A/N: i feel like i should apologize for how long this chapter is...but kenna and cole are too cute to be sorry for tbh
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The days until Friday seemed like an eternity. I couldn't focus on any of my schoolwork, and was constantly zoning out at dance team practice. But finally, the day was here, and I was practically counting down the hours until our date.
Emma had come over to help me get ready, of course, since I was hopeless on my own. (Her words, not mine. Though I can't exactly argue with them.)
She kept my makeup light and simple, even though it was still more than I usually wear. My hair was curled and tied into a half-up, half-down style, and she had picked out my outfit days ahead of time: a blush pink sweater, white jeans, and beige booties.
When I finished changing, I stepped out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, where Emma was. She grinned when she saw me. "Cole's going to freak."
I blushed and went over to my bed, where the purse Em was letting me borrow was. It was simple but pretty: a gray crossbody-style bag with a crochet pattern on the front, just big enough to hold my phone, wallet, and lip gloss - the last one at Emma's insistence. Just before I put my phone in the purse, I turned it on to check the time: 6:56 p.m. I took a deep breath and tried to calm the butterflies in my stomach.
"He should be here any minute," Emma said excitedly. She was probably even more excited about the date than I was, since she was practically obsessed with the idea of Cole and me.
As if on cue, the doorbell rang, and Emma grinned while I tried not to freak out. It wasn't the idea of being with Cole that scared me - it was the setting, the fact that it was a date. I'd never been on an actual date before, and I was so scared I was going to do something wrong.
Before I knew it, Em was practically shoving me down the stairs. I glared at her before turning and walking towards Cole, who was standing just inside the doorway talking to my parents, a small bouquet of roses in his hands.
He looked so good it hurt.
His hair was left untamed, the curls almost covering his eyes, and he was wearing dark jeans and a light blue button-down shirt - with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
I am convinced that there is nothing more attractive in life than a guy wearing a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. (A/N: #truth)
His eyes lit up when he saw me, that same adorable smile growing on his face. I smiled shyly and walked over to him, ignoring the comments my mom was making about how cute we were.
"Hi," Cole said. "Um, these are for you." He held out the flowers, and I felt my heart grow about five sizes. "Y-you look...beautiful."
I smiled, feeling myself start to blush. "Thank you. You didn't have to get me flowers."
"It's our first date. Why wouldn't I?" He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
I blushed. Again, what am I supposed to say to that?
My mom quickly reached over and took the flowers from me. "I'll go put these in a vase. You guys should probably head out soon," she said, smiling knowingly at me.
"Yeah, you're right. Well, bye!" I waved to my parents and Emma before hurrying out the door, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible. My parents weren't really interrogative or overbearing like some others, but this was my first date, and I knew my mom would start getting emotional if I stayed there much longer.
Cole stayed inside to say goodbye to my parents. He shook my dad's hand, and of course my mom immediately pulled him in for a hug. I tried not to roll my eyes - it was just her personality.
Then he came out the front door, closing it behind him. He reached down and picked up something off the front porch I hadn't noticed before: a picnic basket.
"Wait. Are we going on a picnic?" I asked as we starting walking down the sidewalk, Cole leading the way.
He shrugged. "You'll just have to wait and find out."
"Wow, Cole, I didn't take you for the mysterious type."
"What can I say, it's all part of my image."
"The weirdo jock who sucks at talking to girls?"
He pretended to be offended. "Hurtful," he said, drawing the word out.
I laughed and shook my head. "Was that supposed to be an impression of Woody from The Suite Life on Deck?"
"What?"
"Nevermind."
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Ten minutes later, we had walked about five blocks from my house to a local park, which had a trail leading to an open field behind it. The sun was just beginning to set, making the setting look like something out of a painting.
Cole led me over to a spot near the middle of the field, where there was a large red blanket spread out, along with a stand-up flashlight for when it got dark. We sat down on the blanket, and Cole put the picnic basket between us.
I opened it, my eyes widening as I saw all the food that was inside: a large plastic container filled with fruit, a box of chocolate-covered strawberries, and the best part - a huge container filled with chicken nuggets.
"I know it's not the fanciest food, but I remembered you'd said chicken nuggets were your favorite food, and chocolate-covered strawberries were your second. And that you hate salad."
I just stared at him, a smile growing on my face. I had mentioned that once, but it must have been almost a month ago. I couldn't believe he actually remembered that.
"Wow," I breathed. "I can't believe you went to all this trouble for me."
He shrugged, trying to play it off, but I could see the blush creeping onto his cheeks. "It's no big deal. My aunt owns a diner, so she made most of the food. I would've done it myself but I'm a terrible cook."
