So the next couple of minutes I've been asking around where the bathroom was. All I got were the same replies which consist of groans, eyerolls, offers of an empty bottle, and pathetic shrugs. So I was left wandering around until I figured I should go to the second floor and look for a bathroom there. I climbed up the stairs, staggering and nearly falling backwards, but I made it to the top. Then I went down the dark corridor filled with people making out, drinking, or both- which is weird if you asked me. I opened one door one by one to check for the bathroom.

"Whoops!" I said, as I awkwardly closed the door.

"Uh, no, thanks." I told them politely, and closed the door as fast as I could.

"Ugh! Get a room! Oh wait..." A high heel was thrown at me, but I closed the door just in time.

I leaned against the wall, hitting my head against it in frustration. Not finding one guy is okay, but not being able to find a single bathroom is not. How can I-

"Naomi?"

I looked up at the sound of my name. Down the corridor there was a bright light- given it was because there was an open door to a lit up room lighting up the dark corridor. But right in front of it was a guy, being illuminated by the light. It looked like he was an angel from up above, a knight in shining armor, my savior. And if you haven't guessed it, it was Parker. He looked so relieved at the sight of me and began to walk towards me. I began to walk towards him. Then walking became jogging that became running. It was like those movie scenes when two people are finally reuniting and are slow running towards each other with inspirational music. But it was as if the music was cut off by a record scratch when I shoved my drink into Parker's hands.

"Hold this." I told him, as I passed by him.

Parker blinked. "Wait, what-"

He was cut off by the slam of the bathroom door that was behind him. A few minutes later, I left the bathroom and let out a sigh of relief.

"You do not know how long I've been holding-"

I was cut off by Parker when he pulled me into a hug. I stood there blinking, my brain processing what was happening. I awkwardly patted his back as his grip around me tightened.

"I was so worried," he told me, his voice panicked. "Where were you? One minute you were there, and then the next minute you were gone. I've been looking for you for hours, Naomi, hours. I've been asking around and people kept on talking about beer pong and something about the robot." I would have laughed at that if I wasn't in this situation.

He backed up but still held onto my shoulders to look at me in the eyes. His bright blue eyes were still frantic with worry. I could tell now that he must have been so worried, panicked, scared, and mad at himself.

"No, it's not your fault. It's mine, I shouldn't have-"

He pressed his forehead against mine. "No, it's my fault. Just don't ever do that to me again, Naomi. I thought I lost you. I was so scared, so worried. You don't know what happens to these parties. I kept thinking, something must have happened to you, something must have happened to you. If something did-" Parker paused and closed his eyes. "-I would have never forgiven myself."

I hugged him, burying my face into his shirt, clutching the fabric. "P-parker, I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you worried. But, I'm alright, see?"

His arms wrapped around me once more, pulling me close. "Yeah, I'm glad."

"Ugh, get a room." Someone muttered as she passed us by.

At that, the both of us let go and backed away from each other. The both of us stood there awkwardly. I looked down at my feet and stared at my shoes. I thought I stepped on some gum so I lifted one foot and see if I did. But I staggered a bit but caught my balance again. I giggled stupidly for almost falling, I'm so clumsy.

Parker frowned at this. "Naomi, are you okay?"

"Yup," I said, popping the P. "I'm okey dokey, artichokey."

He chuckled at this, but frowned again. Parker then began to back away from me a couple of feet.

"Naomi, walk towards me in a straight line."

"Okey dokey," I said.

I began to walk towards him, trying to keep a straight line. But I kept on stumbling and trailing off the imaginary straight line. After going in a winding line instead of a straight one, I stumbled towards him, and he caught me with ease. Parker helped me stand up again.

"Naomi, close your eyes and touch your nose."

"Okey dokey," I said again.

I closed my eyes and touched my nose, well, tried to. I kept on missing my nose. I touched my forehead, my cheek, my lip, my eye, but not my nose. When I was about to try again, Parker grabbed my hand, making me open my eyes again. He looked into my eyes, studying them.

