My phone lights up, alerting me of a notification of which I can only hope is from Nina. It’s been a week since she gave me her number and though we haven’t made any plans to see each other outside of school, I’ve gotten to know a lot about her and my feelings of her just seem to exponentially increase.

Nina is from Venezuela and was actually born there. She moved to America when she was four years old. She’s an only child which explains why she doesn’t talk to that many people outside of school, apparently her parents are really protective which is common for only children. Her mom and dad are both lawyers at the same office so she’s very affluent, which surprised me and made me question why she attends our high school and not some pricey private school. Her explanation insisted on her parents believing public school is a great place to develop social skills, which I have to agree that I learned some social cues due to me attending public schools.

Her hobbies include reading and singing. To most people’s surprise, and to hers, I’ve never really been into music. Like some people need to listen to it to do any activity, but with my family I just got used to white noise being what I listen to. I do listen to my little brother’s music though, but that's just to give him unbiased criticisms. The main music artist NIna enjoys is Beyoncé. In a late night conversation she revealed that her career goal was to be a musical actor, which at first I thought was kind of childish, but she had the bubbly personality to make it sound believable.

I put down my book and grab my phone. My phone illuminates and shows the time as 6 p.m. The notification of a message from Nina’s contact name, which is Nina with the black glasses emoji, stares at me. I click on the screen and it takes me to our messages.

Omg, my dad just surprised my mom with reservation dinner tonight, I swear their goals.

Honestly, having a relationship last that long in our modern age is something we need to all strive for. People don’t want anything to do with marriage nowadays.

Omg Ikr, couldn’t be me though. One of my main goals is to find a good guy to settle down with and have a nice family

I smile when I see this message, though I wasn’t surprised by it. Based on all her mannerisms she seems like the type that would be in it for the long haul and I’m not opposed to that mindset. I take another look at the book I just put down. The title says Broken Road to Easton, it was about a kid’s lack of self confidence pulling him away from his dream job as a comic illustrator. It’d by one of my favorite authors named Elise Gem. She has a way of bringing different stories to life with her detailed descriptions. The book seems to be emitting some kind of confident aura, because instead of thinking what I’m going to type like I usually do, I choose to just type what's on my mind.

Hopefully I can be that good guy, better to look now before they're all taken. .

I click the send button and stare at the message I just sent. I furrow my brow and the confident demeanor I had turned to fear. What is the world did I just do? I spring up and instantly start pacing around my room. Patience was one of the things I pride myself in, why did I try to rush pass the friendzone like that. Confidence sneaks back into my mind coming from seemingly nowhere. You like her, so why are you mad you just went for it? Don’t be such a bitch. Fear fights back. Ok, it's called making small moves towards your goals. Not just thrusting yourself at everything, it doesn’t make you a bitch, just makes you not dumb. The emotions struggle with each other until the sound of the same phone alert stops them dead in their tracks.

I let out a sigh and twist my head towards the sound. I try to will my body to move, but it stays frozen like a deer in headlights. I take a deep breathe. Are you really stressing so much about a girl, your better than that bro. After much arguing with myself I build up the courage and snatch my phone up. I press my screen a bit too hard, but I’m still brought to the same messages.

Haha you are a catch, give it more time hotstuff and we might be able to make something work.

I send out a silent prayer of thanks to God and just like that my confidence is brought back with even more of a vengeance.

Honestly that’s actually pretty good to hear, but we can make something happen tonight, your parents aren’t home and I know your an only child and all, but your 17. Maybe I can come over?

Oh la la, but I don’t know. I hate to do something behind their back.

Life is really too short to be thinking about that. Even if they found out, they won’t be too mad.

Your crazy if you think that they wouldn’t freak out, but honestly we can make it look like you were never here. I can be very sneaky :).

Exactly, but I don’t want to force you to do anything. So it’s your choice, but it would be amazing if we could.

They’re getting dressed up, they should be out in like 15 minutes. You can come over. I’ll send over my address.

I look over her address and I’ve never heard of the street before. I don’t think too much of it, but I don’t really have time to think about it as someone barges into my room. I peek up and see Skye staring at me.

“What’s with that smile on your face, you texting a girl? Oh I bet it’s Nina,” she says.

“It’s not even like that, but I’m about to leave in like 15 minutes.”

“Are you going to that girls house?”

“You would find out even if I say no, so yes.”

“I don’t know if I feel good about you going to the girl’s house as your first out of school interaction, is her parents ok with it, you told me they were protective.”

“They’re fine with it.”

She stares more intensely at me.

“Your so lucky I trust you so much. Be careful, if her parents find out call me. Don’t do anything stupid, even though I know you won’t. Your not like that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You think I don’t have the knowledge to make something happen?.”

