Resisting the Bad Boy

[24] "Date Me"

     She nibbles her lip, shifting on her feet.

     "You already know the situation with Leila, although she'll never know it herself. Yes or no?" I ask, knowingly putting more pressure on her.

     "Uhh," she says, her bottom lip captured between her teeth and her eyes looking anywhere but at me.

     I straighten, confidence fading just a tad. Who knew this shy girl could tear away my confidence about a date?

     "Yes," she says, barely louder than a whisper.

     I grin, crossing my arms.

     "Yeah?" I ask.

     Her cheeks blush, eyes downcast.

     "Yeah," she says, a little smile on her face.

     "Alright. I'll pick you up at eight?" I say.

     She nods.

     "Let me get your number just in case something happens," I say.

     She gives me a look, but holds her hand out for my phone nonetheless. I hand it to her as she makes herself a new contact. She hands it back, having already sent herself a text testing the number.

     "See you around," she says.

     "See you tomorrow," I say and we both continue running, now in opposite ways.

     I head back to my house, a slight smile on my face. It was one thing asking her about it at my house during calculus homework, but her actually saying yes to my date and time is real. God, what has gotten into me?

• • •

     When Saturday rolls around, I'm more inexperienced than what I thought. Normally I don't have to woo the girl, I just wait for them and it's never a long term thing. For some reason, Raven makes me plan and god, the girl really got under my skin.

     I've had my eyes on Raven Micheals since we were paired together for a science class in eighth grade. She had her hair in a low ponytail that only she could make work. She always bit her lip or fiddled with her pencil when she was nervous or thinking about a problem. Back then she was still shy as ever so it took some time to get her to warm up to me for being partners for the year.

     If anyone could change my ways, it'd be the girl that first made me ever think of settling down.

     It'd be Raven.

     I slip a black t-shirt over my head and pull on some dark jeans. I figured we could go to Dave's, a local diner I've been eating at since I was young. Recently, my mom bought it because the owner, Dave, was having problems keeping it afloat. He's never been scared of me and who I've become—in fact he's probably more of a father to me than anyone. Everything is staying the same, including the management and systems, but it's just under a different proprietor now.

     Back to the date, I was thinking we could head to Dave's and see where it goes from there. I'm not one for intricately planned ideas so-

     My phone buzzes and flashes. I scoop it from the bed, looking at the display screen. There's a text from Raven.

what should i wear? anything in particular?

     I type out a quick response back.

casual is fine

     She's beautiful in anything anyways.

     I check the time, seeing it's about a half hour until I'm supposed to be there. It takes only a few minutes to get to her house. We live in the same neighborhood complex, Rolling Hills, but the higher up the big hill you go, the more money you have. There's a giant hill at the back boundaries of the complex property, and it's sick it reminds me of a fucking class system. My parents bought the highest damn house when my mother doesn't even use it. Raven and her family live near the outskirts of the complex.