The challenge

Startled, he jerked his hand back. Dean had been inches from achieving his goal only to be thwarted at the last second. “Relax”, he thought to himself, most of the difficult work had been done already. He glanced to his left to see if his aborted attempt had been detected, but it appeared he was safe for the moment. Dean wiped his palms on his jeans, he started working up the courage to try again.

Outwardly, Sara seemed to be oblivious to Dean’s plight, but was acutely aware of his actions. He was so close this last time, she almost felt sorry for him. She had done all she could to make it easy for him, but it was up to Dean to take the final step.

“Ok…I can do this. Just have to wait for the right moment.” Dean looked at his watch and figured that he had about 30 minutes before he lost the opportunity. This was the defining moment of the night and he had to follow through. He judged it was now or never and tried again. Dean wiped his left palm on his pants leg one last time and raised his hand slightly while keeping an eye on his target. Moving forward ever so slowly he finally passed the point of no return when he saw Sara glance in his direction. Not able to turn back now, he fully committed to the action and reached forward to take Sara’s right hand in his own. He knew this was the moment of truth, would she grasp his hand or slowly disengage from the contact.

Maybe the first date was too soon to hold hands, but most of his friends at school said that he should be making out before the end of the film. Since this was Dean’s first date, he wasn’t really sure how to proceed. He would love to be able to kiss her goodnight, but for now his world was complete.

Note: Received 2nd place