny got there, she was surprised to see him earlier than her. She was already fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. Seeing him concentrated on his phone, she slowly walked over to give him a tap on his shoulder.
Before she could scare him, he had already caught a glimpse of her approaching figure from the corner of his eyes. He smirked as he decided to play along with her. When she tapped his shoulder with her fingers, she purposely jumped in front of him. "Wahh!" She tried to frighten him.
Reacting a bit overly exaggerated, he jumped back a step; almost falling on the flowers behind him. "Careful!" She reached out to pull him back. As she pulled on his wrist, his body bent forward onto her and held onto anything to steady his feet.
When they realized it, one of his arms was wrapped around her back. Widening his eyes slightly, he realized something felt off. At the same time, her arms around his waist and something soft was also against her forehead.
Crossing her fingers, she hoped it wasn't what she had in mind. Squeezing her eyes tight for a few seconds, she slowly raised her head. Following her movements, he lowered his head.
She was right. He was also right.
'I kissed her forehead...' he repeatedly said in his mind.
'He kissed my forehead.' She didn't know what to do right now because she never kissed nor received a kiss from a guy before. At this point, they totally forgot about the fact that they were still hugging each other.
Their eyes met and continued making eye contact. Other than blinking, they literally remained in the same position. Her cheeks were flushed to her ears as she recalled the warmth and softness of his lips.
'His lips feel like marshmallows...' Her eyes wandered to his lips as she thought about the peck from earlier. Even though it was an accident, it was her first forehead kiss!
She broke the awkward silence. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt just now right?" To hide her shyness, she lowered her voice to avoid others from hearing their conversation.
"I'm alright. What about you?" He really wanted to tease her further, but he was at most, only her friend. Worst part is he still had a long way to go before he wins this girl's heart.
Even though he accidentally skipped a few steps and ended up kissing her forehead, he thought it wasn't too bad. After all, she seemed to have noticed him more after what had happened between them.
Seeing her reddened ears and averting gaze, he wondered if she ever had a boyfriend before. Even so, her reactions would be considered normal since it was a sudden kiss. Anyone would feel shy about it. He brushed off the thought as it wasn't the most important issue right now.
"I'm also okay." She realized they were holding each other and retracted her arms. Using her fringe as an excuse, she held her phone using one hand and brushed her fringe.
She pressed her lips together as she timidly asked, "uhm.. can you let go of my waist? I can't fix my hair properly if you keep holding me like this."
Lowering his gaze, he smiled, "What if I don't want to let go?"
"Huh?" She immediately looked up with widened eyes. She wasn't expecting such response from him. Suddenly, even he became nervous at his own flirting line.
He quickly let go of her waist and said, "Just playing with you. You have five minutes until the meeting time. Go grab a seat, so I could choose an empty chair by your table. "After pulling away from her waist, he stuffed the hand into his pocket.
"Okay." She randomly combed her fringe and stuffed the phone inside her bag.
He went ahead and opened the door for her. After she had got in, she took a seat by the window. Meanwhile, he chose the seat by the wall across from them. Since the cafe had just opened an hour ago, they were the only customers at the moment. Therefore, there were many empty seats.
She chose a window seat, so if the girl tries making a physical move on her, she could have more witnesses. The scheduled time came and the bell hanging on the door jiggled.
The shadow of the figure blocked the sunlight on Ginny's phone screen. She looked up to see a familiar face, but not the classmate she had expected. Instead, he was the president of the yearbook club from Lily's college.
"You...You are?" She asked as she twists and turned her head to make sure nobody else came in.
"You asked me to meet up with you." He showed her the Instagram conversation they had from a few days ago.
He took the seat across from hers, leaving her speechless. Alan almost spat out his milk tea when he recognized the annoying face sitting on Ginny's table.