Daniel and Ellen had been texting and talking on the phone for what seemed like a long time. They were talking for a month and still hadn’t been able to see each other in person. It was getting kind of old. To both of them.

Daniel had told Ellen that his birthday was March 7th. She looked at her calendar on her phone and noticed that his birthday was going to land on a weekend. And she didn’t have school that Friday either! Perfect for her to have the chance to go see him finally! When Ellen went to work she asked for the weekend off so she could go see him. The schedule finally came out and she had the weekend off and could not wait until she could go see Daniel. She was so excited she couldn’t wait to tell him she had gotten the weekend of his birthday off from work.

“Hey guess what:)” Ellen sent out a text to Daniel.

“What?:)”

“I GOT YOUR BIRTHDAY WEEKEND OFF WORK:))” Ellen couldn’t handle her excitement.

“Seriously?? Yay so are you going to come out here?:)”

“Yes I am of course!:)”

So then it all happened…

That Friday finally came and Ellen was so jittery and nervous. She started getting butterflies. Oh no. Why was she so nervous? Just a common effect of when you see your crush for the first time I guess Ellen thought to herself. She couldn’t leave fast enough. Her sister was going down to Battle Ground with her and right when they woke up, Ellen flew around the house getting ready to leave. She wanted to leave as soon as possible.

A long four hours later Ellen finally made it to her aunt’s house in Battle Ground. She quickly got out of her traveling clothes and fixed her hair before she went out for the night. Now she just had to wait for Daniel to get off work.

“Do I look fine? Does my outfit or hair look funny?” Ellen kept repeatedly asking her sister and her aunt.
All they did was laugh and say, “Ellen you’re fine I promise.”

No matter what they said though she was still stressing and got more and more nervous when it got closer to the time Daniel was going to pick her up. She was even more scared that it would be awkward because they never really talked in person before.

When he finally pulled up to her aunt’s house, Ellen’s sister Anna was the first to go out and greet him. Of course she would do that.

“You better not do anything embarrassing!” Ellen said to Anna.

“I won’t duh! I just want to meet him!” she yelled back to Ellen.

Ellen quickly made her way to the bathroom once more before she went out to see Daniel. Hair? Check. Outfit? Check. Makeup? Check. Ok she was good to go.

She went out to Daniel’s truck and saw that he was standing there leaning against the back of it smiling at her. Oh my gosh she thought. And her insides went all giddy because he was so cute!

Daniel watched as Ellen walked out to his truck. Man she was beautiful. How did he get so lucky? He couldn’t control his smile because he was so happy to finally see her. They got into Daniel’s truck and looked at each other smiling.

“Hi.” Daniel said.

“Hi.” Said Ellen blushing.

“How are you?”

“I’m good how are you?”

“Good.”

Daniel reached over grabbing Ellen’s hand and they stayed that way, talking about their days and anything else that came to mind the whole way to Red Robin. They were going to eat because they both agreed that they loved food and most of the time they spent together was probably going to have something to do with eating. Not really, but it seemed that way.

When they got out at red robin, Daniel looked at her and said “Hey…”

“What?”

“I haven’t got a hug from you yet.” And as he said that he wrapped his arms around Ellen holding her tight and she did the same.

“You’re so cute you know that?” Daniel said, making her blush.


“Awe, not really, but thanks.” She couldn’t hide her smile when he said that to her. He made her feel like she was the only girl in the world. He treated her with respect. He made her feel special.

He looked at her and smiled then said, “Well should we go eat?”

“Sure.” She said, smiling back at him.

Inside Red Robin, they had a little two person booth. They sat across from each other and this made Daniel keep staring at Ellen. And even though she liked the way he looked at her and smiled, she felt shy and told him to not stare because it made her feel awkward.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it. You’re just really beautiful.”

And she blushed. “Ha. Thank you.”
They ordered their food. Daniel some Fish and Chips, Ellen some Clucks and Fries. Lost in conversation as they waited for the food, it seemed as if there was no one else at the restaurant. Daniel did this thing where he would grab Ellen’s feet in between his own and it made her feel all giddy. Before they knew it, their food was brought out to them.

Ellen felt shy to eat in front of Daniel. She slowly picked at her chicken and fries trying not to make a mess out of them and make herself look like a fool. They ate and talked and ate and talked, both of them enjoying every moment of it.

The tab came and Daniel wouldn’t let Ellen take it and pay. “I’m paying for you. Don’t even think about taking out your wallet.”

She couldn’t get used to this. She didn’t like the idea of people paying for her. She asked him, “Why not?”

“Because usually on dates the guy pays. And what if I want to pay for you?” he said.

“Well thank you. That’s sweet of you.” This made her feel even more special and she loved that he wanted to pay for her, out of the kindness of his heart. He was too sweet to her.

After Red Robin they went to a road along the river and also right by the Portland airport. They were driving up and down looking for a spot to park and they could watch and hear airplanes flying right above them. The lights from the airport runway were beautiful to look at. Looking a bit like Christmas lights, red and blue lights lined along the runway making it light up. Even though it was quiet, besides the airplanes of course, it looked alive. Airport transportation drove around everywhere, people running to make their flight, airplanes landing and taking off. It was a good time. This place was gorgeous. Ellen was a little bit shocked to see this romantic side of Daniel.

