Chicken Sandwich: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: First Date

“Diane you have a visitor!”
“Yes mom I will be right there!” Diane replied as she ran out towards the living room. “Sarah! Its good you didn’t get lost finding my place” she said. Sarah smiled at her and said “I asked around, so what is your problem that you were saying?” Diane looked around, “We better discuss this in my room” she said and she led Sarah towards her room.

Diane locked the door as Sarah walked around the room looking at the pictures on the wall. “I didn’t know who else to call, I thought you might be able to help Paul” Diane said and Sarah looked at her curiously. “Well you know what happened, Kara saying she likes him, I thought he would be happy but he is not” Diane told her. “How can you say he is not happy?” Sarah asked and Diane sat down on the bed. “You see when Paul is happy he becomes energetic, when Paul is sad he keeps it to himself and stays away from others. When Paul has a problem he goes on the roof and stays there the whole day” she revealed. “So why don’t you go and talk to him, you are his best friend right?” Sarah suggested.

Diane sighed and bowed her head. “Well I might have hurt his feelings the other day and we have not been talking since” she revealed. “So you want me to try and talk to him?” Sarah asked and Diane looked at her and nodded. “How about Fred and Jeff, maybe then can try to talk to him” Sarah again suggested. “I did call them but they are busy with something, so you are the only one left I know who is friends with him” Diane said. “Okay show me where he is and I will try to talk to him” Sarah said and Diane quickly stood up and led her outside. “Wait I forgot something, I will be right back” Diane said and she rushed towards the kitchen.

Diane came back holding a something wrapped in a foil and handed it to Sarah. “When you have the chance give this to him, it might help” she said. “What is this?” Sarah asked, “Chicken sandwich, his favorite” Diane replied and Sarah nodded her head. They proceeded towards the back of Paul’s house and there was a ladder which led up to the roof. “I have to leave you now, I have to give my brother a bath” Diane said and Sarah began to climb the ladder.

Sarah reached the rooftop and she saw Paul asleep. She sat beside him and pinched his nose. Paul woke up and slowly opened his eyes, “Sarah?” he asked and she smiled at him and nodded. “Sarah! What are you doing here?! You might fall off the roof! You could have called my name and I would have gone down!” Paul said as he panicked. Sarah moved closer to him and handed him the sandwich, Paul took at looked at her. “So she put you up to this, and there is even a bribe offer I see” he said and Sarah laughed. “She is just concerned for you” Sarah said and Paul laughed. “Yeah right, concerned about me. She isn’t even happy for me especially when Kara kissed me on the cheek. Oh boy you should have seen her give me the cold shoulder after that” Paul revealed.

“Maybe she is jealous” Sarah said and Paul looked at her. Seconds later he started laughing again and said “Jealous? That’s not true; she said I was not her type so there is no reason for her to be jealous. A friend getting jealous? Is that even possible?” he asked her. “If Fred or Jeff would get kissed by a girl would I be jealous? Of course not I would be happy for them. They were happy for me when Kara kissed me, I don’t understand why my best friend would get mad” he explained. Sarah just looked at him as he opened the foil and took a bite of the sandwich. Sarah noticed Paul’s expression changed and that there was no more sign of anger on him. “This is really good; you want to take a bite?” Paul offered but Sarah shook her head. “She really knows how to calm me down, tell her I forgive her” Paul said as he kept on eating.

“So are you ready to go down now?” Sarah asked but Paul shook his head. “Youre problem has been solved already why don’t you want to go down?” she asked. “Our misunderstanding with Diane isn’t the problem, I have a major problem and I don’t know what to do” he said and he looked at her seriously. “So tell me about it maybe I can help” Sarah offered but Paul shook his head and pouted. Paul looked at her and took a deep breath, “Sarah, I am gay” he said softly and she was surprised to hear that. Sarah was speechless and just stared at him, a few seconds later Paul burst out in laughter.

“Relax I was just kidding you, of course I am not gay. Did you think I really was?” he asked and Sarah started laughing. “Well since you were serious I thought you were” she said and he laughed even louder. “I cant be gay actually, can a gay person be attracted to someone like you?” Paul said and Sarah suddenly felt happy and she could feel the blood rush towards her cheeks. “Anyway my real problem is that I am going on a date with Kara but I don’t know how to go on a date” he said and the happiness that Sarah felt simply vanished in an instant.

“I have never been on a date; I don’t know what to do on a date. I don’t know how to act, or where to go, I really am pathetic” he said. Since this is my first date ever I don’t want to mess it up, I want it to turn out fine but I don’t know what to do” he added and bowed his head. The two fell silent as Sarah likewise bowed her head as she was feeling a rather slight pain on her heart. “Have a date with me” Sarah suddenly said and Paul immediately looked at her. “What?” he asked and Sarah blushed and shook her head. “Let’s go on a date…no I mean mock date…just like a test date…no I think it’s a bad idea” she said as she looked away. “Okay so when do we go out?” Paul asked and Sarah looked at him.

“I didn’t mean it that way; I was just saying we go out so you can get the feel of it. So when you and Kara go out at least you would know what to expect or how to act already. I did not mean that we are going on a date” Sarah said and Paul nodded. “Still we are going on a date, mock date, test date or whatever you call it we are going out” he said and he smiled at her. Sarah blushed again and smiled back “Tomorrow then?” she asked and Paul suddenly started shaking he again bowed his head. “Now I have another problem?” he told her and Sarah suddenly thought that Paul was feeling guilty. “I think we should not go out after all” she said and Paul shook his head. “I don’t know what to do on our date” he said and Sarah started laughing.