I laughed. "Well, tell her I said thank you. This is amazing."
"I will. I'm glad you like it," Cole said as he started taking some of the food out and setting it down on the blanket. "Dig in."
I picked up one of the chicken nuggets and took a bite. "So."
"So," he repeated. "How was your day?"
"Good. Just busy. My biology teacher decided to give us a surprise test, and I'm pretty sure the dance team coach was trying to kill us in practice today, so that was fun. How was yours?"
He laughed. "Well, I was going to complain about my pop quiz in english, but I think you win here."
We were silent for a few minutes. Then Cole spoke again. "So I was thinking."
"Yeah?" I replied. "That sounds dangerous."
He rolled his eyes. "I was thinking that we don't really know each other that well. I mean, yeah, we know some stuff, but not the really deep, super important stuff. Like your favorite color."
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know my favorite color was critical to our rela-uh, friendship." I cringed, not wanting to freak out Cole by throwing around the "r" word. I didn't know exactly what we were right now, but I knew I didn't want to ruin it.
A look I couldn't decipher came onto his face for a brief moment before he covered it up with his normal heart-melting smile. "Well, it is. So, I was thinking we should play twenty questions."
I picked up another chicken nugget. "Sure."
"Alright." He thought for a moment. "Well, I should probably ask the most important one first. What's your favorite color?"
I rolled my eyes. "Black."
He wrinkled his nose. "You're joking, right?"
"Yes, I'm joking. Sort of. My actual favorite color is blue. But not royal blue, more like a turquoise."
He stared blankly at me. "There are different shades of blue?"
"Of course there are. Blue isn't just blue; it's navy blue, or baby blue, or teal."
"Why are colors so complicated?"
"Only to you," I said. "Okay, my turn. What's your favorite color?"
"Don't have one."
I raised my eyebrows. "How do you not have a favorite color?"
He shrugged. "Simple. I like them all equally. I don't discriminate. Except brown. Brown's gross."
"That's offensive. I happen to like the color brown."
"Really?"
"No. But someone does. And you don't want to offend anyone with your hatred of their favorite color."
He stared at me for a moment before shaking his head. "Weird."
"Right, I'm the weird one. You don't even have a favorite color! That's just wrong."
"Okay, moving on," he said, changing the subject. "When's your birthday?"
I rolled my eyes but answered. "March eighteenth. Yours?"
"October twenty-second."
"Really? That's next week," I said, bringing out my mental calendar. "Thursday, right?"
He nodded. "I'm going to Hershey Park next Saturday with some of my friends. Do you want to come?"
I thought about it for a second. I didn't know Cole's friends all that well, aside from Jaden. But if it gave me an excuse to spend time with him, I'd take it. "Sure."
He grinned. "Great. Wait, that doesn't count as one of my questions, does it?"
"Of course it does. And so does that."
"What?"
"You just asked if it counted as one of your questions. That's a question. And it was your fourth one. Only sixteen left, Wagner. Choose wisely."
He stared at me for a second. "You're weird, you know that?"
"I know."
"Okay." He thought for a moment. "What's your midde name?"
I wrinkled my nose. "Grace."
"I'm guessing you don't like it," he said with a laugh.
"No, I do, it's just so unoriginal. Literally half of the female population has Grace as their middle name. The other half has Elizabeth."
"True. But you know I'm going to call you Grace from now on, right?" He grinned.
I groaned. "Please don't."
"Sorry, Gracie," he said, not sounding sorry at all.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. What's your middle name?"
"Michael."
I grinned. "Well then, Mikey, it looks like we're even."
He groaned. "Ugh."
"So, Mikey, what's your favorite band?" I asked.
"Don't have one."
"What? How can you not have a favorite band? Especially with the greatness of One Direction and Five Seconds of Summer surrounding you?"
Cole shrugged. "I know, it's such a tragedy."
"It really is," I said, shaking my head.
"Okay, my turn." He paused. "How old were you when you started dance?"
I thought for a moment. "I think I was four. I'm not totally sure, though. How old were you when you started baseball?"
He laughed. "I was practically still in the womb when my parents started talking about me being a baseball player. My dad first taught me how to pitch when I was two."
I nodded. "Wow. That's dedication."
"Yeah. Or living your life through your kid. Whatever you want to call it."
I looked at the ground, not knowing what to say.
"Sorry, I just...um, sorry." He reached into the basket and pulled out the container of fruit, since we'd eaten all the chicken nuggets. "So, what's your favorite sport? To watch, I mean. I'm not getting into the whole 'is dance a sport' discussion with you. Already made that mistake."