They found a spot to park along the river so they could watch airplanes and see all the pretty lights. As they were sitting there Daniel grabbed Ellen’s hand holding it tight. She got those weird butterfly things that she always gets when he looked at her.

“Should we go outside by the water?” He asked her.

“I guess we could, but it’s cold!”

“I can hold you and you won’t be cold princess.”

She giggled a little. “Okay.”

They got out and walked to the little path that was along the river and they stood there. Daniel wrapped his arms around Ellen and held her tight. “Is this keeping you warm?”

“Yes a little bit.” She answered.

They stood there hugging each other for a while and this random question came out of Daniel’s mouth. “Hey?”

Ellen looked up at him. “Yea?”

“Would you call me crazy if I wanted to kiss you right now?”

Ellen didn’t know what to do with herself. She got all giddy and weird inside. She got jammed up and looked away from him.

“Hey Ellen look at me.”

She did. Daniel leaned down until his lips touched hers. If they played the song “Sparks Fly” by Taylor Swift it would totally fit the mood. It was like fireworks went off and nothing else in the world mattered at the moment. It didn’t even matter anymore that it was cold outside. He pulled away and looked at her smiling. She felt so vulnerable, so important to him. She smiled back and he leaned down to kiss her again. They kissed long and hard until they pulled away and he asked if they should go back in his truck.

Once back in his truck Daniel said to her, “Sorry, I really wanted our first kiss to be on the water.”
“It’s okay.” She got giddy again. Since when was he so romantic? Ellen thought to herself. And she became quiet for a while.
“Ellen, are you okay? Did I do something wrong?” Daniel broke the silence.

“Yea… I’m fine.”
Daniel wasn’t buying it though. He knew something was wrong and knew she had something on her mind. So he told her, “Something’s wrong Ellen. Talk to me.” He was just hoping the kiss didn’t ruin anything.
“Daniel I…” then she stopped. “Never mind. Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Ellen, talk to me.”
Everything started coming out. “I’m having second thoughts. What if all of this doesn’t work out? How are we going to work everything out, and how are we going to keep a good relationship if we are four hours away? I just, I don’t know Daniel. I’m leaving tomorrow and then what? Then what are we going to do? How are we going to keep seeing each other? And when is the next time we see each other going to come?”
They both sat there silently. Daniel was speechless.
“I don’t know if this is going to work out.” Ellen said again.
“We can make It work.”
“How?” she asked him.
“You have to be strong with me Ellen. If we both stay strong we can make it work. I’ll call you when I can. I’ll text you all day every day. Ellen I will do whatever I can to keep our relationship and keep it strong. We have the weekends to visit each other. You know that song by Scotty McCreery called, “See you Tonight?” That’s how I feel about you. I’ll do anything to come see my princess when I can. Anything. I will come visit as much as I can and when you have work off you can come back down here too. I promise we can make this work out Ellen. Please… believe me. I like you too much for you to walk out of my life so suddenly. You’re the most beautiful girl my eyes have ever seen. You’re way more than special to me, and I want you to be mine.”
This was a lot to take in for Ellen. She was speechless. Why is he so sweet to me? I don’t deserve this. Here I am getting sad and mad about us and he is staying calm with me. She couldn’t believe her ears when he said this to her. And she started to take it all in and thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Daniel, you’re so sweet.”
“Can we work this out?” asked Daniel.
“I will try my hardest to stay strong for you Daniel.” She promised him.
“Yes. You scared me so bad Ellen. I don’t ever want to lose you. Ever.” He leaned down and kissed her and they cuddled silently for a while.
“It’s getting late we should probably get you home.” Daniel said.
By the time they got back into town, it was almost curfew and Daniel had to drop Ellen off at her aunt’s house. When he dropped her off, he got out of his truck and hugged her real tight.
“Hey, look at me Ellen.”
She did. And he kissed her again.
“I would have been mad at myself if I didn’t kiss you at all tonight. You’re beautiful and mean the world to me.” He told her.
She hugged him real tight and told him thank you. “I really like you.” She said.
“I like you too princess.”
He called her princess like it was her name. Ellen loved the way he called her that.
“You better go so you can make it home in time for curfew.” Ellen said to him.
“Okay fine, but I don’t want to leave you.”
“I know I don’t want you to leave either but we have all day tomorrow.”
“I already miss you. Goodnight angel.” He said and gave her one last kiss for the night.
“Goodnight.”
Ellen lay in bed and she already missed Daniel. She just had to send him one last goodnight text.

“Goodnight Daniel. Sweet dreams:)”

Almost immediately she got a reply. “Goodnight Ellen sweet dreams to you too:) Promise you won’t wake up and think bad thoughts about us again?”

“I promise. I like you a lot Daniel and it would take a lot to change that:)”

“Okay now I’ll be able to sleep better, good night angel.”

“Nighty night:)”

Both of them lay in bed thinking of each other and replaying the night in their heads. Best first date ever. This was the start of something good.