"Naomi, are you drunk?" He asked hesitantly, as if he can't believe he's asking me this in the first place.

I snorted. "Drunk? I'm not drunk. Why do people keep on asking me that?"

"People have been asking you this?" Parker demanded. "Naomi, if you're not drunk, then what do you call this?"

"Not drunk."

He looked at the ground and grumbled under his breath, "Don't ever try to argue with a drunk person."

When Parker looked down in defeat, he noticed my cup of fruit punch I asked him to hold for me. He must have set it down on the ground. He picked up my drink. But before he could hand it to me, he looked inside of the plastic cup.

"Naomi, what is this?"

"Fruit punch," I replied.

"Fruit punch?" He repeated, studying the drink. "Where did you get this? Did someone give this to you?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not. Remember rule number two? Don't take any drinks from anyone, they could have slipped something in it."

He sighed in relief. "So you got it from a can and poured it into this cup, right?"

I shook my head again. "No, I got it from some punch bowl next to the beer pong guys."

"What?" He exclaimed, backing away in surprise.

"Yeah, there was a huge bowl of fruit punch. If you want some, we can go downstairs and-"

"Naomi, have you thought that the fruit punch has been spiked?"

I blinked. "Spiked? Like someone putting alcohol in fruit punch? Yeah, I did, but then I figured it can't be."

"Why?"

"You told me that I'll know if someone slipped something when the drink tastes funny." I told him. "That doesn't taste funny, it tastes like fruit punch."

Parker looked into a cup. He smelled it first before taking a sip of it.

"Hey, you just kissed me indirectly."

He looked at me. "What?"

"When you drank the fruit punch, that was an indirect kiss."

I would have blushed like him if I wasn't too busy finding that funny. He shook the thought away and took another sip of my drink.

"Yeah, you're right, it tastes like fruit punch." He thought for a moment before cursing under his breath. "I'm such an idiot."

"What? Did I miss something?"

He sighed. "When I told you that you'll know someone slipped something in your drink if it tastes funny, I meant if they put drugs or some alcohol that have a taste. I never told you that some alcohol don't have a taste or smell like grain alcohol or vodka. How many cups of this have you drank?"

I shrugged pathetically. "I don't know a couple-"

He sighed. "If it's only a couple-"

"-dozen," I finished.

"Are you serious?" He exclaimed.

"I don't know. I don't really remember, it's all blurry. Maybe not a dozen, maybe less than that."

"Okay, hopefully you're exaggerating. Drunk people tend to do that."

"Good thing I'm not drunk." I pointed out.

Parker shook his head, but was smiling. "C'mon, I should take you home." He said as he took my hand. "I should have never brought you to this party. What was I thinking?"

"No!" I exclaimed, taking my hand back.

He looked at me. "Why not? I need to take you home."

"Not unless you want to give me a eulogy for my funeral."

Parker paused, thinking this over. "But you're going have to go home sooner or later."

"Can't I wait for a couple hours until I sober up or something?"

"It'll take more than just a couple of hours to sober up, especially with the number of drinks you drank. If that was possible, I would be drunk all the time." He paused and shook his head. "Okay, ignore that."

"Then let's just wait until my parents are really asleep." I suggested excitedly. "They usually sleep around 11, I'll wait until then."

He took out his phone from his pocket to check the time. "We came to this party at eight, it's almost midnight now."

"We'll have a couple hours to spare just to make sure they're really asleep." I told him.

Parker hesitated. He looked at me and met my Bambi eyes and gave in. "Fine, but then straight home, got it?"

"Gotten!" I said with a salute.

Parker laughed then he held his hand out to me. "Naomi, give me your phone."

"Okay," I told him, taking out my phone from my pocket and handing it to him. "How come you want it?" I asked him as I peered over his shoulder, trying to see what he was doing.

"I'm going to put in my number," he told me as he did so. "I don't want to lose you again and not be able to call- Why are you smiling?"

I shrugged innocently. "I don't know. I'm just thinking how I got up your number without even trying."