I laughed. "Yeah. Probably baseball. I mean, I practically begged my parents to get tickets for the Little League World Series. But basketball is pretty close."
He smiled. "Well, thank God they said yes."
I smiled back. "Yeah." I thought about my next question. "Okay, what's your favorite sports team? Besides the Warriors, I mean."
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" He shook his head. "Anyways, for basketball, my second favorite is the Thunder. And baseball...I don't really have a favorite."
I nodded. "Hmm...okay, I've got a good one. Who would you rather have as president, Steph or LeBron?"
"Ooh, that's hard. I'd have to say LeBron, though."
"Oh, come on, Steph would be way better. And just imagine having Riley Curry in the White House."
He shrugged. "Eh. I'd still go with LeBron."
I shook my head. "And you call yourself a Warriors fan."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It's my turn." He thought for a moment, popping a blueberry in his mouth. "Would you rather," he said when he swallowed. "Be rich and ugly or poor and good-looking?"
"Rich and ugly. I could just get plastic surgery." I thought for a second. "Then again, if I were poor but naturally good-looking, I could marry rich."
He laughed. "Makes sense."
We continued like this for the next couple of hours, asking weird questions and laughing our heads off. Before I knew it, it was almost nine thirty, and I had to be home by ten.
We were now eating the chocolate-covered strawberries and having a heated discussion over which was better: cheesecake or cupcakes.
"But cheesecake has cheese in it, and sometimes fruit, so it cancels all the other stuff out. So technically it's healthy," Cole said.
I stared at him. "That makes no sense. Like, literally none at all."
"Exactly. Since I can't impress you with my science-y knowledge of all things cheesecake, I figured I'd just try to make you so confused you would be impressed by how weird I am. You know, "if you can't blow them away with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit."
I blinked. "I didn't understand half of what just came out of your mouth, but I think I just found my senior quote."
"You're welcome. See? I'm not completely useless."
I laughed. Cole really was something. What he was, I'm not sure. But he was definitely something.
A minute later, I realized something. "You know, you still have one question left."
"Oh, right. I forgot. Now I have to make it really good." He smiled. "Good thing I thought about it in advance."
I looked at him in confusion as he reached into the picnic basket and opened a pocket I hadn't seen before. He pulled out a small, skinny black box.
"What's that?" I asked. "Was I supposed to get you something, too? Oh, sorry, I-"
He cut me off by opening the box, and I felt my eyes go wide.
It was a rose gold necklace, a small heart hanging on a delicate chain. It was simple but beautiful.
"Cole," I breathed as I looked back and forth between him and the necklace. "It's gorgeous, but you really didn't have to-"
He interrupted me. "Gracie." His voice was soft, yet serious - just like the look on his face.
My eyes snapped up to meet his. I was too stunned to even get annoyed at him for calling me that. "Yeah?" I said softly, my heart pounding.
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
I froze. If it was even possible, my eyes got even wider.
He just asked me to be his girlfriend.
I felt my heart bursting in my chest, and I was smiling so hard my face started hurting.
I nodded, laughing. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend."
The look he got on his face was priceless. "Really?"
I nodded. "Really."
He grinned and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. After be pulled away, he started to hand me the necklace when I stopped him.
"Can you put it on?" I asked, smiling shyly.
"Um, yeah. Sure," he replied. He took the necklace out of the box, and I smiled, trying not to laugh as he fumbled with the clasp. I turned around and swept my hair to the side as he put the necklace on me, the cool metal laying against my skin.
When he was done, I turned around, and we just smiled at each other for a minute. I couldn't believe how lucky I was.
He could have any girl he wanted.
And he chose me.
Eventually, Cole looked at the time and said, "We should probably start heading back. I'd rather not be killed by your parents before the second date."
I laughed and helped him pack up the food, or what was left of it. Then we stood up, and I started to gather the blanket when he stopped me, instead picking it up himself. I rolled my eyes but smiled at how sweet he was, as he rolled up the blanket and laid it on top of the picnic basket, so he could carry it all in one hand when we started the walk back to my house.
As soon as we started walking, Cole reached out and took my hand in his, intertwining our fingers.
He didn't let go the whole way back.
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this chapter was so fun to write, i forgot how much i love writing this story
i hope you guys liked it, and i hope the double update makes up for the fact that i haven't updated this story in over a month...oops.
anyways remember to comment and vote if you liked this chapter!
(and please pray for me and my warriors...game 3 last night was pretty rough ngl)
~lindsay