“Oh stop it, that's a compliment sweetie. But your not one to take unnecessary risks, you like to stay in your bubble, that just makes your smart. Which also means I trust you not to get caught, the consequences can be more than you can imagine, especially since your y’know.” She points at her arm.

I roll my eyes. My mom thinks our race is such a big problem, but I’ve never encountered anything too extreme except walks on the opposite side of the street and one time when I was younger I got called a racial slur by a schoolmate’s parents. I didn’t really mind too much and still hung out with him, I have a childlike mentality that believes there's good in everyone which my mom also brought me up believing.

“Don’t worry, I won’t get caught. I’ve snuck plenty of things pass you.”

“You wish, but let me get out of you way, be home by 12,” she says, sternly.

I grab my deodorant and gently rub a layer on both armpits. I put on shoes and grab my keys and rush out the door before anyone else can delay me.

*

When I arrived at the street Nina texted me I was surprised, when I turned into the neighborhood I was stunned by these huge houses that I had no idea existed in this part of Ohio. I come up to Nina’s house and the house number of 825 greets me. I park beside a very expensive looking mercedes. I open the door and realize I created probably too much space between my car and what I have to assume is one of Nina’s parents cars, but I do not want to take a chance in even scraping that car, it looks as expensive as all of our cars combined.

I walk past the huge front yard and up the two concrete steps. I take my time and survey the house, it matches every house in the area with it’s grand structure. It’s made up of blue wood with a mix of gray stone. Multiple relatively big windows sprinkle the house. At the base of the house is a white garage which looks to be very spacious. I shake my head and realize the main reason why I’m here. I go up to the door keeping my back erect to try to look as confident as my body build allows me to be. I raise my hand and slam my fist on the door two times.

The door opens and Nina appears. She’s wearing a tight, black cold shoulder dress which exposes the little bit of belly fat she has, but brings out her already decently sized chest. The top matches the black leggings she has on. Unexpectedly she lunges on me and her arms cling around me. I can feel her shaking as she stays latched on to me.

“I’m so sorry, I never did something this crazy,” she says.

I never realized how sheltered she was, but then again there's not much I would of realized basically stalking her in some of my periods. However, I can’t say I’m particularly upset about the situation I’m in.

“It’s fine take your time,” I say as I use one of my arms and press her closer to me. A bold move for our first out of school meeting, but I think is necessary in our current predicament.

We stay in this position for a few minutes and eventually she let’s go of me. Without saying a word she takes my hand and guides me into her house which feels like it would be impossible, but looks bigger inside than out. It’s very intellectually decorated with its spread of paintings and wood decor. Surprisingly it has more family pictures then I could have ever predicted of the Nina family in different locations ranging from pyramids to what I can only guess can be the arctic. She continues to escort me up the house, leading me up spiraling black marble steps and into a room.

I inspect the room and the first thing I noticed was a big orange king size bed in the center. The room is filled with beyoncé and musical posters including Heathers and The Wizard of Oz. She has a big flatscreen floating over us facing her bed. She unhooks her hand from mine and jumps on the bed, the bed sinks, but then seemed to envelop her as it came back up. She pats down a place beside her and I follow her and take a seat.

“You wouldn’t believe this, but this is the first time I brought someone from our highschool here,” she says with a smile plastered on her face.

“Your house is amazing, I haven’t seen anything like it.”

“It’s big, but it’s nothing special, next time I want to come over to your house.”

“I won’t lie to you, it won’t be as impressive as yours.”

“I don’t mind, with your big family I’m sure it would feel like much more of a home.”

“Ok, next time my parents are out we’ll sneak into my house.”

She laughs and pulls a remote from under one of three pillows. She extends her arm forward and clicks the power button. The TV comes to life and the channel it was left on was disney. She quickly changes it to netflix and ask what I want to watch.

“We can watch anything, but honestly you should show me your favorite musical.” I swear I don’t know what my brothers mean that I have no game, this feels like a killer move in my book, but maybe I’m overhyping myself over a basic formality for someone in the set of circumstances I’m in.

“Oh then we have to watch heathers.” She shifts through a lot of apps and finds the musical. She plays it and lays down, enticed by her posture I follow suit and lay beside her. The musicals proceeds and I’m actually captivated the whole time. The songs are amazing and catchy, the story is well thought out and the love struggle of the two characters is unique.

After the musical ends I look towards Nina and I see that her eyes are closed. A soft snore is released periodically from her as she makes a faint movement. I didn’t realize, but she was clutching on my shirt. She looks so calm, I can’t help but repricoate her action and fall into slumber myself right beside her.

“NINA WHO IS THAT!”

A yell comes out of nowhere and without me realizing it, I’m face to face with a two angry Venezuelan parents.