Asking Leah out on a date in 24 hours probably wasn't the best idea. I had to think a lot about what to do for this date. I was in the middle of writing out ideas when I fell asleep.
Taylor woke me up the next morning like I asked her to the night before. Now I had to finish my thinking. I grabbed my notebook and looked over the idea's I came up with last night. All of them are complete shit.
I just groaned and got out of bed. The shower I took helped me think and by the time I was done I had an idea. It's already a little after 10 so I'm going to be cutting it close. I remember a while ago, back when I was in Hudson, Leah and I had a conversation about music. So right now I'm burning a CD and making a playlist for my phone. That will be playing in the background as we have dinner on the beach.
It took me a while to get all of the songs I wanted onto the playlist. I limited it to the top 50 because I could easily go over that. When I was done I got ready for the date. I decided on a black long sleeved shirt with a white collar along with a black snapback to match my black converse. I'm lucky my hair is naturally a little bit wavy so I didn't have to do anything to it.
I know I shouldn't be wearing the long sleeved shirt but I'm still very self-conscious about my scars. Here at home and when I'm around family, it doesn't bother me. But when I'm out I hate it when people stare at my arms. It's gotten so bad in the past to the point I would get anxiety attacks just thinking about going out in anything other than a sweatshirt.
During my time at Hudson, Curtis and I worked on that. My anxiety around going out in public with my arms bare has gotten a bit better but I haven't gone out yet to really try it. It's something that I'm going to have to continue to work on now that I'm home with my new therapist once I get on.
I'm not scared of Leah seeing them because she has already seen them before. If she had a problem with them she would have stopped talking to me by now. On the other hand Lauren is also going through the same things I am so I couldn't see her having a problem.
So after a lot of thinking and preparing I finally gathered the last of things I needed. I said bye to moms and told them not to wait up for me. It being Saturday, Leah didn't have school the next day so we could stay out late, and if my planning was good enough we wouldn't be sleeping at either one of our houses tonight.
I ran out of the door and put everything I needed in the bed of my truck. Yes you heard me right, I drive a 2019 Dodge Ram pickup truck. The exterior is black with some chrome accents. The interior is cloth material, not leather. Leather seats here in the summer suck. I love my truck. Taylor got the truck at a police auction for a couple grand. It was in great shape; she just had a mechanic fix up the few bullet holes out of the passenger side. When I got my license, Taylor gave me the keys and told me not to wreck it.
I plugged my phone into the jack and hit shuffle. It only took 5 minutes to get to Leah's house from my own. I hopped out of the truck and walked up to her front door. I fixed my hair and checked the time on my phone. 1:03pm. I knocked on the door and waited.
It only took a few seconds for it to whip open revealing two girls my age. They look familiar but I can't place where they are from though.
"Leah your date is here." The blonde said.
"Finally, it's nice to put a face to the name. I'm Spencer, you must be Erica." The brunette said. Right, I do know who they are. They are Leah's friends, Lexi and Spencer. They look so familiar because I would always see them hanging around each other in school.
We didn't get a chance to say anything else because Leah came to the door. My heart slammed against my rib cage trying to break free. There Leah stood in a black tee shirt that has white stripes on the sleeves and around the collar. It almost looks like we are matching, or planned this. To complete the outfit she is wearing a pair of skinny jeans and converse.
It took me a full minute to regain my voice. Lexi cleared her throat and I took a deep breath.
"Are you ready to go?" I asked.
"Yea" Leah said and grabbed a sweatshirt before trying following me out the door.
"Wait a second this is your first date; this should be document. Picture time." Lexi said and pulled her phone out of her pocket.
Leah and I both protested but Lexi wouldn't let us leave until she got a picture, so Leah and I stood together on the front porch. Lexi took two, the first one I wasn't ready for but it actually came out better than the second photo.
"You best have her home by dark Erica." Spencer said in a mocking serious voice.
"Go home you two." Leah said and took my hand to pull me down the stairs.
When we got to my truck I opened the passenger side door for her and she got in. I ran around to the driver's side and hopped in.
"You would never think a girl like you would drive a truck like this." Leah said after I put on my seatbelt.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked getting defensive.
"It's just that you're so small up next to the truck." Leah said as I turned the key bringing the engine to life
"Well I'll always be small, so the truck kind of makes up for my height." I said.
"The truck just makes you look hot." Leah said.
I slammed on the brakes and looked at her. We haven't even left her driveway yet and this date has gotten interesting. Leah has her bottom lip in between her teeth.
"Oh really?" I asked looking in her eyes.
"Yea" Leah said quietly. You can cut the tension between us with a knife at this point. I just smiled and shook my head before pulling back onto the road.
"Do you remember when we talked about music when I was in Hudson?" I asked.
"Yea, what about it?" Leah asked.
"I made a CD, it kind of goes along with our date. It's in the orange case." I said.
Leah pulled the case out of the center console and put it into the CD player. The half hour car ride was full of conversation. Mainly debating over what songs we liked the most. Somewhere along the way my right hand left the steering wheel and Leah took it into hers.
