Forget Me Not
 2

Oliver and Randi sneaked down the staircase they’d gone up and slipped out the back door.
“I can’t see!” Randi said in a loud whisper as she attempted to follow Oliver around the obstacles in his backyard. The wet grass was hard to maneuver on in her heels, and she lost her footing. She slipped forward towards Oliver just as he turned around to help her navigate the yard.
“Whoa!” he said in surprise as she fell into his arms.  As he helped her back to her feet, he could just barely smell her strawberry shampoo. She laughed nervously. His body had been warm and hard against hers for that brief moment, and she was finding it hard to breathe because he was standing so close.
“You okay?” Oliver asked, still holding onto her arms, just above the elbows, worried she might slip again. He almost hoped she would so that he could be that close to her again.
“I’m fine,” Randi said, shakily, but it wasn’t from almost falling. She looked up at Oliver, who smiled back down at her. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.
“C’mon,” he said, turning from her. One hand slid down to interlock fingers with her to guide her – or at least that’s what his excuse was. In reality, he just hadn’t been ready to let go of her. He was amazed at how incredible her hand felt in his.
After the slip, Randi walked more cautiously and fortunately didn’t have any more mishaps before they got to the car. The sound of the car starting sounded thunderous to Randi’s ears, and the crunch of the gravel underneath the tires made her flinch. Oliver, who had done this hundreds of times before, barely even noticed the noises.
Randi sighed in relief when they finally made it out of the driveway without getting caught. Oliver, who had heard her exhale, looked over at her and a faint smile touched his lips.
To compensate for the silence in the vehicle, Oliver reached over and turned up the music, loud enough that it wouldn’t be awkward for them to remain in silence, yet quiet enough for them to have a conversation if one was started.
Randi was grateful. At the house, it wasn’t hard to think of something to say. She just had to hold a simple, polite conversation with Oliver, which was something Suzanne had trained her to do very well – after all, she couldn’t risk Randi embarrassing her at a social gathering such as the one they just left. Now, though, Randi was free to say whatever she wanted to him, to have a normal, teenage conversation with him.
The only problem was that she didn’t have normal, teenage conversations with guys she was attracted to. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had talked to a guy that she had even considered cute. It just wasn’t one of her talents.
Fortunately, the drive to the lake was short, and one of Randi’s favorite songs was on. Oliver smiled as he heard her singing along quietly. Her voice was as pretty as she was.
When they got out of the car, Oliver saw that Randi had left her shoes in the car and smirked. He really couldn’t blame her – those blisters had looked bad. He wondered why she wore the shoes if they hurt her feet so much, but he decided it was a question for another day.
They walked out to a picnic table that was sitting in the grass above the sandy beach. Oliver sat on the table itself, while Randi sat on the bench to his left in front of him.
The air was cool, and her short, strapless dress didn’t provide much heat, but Randi didn’t mind. As the two talked, she actually found herself forgetting about it.
As Oliver asked Randi some questions about herself, his curiosity was piqued. He asked about her birthday, her age, her favorite color… After a few minutes, he finally got the courage to ask the one question that had been troubling him since he first laid eyes on her.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No,” Randi replied, bashfully, her cheeks reddening a little. “I’m not allowed to date,” she added in explanation.
Oliver’s heart both sunk and soared at the same time. 
      Author's Note:  Okay, guys, I changed the font up a bit because I was getting a lot of comments saying that it was hard to read the way it was before. Can you let me know if it's easier to read this way? Thanks so much!
*Don't forget to comment if you'd like to be updated for chapter 3*