It wasn’t okay though.  Every time Aless saw Danny over the next two weeks, she felt guilty.  Although she hadn’t done anything, Aless still couldn’t control her feelings.  She felt so guilty that she couldn’t even tell Kay. Kay wouldn’t understand. Or she would but would think that Aless was interested in Bal.  Unsure of what to do, Aless tried messaging Bal to talk about what happened, but he never responded.  She even tried calling him to find his number was disconnected.  For some reason, when Alessandra heard the message telling her Bal’s number was no longer in service, she began to cry.  Did promises mean nothing to men?  Frustrated, Alessandra deleted his number.

“I don’t need him or my dad,” Aless told herself.  “Kay is my best friend and Danny is the guy I love.  That’s all I need.”

Thinking this only made Aless’s guilt increase.  She had to tell Danny about what happened.  Or at least part of what happened. Even with this decision, Aless could not bring herself to tell Danny for another week.  Three weeks after her birthday, Aless blurted it out over dinner.  They had gone to the dessert restaurant Danny had taken Aless on their first date.

“Danny…” she began.

Looking up from his dessert, Danny waited for Aless to speak.  Aless felt as if her heartbeat would deafen her as her palms tingled with perspiration. Swallowing hard, Aless opened her mouth and the words tumbled out.

“Three weeks ago on my birthday this guy tried to kiss me,” she blurted.

Cringing, she waited for Danny’s furious tirade.  Silence.  Opening her eyes, Aless saw Danny staring at her, his face a jumble of emotions.

“What happened?” He said stoically.

“This guy I knew stopped by to drop off my dad’s gift, remember how my dad bailed last minute and sent this expensive gift to make up for it?”

Danny said nothing.  Pushing on, Aless took a deep breath.

“Well, this guy I know casually ended up being the one who brought it to my house.  I was really upset and he could tell and he tried to comfort me.  And everything was cool and stuff but then he tried to kiss me.  I guess maybe I gave him the wrong idea by letting him talk to me, but I just so upset and I couldn’t reach you or Kay and…and I was stupid.  I shouldn’t have let him stay…”

Searching Danny’s face for some sign about whether to go on or not, Aless found nothing. So she continued.

“Anyways, he tried to kiss me and I immediately pushed him away and told him I have a boyfriend and I am not interested and that he had to leave.  And he did and I have felt so guilty about it ever since and I felt terrible.  I mean I know it's all my fault and I am so sorry and I understand if you're mad at me and want to break it off but I hope you remember how much I love you and that I don’t want anyone else and…”

Tears welled in Alessandra’s eyes.  Lowering her gaze, Aless focused hard on not crying.  Danny still had yet to see her cry.  Her fingers shook as she bounced her feet under the table.  Silence followed.  Then rough hands slipped into hers.

“Aless, I just have two questions,” he said.

Nodding her head fervently, Aless listened.

“Do you like this guy?”

“No! Not at all. I mean I thought he was a friend but I never thought about him as anything other than a friend.”

“Okay, since this happened have you or do you ever plan on seeing him again?”

“No. I do not.  I do not want to mess things up with you, Danny.  I love you.”

Another long silence.

“Okay then.”

Lifting her eyes, Aless saw Danny smiling.  Bemused, Alessandra didn’t understand what was going on.

“Okay, what?”

“Just okay then.”

“Does that mean we are breaking up?”

“Aless, why would I do such a stupid thing? I know how lucky I am to be with you.   I’ve always known that other guys want you.  I see how they stare at you while we are out.  I know that there are tons of guys that would love to trade places with me.

“This doesn’t mean I am happy about what happened and I am angry, but I will get over it.  And as long as you don’t see or talk to that guy anymore, then I will get over it.  It's not worth losing you.”

“Oh, Danny!”

Throwing herself over the small table, Aless hugged and kissed him.

“And nothing else happened right?” Danny asked as she pulled away.

“Nothing,” Aless agreed.

“Then we will be fine.  Thank you for telling me.”

Giving him a watery smile, Aless felt relaxed for the first time in weeks.  She and Danny were going to be okay.  Nothing could pull them apart, she was sure.

“Who was the guy?”

“No one you know.  He’s older than us.”

“Older than me?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you definitely need to stay away from him.  He sounds like a creeper.”