Parker paused for a moment and laughed along with me. He then winked at me and said, "That's smooth, sweetheart."

I giggled and got my phone back. I pressed something and suddenly Parker's phone in his back pocket began to ring.

"Hey, it works!" I exclaimed, and then I put the phone up to my ear. "Hello? Parker's butt? It's me, Naomi."

Parker rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand. "C'mon, let's get you out of here."

"Okey dokey," I said, before telling Parker's butt goodbye before hanging up- you can't just hang up, that's very rude -then I put my phone back in my pocket.

I noticed that Parker was still holding my fruit punch. So I suddenly grabbed the plastic cup out of his hand. But before I could take one last sip he snatched it away from me and set it on the floor.

"No," he said sternly, pointing at me as he gave me the 'don't get drunker than you can possibly be' look.

I sighed giving him the 'I'm only listening to you just this once because you're my ride' look. "Fine." Then I asked him, "Where are we going?"

Parker just smiled at me. "You'll see."

-

I grabbed Parker's hand and the both of us raced towards it. The both of us laughed like idiots as we ran through the grass. I kicked off my shoes and jumped into the sand with Parker following me.

"Park!" I kept on saying again and again. "We're at a park! You brought me to a park! Parker brought me to a park!"

But it wasn't just any park, it was the park. This is Valley Park, the main park of the whole city. Where little kids could run around to play, where friends could hang out, where teams could practice sports, this is it. And Valley Park was the park where Parker left his teddy bear, TD, when he was little.

I crawled under the slide. "Parker, this is where you found TD, right?"

He met to face me at the other side of the slide, grinning at this. "Right!"

I kept on running around the playground as Parker watched me make a fool out of myself.

"I used to climb up this slide instead of going down, I was such a rebel!" I exclaimed as I climbed up the ramp.

"I would feel like a fireman when I go down this pole!" I told him as I hold on the pole with one hand and ran around it.

"I would hang onto the pull up bar and see how long I could hold on." I said with a straight face when I hung upside down, looking at him face to face.

"And I would see how high I could go on the swings!" I told Parker, as I plopped down on one of the seats before laughing.

I looked at Parker who was at the middle of making a sand castle. "Parker, let's see who can swing the highest!"

Parker looked up and grinned. "Challenge accepted."

He sat down on the swing next to me. The both of us held back, standing on the sand. The metal creaked under our joined weight, but was able to support us.

"On the count of three," I told him.

"One-" He said.

I smiled. "-two-"

"-three!" The both of us said in unison.

We began to swing ourselves higher and higher in the swings. We kicked our feet up so we could swing the highest. We laughed with each other like we were little kids again, laughing in delight by the cool breeze, the high sights, the thrill of swinging. I missed doing this so much! The both of us began to swing at different times.

"I'm the highest!" I told him when I was.

"No, I'm the highest!" Once I reached the ground and he went to the sky.

"That came out wrong!" He said, when we passed by each other.

"I know!" I exclaimed, laughing.

I closed my eyes as I continued to swing. I could feel the cold air hitting me like the winds. It was as if time has stopped and it was only me and the swings. I opened my eyes and let go of one handle and reached the sky. It's like the sky was taunting me. You're close, it kept on telling me, but not close enough. So I was left staying on the ground, with the sky just at the tips of my fingers.

Soon we agreed that it was a tie-though secretly in my mind, I knew that I actually won and Parker didn't want to admit it, so I didn't say anything so he can keep his pride. Sadly, I didn't keep my mouth shut and I told him that. The both of us were finally slowing down to a stop, until we went back to the earth.

"What are you talking about?" Parker asked. "We both agreed it's a tie."

"No, I really won, you just don't want to admit it."

"No, it's because it's a tie."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is." I blinked and glared at him. "Hey, you tricked me!"

Parker laughed. "It's called reverse psychology, sweetheart."

