“And for the record, I am 27 years old, not 30.” She said wiping her eyes.

“Ok then, sorry again. But my point is still valid.”

“What point?”

“That how at 27 have you not seen one of the greatest films ever made?”

“You know it is possible to not see every movie ever.”

“I know, but how? How have you never seen The Shawshank Redemption?”

At this she shrugged.

“Movies aren’t my thing.”

“And books are?”

“Nope!”

“No? Then what is?”

“Art.”

“Art?”

“Yep, Art.”

At this the car behind loudly let me know that we’d been sitting at a now green light for who knows how long, startling us both back to reality.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Five minutes later we were pulling into a virtually empty parking lot.

“Well Tina, thanks for the ride”

“No problem.” I said running my hand through my hair. At this something seemed to catch her eye.

“Hold up, you’ve lost an earring.”

“Oh, have I?” I said trying to retrieve it.

“Here let me.”

She leaned towards me and slowly pried the earring from my hair. Holding it in the palm of her hand for me to take.

“Thanks.” I said reaching for it.

On contact with her hand my fingers instinctively grasped at the earring as well as her fingers. Our eyes locked together. There we were sitting in the school parking lot in broad daylight, holding hands and staring at each other. In movies this would be the lead in to a romantic first kiss, my world…not so much.

At car door slammed nearby, startling us both, however neither of us let go. Come on Kennard, this is weird now, you’re holding your teacher’s hand like some pre-schooler, let go. Kennard LET GO!

Suddenly realising our position, we both let go at the same time, dropping the earring between the seats.

“Um, thanks again, Tina. See you in class.”

“Sure thing.”

As she left the car, the full impact of my behaviour hit me. Slamming my head on the steering wheel in embarrassment I ended up scaring everyone in the vicinity by slamming on the horn. Looking up slowly, hoping there wasn’t too many people to notice, I was once again met by those beautiful brown eyes staring back at me. With a quick wave I quickly ducked down to retrieve the lost earring. Berating myself I quickly sat up at a sudden realisation…

“Hold on, did she call me cute?”