That's the way they stayed until I needed my hand back to help me park. When we got out of the truck I felt the heat of the day. I kept the truck cool to avoid sweeting but now that I realized that its actually warm out I'm kind of wishing I wore a lighter shirt. Leah didn't seem to notice the heat through. She just pulled me into the mall.
First store we went to is called Icing. It has little stuff for your room like posters and the hanging lights I wanted. I got two boxes, which should be enough. Leah also talked me into getting two posters. One that say's Stars can't shine without Darkness, and A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.
Leah really talked me into the second one. I wasn't originally going to get it but she started talking to me about the ups and downs in life. Once she started on that I just agreed. It will look good on the wall in my room.
After Icing we went into Hot Topic. Leah wanted to see if they had any band shirts she was looking for. I just followed her around looking at all of the shirts and tanks.
"What are you looking at?" Leah said from behind me.
"Nothing" I said feeling like I just caught doing something I wasn't supposed too.
"I like it, are you going to get it?" Leah asked and pulled the blue tank top off of the rack. The top in question is blue tied-dyed with a skull inside of a triangle wearing a crown of roses.
"I think you should get it." Leah said.
"Or you should get it. It would bring out the blue in your eyes." I said.
"Or we just get one and share it." Leah said.
"Or we get two separate ones and match." I countered.
Leah started laughing but held onto the tank. I couldn't help but laugh also. Leah has an infectious laugh that made everybody want to laugh around her. When she calmed down she looked at the tank.
"I think we are just going to have to share it." Leah said and kissed my cheek.
A few minutes later we left the store. Leah ended up buying a few more shirts for herself and refused my money to help cover the cost of the tank. When we were done we made our way towards the food court. It being lunchtime Leah and I were actually hungry and wanted something now.
So Leah came with me while I went to get a slice of pizza and after I went with her to get her salad. We found a table away from most of the other people in the corner of the food court. Leah pulled out what I though was her cell phone but realized it's just her Omni pod.
Leah told me about her diabetes but didn't really go into great detail about it. She just told me about it and the pod helps keep her levels stable. Without it she would have to prick her finger and check her sugar, then give herself injections of insulin to balance out.
I just watched her read her pod for a minute and though about what I would do if I had to do that every single day of my life.
"Erica, you okay?" Leah asked.
"Yea sorry, I was just thinking." I said and took a bite of my pizza.
"What were you thinking about?" Leah asked and ate a piece of chicken off the top of her salad.
"Your diabetes and how you mange it." I said.
One thing we learned about each other is that we both hate it when the other lies. When we tried to lie about something you can tell we are. We are both just bad liars.
"I should probably teach you about it." Leah said and took a bite of her salad.
"It might be a good idea." I said and took another bite of my food.
"I'll teach you later because it's annoying and I rather not deal with that now." Leahs said.
The conversation kind of died there. We ate our food in silence and I thought that I should have dropped the subject earlier. I wouldn't say this silence was awkward, but I would say that there is some tension in it.
"We should probably decide who is going to wear the tank first." Leah said breaking the silence. I just smiled and finished off the last of my pizza.
"You get it first; I want to see how it's going to look with your ocean eyes." I said.
"Okay then, now that that's settled are you ready to go?" Leah asked.
I just nodded and we both got up. We grabbed our bags and made our way through the mall.
As we walked through the mall Leah told me about how school is going for her. She is really excited and ready for summer to be here. I just think it's because she wants to spend time with me. Her excitement made me excited for her and I couldn't wait. Just another full week of school then she has finals. When we got back to my truck she opened the door for me. After I got in she went over to her side and go in.
I cranked the AC and started driving towards home. As we drove we listened to the radio. I had to grab a few things from home before we left for the rest of our date. Leah waited in the truck while I grabbed the things I needed. While I was inside I changed out of that long sleeved shirt. I couldn't take that heat anymore, and now that I'm going to be outside for the rest of the day I needed to change.
Once I was done I ran out of the door and put everything into the bed of my truck and hopped back in.
"Sorry if I took a while I just needed to change." I said and put the truck in drive.
"It's okay, I don't blame you. I was going to say if you didn't change you'd probably end up getting heat stroke." Leah said and smiled. I put my hand on the gearshift and Leah took it right in hers. She intertwined our fingers and pulled my hand into her lap. She kept it that way for most of the ride.
When I pulled up to the last light before the beach Leah turned my hand over. I knew what she was going to do so I tried to take my hand back but she wouldn't let me.
"You don't have to hide from me Erica." She said sincerely. I still tried to take it back but she wouldn't let me so I sighed and just let her have it.
We got to the beach a few minutes later. Leah kept asking where we're going because I passed the entrance for the beach.
"Where are we going?" Leah asked for the third time.
"It's a surprise but I'm going to need my hand back." I said. Leah gave my hand back and I pulled up onto the curb. I pulled my off-roading permit out of the cup holder and showed it to the guy at the window. He waved us through and I pulled onto the beach.
