“A date? Like a proper, official, let’s go for a day out together and then back to my place kind of date?” squeals Kate.
We sit together on the park bench, where she has been interrogating me for the past few hours. I promised to tell her everything about the day of the Mayville race, but I wasn’t quite expecting her to interpret my ‘everything’ as ‘every-little-freaking-miniscule-detail’. My face aches- my throat from talking and my lips from smiling.
“Um, yeah? I guess?” I laugh. “Although not all dates end in ‘back to my place’, Kate.”
“Trust me, judging by the way he looks at you, this one will.”
I blush scarlet; I can’t help it.
“So, what you gonna wear? Where are you going? Details, details,” she claps her hands excitedly.
Honestly, I don’t want to talk much more. I feel selfish enough as it is, blabbing on about my life as though it was a soap opera. Plus, her constant insistence on knowing everything is beginning to get on my nerves. As much as I love Kate, if she carries on this way I’ll be forced to tell her exactly where she can shove her ‘details’.
I sigh, brushing these thoughts aside with a sweep of my hair, and indulge her request. “We’re going to watch a movie. You know, basic date material and all that. No, I don’t know what we’ll see- it’s a spur of the moment kind of thing.”
“And then?” she prompts.
“Well, the movie’s late so there won’t be any romantic dinner involved, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Kate tuts and backcombs a few strands of hair which stick up comically. Beneath the bangs, her eyes are bright. She’s happy for me.
“I meant,” she elaborates, “what then? As in, what happens afterwards?”
That is actually a very good question. For all our strengths as a team, Will and I are awful at organization.
“I’m not actually sure,” I admit. “We haven’t really planned that far.”
“So if he asks you to go home with him? What’ll you say?” Kate sits on the edge of her seat.
“Um, I don’t know.”
“That, girl, is the worst thing to say in that situation. ‘I don’t know’ is almost worse than ‘no way’! Say yes! It’s so obvious that you should. Why, in bed I bet that boy would-”
“And that’s quite enough!” I stop her, my face blazing. “Oh look, here comes Joey! Hey, Joey!”
“Ladies” nods Joey, sauntering over to sit between us. He’s so whipped; offering Kate the one cookie left in the packet he holds and already giving her bedroom eyes. She kisses him gently on the lips and I smile for a moment, glad that the whole Rob fiasco is a thing of the past and that she's found someone who genuinely cares.
Beside me, the lovers’ kiss deepens and I shift awkwardly. This, I realise with a surge of relief, is my cue to go.
“Bye Kate, I wouldn’t want to third wheel on you or anything so…”
Kate’s eyes narrow as she pulls away from Joey and she grins.
“You got off lightly,” she says. “I expect a call as soon as you get back from this hot date, you hear me? Or tomorrow, if you two, you know-”
“Understood!” I interrupt, miming chopping motions to my neck while Joey’s back is turned. Kate just laughs, and her laughter continues as I walk away, only stopping when Joey’s lips find hers once more.
****
That evening, I panic again over what to wear, and how to style my hair, eventually opting for a completely overemphasized look that does not fit my personality one bit. Grunting with frustration, I let my hair loose, scrub at my ‘plastic’ face and reapply only the barest foundation, blush and mascara. Then I change into a fitted tee, a leather jacket and dark jeans.
Better.
I am in way over my head with all this date stuff. Will and I have texted non-stop since the Mayville race and yesterday he mentioned that since we were together again and this time he wanted to do things better, he wanted to take me out on a proper date. As his girlfriend, I was over the moon.
Almost as if on cue, a knock sounds from the downstairs door and for once my mother beats me to the post. Typical.
“Will!” I hear her gushing over him. “You look so handsome, young man. Chloe will be down in just a second. One moment. Chloe!”
I step around the doorframe and grin, incredibly glad that I opted to change my clothes. Will has obviously put some thought into his outfit, looking hot in a top that shows his muscles and a pair of loose jeans, but his cheeky smile makes him seem casual also, like he doesn’t want to scare me too much with formality.
“Chloe,” he murmurs, “you look stunning.”