“Honestly I don’t know what I am going to do” he told her again and Sarah could not stop laughing. “Paul relax, just be yourself and you will know what to do when you get there” she said and he laughed with her. “Hey Sarah, so where would you like to go? I mean when it comes to dating all I can think of is eating out, watching a movie, strolling around, you know the common scenes we see from movies” he told her. “I don’t know Paul, just surprise me I think that will be better” she said and Paul looked away and slowly grinned.

Sarah dropped by Diane’s window before going home, Diane came closer to hear the news. “Diane he says he forgives you” Sarah said and Diane was so happy. “So is he okay now? Did he go down already?” Diane asked and Sarah shook her head. “He says he wants to be alone a little bit more but he is okay now” she told her. Diane smiled and she felt happy hearing Paul was okay. “Tell me Diane, yesterday, you were going to confront the guy you like, was that guy Paul?”

Diane fell silent but quickly denied, “No, of course not” she replied. “Then why did you not go to the guy after hearing Kara said she likes Paul?” Sarah again asked. Diane took a deep breath and looked away “Well it was a grand event for my friend so I was happy for him and so it slipped my mind” she said and Sarah simply nodded.

“So Diane, would it be okay with you then I go out with Paul?”

Diane looked at Sarah and now she knew at that moment that they liked the same guy. “You were going to confront Paul that day were you?” Diane asked and they both stared at each other. “And so were you” Sarah snapped back. The two just stared each other and neither one backing down. “Hey Sarah you’re still here, let me walk you to the bus stop” Paul suddenly appeared. The two didn’t bother looking at him so he felt something strange going on. “Hey are you two okay?” he asked and Sarah turned to him and smiled. “We are fine, right Diane?” she asked and Diane nodded. “Okay then, come on let me walk you to the bus stop” he again offered and Sarah waived nodded her head and started to walk. “Diane thanks for the sandwich, see you later okay?” he said but Diane quickly shut her window.

The following day Paul went to Sarah’s house and waited for her outside. Sarah saw him sitting by the porch so she sat down beside him. “Are you ready to go?” Paul asked and Sarah looked at him and asked “Where are we going?” she said and Paul stood up and grinned at her. “I can’t tell you but just trust me for now” he said and Sarah stood up and was excited to go.

After a long bus ride they walk towards a forest and after a twenty minutes walk they finally arrive at their destination. “He we are, I do hope you like this place” Paul said and Sarah was speechless as she looked around at the majestic scenery. There was a calm lake and on both sides were assorted flowers growing. “This place is amazing, how did you find this place?” Sarah asked as she picked one flower. “Well I found it yesterday, after I you left I went out in search of a good spot and I found this place” he said and Sarah was more amazed at him.

Sarah and Paul took a walk around the place and along the way they got to know each other better. After an hour they arrived at the same spot where they first were. “Are you hungry?” Paul asked her and Sarah smiled and nodded. Paul walked towards a tree and brought out a picnic basket and Sarah started laughing. “When did you put that there? I didn’t see you carrying that a while ago” she said. Paul walked towards the edge of the lake and said “If you dip your feet in the water you can feel the little fishes nibbling on your feet” he said and Sarah was surprised and wanted to try. She took off her shoes and socks then sat on a rock. Paul did the same and they both dipped their feet in the water. A few seconds later Sarah started giggling and laughing as the little fishes were gathering around her feet.

“It tickles” she said and Paul started laughing. “Sarah I am sorry but I was only able to make us sandwiches. I wanted to make a meal for you but I thought that it might get cold” he said as he offered her a sandwich. “When I told you surprise me I did not expect it to turn out this way. This is just like a dream, and if I was Kara I would be very happy. So honestly right now I envy her” she said and Paul looked at her confused. “Envy? Why would you be envious of Kara?” he asked.

“Well just look at this place, it is so beautiful. And you even looked hard for this place. Then you planned ahead and even made food. So I really don’t know why you were being problematic on having your first date with Kara, this is perfect and I am sure she will love it” she said. Paul shook his head and looked down at the fishes. “Kara will never see this place” he softly spoke and Sarah was surprised. “You are not going to bring Kara here? Why?” she asked.

“Yesterday you said that you would go out with me, even though it’s just a mock date I was really happy. You told me to be myself and to surprise you. Something was not right though, I mean that if the date was to be make belief it would be unfair to you because you would be pretending to be Kara. So when I went in search of this place it was not Kara I wanted to impress, it was you. I planned this day for you since I owe you a lot for giving me confidence and telling me to be who I am, so this is me Sarah. And this place is only for you, this place is our special place” Paul said and tears started to form on her eyes.

“Here Sarah taste the sandwich I made for you” Paul offered and Sarah took that sandwich and held it in her arms. She opened the foil slowly and took a small bite and her tears started to fall down her cheeks. She suddenly could not believe how delicious the sandwich was and so she quickly wiped her tears and looked at Paul. “This is so delicious” she said and Paul looked at her and said “Since you liked it then I will name it the Sarah Special” and he smiled at her.

“How about Kara?” Sarah asked and Paul took a deep breath, “I don’t want to think about problems right now since I am enjoying my first ever date” he told her. Sarah felt so happy and she scooted over and planted a kiss on his cheek. Paul looked at Sarah and he froze touching his cheek, “Sorry I am not really used to that yet” he said and Sarah laughed at him. “You just made my first date so memorable” he added. Sarah looked at the fishes and smiled, “It’s my first date too, and I am glad it was with you” she whispered.