It's Mark

She thought she hadn’t wanted to see him, but the moment she laid eyes on him, Tanya leaped into his arms hugging him with all the strength she had left after this awful day. Mark was startled at first by her response but after a moment held her as she softly sobbed, her head buried in his chest.

“Tanya,” he said after an instant, “what’s wrong?”

Sniffing her tears back she answered as truthfully as she wanted to, “I had a bad day.”

Gently stroking her back he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Tanya shook her head, “No.”

“Okay,” he said and held her in the doorway to her house for a few minutes.

Finally after what seemed like forever, Tanya lifted her head from the center of his chest and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t see you at school today, and Heather said you missed all of your classes after lunch.” Smiling sheepishly he continued, “I was worried.”

“Oh” she said and for the first time that day smiled too, “Thank you.”

“Your welcome,” he said, and then stroked his hand through her hair placing a stray strand of her red locks behind her ear. Then as if realizing that he wasn’t allowed to do that said, “Sorry… I uh… I shouldn’t have…”

Tanya shushed him and then leaned up and kissed him on the mouth. Startled for the second time, Mark didn’t take nearly as long to return it. Once again they remained there for several minutes just lip locking until finally the two broke away. Pressing his forehead against hers, he asked “Do you want to get out of here for a while? Maybe start that date on Friday early?”

She smiled and answered, “Yes.”

Mark gave her a minute while Tanya threw on another pair of knee high leather boots and then the two walked out the door. At first the pair just walked aimlessly, just enjoying each other’s company, but eventually it turned into a real date. They went to a movie, got ice cream after and took a long stroll through the park.

Tanya laughed to herself about how childish the whole thing seemed to be, but was surprised by how much she enjoyed just these simple little things. Normal things that a girl her age was supposed to be doing she thought. Not getting knocked up by a bunch of assholes at her school.

“Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.” She thought to herself like a mantra. “You’re here with Mark, a good and decent guy. Just stay in this moment.”

And she did. All evening all she did was have fun as she was supposed to.

They finally made it back to her house at around one o’clock; his coat was around her shoulders as was his arm. At the front steps, she gave him a long kiss goodnight before giving his jacket back.

“So,” he said a little sheepishly which she just found adorable, “One date. Don’t suppose this means I’m your boyfriend now?” Nervously chuckling as he said the last part.

Grabbing him by the two collars of his jacket Tanya smiled and looking right into his eyes said, “You bet your ass it does.” And then pulled him in for another kiss.

When the two separated, he asked, “So I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

They parted company, and Tanya proceeded inside her house where she managed to get to sleep with a genuine smile on her face despite the day’s events.

But the next day was destined to be worse than the first.