The Popularity Project (Originally on Quotev)

Chapter Eight

I tugged on the hem of my strapless, blue dress feeling irritated. I never was one who loved dressing up. "Nancy it's too short." I placed my hands on the fabric covering my hips, "And is it meant to be this tight? I can barely breathe let alone walk."

My sister looked up at me from where she knelt on the floor trying to decide which shoes I should wear on my date. She dropped the heel she had been holding when she saw me, "Oh Alex. You look amazing. I knew buying you that dress for your sixteenth birthday was the best thing I ever did." I'm glad it thrilled her so much for me to be playing Barbie doll for her tonight. "Now do you want black or silver?"

I grumbled and slid on the black stilettos (my 17th birthday gift from) that were lying on my bedroom carpet, "Oh and guess what! I have the black purse you got me for my fifteenth as well so they'll match, yay!" Nancy didn't catch my sarcasm, she was too busy attacking my face with makeup, "You're enjoying this aren't you?"
She nodded, tongue stuck out in concentration, "Yeah, why do you think I got you all those gifts for each of your birthdays. I knew this day would come eventually." She wiped off a smudge of lipstick from the corner of my mouth, "Granted I would have thought it would be with Matt but beggars can't be choosers."

"Matt and I don't like each other that way." I've been trying to convince her of this for years but she never listens. I guess she knows I'm lying through my teeth. She rolled my eyes and did the finishing touches to my hair. Earlier when I had insisted I could do it myself, she had told me that she didn't want me to look like an ogre (which she assured me politely that I would if I tried to do it). It is true that I would be wearing jeans to this date if it weren't for her persistence.

A car engine was shut off outside the building and Nancy peeked out the windows of her second story apartment, "Yeah whatever you say 'Abigail'." She put air quotes around the word Abigail, and I sort of regretted not choosing a cooler name. She held a finger up to stop me from speaking and opened the curtains a crack again, "He's coming! Get ready, quick." 

I shoved some things I might need into the clutch like my phone, lip balm and wallet. I almost stumbled with the tall shoes trying to make it to the living room where my sister was sat facing the door, awaiting the arrival of my date. No one besides my friends - even that was a couple years ago - have ever met Nancy which made moving in with her to avoid suspicion a lot more convenient. The door bell rang and she sprung up from the sofa. I shot her a death glare and announced as if I were talking to a pet or child, "I'll get it."

She frowned and took her seat once more muttering, "Spoil sport."

I undid the locks and opened the thick wooden door. My breath caught in my throat as I saw Kyle stood there, not in a tuxedo but looking quite dressed up in black trousers and a white button down shirt. I smiled at him and moved from where I had been half hidden behind the door, "Hello."

"Hey, you look amazing." He narrowed his gaze in on my sister and gave a quick wave, "Hello. I'm Kyle."

She cleared her throat, stood and offered her hand to shake, "Hi! I'm Nancy, Abby's older sister."

After their exchange was over he smiled at me, "Ready to go?"

"Um, yeah." I stepped out into the hallway and followed him towards the elevator and to the front of the building where he had parked his car, "Where are we going?"

He opened the passenger door for me and as I slipped in replied, "Well seeing as your wearing a dress I suppose rock climbing isn't an option."

"Do you want me to go change because I would gladly go rock climbing." I joked, jerking a thumb in the direction from where we came.

Kyle got in and pretended to stroke his invisible beard, "Hmm. Nah, we'll just have to suffer through a fancy dinner and a surprise instead."

"Surprise? You shouldn't have told me, surprises are the worst. I'm not good at not knowing stuff." I groaned and leaned back into the leather upholstery seat.

He laughed, "You'll survive. Don't worry we're not going cliff jumping or something." I feigned relief and wiped fake sweat from my forehead.

We chatted easily, the radio playing softly in the background of our conversation. That was until I stopped talking mid sentence and turned it up louder, "I love this song!" I started humming along.

"It's not a walk in the park to love each other. But when our fingers interlock, can't deny, can't deny you're worth it. 'Cause after all this time, I'm still into you." Kyle sang, perfectly on key.

I grinned and sang at the top of my lungs, "I should be over all the butterflies. But I'm into you and baby even on our worst nights, I'm into you."

He laughed and carried on, "Let 'em wonder how we got this far, 'cause I don't really need to wonder at all. Yeah after all this time I'm still into you."

We went like this for the remainder of the song, singing as loud as we could. We pulled up to a posh looking restaurant and a valet came round to take the car. "Paramore, eh?" Kyle looked slightly amused.

"Quite a lot of their songs, yeah. What do you not think I could like rock? Because I like most music." I tried to act offended.

He lead me into the place, ignoring my reaction to his accusation. The man standing behind the podium had this like really strange mustache that was hard to describe. I held back my laughter as Kyle spoke, "Reservation for Bennett?" I couldn't tell if he found it funny, his face was neutral but maybe that was an act for the guy.

"Oh yes, the table for two. Please, follow me." His snooty voice was making it quite hard to restrain myself and I even saw Kyle's face smirk slightly. He sat us down at a small table next to the huge floor to ceiling windows, stating, "Your waiter will be with you shortly."

We thanked him and the second he was out of earshot I began giggling lightly, "How does anyone take him seriously?"

"Must be a hard and lonely life with a weird voice and mustache." Kyle shook his head sympathetically.

I bit my bottom lip, "Okay we should stop being mean. Maybe the poor guy doesn't know he isn't living in the nineteen-twenties."

A man not much older than us, -possibly nineteen or twenty- came up to our small reserved table and placed two menus in front of us, "Hello, my name is Jamie and I am the son of the person who ones this fine establishment. What can I get you to drink?"

"I'm guessing they make you practice that starting." The guy cracked a smile and Kyle ordered, "I'll have a Dr Pepper."

I scrunched up my nose at his choice of drink, "A diet coke for me please." When he left I looked at Kyle, "You like Dr Pepper? That's the foulest thing I've ever tasted."

He raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah Miss Diet Coke? Really on the wild side aren't you?"

"I don't like normal coke, it was how I raised. My parents encouraged us to the sugar free drinks and now when I have to have normal it tastes disgusting." I defended.

Kyle shook his head, "That has to be the first time I've heard that. Most girls drink it because normal makes them fat."

"Well I'm not most girls. Nor am I obsessed with my weight. I'm a healthy size for my age and height yet still pretty skinny so I'm happy." He smiled as if he'd make his mind up about something. "So what do you recommend?"

Kyle thought for a second, "The calzone you can never go wrong with. Well unless you hate pizza."

"Who hates pizza?" I threw a fake gasp in for effect. "Okay I'll go with your suggestion, oh wise one."

He chuckled at my attempted of bowing without hitting the table, "I'm glad my talents are finally being recognized." Kyle folded his hands on the cold marble surface and leaned forward, I imitated him hurriedly, "Now. Lets get onto the personal questions. What-" He paused dramatically and lowered his voice, "- is your favorite color?"

"Gee, I was hoping for something more deep. Blue, like my dress. What about you?"

"Red, like the blood of my victims." I started laughing like a maniac, trying to keep my noise level down.

I could already tell this was going to be a fun date.