Chapter 2

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear which was quite standard for this part of the world, there is something all together healthy about living in area where a cold day is 65 degrees. Mike got up and did the usual ablutions, a long shower and a quick shave and Mike was ready to face the world. He had to admit to himself that he was a little nervous about his first ever date and still thoughtful about his fathers words. What kept running around his mind was the thought, what do I want from this date.

For the past 13 years Mike had been a bit of a loner, yes he had some friends but he was one of those people who wanted a few close friends rather than a batch of acquaintances, although if truth was to be told his close friends where not that close, but rather people of a shared interest who's time table clashed with his. His closest friend was probably Carl who shared his martial arts lesson on a Tuesday night and who he would often spar with on a Thursday night in the schools free practise area, but if Mike was being honest with himself he would admit that if circumstances meant that he would not meet Carl at the school he would not go out of his way to meet up elsewhere.

So the date was really playing on his mind, did he want to spend time with Megan, did he as his father implied want to kiss her, something up to this time he had not even considered. Mike by nature was a boy who thought things through, probably to much if truth was told, and true to his nature he spend a good amount of Saturday morning thinking. In the end though he came to what many would have thought was a natural conclusion, he would take his mothers advise and just go with the flow. He would enjoy the day and afterwards he would have more data to decide what to do, to figure out what he wanted to do.

At 10.45 he was leaving his bike at the park, taking care to lock it to the securing poles there and walking to Megan's house, a simple five minute walk from the park. The sun had stayed out and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, a beautiful day, a day filled with hope and potential, in fact a day that Mike was actually looking forward to.

When Mike knocked on the front door, Megan's mom answers and invites him in, Mike politely greets her and takes stock of the hallway, a largish room with wood flooring, three doors leading of it, all doors closed, the walls painted a egg shell white, wooden stairs are at the end of the hallway going straight up to a landing. Megans mother he notices is the same height as himself a few pounds over weight, mostly carried on her hips, she is wearing a blue pastel dress with sandals, her brown wavy hair is shoulder length and like her daughter she has brown eyes. All of this is noticed and filed away in Mikes memory in a matter of moments.

The door to his left opens, Mike takes a step to his right before noticed Megan come out of what would be the sitting room, Megan is a slim girl with brown curly hair that reaches down her back, her brown eyes are sparkling and the jeans and tee shirt combination she is wearing make her look pretty, the training shoes are appreciated by Mike, a practical consideration being as though they where about to walk to the park. Mike gives Megan a quick hi, and explains to her mom that he is planning on taking Megan to the park and to have a ice cream there, before going on to the movies and if that is all fine, Megan should be home by 4pm.

Megans mom gives a little laugh and approves the plan, before Megan grabs Mike's arm and guides him out of the door. Megan is more than a little cross at Mike at this point, after all he had not consulted her at all in these plans, fortunately Megan is plain spoken and leaves Mike in no doubt as to why she is less than impressed with his assumptions, after all she said, 'you could have at least asked me what I wanted to do today, after all I asked you on this date not the other way around!'

Mike spent a moment considering his response and then went on to explain that he had the discussion with his parents and that this was his first date as such he was unsure of what the correct protocol was for such a date. In the end, he went on to explain, he decided on the sound principle that if both of us enjoyed it, all is well, so lets go to the park, have a ice cream and chat. If at the end you don't want to go to the movies we can see what else is happening.

Megan cooled down at this and took Mike's hand as they walked to the park. Mike was curious why Megan did ask him out on this date, after all they had not talked much before, apart from a passing hi and such like. Megan explained to Mike that she found him attractive and mysterious and so she decided that she wanted to get to know him better and some time spent with him could be interesting. It was not the bad boy image, or the strong man image, it was more the self contained confident image that Mike portrayed to the world around him that caught her attention.

The day rushed through with the couple watching a nice movie about some stupid kids and a pirate ship and the couple enjoyed their time together, as Mike walked Megan back to her house he was debating with himself whether he wanted to kiss Megan or not. He finally decided that it might be fun and so a few minutes from the house, he gently pulled her hand to twist her around so they where face to face, he moved his hand around her and went into kiss Megan. A gentle kiss on the lips later and the couple where walking again, experiment complete and in Mike's opinion that was certainly a experiment he wanted to try again in the future.

Later that day at evening meal with his parents, he was asked how the date went, Mike tried to explain, 'it was fun and I have decided that I would like to try to meet more people and try dating. It is about time I met some more people and made some more friends.' His parents where pleased at this as in their opinion Mike had been to isolated, of course Mike never saw it as isolation rather he saw his self as independent and was proud of that strength, but he also was beginning to see that he needed to learn more about his fellow teenagers and to learn how people worked and the best way to do that is to make friends and observe.

With this in mind Mike decided that for his fourteenth birthday he would host a small get together at one of the local restaurants. His parents approved the idea and so Mike set out to book the venue, the local surf and turf has a private room and as look would have it the private room was free for his birthday. With this booked for ten people Mike set out to invite who he wanted along, of course his mother and father where the first to be invite and the fortunately Megan invited a invite. The other six invites where going to be the challenge, Carl from the martial arts school accepted as did Tom and Philip from school, Philip asked if he could bring Sophie and that made seven.