Let's find out

“I..uh..Yes?” you stammer your early confidence gone.

She keeps looking at you and you fight the urge to squirm. Then she smiles and says “How about we hold off on FiveGals and I’ll make something since we’re gonna play the game?”

“Yeah that sounds amazing!”

You walk to the shelf and grab the game and the two of you make your way to the counter. There you pay for the game and hand the game to Ruth.

“Thank you Lucus this really means alot to me” Ruth say blushing slightly. You notice that her number is now a green 64.

“Just don’t forget that I get first game.” you say smiling “when do you wanna hang out?”

“Well I think Heather is gonna be gone Friday night wanna do it then?” Heather and Ruth met each other through Ross and yourself respectively and hit it off. You know that Heather doesn’t care for Ruth’s style of fashion, but they’ve become the best of friends. At the start of the summer Heather and Ruth moved into an apartment a few towns away near the University. If all goes well, you probably have a lot of double dates in the future.

“Yeah it’s a date!” you say a little bit to enthusiastically. Ruth smiles at you and nods to the right. Looking over you see Ross and Heather close to the exit.

“New game Ruth?” Heather asks when the two of you make your way over.

“Yeah but before you ask I’ve already promised the first game to Lucus.”

“Oh really?” Heather says cocking an eyebrow at you

You don’t really pay attention to this exchange the numbers above your friends heads catching your eye. Above Ross’ head you see a green 54 and above Heather’s a yellow 32. “Yeah that makes sense I’ve Heather and I only hang out because of Ross, but why is her number yellow?” You think

“You guys want some pizza? I’m starving!” Ross says catching your attention.

The four of you head to the food court, Ross and you opting for pizza while the girls go for chinese.

“So you finally did it I’m proud of you man!” Ross says as soon as you two are alone.

“I told you I was just waiting for the right moment.”

“Well I’m glad it worked out for you to be honest I think Heather was tired of being your go between.” he says pointing to the hamburger pizza.

“Oh yeah she said that Heather would be gone Friday night what are you guys doing?”

“Heather’s little sister has a dance recital” Ross says with a groan making you laugh.

“How did you get roped into that?”

“Honestly she seemed like she wanted to go and I volunteered. I’m hoping that this comes back to me in the form of finally getting to smash. We were watching a movie the other night and I swear she was teasing me on purpose.”

“I’ll be keeping you in my prayers man” you quip

“Haha fuck you” your friend says giving you the finger.

The two of you make your way back to the table and wait for the girls. Once they make it back the four of you dig in. While your eating you notice that Heather’s number has increased a couple of points. “Why did her points go up? Did Ruth say something about me?” you think to yourself.

“So what are you gonna do for the rest of the day Lucus” Heather asks

“Nothing really my family is having a little cookout for me.”

“That’s cute my folks just send me money and a card now.” Heather say laughing

“Have you thought about where your gonna move when you go to university? I think I might try dorm life.” Ross says

“I don’t know how you can still live with your folks. No shade but I moved out as soon as I could and have been happy since.” Ruth says in between bites of rice.

You thought about moving out when you started at the Community College but didn’t because unlike your peers you like your family. Well the females anyway. You have actually been dreading moving out. You know your dad doesn’t like that you elected to stay at home, but your mother has told you repeatedly that you can stay as long as you want.

After you finish the four of you walk around the mall for a couple of hours, and eventually you find yourself in the parking lot with Ruth. Ross and Heather parked on the other side of the mall and said goodbye at the last store. By a stroke of luck you and Ruth both came in through the food court.

“So Friday right?” you ask as the two of you near Ruth’s BMW “Do I need to bring anything?”

“Uh, why don’t you bring a movie I don’t think this game takes a really long time to play. We can pop a bag of popcorn and drink some of Heather’s wine.” she says laughing

“Okay any suggestions”

“Surprise me” she says. Suddenly she turns around and takes a step towards you “Thank you for the game and Happy Birthday” with that she leans in and kisses your cheek. Smiling she turns and unlocks her vehicle. “I'll see you Friday 7 o’clock”

“Yeah I can’t wait” you say stunned from the sudden kiss.

Ruth smiles and closes her door.

After you see her off you walk back to your car and leave the mall. You run by the grocery store and grab some buns, and head home.