"Mom, please, for heaven's sake please let me go on this date. It is actually a guy I like. I will leave you alone the entire day. I will go out to lunch with him and spend the night with Jackie. Dad can find someone else to babysit her kid. I am tired of doing it. I never ask to go out. Why can you not just let me go this one time?" Renée's mother just sat before her with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face. She could not believe that she was being like this.
"I don't think I should allow you to go. It's not like you have been really respectful to me lately. You have been bossy, and quite frankly, I should keep you home for a month or just send you to live with your father all together."
"What? I do not want to live with Dad. He does not want me there. He has his own life and has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with Jake or me. The only reason he allows us to come every weekend is because he can have a free babysitter and because you push the issue on him so you can have some free time. I want to give you the free time. This way, everyone wins. He does not want me there, and you want a break. Please, Mom." She grew so furious that her mother picked now, of all times, to punish her for her attitude. But her mother showed attitude just because of her father. It was not her fault that her father acted like such a moron.
"If you want to do this, you spend the night with Jackie tonight and Saturday. You will tell your father and your brother. I wash my hands with it." She stomped off like a two-year - old throwing a fit to her room.
"Renée, what's going on out here?" Jake leaned his head out of his slightly opened door. I might as well get one done while he is here.
"I am not going to Dad's this weekend. I am guessing that she expects you to find something to do from tonight to Sunday seeing as Mom wants total peace." Her brother just stared at her for a moment.
"Okay, care to explain what exactly just happened? Why did she just stomp off to her room over that?"
"I have a date on Saturday afternoon. I am not going to miss it so I can go babysit for Dad."
"Wait. You have a date? When did this happen, and who? I thought you didn't like anyone in school." Jake seemed hyped up.
"Is it really that hard to believe that I would indeed have a date? His name is Gage Casey, and he asked me out Thursday. Is that all right with you, or are you going to say something against it too?" She knew she was being mean about it, but she just couldn't stop herself. He flinched like she'd slapped him. She felt so angry with her mother and not having time to vent yet caused her to lay it all on her brother.
"I'm happy for you really, sis. I just worry about you, that's all. It was only a few days ago we had discussed the fact that you were not interested in anyone in school. I feel you deserve someone, but I would like to know the guy. This Gage guy, he's new, isn't he. He's got a brother too, right?"
Of course her brother heard of them. Jake had friends that were still in school so he was still in the loop. "Yes, he does. They are like night and day, he and his brother. You will have to meet him some other time as Mom has made perfectly clear I will be at Jackie's tonight in order to go, and Gage will have to pick me up there tomorrow morning." She still could not keep her acid out of her voice. She would have to make a point to apologize to him later when she calmed down.
"Tomorrow morning? Aren't you going out at night? Usually that's when a date takes place." The surprise so clear on his face almost made her laughed.
"Well, yes, we are going out for lunch though. I am not sure where. He said he would like to keep some things a surprise."
"Well, sounds like you have found quite a catch. He sounds so formal. I will have to make it a point to meet this guy."
"Please be nice when you do. This is the first guy I have actually really ever liked enough to show interest in."
"Oh well, sure. Go on. Get ready for the nights with Jackie. I will call Dad myself and tell him for you." She jumped up and gave him a hug.
"Thank you." she felt so happy she nearly tripped on her feet as she ran to her room. That was really nice of her brother even though she had been so mean toward him. She really had to find some way to apologize and thank him at the same time. Maybe she would buy him a new guitar with her allowance money. He would love that. Renée picked through her closet trying to find something that would be just appropriate enough to go on a lunch date with. She didn't want to overdress or under dress, but not knowing where exactly they would be going had her struggling to find something just right. She finally settled on some designer jeans and a blue shirt. She would just have to settle for nice casual. She packed the rest of her clothes, toothbrush, hairbrush, and other essentials. She almost forgot to call Jackie when she headed out the door. She knew that it would be more than fine for her to stay, but she liked to give a heads-up anyway.
"What's up, chickadee?" Jackie answered.
"I am not going to Dad's this weekend, and in order to do that, I have to stay at your house tonight and tomorrow night. Are you up for it?"
"Of course, but tomorrow night, I will be absent from my house for a little while. Is that all right with you?"
"Sure, but where are you going?"
"I have a date with Castiel. We are going to the movies."
"Really, well, that is spectacular. I have a date with Gage that afternoon, but I will tell you all about it when I get there. I am walking out my door right now."
"I can't wait. Hurry up, okay?" Renée ran out of the door, nearly dropping her keys in the rush. By the time she got to Jackie's door, she bent over heaving from the run.