"What are you doing?" Leah asked as I drove along the beach.
"We are off-roading." I said with a smile.
It's been a while since I got to do this. This is one of the other places I go to clear my head. Not many people know about this beach. The only people that do know about it are cops, because you need to go to the station to buy the permit. As it looks right now there are only a few other cars out here.
I parked the truck in the middle of the mostly empty beach and opened all of the windows before turning it off. I hopped out and walked around to Leah's side and opened her door.
"Thank you" She said and jumped down. I went around to the bed door and pulled out the blankets and the basket. Leah had to help me put down the blanket because it was a bit windy but other than that I did everything myself.
Once they were all down Leah and I sat down on the towels and I started pull out the food I brought.
"So you thought of this all by yourself?" Leah asked.
"Yea, it took me a while though because it's been a long time since I've been on a date." I said.
"So, have you had any girlfriends before me?" Leah asked.
"No, I've really only be in one other relationship before but it didn't work because he was more of a brother to me." I said and took a sip of my water.
"Was?" Leah asked.
"That's a story for another day, a long and painful story. What about you?" I asked.
"Girlfriends? No, I haven't had another girlfriend. Boyfriend, yes, I broke up with James after I got back from seeing you. Then there were a few before him but they aren't worth mentioning." Leah said and checked her sugar.
We ate our dinner and then I took Leah over by the ocean. When I say took, I really mean drag. Leah didn't want anything to do with the water. Since I couldn't get her near the water I put my feet in. The water is still a bit cool. With summer coming it will get a lot warmer in the next few weeks. After a few minutes of standing by myself Leah wrapped her arms around my waist and put her chin on my shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked. I didn't answer her right away. At first I couldn't really think of anything to say because her arms wrapped tightly around me. Just having her this close to me is a lot.
"You, me, us." I said quietly.
Leah just kissed my cheek and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. The little simple things she does drives me crazy. That's what I like. The simple things in life. Leah and I continued to watch the sun set behind the ocean until it was gone from the horizon. When it was finally down I pulled Leah back to my truck. I clean up the stuff from dinner and set up some pillows and blankets in the bed of the truck.
Once it was done I pulled Leah up into it and we sat down next to each other. I started music on my phone and we watched as the sky changed from deep oranges, pinks and purples to the dark black sky, dotted with stars.
"Today was amazing." Leah said after a long period of silence.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." I said.
"To the first of many?" She said.
"To the first of many." I said with a smile and kissed her cheek.
After that we started talking about different things. She told me a lot about her family, and what she wants to do after high school. That also prompted me to tell her about my own college plans, which are little to none at the moment. I really can't think about getting a degree in anything right now. I just want to finish high school.
By the time the playlist ended it's already close to midnight and we are almost in each other's laps. I'm not complaining but I know Leah is getting tired. I'm surprised that she stayed up this late.
"Are you tired?" I finally asked, looking up to see her face.
"A little bit, did you want to get going?" She asked.
"Do you want to sleep over?" I asked.
"We can?" She asked.
"Yup, as long as you have a permit you can actually camp out here, like with an RV and tents and stuff." I answered.
"Do you have a tent?" She asked.
"Nope" I said and laughed before laying my head back in crook of her neck. I felt Leah laugh a bit before I felt her lips press a kiss to my head. We just laid down in the bed of my truck until we both feel asleep.
The next morning we were both rudely awaken by rain. It probably would have been a good idea to look up the weather forecast before I planned on sleeping outside. Leah helped me get everything into the cab of my truck as we tried to get out of the rain, but by the time everything was away we were both soaked.
"Well, good morning to you too." I said. Leah just laughed and put on the heat. I drove over to her house and stopped the car.
"Crap" Leah said feeling her pant pockets.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I can't find my key." She said and pulled her pockets inside out.
"Do you think it fell into the bed of the truck?" I asked.
"Maybe" She said and got out of the truck into the pouring rain.
"LEAH!" I yelled at her. "We are both going to get sick! Get back in the truck and just call your moms to unlock the door!" I yelled as she hoped into the bed of the truck.
Leah didn't say anything back to me, she just looked at in the bed while I watched. After ten minutes she didn't find it and we were both soaked even more than before.
"What are you guys doing out there?!" I heard someone yell. Leah and I both turned around and saw Gabby standing in the doorway with Carmen standing behind her, drinking something out of her mug.
"Leah if you ruin that pod you are not getting another one!" Gabby yelled again.
"Come on" Leah said and grabbed my hand, pulling me up to her house.
"Don't you dare step in the house with your wet clothes. Take them off here and then go to your room and change." Gabby said.
My eyes went wide and I looked over to Leah. She must have known what I was thinking because she just took my hand and pulled me to her room. We ran past her mothers up the stairs and down the hall to her room.
"You can change in the bathroom; I'll give you some sweats to wear." Leah said and showed me to her bathroom.
When I got inside I shut the door behind me and slid down it, just thinking about the night we had.