I noticed that when Parker laughs, I just love hearing it. It was so natural, and when he laughs, I want to laugh. If not that, I just smile and smile and smile. I looked at him and saw him staring at me, slightly swinging a bit in his seat. I reddened under his gaze and looked away.

I stuck my nose up, crossing my arms. "Well, I still think I'm the winner. And winners always get a prize."

"Okay, then." I heard him say, as the swings creaked.

"Hmm?" I looked back at him and found myself staring face to face with him.

He was standing in front of me, leaning down so we could see each other face to face. I was standing while sitting on my swing seat leaning back a bit so he didn't have to lean down that much. His hands were wrapped around mine that were holding onto the chains of my swings. His bright blue eyes stared back at mine. My face began to heat up more and more. I forgot how to breathe. How do you breathe again? Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

"I could just kiss you right now," he admitted in a soft whisper. But he didn't say it sheepishly as if he was embarrassed saying this. How he said it made it sound like a fact.

I forgot how to breathe again. What was it again? Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

Parker began to lean closer and closer to me. His grip on the swing chains and my hands tightened. The swing creaked under the weight he was giving it. This situation felt exactly the same with Raymond. Only there was one difference.

I actually like Parker.

I unconsciously began to lean towards him. It was if I gave up supporting myself. As if I've finally felt what it's like to be tired and I'm letting myself go. Only I wasn't giving up with life or anything, just giving up my worries and problems, just for this moment. I was letting gravity do its job just as Parker was as. The both of us leaned towards to each other, our heads slightly tilted to the side, the closer we leaned towards each other. And just when we were barely centimeters, millimeters, whatever is smaller than millimeters- don't blame me, I can't think straight right now. But just when our lips barely grazed each other, he turned away.

"I-I'm sorry," Parker told me, letting go of his grip of the swing chains and my hands before backing away. "I-I shouldn't have..." he trailed off and looked away in embarrassment.

"Kissed me?" I finished for him. "Well, tried to anyway."

"I was in the moment," he said. "I shouldn't have tried to kiss you."

I frowned. "So you don't want to kiss me?"

His eyes widened. "No!"

"No?"

"No! I mean yes, I mean-" he groaned in frustration, running his hand through his hair "-I want to kiss you very, very much."

I blushed at that. "Oh, okay..."

"But I just don't want to take advantage of you, because you're drunk. And I don't mean a bit buzzed out drunk, I mean drunk drunk. And I can't do that to you because you might not even want to kiss me back."

"But I do."

The both of us looked at each for what felt like a long time. But he tore his eyes away from me.

"Yeah, you say that now," he said. "But you'll probably regret doing it the next morning. I mean, kissing a football player, a jock, your bully? Well, ex-bully. But really, who would do that? And even if you do want to kiss me, you probably won't remember it anyway, and I don't want to just to steal your kiss without you knowing it. That's wrong, no one can do that."

Do me a favor and tell that to Raymond.

I knew this conversation was just going to make things awkward. So I did what any drunk person who can use some part of their brain to think do.

Change the subject.

"Naomi, I really-"

"Ooh, monkey bars!" I exclaimed, jumping out of my seat and racing past Parker.

He looked at the direction I was running towards. "Monkey bars?"

As I ran, there was a seesaw blocking my way. Instead of going around it, I did the obvious thing and climbed on it, holding my arms out to balance myself as I walked across it. When I was over the middle of the seesaw, it tipped forward making me squeal in delight, and then I walked the rest of the way, jumping back on the sand once I was at the end. I climbed up the playground structure toward the monkey bars that were attached to them. I clambered on top of them with the help of the poles that supported it. Almost slipping on one of the bars with my socks, I was still able to successfully sit on top of the monkey bars.

Parker ran to the monkey bars and stood right on under of it. But then he looked around in confusion.

"I wonder where Naomi is," he wondered out loud. "She was here just a second ago."

I giggled then poked my head through one of the bars so I would see him face to face, though upside down.

"I'm up here silly," I said, matching his smile. "Sit next to me Parker."

"I'm happy to oblige," Parker told me.

