×× Skylar ××
She looked at her reflection in her full length mirror in her bedroom, wondering if her outfit was good enough for her date with Sean.
Skylar had on a short peach jumpsuit that had a lowcut V shaped neckline. She wore a pair of brown high heel ankle boots too but couldn't quite decide what jacket to put on.
Romeo had agreed to drive her to the mall where Skylar and Sean would watch a movie and have something to eat. At least Sean had let Skylar pick the date location. She could easily get away if she really needed to, she thought.
Skylar picked out her cropped light brown leather jacket and put it on then she got her brown purse and put her phone in it.
She wasn't very excited for the date but she hadn't been on a date in a while. Her last date was when she was 17. She and this boy from her school, Noah-- a cute boy with soft black curly hair, of Greek decent, who happened to be the high school's basketball captain-- had been flirting for a while. When he finally asked Skylar out, she felt like she'd hit the lotto. Unfortunately, Noah was more physically attracted to Skylar and couldn't care less what she had to say. All he wanted to do on the date was make out and get in her pants.
It was pretty clear that Skylar had bad luck when it came to guys but a small part of her was still hopeful that real love was on the way and maybe Sean was the answer... if he'd just stop talking about himself so much.
"Skylar, Romeo's here for you." Angela called from the living room.
Skylar checked her makeup and hair once more and put on some perfume. She got everything she needed and left her room to meet her friend.
"Ooh look at you." Romeo grinned and opened her arms to hug Skylar.
"Hey." Skylar smiled and hugged Romeo.
"Don't come back too late, now." Angela told the girls.
As far as she knew, Romeo and Skylar were the ones hanging out that evening.
"We wont." Romeo promised.
She took Skylar's hand and opened the front door.
"Enjoy the rest of your evening, Ms M." Romeo waved.
"You too." Angela smiled.
The girls drove off in Romeo's car and, not to Skylar's surprise, Romeo had lots to say.
"If he gives you a hard time, call me. I'll sort him out. If he tries to kiss you and you don't want to-- maybe cause he got garlic breath-- call me. He tries to touch your boobies or poonani, call me. He tries--"
"Romeo, chill." Skylar smiled, "I'll be fine."
"Hope you got me on speed dial. Imma be around the mall too with Za and Alfredo to discuss some college project Alfredo's working on so... you know... I got backup if we need it."
"You're more worried about me being alone with one guy when you're hanging out with two?"
"One and a half." Romeo corrected. "Xavier... he's... he's a bit of a softie. If he tried to attack me, I'd pretty much give him a kiss and he'd pass out. Alfredo, however... he's South American too so... I got pepper spray for him if he tries to get lucky."
"You don't play."
"Not with my life, I don't." Romeo rolled her eyes. "I've been mugged once and I fought for my phone, dude. I don't play. I knew that if that iPhone went away, I'd be back to using that BlackBerry."
Skylar laughed and shook her head.
"Remind me not to mess with you."
"Tell that to Sean." Romeo said.
"Where are you and the guys gonna be anyway?" Skylar asked.
"Around the mall. I don't know. Za didn't tell me much."
Skylar nodded slowly and looked out the window.
"Do you like him?" Romeo asked Skylar as she pulled up at the mall.
"Like who?"
"Sean." She said. "Do you like him? Do you think he's boyfriend material or...? I mean, I support you and stuff but I watched the guy at the party and..."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He's... he hovers. He doesn't know boundaries. He breathed in your face when he spoke to you and you didn't look too happy about it."
Skylar didn't respond.
"If you don't enjoy yourself tonight, call me and we can go bowling or something, okay? I don't want you forcing yourself to have a good time just because Sean's cute and all." Romeo got out the car.
Skylar was surprised by Romeo's protectiveness but she appreciated it.
They walked into the mall and found that Xavier was waiting for Romeo on a bench next to the movies.
"Hey, Za. Where's Alfredo?" Romeo hugged Xavier briefly then stepped back and stood next to Skylar.
"He's coming." Xavier replied. He looked at Skylar then greeted her. "I hear you're here on a date." He said.
Skylar nodded and checked her watch.
"He should be here." She said. "We're watching a movie."
"We can walk you into the cinema so you can see if he's waiting?" Romeo offered.
Skylar nodded and thanked Romeo for her care.
They all walked into the cinema lounge and found that Sean wasn't there.
"Do you think he went in without you?" Xavier asked.
"What kind of idiot would do that?" Romeo furrowed her eyebrows.
"He's probably running late. We hadn't decided on a movie to watch anyway." Skylar said.
They looked around the area again but couldn't spot him. Skylar decided to call him but he wasn't taking the calls. She left a few texts and voice messages then took a seat on one of the lounge's couches.
"You guys head off. Alfredo's probably waiting for you." Skylar put on a smile.
"We can't just leave you--"
"I'll be fine, Romeo. I promise."
Romeo nodded and hesitated to leave Skylar alone. She and Xavier left to meet up with Alfredo.
Skylar kept trying to reach Sean but there was no luck. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to watch a movie on her own and she didn't want to have to sit and listen to Xavier and Alfredo talk to Romeo about whatever they were going to talk about.