Jackie was already standing outside waiting for her. "I didn't mean for you to run like hell, just to not take your time." Jackie laughed so hard she could hardly get the sentence out.
"Sorry, I am really excited. Please tell me that Castiel gave you his phone number. I never got one from Gage and did not want to have to explain how I got it from the school records."
"Well, of course I did. Why do you need it?"
"Gage thinks he is going to be picking me up at my house. I need to tell him where you live and that I will be here instead. He will be picking me up at 11:00 a.m."
"What kind of date begins at 11:00 a.m.?"
"The kind where he brings me to lunch and the rest is secret."
"Mmmm, I think I like the sound of that. Hold on a second, I will find the number." She ran to find the phone number on a piece of paper in her backpack. She hadn't had a chance to program it into her cell phone. When she returned, Renée walked to her room to put things down. "Here you are. It is his cell phone so Gage probably will not answer. Would you like me to call?"
"I am not sure. If I do call, do you think that he will know who I am?"
"Oh yes, he knows who you are. Gage talked about you a lot. He said it was funny because he never does that. You must have made quite an impression."
"I did not really do anything at all. I just left him alone. Please call for me, though. If you can get Gage on the phone for me, I will talk to him, but I think I will be fine not talking to Castiel right now." She really did not want to tell her friend that she felt wrong about Castiel. Jackie picked up her cell and called him while walking out of the room for a moment. With Jackie momentarily gone, Renée took the moment to put her stuff in the bathroom and get the guest bed ready for later.
"Cas said that Gage was not with him at the moment, but he would definitely give him the message. He also wanted to know if you would want to go out with us Saturday night. A double date."
"Well, I am not quite sure what Gage has planned, so I do not know. You are on a nickname basis now?" she did not really want to go out with them; she just wanted to have Gage all to herself on Saturday.
"Yeah, you like it? Castiel was just a little strange. So what do you want to do tonight?"
"I do not know." A knock sounded at the door, and Jackie excused herself to get the door.
"Renée, your brother is here." Jake followed her back to the room. In his hand he held a familiar notebook and pencil holder. She could not believe in all the excitement she actually forgot her art book.
"Oh gosh, Jake, thank you so much. I think that I have lost it lately."
"I figured it must be all the excitement of your date. I thought you might want it though. You seem to go everywhere with that thing."
"Yes, I guess I do. What are you going to do this weekend?"
"I will probably be at Jason's house. Take Rachel out to eat on Saturday. Avoid home altogether."
"Sounds like fun." Jackie rolled her eyes.
"Oh, are you jealous, Jackie? Should I take you out instead? I'm sure we could have so much fun."
"Jake. Stop teasing. Now we have girl talk to do so get going. Tell Jason I said hi and have some fun. I will see you Sunday." She pushed Jake out the door and shut it before he had a chance to throw another comment at Jackie or Jackie back at him. "I swear you two act like brother and sister more than he and I do."
"Well then, I guess that makes us sisters." She smiled from ear to ear with mischief. "And we are dating brothers." She grinned with elation at the revelation.
"You are just so bad. So what do you think about movie night? We can have popcorn and gossip all night."
"It sounds like fun to me. Should we watch horror, fantasy, science fiction, or gag-a-rama drama?"
"Horror," they said together, laughing.
Renée spent the next hour telling Jackie everything that happened from when she first met Gage to when they split ways on Friday to go to separate classes. When she finished, Jackie spent the next three hours telling her everything she talked about with Cas. If she ever wanted to know anything about the two of them, Jackie was the one to talk to. It seemed Cas nearly told her their entire life's story. She and Jackie did not fall asleep until two o'clock that next morning. Renée knew that she would be tired when her date came, but she just remained too excited to care.
...
An annoying buzz sounded in Renée's ear, jolting her out of a peaceful deep sleep. She got about six hours of sleep. She just wanted to go to sleep for another hour. But then it hit her, why her alarm went off so early. She had an all-day date. That was all it took to get her up and into the shower. She allowed for so much time to make sure that no matter what, she'd look her best and her nerves could be calmed as much as possible with a hot shower and a hot breakfast.
The blissful shower helped her wake up. Jackie had a Vichy shower so water hit her from every side making it nearly impossible to pull herself out to get ready. She set aside her clothes the night before so that she would not have to worry about them being wrinkled from the bag they were in. She quickly dried her hair and applied the Bare Essentials foundation, mascara, eyeliner, and light-colored lipstick. Feeling refreshed, she raided Jackie's kitchen for some oatmeal.
Before she knew it, 10:30 a.m. arrived. Her nerves were on end. Sitting on the edge of the plush couch in the living room facing the television watching reruns of Sailor Moon, she bounced her legs restlessly.
