Connected Minds

and walked out the door. As I turned the corner, I stopped mid-step. There was Tanner–leaning against the driver side door of Grace’s car. He had his ankles crossed as well as his arms. He was wearing blue jeans and a black pocket T-shirt with a pair of nice athletic shoes. He is good-looking enough, but I have never been too interested in looks. It was him in general that now had my interest, the way he spoke to me, the way he holds himself and the persistence. I cannot deny that his unwillingness to let me leave here leaving things the way I did was actually flattering. I rolled my eyes at myself again. I am not sure if it was my thoughts or Tanner’s presence that has me so nervous, but if I am going to get anything done today, I have to get him away from my car first. I took a deep breath, “Would you mind moving? I don’t want to have to explain a dent in my mom’s car,” I asked with a slight grin. In return, I got the full megawatt smile complete with dimples. “I thought you were mad. I didn’t want you to leave mad at me again. Do you have to go or are you just trying to get away from me?” “Both. I was not mad at you. At least I don’t think it was you I was mad at. Either way, I am no longer mad, but yes, I do have other things to do today.” As much as I wanted to shield myself from him, I cannot help but be open with him. “Can I at least get your name since your new found hobby seems to be trying to run me down here at the diner?” He was grinning at the cleverness of his comment. Once again I was caught off guard by this guy. It has to be some sort of ploy. To use this tactic just seemed too simple. After a while and I still had not responded, he smirked, “Either you are trying to come up with a way to get out of here or your bookworm brain still can’t figure me out. I’ll help you out. My name is Tanner, and I would like to get a chance to get to know you. Aside from the running-over-me-thing, I have a feeling you and I could be great friends.” He was holding his hand out for me to shake. I could not see how I was going to get him off the car if I did not comply. I held my hand out and shook his hand. The moment he wrapped his fingers around my hand the world around me was still. That warm feeling that had been giving me the chills had suddenly hooked itself around my spine and was pushing its way through my body. It was as if a fire had been lit in the center of my body and was flowing through me. Anything else I had ever felt did not hold a candle to this. It was such a euphoric feeling. When I figured out it was because of him, I dropped his hand and took a step back. All the control in the world was not going to keep me from letting that reaction show on my face. I took a couple of quick shallow breaths and cleared my throat. “I am Vanessa. Now can you please get off the car?” was all I could manage. I was looking at the ground as I spoke. Every time I looked anywhere in his direction that heat threatened to engulf me. He raised his hands in an “I surrender” pose. “You know you can really hurt a guy’s ego when you want to.” He then hooked his finger under my chin and pulled my face up, so he was looking into my eyes. “You never know. I could be a good friend.” He half smiled and let go of my chin just before the warm chills reached my neck. I was sure I heard a plea from him— “Please just give it a chance”— but his lips had stopped moving. I sat there watching his facial expressions slowly turn from smug to curious then to hopeful and from that to disappointed without a single word. Before he could get to despair, I had to weigh this quickly. Really, what harm could come from it? Grace and Torri would be so excited to see me expanding my social circle. I rolled my eyes at him and smirked in defeat. There was no way I could deny the curiosity I have developed for this guy in such a short time, and I wanted to see if all these new feelings would fade the more I got to know him. “So, what exactly is it that you want from me?” His entire face was back to the beaming, full-dimple smile, “Truthfully, I didn’t think you were even going to tell me your name, but since you have, Vanessa, do you really have other things to do or were you just saying that to get out of here?” “I do. I got off to a late start, and I need to go before Loui starts charging me rent.” “I don’t want to stand in your way when we have things to do. Will you be here tomorrow?” “I’m not sure. I guess you will just have to see.” “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?” “Not at all,” I told him, smiling the whole time. As long as I kept some distance between us, the extra feelings stayed a small tingle in the background. But I still had to get him away from the car door. “So, do I get to get in the car yet?” “Sure, not even a meathead like me can ignore the fact that you don’t want to be here. Vanessa, I was just thinking you, and I could get along, but if it is not something you would be interested in, I guess I gave it my best shot,” he said, getting up off the car and taking a step closer to me. He put his hand on my shoulder. “You really do seem to be someone I would like to get to know.” With his hand causing the heat to pulsate up my spine, I shivered as I responded, “I am sure you and I could get along just fine. I am just not in a place where I can give you a definite answer now.” Junior came from the back of the diner carrying a large box. As Tanner went to get it from him, I popped open the trunk and Tanner set the box in the car. I thanked Junior, and he went back inside. I turned to Tanner. “I truly do have something going on today, and I have no idea when I will be in here next, but I do know how to find you should the need arise.” I saw the excitement run across his face when he realized I had thought it through. I could not help but to giggle it was cute to see all of his emotions flowing freely through his facial expressions. “I have a long drive ahead of me. I should get going. I will see you around, Tanner.” I turned to get in the car, but he grabbed my hand, wrapping his fingers around my wrist. “Wait. Just a minute longer.” It was a plea. The tone of his voice was soft and somewhat familiar. I could not place it, but I had heard this soft voice before. I looked at him. There were no words, and there was no need for them. We stood there gazing into each other, not speaking, just simply allowing ourselves to be engulfed by the moment. Everything around us had faded into nothingness. Nothing else mattered here in this space, this little bubble we were creating, the tiny world that was the place he and I were sharing right now. I do not know how long we had been there, but it felt timeless. All too soon it was over. Tanner blinked and as if someone had pushed a fast forward button the rest of the word came rushing back to me. He let go of my hand and whispered, “That will have to do for now. I will see you around, Vanessa” and just like that, he walked away. I stood there for a moment trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. Somehow everything that had made sense my whole life was now jumbled up in a knot in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea what it was all about. I did know I definitely wanted more of that. Yet, here I was running away from it. Now I know why I had decided I did not need the complication of guys in my life. The confusion alone was enough to make me question my sanity.