“I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

“You wouldn’t.  You are just too nice, Aless.  You need to be more careful.”

“I know.”

“Let’s change the subject, okay?  The idea of this loser is ruining my dessert.”

Giggling, Aless agreed.  Rubbing her thumb across her pendant, Aless watched Danny finish his dessert.  Puzzled, Aless realized that while she no longer felt guilty and felt relaxed, a knot still rested in her stomach.  Odd. What could be worrying her?

Running her eyes around the room, Aless studied each person in the restaurant with them.  Mostly kids their age and a few scattered adults.  One man jumped out at Aless, but she didn’t know why.  He looked normal enough.  Mid-forties.  Average looking with a basic Josӕng, designed to look like a side-ways M.  Somewhere in the depths of her memory, she recalled she had seen him before.  In fact, she remembered seeing him in that same restaurant on her first date with Danny. 

“So what?” She asked herself. “It’s a popular restaurant and the was literally over six months ago.”

Seeing her staring at him, the man smiled pleasantly.  Following her gaze, Danny saw the man too.

“Do you know him?” He asked hesitantly.

“No. I just think I have seen him before,” Aless shook her head.

“Oh. Yeah. Well, this is a popular place. Are you done with your food?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Standing abruptly, Danny grabbed their trash and Aless’s hand, leading her out the door, stopping by the trash collector for only a second.  Glancing back, Aless saw the man give a small finger wave. 

“Everything okay, Danny?” She asked.

His grip felt tighter than usual as he pulled her to the car.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.  I am just still a little upset about that jerk who tried to kiss you.”

“Oh.”

Guilt ebbed into Aless’s stomach again.  Their conversation had gone so well, Aless had thought they were over the topic.  Staying quiet, Aless got into Danny’s car and stared out the window.  Taking off, Danny sped out of the parking lot. Her mind still tickled as if she was forgetting something. Something about that man.  What was it that she couldn’t remember?

Danny, a normally careful driver, tore through the streets. He weaved up and down streets, taking an unusually complicated route to their favorite stargazing spot.  Marking his behavior up to being upset, Aless said nothing.  Only when they were settled in their favorite spot at their favorite stargazing place did she dare to speak.

“Danny, since we are being honest, can I ask you a question that I’ve wanted to ask for a long time,” she said.

His temper had evened out since they settled to stargaze.

“Sure, my love,” he put his arm around her.

“What happened to your hands?  I mean your knuckles.  You’ve never said.”

Clearing his throat, Danny licked his lips and didn’t reply.  Afraid she had made things worse, Aless stayed quiet as well.

“When I turned eighteen I had a lot of problems.  I couldn’t go to college because I had to take care of my sisters and my mom.  All my friends were going to college.  I was having to grow up when I didn’t want to.  I felt caged and stuck.  I didn’t have my mechanic skills yet so I kept having to work dead-end jobs for little pay,” he slowly explained. 

Listening intently, Aless watched Dany’s expression.  It was hard in thought and painful memories.

“I was just angry.  Angry at my mom, my dad, everyone.  I wanted more than what life had given me.  Then I met these people who offered me more.  They offered me a lot more.”

“What people?”

“That’s not important.  What is important is that I made the mistake of thinking that there wasn’t a cost to what they were offering.”

“They were bad people then?”

“Very bad.  Before I knew I was in deep.  I even ran off with them, abandoning my sisters and mom for a whole year before they broke me.  I don’t want to go into details, but basically, something really bad happened and it woke me up.  I got out as soon as I could and came home.  I grew up.  These scars remind me of the stupid choice I made.”

Self-anger twisted Danny’s face.  Holding his hands, Aless kissed the scars.

“Then I’m glad you have them.  They made you come back and made you who you are and I love who you are.  Thank you for telling me.  I won’t ask about them again.  Although this does explain how you know how to get out of a pair of handcuffs.”

Laughing, Aless broke the tension in the air with her pitiful joke.  Appreciatively, Danny hugged and kissed her.

“I’m glad I could tell you.”

“And what matters is that it is your past, not who you are now.”

Leaning against him, Aless stared up at the stars.  Danny’s eyes, however, searched the park around them.  Despite his calm demeanor, Danny’s muscles were tense and ready just in case.