Shane nods her head too afraid to speak.

“Is this a date?” Harper locks eyes with Shane.

Shane swallows hard and rakes her teeth over her lower lip before she can honestly answer. “I wanted it to be.” Her voice says quietly.

Harper smiles. Her eyes catch the concern in Shane’s eyes. She slowly reaches up and places her hand on Shane’s cheek. Looking deeply into her eyes and speaking from her heart she says, “No, you didn’t scare me off.”

Shane’s lips curl into a smile. She feels her heart pounding against the walls of her chest. She is overwhelmed by relief. She feels the hot sting of tears on her cheeks. Harper wipes them away with her thumb. She says nothing and let’s Shane feel what she’s feeling.

Despite Harper’s protest Shane walks her to her front door.

“Hey, all I know about dating is what I’ve seen in the movies. Aren’t you supposed to walk the girl to her door?” Shane says in a jovial manner.

“Oh come on! All you know about dating is from the movies? You expect me to believe that? A girl with your reputation.” Harper laughs.

“Yes, my reputation is for one night stands. Not for serial dating. I’ve never really asked a girl on a date. It was always more along the lines of ‘I’ll be at Milk if you wanna hook up later.’ The only people I’ve ever had dinner plans with are my friends.” Shane says.

“So you’ve never called up a girl and asked her out to dinner or something?” Harper is finding it a little hard to imagine.

Shane shakes her head, “No never.” She smirks. “This was the first date I’ve ever been on.”

Harper takes a second to absorb this. “Wow. Well, it’s been a night of first’s then.”

“Yeah.” Shane says. “So go easy on me, I’m new at this. I don’t know all the rules.”

Harper smiles, “I’ll be gentle then.”

Shane chuckles. “Thanks.”

Harper takes Shane’s hand in hers, “It’s been an incredible night Shane. Thank you for dinner and thank you for being so honest with me. For trusting me. And I promise you that your secrets are safe with me. If there’s anything you should know about me it’s that things that are told to me in private or in confidence will never be repeated. And all I ask in return is the same courtesy.”