But instead of going the same way of getting up the monkey bars, he grabbed two of the bars. Then he pulled himself up and easily swung himself up to get on top of the monkey bars.

"Show off," I grumbled playfully.

When he sat on the bars, he scooted closer to me a bit. In reply I scooted next closer to him too. I swung my legs in the air, giggling to myself. I looked down to look at my ankle socks with a black stripe at the top. I glanced at Parker's socks that were black crew socks that came up to his mid-calf. The both of us stupidly began to swing out legs that were hanging from the monkey bars.

I looked in front of me and paused from swinging my legs. I've always sat on top of the monkey bars when I was little, but I always did it during the day when my parents took me to the park, and it was only for a short time because they would make me climb back down. I was never able to look past the trees because I was still small. But now that I'm older, I'm able to look over the trees. And now that it's night and it just makes it more beautiful. The park was a little bit away from the city, so I'm able to see a good sight of the city before me. The cityscape looks beautiful at night. The sky may have been dark, but the city was like a light bulb, lighting up the sky with a bright glow. The lights of the skyscrapers that were able to touch the sky twinkled in the night. There was a light gust of wind, giving me chills. Smiling, I closed my eyes, feeling the cold night air.

"It's peaceful here," Parker said to me.

I opened one eye to look at him to see he was closing his eyes too. Then I closed my eyes again.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"It's nice here."

I felt something touch my hand. I opened my eyes once more and looked down at my hand. Parker's hand lingered over my hand, hesitating to hold mine. His eyes were still closed, he probably didn't know I was seeing this. But soon he put his hand over mind, I interlocked my fingers around them, our grip tightening. I looked back at the cityscape, smiling to myself.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"It's beautiful here."

"Yeah," I agreed again. "It's a beautiful view."

"Yeah, it is."

I looked at him and saw that he was staring at me as he said this. My face was getting hotter, my hand holding his started to feel sweaty. I looked down at my lap in embarrassment, not being able to look at him in the eye.

"Parker?" I said hesitantly, glancing at him to my relief that he wasn't looking at me anymore and was looking out at the distance of the park.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" He asked, not missing a beat.

"Hypothetically speaking..." I began. "What would you say if I were to... ask you out?"

He looked at me in surprise. "Like a date?"

"Yeah," I said, "like a date."

Our eyes met and I could see his eyes searching mine to see the cause behind this question. "I would tell you, 'Go home Naomi, you're drunk'."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Really?" I asked.

"Well... this is hypothetically speaking, right?"

I nodded. "Right."

"If you were to hypothetically ask me out on a date, I would say yes," he told me.

"Really?" I asked again.

"But this is just us being hypothetical," he reminded me. "You're drunk, you'd probably won't remember asking me this. And then it'll be me getting stood up."

"But what if I did remember?" I asked, before adding, "hypothetically."

Parker smiled as he looked out at the city before us. "Then I would be ringing your doorbell at noon with flowers in my hand and aspirin in the other."

"Really?"

"Well, you're going to need aspirin for the hangover you're going to-"

"No, I meant about coming at noon, with flowers."

"Of course," he said as if it was obvious. "If you hypothetically remember, though."

"I hope I do."

"I hope you do too."

I looked back at him, sharing the same smile as him. The grip of his hand tightened around mine. And then here we go again, unconsciously beginning to lean towards each other. It was as if we're magnets... actually we were. We were polar opposites of two different worlds. Jock and nerd, popular and unpopular, bully and bullied. But like the magnets North and South, we were slowly getting attracted to each other, leaning closer and closer. But then I remembered what Parker said, how he didn't want to kiss a drunk me, how he didn't want to take advantage of me. So I did him a favor.

Just as we were leaning closer and closer, I slumped forward to look down at the ground.

I frowned slightly. "How are we going to get down?"

I glanced up at Parker who still had his eyes closed, leaning towards nothing. When he opened his eyes, he sat there blinking in confusion. Parker looked down and tried to cover his confusion with a smile.

"That's easy," he told me.

