Soon enough we were walking out to his car in the parking lot.

The night air had become chillier. Crisper.

But soon enough, all too soon, I was in the small car with Jake, sitting next to him.

He drove in silence, and the sound of our breathing and that of the car was the only noise in the entire space.

After glancing over at me a couple of times, he turned on the radio about five minutes into the drive.

This stopped the silence, which made things a little less tense in there, and soon enough, though slower than I would have hoped, we were pulling into the parking lot of the pizza place.

“Stay here,” Jake told me, and I glanced over at him, confused.

But then he got out of the car, leaving me in it.

What was going on? What was he doing? Why did he tell me to stay here?

I decided to wait a while. And calm down. What was I panicking for?

Nothing, it turned out.

Jake came out with the pizza a minute later.

“I was thinking we could eat somewhere else. Out under the stars.”