"Down set hut" I called and pretended like someone hiked it to me. I ran with the ball right at Will.
"You'll never get me, Erickson" I taunted.
"That's what you think, Barnes" he smirked at me.
I tried to juke him out and failed as he tackled me. We were both laughing as he laid basically on top of me. We both sobered up and looked each other in the eyes. His amber eyes mesmerized me.
He leaned in to kiss me and our lips met. He pulled away. "We can't" he sat up and turned his head away from me.
"What's wrong?" I sat up too and looked at Will.
"You're my best friend's little sister..."
I looked at him in shock. "That's all you think of me as. The annoying little sister of your best friends. Here I am thinking that I'm your friend and maybe something more. Well I guess not." I yelled and walked away in anger.
"Cora! That's not what I meant!" He followed me. He grabbed my wrist as I was in the middle of the street. "You didn't let me finish"
I stayed silent, letting him finish whatever he was about to say.
"Cora, you are my best friend's little sister and because of that I can't just kiss you when we're not dating. I don't want to lead you on and keep kissing you without committing to you. You deserve better than that. I owe you and your brothers that. So I guess what I'm saying is will you...would you...like to go to...to dinner with me...like on a date?" He cutely stumbled over his words.
"Yes, of course I would" I smiled and reached up to kiss his cheek. "I'm sorry for lashing out on you. I should've let you finish" I apologized.
"Don't be. I understand I shouldn't have started the conversation like that."
My phone rang and I had to answer it. It was Dad.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Cora Maeve Barnes, you need to get home as soon as possible." He yelled into the phone.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"Your dog is what's wrong. He just tore up my shoe"
I tried my hardest not to laugh. "Okay, Dad I'll be home soon. I'm at Will's right now."
"As soon as possible. Bye Coco" he reminded me.
"Love you Dad" I smiled and hung up the phone call. I began laughing as soon as the phone was away from my face.
"What?" Will smiled at me.
"Bandit is in trouble. I have to go home but I'll see you soon" I told him.
"I'll pick you up at seven" he smiled.
"I'll see you at seven then" I smiled at him. He wrapped his arms around me for a hug.
A car honked and caused us to break apart. A blush covered both of our faces as we moved out of the way.
"Sorry, Mr. Henderson" Wills waved at him.
We looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"Bye Will" I said as I got into the car.
"Bye snowflake" he smiled at me and waved as I drove off.
It took a few minutes to get from Will's house to mine.
"Dad?" I asked as I opened the door. Bandit came running to greet me. I bent down and pet his head. "Hey buddy" I smiled at him.
"That dog chewed my shoe" dad said as he walked in the living room with a chewed up dress shoe. He doesn't normally wear his dress shoes unless he has some sort of special event and as far as I'm concerned he doesn't have one.
"Why your dress shoes? Did he get into your closet?" I asked. There was no way for Bandit to open his door unless Dad left it open.
"No, I had them out. I was about to put them on and he stole it from me and chewed it up."
"Where are you going? You never wear your dress shoes unless there's a special event." I pointed out.
"I have a dinner with some of the faculty members at the school and I was supposed to dress nice but I guess I'll wear tennis shoes." He sighed. "Co, you have to get that dog under control. Punish him or something."
"Okay, I will. I'm going out with Will tonight. He's picking me up at seven" I told him.
"Picking you up, like as a date? Or as a friend?" He interrogated.
My cheeks burned red. "It might be as a date, but please don't tell the boys anything. I don't want them to make a big deal out of it"
"I won't say anything Coco. The boys are upstairs. Connor's in his room with Lena and I think the other two are in their room"
"Lena's here?" I questioned and my face lit up. I guess I didn't notice he car outside or Connor picked her up. She could help me with my outfit.
I ran up to Connor's room and opened the door without knocking. Lena was on top of a shirtless Connor as they were making out. I shrieked and covered my eyes from the scene.
Connor groaned. "Coco, you should really learn how to knock."
"We'll excuse me I didn't know my brother and friend would be up here making babies" I sassed back. "I need to steal Lena until seven." I grabbed her wrist.
"You can't steal my girlfriend" he pouted.
"Boo hoo so sad" I said sarcastically and dragged her out of his room and into mine.
I pushed her on my bed.
"Start talking. When did you and Connor become a thing? Why haven't I found out?"
"Please don't be mad. He asked me out last night, but we've been talking for a little while. I know he's your brother and I'm your friend but I really like him Cora"
I laughed lightly. "I'm not mad Len. I saw this coming ever since we've met you in the ferris wheel. I'm actually happy y'all are together. I just wanted the tea."
She let out a breath of relief I didn't know she was holding. "Okay great, now what's the big emergency that I had to be dragged away from Connor for?"
"I have a date" I blurted out.
She immediately had a smile on her face and stood up. "With who?" She asked with a knowing smirk.