Before I could ask him how he just jumped off the monkey bars. One second he was there, the next he was gone. Now it was me blinking in confusion. I looked down to see Parker landing on the ground easily. He stood up and looked up to me, smiling.

"Yeah, for a ninja," I retorted.

"C'mon Naomi, you can jump it."

"Yeah, I can," I told him, before adding, "if I wasn't drunk. I'll break something if I jump that with my poor coordination."

Then he did the cutest yet stupidest thing he could think of. He spread out his arms and smiled up at me.

"Then I'll catch you."

Most people would say aw and do it. But I'm not most people.

I laughed. "Nah, I'm good. I don't have a death wish."

Parker frowned. "You don't think I'll catch you?"

"No," I said. "I know that you won't catch me."

"Naomi, I'm a quarterback of our football team, I've been catching footballs since middle school. I think I'm perfectly capable catching you."

"Parker, I'm a nerd, I've been doing math homework since I was in elementary. I think I'm perfectly capable of knowing this won't work." I told him. "The monkey bars are too high and I'm too heavy-"

"You're probably the first girl who actually admitted she's heavy."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So you're actually agreeing that I'm heavy?"

Parker blinked, figuring out that he just stepped into a land mine. "N-no, you're light, I could carry you for miles and I wouldn't get tired."

I rolled my eyes. "What I meant to say is that the force will take you by surprise when I jump off. Even if you did catch me, the landing will be awkward and you'll fall backwards with me toppling over you."

He touched his chest, feigning hurt. "The faith you have in me."

"It's called math, O'Neil," I stated before sticking my tongue at him.

I looked at the way I climbed up the monkey bars. I began to plan out how I was going to get back on the ground. "Okay, maybe if I take it slow, I'll be able to climb back down."

"Naomi jump," Parker said in a serious tone.

"I don't want to die, thank you very much." I told him distractedly as I continued to use my nerd powers to think this plan through.

He tried again. "Please, for me?"

I snorted as I began to scoot over to the playground structure. "No, I still don't want to die."

"I'm asking you to trust me, sweetheart."

I suddenly stopped when I heard that. I looked back at Parker whose arms were still spread out for me, he gave me a hopeful grin. I let out a sigh in defeat, giving in.

"Alright, alright," I said.

His grin widened at this. I sat back to my original position on the monkey bars and looked down at Parker.

"I'm going to regret this."

I took a deep breath. It's all about trust, Naomi. Trust is a must, you must trust. With that, I jumped.

You're all probably wondering what happened next. You're all probably thinking that yes, Parker caught me just like he said he would. He caught me as if it was some sort of romantic movie or book. He caught me in his arms and spun me around in the sand. Then we hugged and kissed and happily ever after. And you must also be thinking that my math was wrong, that my calculations were incorrect.

Too bad it wasn't.

"I told you so," I grumbled, though I didn't sound as happy as I thought I would be.

Parker winced. "Yes, yes you did."

Just like I predicted that would happen, when I jumped, Parker caught me, well tried to. Just as he caught me, the force from jumping from the height was too much and he toppled backwards. Now he was lying on top of the sand, groaning. I knew that Parker would get hurt- that'll show him for underestimating a nerd's math âbut I didn't know I would too at the process. The wind was knocked out of me.

"I hope you learned a lesson now."

"And what is that?"

"Screw trust, math always works."

Parker let out a laugh but then he coughed. "Yeah, I'll live to that motto for now on."

"You better," I said.

I lifted my head and looked at Parker, and then the both of us burst out laughing. Even with the awkward situation we were in, I couldn't help but find this funny. I set my head back on his chest and closed my eyes. I listened to his heartbeat, faint but still there, beating in sync with mine. He wrapped his arm around and placed his hand on my head. He began to stroke my hair, running his fingers through my hair. I unconsciously began to smile, humming to myself.

"I should take you home now," He whispered quietly to me.

"What are you talking about?" I said absently. "I am home."

Parker paused from stroking my hair when I said that. He was quiet for a moment then tightened his arm around me.

