Kung Fu Panda

Lachlan was (thankfully) a child at heart. Certainly my kind of man.
He would play the games in kids church, volunteer to be coated in jelly, buy lego to add to his somewhat ridiculous collection AND he loved cartoon movies!

I was in love.

It had been 5 days since our carpark confession, and we were literally bubbling over with attraction, flirtation and extremely ridiculous and love-sick text messages. It was inevitable to happen, but he finally asked me out on a 'friend-date'. It could only be called as such because, well, we were only 'friends'.

My Mum & Dad knew that we liked each other by now, and unfortunately my hopes of being allowed to date the boy were denied until my graduation of High School. That wasn't for another 17 months!!

He rang one afternoon and asked if my sister and I would like to go and see "Kung Fu Panda", a popular new cartoon out at the cinemas. Although I extremely disliked the idea of my sister coming along, I had to face the facts. I was entering the world of third wheels, secret get-togethers and endless poem/love note writing for the next year and a half. So Emily came.

It was really fun! We ate our first "romantic" dinner together. McDonalds never failed on delivery of great tasting, extremely unhealthy food. We ate, laughed and enjoyed each other's company very much. Although Emily was not part of the flirting, she had a good time as well, because I was still including her- not using her.

The movie was very funny and enjoyable. The popcorn was hot and buttery. It was irresistable. But the moment I brushed past his hand, as we both reached for the same handful of popcorn in the dark, I retreated and ate no more. My heart pounded so hard inside my chest.

To him, I was embarrassed because I liked him.

In reality I was scared to touch. I had been touched once, and I found it hard to make contact with another guy and trust him. He didn't know my secret.

He wouldn't know for a while.

After the movie we headed home, grabbed some petrol and finally pulled up my driveway. There was a lot of cars all over the drive because my parents were having a weekly church meeting. We heard laughter and the sound of tea cups clinking and people enjoying their mint slice biscuits.

I opened up the door and let my sister and Lachlan walk past me. I stared after him and loved him with my complete self. But I remained frustrated at myself for my unnecessary retreat from him during our popcorn rendezvous. I wanted to let him in completely. But for now I would just make sure he would take care of me first.

Trust was going to be hardest challenge in the beginning days of our friendship/relationship.

But I wanted to trust him so much. And somehow I felt that it would be possible one day.

One day.