The least Sean could've done is leave a text, Skylar thought as she waited. How rude could one be? She'd basically wasted an entire outfit!
After a while, she got up and decided she'd watch a movie on her own. At least she'd be getting some sort of entertainment and the whole trip to the mall wouldn't be a waste of time and energy.
Oh, the next time she saw Sean... Skylar thought.
"Is he still not here?" Xavier showed up. He'd come to check on Skylar.
She blushed, quite embarrassed because she'd been trying to decide on what movie to watch.
"No." She put on a brave smile though her frown was evident.
"Come chill with us." Xavier smiled warmly at Skylar. "Justin tagged along."
Why did he tell her that?
Suddenly Skylar wished it had been Justin that had come to check on her.
She got out of the line and walked to a sea food restaurant with Xavier. She didn't say a word. She was upset-- angry, to say the least. The last thing she expected was for Justin to be around too.
"He doesn't know you're here." Xavier told Skylar as they neared the restaurant. "I just said I was going to the bathroom."
That made Skylar feel a little better. Just a little.
Xavier lead the way to the back of the restaurant where everyone was seated. Romeo was next to Alfredo, looking at his laptop and nodding as he spoke to her and Justin sat with his phone in his hands, staring blankly at the screen.
"Sky." Romeo's facial expression softened as she looked at her friend who'd been stood up.
Justin was surprised to see Skylar. He slowly put his phone down and looked at her too.
Everyone could see that she wasn't happy.
Xavier got a single chair and sat at the edge of the table, leaving an empty space next to Justin.
"He didn't show up?" Romeo asked.
Skylar just shook her head and put on a smile.
"What are we eating?" She asked.
There was a really large plate of fries, salad, fish, lemon slices and calamari in the middle of the table.
"You can order something to drink." Alfredo kindly said.
Skylar didn't respond. She reached for fry and dipped it in the sauce that was in the middle of the plate and she slouched in her seat.
"What's up?" Justin softly asked Skylar after examining her body language.
"Got stood up." Skylar chuckled lightly.
Justin frowned and sipped his soda.
"Did he call?" He asked after a moment.
Skylar shook her head and checked her phone, just in case.
"Sorry." Justin said.
Skylar wasn't sure why Justin was apologising but she didn't care to ask.
She picked up another fry and dipped it in the sauce then watched Romeo and Alfredo interact about photography and shoots.
"I'll see you next Friday then." Alfredo closed his laptop and smiled at Romeo.
"Next Friday." She agreed.
"Aren't you staying with us to finish all this food?" Xavier asked as Alfredo packed up his gadgets.
"Nope. I've got work to do." Alfredo smiled. "See you later." He said to Justin.
Justin nodded and waved at his friend.
Alfredo said goodbye to us then left and Xavier took his place next to Romeo.
The table was silent for a while and Skylar was fine with that.
Now she was ready to give up hope on relationships and just focus on finishing her studies and building her career. She felt stupid-- no, used. What guy stands up a girl with not even a text to explain himself?
"So..." Xavier broke the silence.
Everyone looked at him.
"Who's paying for all of this?" He asked but his eyes landed on Justin.
"I'll pay." Justin said, though he didn't sound too excited about it.
The silence came again and Skylar kept looking at her phone, half expecting it to light up with at least a text.
"Hey, Sky, we can leave if you wanna?" Romeo smiled sadly at her friend.
"Uhm--"
"Actually, I was just about to ask Skylar if she wanted to catch a movie." Justin said before Skylar could answer Romeo.
Skylar looked at Justin then at her phone and Romeo. She felt torn. A part of her wanted to go home and watch TV in the dark while she had some ice cream, another part of her remembered that day in Justin's apartment when they watched X Men and what he'd said. Then there was a tiny part of her which thought that leaving Romeo and Xavier alone together would be funny.
"Sure." Skylar said to Justin. "We can catch a movie."
Romeo's lips parted slightly and Skylar could almost hear her silent scream for help.
A small smile crept onto Skylar's lips and she glanced at Romeo as she stood up.
"You'll be okay, right?" She asked, a hint of victory in her voice.
She finally had a reason to constantly tease Romeo.
"Yeah. We'll be fine." Romeo said.
Xavier just smiled and reached for a fry off the plate.
Skylar and Justin left the restaurant after Justin left some money for the bill. They stood in the cinema lounge, just looking around at the posters, none of them sure what to say.
"You can pick one." Skylar said softly.
She was shy all of a sudden. It felt a bit like Justin was hijacking her date but what was there to hijack? It wasn't like her date showed up.
"I trust your movie choices. Go ahead." Justin smiled.
Skylar wanted to see the new Hunger Games movie and that's what they went with. They got their popcorn and drinks and headed into the theater.
The trip to the mall wasn't a waste of time, Skylar thought as she sat in her seat with her snacks, and her outfit didn't go to waste.
She smiled to herself and felt thankful for this thing called coincidence.
As for Sean... Skylar tried to tuck those angry thoughts away.