“Thanks,” I blush, and then decide to tease him to lighten the mood. “I would say the same to you, of course, but…” I look him up and down with my eyebrows raised, faking horror. He laughs, and so does my mother.
“Have a good time, you two. And Chloe, I expect you back before curfew, understand?”
For a moment I am mortified about the whole curfew thing. I mean, what seventeen (eighteen in a week) year old wants her boyfriend to know that she has to be back by a certain time so as not to worry mummy? But then I realise that my curfew is 2am, and that the time is only seven o’clock, and that there is plenty of time for us to spend together since the film should last for a mere two hours.
“Okay, mum.” I roll my eyes, but she grins at me and I grin in return. We understand each other. “Come on, Will, let’s go.”
“Bye, Mrs Golding!” calls Will. She waves once and then closes the door, leaving us to get into the taxi and be on our way. Will opens the door for me, allows me to climb in, gets in beside me and then kisses me so powerfully against the plush leather seats that I pity the taxi driver. Butterflies whirl within my stomach as we sit back minutes later, linking our hands in the space between us.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hi,” I laugh.
The taxi driver clears his throat awkwardly. “Where to?”
****
As soon as we are driving, the debate begins:
“So, what movie do you want to see?” Will asks me.
“No idea…” I say. “I don’t even know what’s on! This was kind of a last minute thing, wasn't it?”
We laugh, smiling. After a moment of silence, we both take a deep breath and say at the same time “I know this is a date, but-”
Hearing each other’s voices to the same words makes us laugh. Both of us stop, hesitant to continue.
“Go on,” he says.
I wring my hands in my lap nervously and hope for the best. “I really don’t want to have to sit through one of those crappy rom-coms,” I admit.
Will raises his eyebrows. “You know, I had you pinned as the rom-com type.”
“There’s a rom-com type? Explain.”
“Oh, you know, there’s just these obvious signs. Traits, if you will. Someone into rom-coms has this idealistic view of relationships, like they’re expecting them to play out like the movies. Sometimes, they even add their own little quirks like, I don’t know, kiss lists?”
I swat his arm with my free hand.
“Well, I’m a walking contradiction then. I don’t like them. They make me gag. Anyway, what were you going to say?”
“When?”
“Just now, when we both started talking at the same time.”
“Oh, right,” Will says. He looks at me and there is a smile in his eyes. “Actually, I was going to say the same thing.”
“You totally weren’t! Oh come on, Will, you were going to beg me to watch one with you.”
“You got me,” he jokes. “Seriously, though, I hate the things. Face it, we’re more similar than you’d like to think. Have you ever actually heard of a boy enjoying a rom-com? Or recommending it to his friends? No? Well there’s a reason for that.”
And so it is decided. Neither of us favour romantic comedies, which leaves us with a much narrower collection of choices. When the taxi pulls up and Will has paid (adamantly refusing to let me chip in), we scan through the showing lists and end up selecting an action/thriller. B-rated, perhaps, but better than a soppy love story. It’s just about to start, so we grab popcorn and milkshakes from the counter and race to screen three, where the movie will shortly begin.
“Is this the right screen?” asks Will. He has gone in before me, and I am struggling with the door. I don’t want him to notice that I’ve got my top stuck in it, so I squirm about, trying to untangle myself, and call back to him.
“Yeah. Screen three, no?”
“Awesome,” he breathes.
Finally I free myself from the clutches of the devil-door and start to wonder at his surprised tone.
“What’s so awesome?” I say, hurrying to join him.
“Chloe,” his face is lit up as the big screen bursts to life, the lights dancing over his features and making him seem ethereal. He holds out a hand to me and I take it, letting him pull me to the back of the theatre and watch as he spreads his arms wide. “We have the whole place to ourselves.”
****
(an)- apologies that this update is a bit lacking, but I'm struggling with writer's block and have been immensely frustrated as a result. Not to mention that the farm nearby decided to put manure on their land so my house and everything in it smells like cow poo -.- . Anyway, please show some love to this chapter if you actually like what I write- it might just inspire me :)
Ooh, and P.S.: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING HLoK TO REACH IT'S 8000 READ TARGET! You guys are officially awesome!