"Me too."

But all great nights had to come to an end.

After willing ourselves to get up, we shook the sand off our clothes and slipped our shoes back on. The both of us walked back to the car, his arm around my shoulder, my head leaning against him. As he drove to my house, we talked about the night, what I did in the party, what he did as I partied. We talked and talked and laughed as we drove. But we arrived back to my house too soon, too soon.

Parker opened the car door for me and helped me out of the car. Holding hands, we walked towards my house to the front door. When we made it, we let go of each others hands. But just as we let go, they lingered for a minute, not wanting to let each other go, before dropping to the side.

"Are we still on for that date tomorrow?" Parker asked me.

I nodded, smiling that he remembered this. "Yes."

"If you don't remember tomorrow, I'll be sure to be there to remind you," he assured me with a smile.

I smiled back. "Well, then it'll be okay if I don't remember, right?"

Parker smile suddenly vanished. "Yeah but... If it was possible, I'd want you to remember this night."

"I do too." I told him.

The both of us awkwardly looked at the ground, not knowing what else to say. We didn't want this night to end, but we had to.

"Goodnight, Parker."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

I turned towards my door and opened it with my own house key. Parker turned around to walk back to his car as I began to open the door. But then I paused and thought of something. If I were to really never remember his night, I might as well do something I'll never do if I was sober. And if Parker thinks about it, he'll just blame the drunk me and wouldn't tell me about it to save me from the embarrassment. It won't be something too bad, something I'll be satisfied with him just knowing and not me.

I turned back to him. "Parker wait, I forgot something."

He asked as he turned around, "What did you-"

As he turned he stopped talking when he was met with a small peck on his cheek from me. He didn't want to kiss me tonight, but I think a peck on the cheek is pretty harmless. I was at the tip of my toes, one of my hands was on his shoulder to keep my balance. His body went rigid, at the contact. It was as if he was frozen in place, I could poke him and he would tip and fall over. My lips lingered on his cheek before I pulled away and backed up from him. Parker stood there blinking, speechless and dumbfounded, his jaw was slightly ajar, his cheeks reddening.

He visibly gulped. "I-I uh, um-"

I smiled. "Goodnight."

"Good-"

A door's slam cut him off the second time that night. I hummed to myself as I walked up to my room, feeling no worries because I knew tomorrow morning...

I wouldn't remember a single thing.

Okay, I have to admit, I had a small urge to write "We've been expecting you" at the end of the chapter. But it'll ruin the moment, so I fought the urge.

You know the difference between Parker and Raymond other than the face Parker is nicer than Raymond? Parker won't take advantage of drunk Naomi and kiss her unlike some book character I know (Cough Raymond Cough). My favorite parts is when Naomi walks past Parker for the bathroom, I love that part, and the other part was of course the park scene. Even if you aren't a Parkomi fan, you have to admit that was pretty cute. The two lines that had me come up this whole park scene were these:

"I could just kiss you right now," he admitted in a soft whisper.

"What are you talking about?" I said absently. "I am home."

It was like an arrow through the heart right there. Pang.

There were many changes to the original plan of this whole night. Like Naomi's parents didn't meet Parker yet, when he arrived she left the house and got into the car. So when Naomi gets wasted, Parker takes her back home nevertheless. He quickly introduces himself and tells her parents the whole story, being really worried about Naomi. Then the next day he's found still on the porch, and it's find out that he never left home because he was concerned for Naomi. But I decided to change it because 1) A bit of a creeper alert for Parker never leaving the porch and 2) I like this version way better. There was supposed to be another part but I decided to put that in another chapter.

To those who are Parkomi fans, I hope you like this chapter, I did. To those who aren't and like the other guys instead for Naomi, I respect that. And to those who didn't trust Parker, I hope this chapter changed your mind. I remembered reading comments and there was one reader who didn't trust Parker from the start. But as I continued reading her comments the next couple of chapters, it made me smile when she finally admitted that she's starting to like Parker now.

RubixCube89201