"It's with Will he asked me out today when I was at his house. He's picking me up at seven and I need help" I said frantically.
"I got you boo"
It took a little while but I think we finally found a cute outfit. It was a light yellow cropped tank top with a tie in the front and a pair of denim shorts. I opted out of sandals and put on my trusty white high top converse.
Lena picked out some silver jewelry for me to wear and I grabbed my favorite pair of stud earrings.
I let Lena do my makeup, but I told her not to do a lot. I think all she did was mascara, blush, eyeshadow, and a touch of lip gloss. She even braided two strands of hair from the front and tied them together in the back. My heart was wavy from when I decided to curl it yesterday from boredom.
"And we're done" Lena said as she put down the last brush.
"How are we doing on time?" I asked.
"Seven minutes until your boy arrives" she smirked at me. "Speaking of your boy, bandit is so adorable" she squealed.
Bandit waddled over to her at the sound of his name. He wagged his tail and begged to be pet by Lena, which she happily obliged.
The doorbell rang and I looked at the time. It was only six fifty-five. He was five minutes early. I just hope the boys don't come down here.
Lena wiggled eyebrows at me and walked off to Connor's room. Dad answered the door and I could see him glaring at a very nervous looking Will.
"Dad? What are you doing?" I asked.
"Just reminding Will here that I'm his coach and if he breaks my baby girl's heart I can make his life a living hell" he smiled and clapped Will on the back.
"Okay we're going to go now, bye dad"
"Where are you going?" Carter asked as he made an appearance behind us.
"I'm taking Cora on a date" Will spoke up. Carter looked at his best friend in shock.
"And you didn't think to ask me or even tell me about it?" Carter growled in anger. He was obviously upset. "I thought I told you that I didn't want you dating my best friends" he snapped at me.
"Carter" dad warned.
"Excuse me, I don't see how this is my fault. You're not in charge of who I get to date. Will makes me feel special, more special than I have felt since Mom left and I'm going on a date with him whether you like it or not" I blew up. I turned around to Will and grabbed his hand. "Let's go" I said softly.
Will opened the door for me and I climbed into the passenger seat of his truck. He got in the drivers side and pulled out of the driveway.
He set his hand on top mine on the center console. "I'm sorry things got so out of hand. I didn't know he was going to react like that." He apologized.
"It's okay. He's always been overprotective about who I date, but ever since we moved and met you and the guys it's been crazy." I said. "Let's forget about it and have an amazing date."
"You look beautiful, by the way" he told me. Of course my cheeks turned red.
"Thank you and you look handsome.Where are we going?" I asked excitedly.
"First, we're going to go to Riley's and get some ice cream floats and then I have a surprise for you." He smiled.
I looked over at him. How did I get lucky enough to even go on a date with him?
"Thank you Will"
"You don't have to thank me snowflake, I'll always treat you right. That's a promise" he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it softly as he pulled into Riley's parking lot.
He opened all the door for me and was the perfect gentleman as always. He ordered and paid for my float.
"Do you want to eat in here or go to the surprise?" He asked.
"What do you want? It can't be all about me, it's our date"
"I vote let's go to the surprise and eat in the car." He was so excited about our date and I don't think either of us stopped smiling.
"Okay then I'm down"
He lead me back out to the car and started driving somewhere. I wasn't really paying attention to where we were going. We were playing some of our favorite songs and singing to them. He pulled into the parking lot of the park.
"What are we doing here?" I asked as I slowly unbuckled my seatbelt.
"You'll see" he said, before hopping out of the car and opening the door for me. "Milady" he offered me his hand which I gladly accepted and giggled. He grabbed something out of his backseat. It was a picnic basket.
"Aww you made me a picnic. Will that's so cute" I smiled up at him.
"Not as cute as you" he said like it was nothing.
My face burned. Why did he have to be so cute?
"I can't take all the credit, Poppy helped me out a little. She made her southern belle sweet tea just for you. She doesn't do that for just anyone, you know?" he set out the blanket and the basket.
I sat down next to him as he set out all the food. There was sandwiches, grapes, strawberries, watermelon and almonds.
"Welcome to Will's kitchen the five star restaurant, as you can see there's a great variety of foods we have today" he joked.
"Will this is amazing, thank you" I reached over him and kissed his cheek.
"The most amazing part is that I get to spend it with you"
For the next hour, we ate the food and had the best sweet tea I've had in my whole life. Apparently, Poppy won't pass down the recipe until she knows she's on death row.
"Snowflake, I have a question to ask you." Will said out of nowhere.
I perked up instantly. "Anything for you Will."
"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked.
"Of course I will. A million times yes" I squealed and tackled Will in a hug. "This better be the only time I see you get tackled, Erickson." I teased.
"Only for you Barnes" he smiled with his perfect smile and caused me to melt on the spot. I can't believe William Erickson is my boyfriend. I don't deserve him.