She thought Gage would never arrive. Jackie was still asleep when someone knocked at the front door. Lo and behold, on the threshold, stood Gage, dressed pristine. He wore loose-fitting blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black long-sleeved button shirt with white seams. Gage spiked up his hair to top it all off. Renée fell speechless. The very sight of him erased all thoughts from her mind.
"Am I too early? Are you ready? Are you okay?" He looked at her concerned.
"I am sorry, yes I am ready. Let me just grab my keys really quick. I will be right back." She hurried away to Jackie's room. Jackie just got up when she rushed in to grab her keys.
"Renée, take a deep breath and calm down, you look as if you just ran a marathon."
"Thanks, Jackie, I will see you later today?"
"Oh yes, sure. Now get out there, it's not nice to make him wait too long you know." With that, she walked as fast as she could to the front door. Not wanting to seem over-eager, she took a deep breath right before walking out.
"I hope that you like Italian. I have a special place in mind for lunch." Gage was smiling for once from ear to ear.
"Oh yes, I very much like Italian food." She felt flushed. He walked her to the car, opening the door to let her in. He walked to his side and climbed in. She noticed the car smelled much like the cologne he wore.
Delicious.
"How was your night? I hope you did not stay up too late."
"Oh no, I did not stay up too late. I will be just fine. I always have fun at Jackie's. I do not know what I would do without her."
"So you two are really close?"
"Yes, it seems like we have been friends forever. There is nothing that we do not share about one another."
"That is wonderful that you have someone like that in your life. Good friends are so hard to come by in this day and age."
"Yes, I agree. I would rather have just her than the popularity that runs around in that school."
"Very wise choice-oh, look, we are here."
"Macaroni Grill?"
"Do you not like it? We can go somewhere else if you want."
"No. This is perfect, it is my favorite place."
"Wonderful." He got out and walked around. Opening her door, he held out his hand to help her out of the car. He made her feel so delicate and graceful. Together they walked into the restaurant. Renée could not believe he actually thought of taking her to her favorite place to eat. It was astounding that this would be the first date. It seemed as if nothing at all could go wrong.
The Macaroni Grill didn't seem at all busy for a Saturday. Renée and Gage were able to sit in a secluded place, providing a lot of privacy. It was quiet, and at least they did not have to wait for a table.
"So what did you and Jackie talk about last night? I am sure that Castiel must have given her much to discuss."
"Oh yes, he sure did. Jackie was talking almost nonstop for nearly three hours. I have never seen her so elated about anything like that."
"I am so happy they get along. They are going out tonight, correct?"
"Yes, actually they asked if we wanted to join them. I said we would think about it."
"Would you like to go out with them tonight?"
"Actually, if it is all the same to you, I would rather not. I kind of would rather just have you alone today." She hoped so bad that she did not seem desperate by any means.
"Of course, I am actually really happy that is what you want. I would rather have you to myself as well. What would you like to do tonight then? I have only planned up to this evening."
"Well, if you do not mind I would like to see what you have planned before I make a decision."
"Well, yes, of course. Just let me know when you make up your mind."
"Hello, I'm Kelly. I will be your waitress for today. Are you ready?"
Kelly took one look at Gage, and she fell for him. Her eyes practically lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Renée, are you ready?" Renée watched the reaction on Kelly's face so she barely heard Gage.
"Yes, I will take a root beer, and I am still looking." She looked at Gage, seeing if he indeed noticed the same thing she had about Kelly. If he had, he managed to either hide it or he did not really care. She hoped for the second.
"I will take water, and I will order when she is ready. Thank you." Gage returned his attention to Renée without another word.
"You do realize that girl barely managed to not jump on you the entire time?" Renée said once the waitress left. She was actually surprised the woman didn't drool at the mouth. What was it with Gage and females? It seemed that no matter where he went, they would all flock to him. He personified hot, she had to admit that, but whatever happened to too hard to get?
"What? Oh, I manage not to let it bother me anymore. It is such a bother." He seemed so bored with his popularity it made her wonder if he might be gay.
"Please tell me you are not gay." I cannot believe I just asked him that. Her face turned bright red right after she asked. She could not take it back now. She didn't even want to know the answer.
"No, of course not, I just have a particular type of person I like. I like people that do not conform to society. Like you. In fact, you are the only person I have ever met that has managed to catch my attention." It almost seemed as if he were going to say more, but held it back.
"Thank you, I think. Do not get me wrong, I am really happy that I can catch your attention, but am I really all that different from everyone else?"
"Yes, more than you know." That made her wonder. How was she so different from others that she stood out that much?