I took a big breath and answered the phone. "Um Hey" I said quietly.
"Hey Jailbait, you ok? You took a long time to answer" he said sounding nervous.
"Uh yeah I was just err talking to my friend and I didn't feel the phone go off that's all" I lied grimacing at Rachel who was staring at my phone like a lovesick puppy.
"So did you get my message this morning?" he asked,
"Mmm hmm" I mumbled looking pleadingly at Rachel for something to say, she was frantically nodding her head with wide eyes mouthing 'say yes' over and over.
"Ok well do you want to go?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.
I looked at Rachel one last time "Say yes!" she whisper yelled at me.
"Yes" I said quietly.
I heard a muffled "Yessssssssss!" from the phone that I assume I wasn't meant to hear, "Kinda excited there are ya?" I joked smiling in spite of myself.
"Uh yeah sorry, you weren't meant to hear that" he said a bit sheepishly, "So where do you live?" he asked I could hear him rustling paper around in the background.
"I live on Cotton Road, near the pond, number 17, you know where that is?" I asked I hoped he did I was useless with directions.
"You live on Cotton Road? No wonder your so close to Clay, that's where he lives right?" he asked sounding a little surprised.
"Yeah he lives next door actually" I answered.
"Ok well I know where it is, I've been to Clay's before, so I'll pick you up at 7 then" he said sounding really excited.
"Ok see you then" I said snapping the phone shut and breathing out a sigh of relief that it was over. Not that talking to him was hard it was actually quite easy but the whole decision thing was a pain in the ass.
"Great that's done, so next question, do you tell Clay?" Rachel said with a smile. I groaned, I couldn't lie to my best friend but at the same time I didn't really want to have to tell him either, he would be seriously pissed about it. "Ok I have a solution, how about we just avoid him altogether, that way you don't have to lie to him or tell the truth, there's only one period left and you don't have it with him, so just text him and tell him that I'm taking you home tonight so you don't need a lift and that you'll see him tomorrow" Rachel said. Ok that's not actually a bad idea, that way if the date is a disaster he doesn't have to know and if it's not then I can tell him I went tomorrow!
"Ok good plan, we'll make an evil mastermind out of you yet" I said hugging her tight.
* * *
Oh God I was so nervous, I had never been nervous about a date before ever. I left my hair down and added some soft curls and a tiny bit of makeup, I never wore a lot so I didn't want to go too overboard. Rachel had come in after she dropped me home and had helped me pick out an outfit. I was now in a black skinny jeans and a tight red v neck top that showed a little cl**vage but wasn't too slutty, I'd opted for red open toed high heels that would probably kill me if I have to walk or dance in them, but he said dinner and a movie in the text so they should be ok.
I felt sick, I just kept staring at myself in the mirror, I heard the doorbell ring. "Holy crap he's early" I muttered looking at the clock that said five to seven, I bounded out of my room to get the door only to hear voices coming from the hallway. Shit! I stopped out of sight to listen.
"So where are you taking my daughter tonight?" I heard Brian ask, I smiled a little at what he said, he has always called me his daughter, bless him.
"Err I thought we would go to this little Italian restaurant that I know and then to go see a movie if that's ok, I mean does she have a curfew or anything?" Blake asked.
"Well it is a school night, you do know she's only 17 right?" Brian asked, I bounded down the stairs then embarrassed as hell.
"Brian! He knows how old I am jeez, leave him alone would you?" I said giving him a kiss on the cheek and grabbing my black leather jacket, I refused to look at Blake until my cheeks stopped burning but I could feel his eyes on me.
"Well like I was saying to Blake here, it's a school night Riley, so your Mom and I agree that you should be home by 11" he said sternly, I gave him my puppy dog face, pouting my lip slightly.
"But Brian, we might not get time to see a movie if I have to be back by then" I said quietly looking at my feet.
"Oh, well ok 11:30, but not a minute past ok" he said shaking his head, I laughed and kissed his cheek again.
"Thanks" I said with a smile as I turned to face Blake.
"I got you these" he said handing me a dozen red roses, oh my God that is sweet, the only one that ever gave me flowers was Clay.
"Wow, Um they're beautiful, thanks" I said blushing, jeez what do you say? My stepdad was standing there watching me, how embarrassing!
"Your welcome" he said with an easy grin.
"Brian could you ask Mom to put these in water for me?" I asked holding out the flowers for him, he nodded, "I'll see you later" I said.
"Goodbye Sir" Blake said holding out a hand, Brian shook it firmly.
"You look after her you hear me?" he said sternly.
Blake nodded and smiled politely "I will Sir" he answered.
He smiled at me as we walked to the car, "You look really beautiful" he said looking me up and down slowly making me feel a little self-conscious.
"You don't look bad yourself" I said, wow that is the understatement of the year! He had on his biker boots nicely ripped jeans and a black shirt that he had left undone a little and had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, his hair and face were gorgeous as usual. I was so completely checking him out that I didn't even realise that we had got to the car already, he was standing there next to the open door waiting for me to get in and I was too busy staring at him. Holy shit! What an idiot! "Err sorry, I was just thinking whether I brought my phone or not" I lied blushing and getting in the car.
"You have it?" he asked I nodded and he smiled before closing the door and walking round to the drivers side. "You like Italian?" he asked I nodded and giggled.
"Doesn't everyone?" I asked, he smiled as we pulled out.
The restaurant was nice, it was small and intimate and perfect for a date, there were candles on each table making it really romantic. "So you have your Dad completely wrapped around your little finger, are you a Daddies girl?" he asked while we were eating.
"He's not my Dad, he's my Stepdad, but he's really great, he married my Mom when I was like 7, but I guess in a way I'm kind of a Daddies girl, he likes to spoil me and he gangs up on my Mom with me" I said with a laugh.
"He seems like a nice guy" he said smiling,
"Yeah he's the best" I said.
"That good?" I asked pointing at his lasagne.
He nodded "Want some?" he said holding out a forkful to me,
"Wow that's so romantic Blake, you want to feed me?" I asked jokingly trying not to laugh, he snorted and shook his head putting the forkful in his mouth instead. "Hey I was gonna eat that I was kidding" I said grinning, he chuckled and got another forkful and held it out to me, I put my hand over his and brought the fork to my mouth slowly and took the food off the fork slower than normal trying to make it look seductive. I think it had the desired effect because he drew in a jagged breath through his teeth and let it out in a little moan.
Wow that's tasty, he knows some good places, I bet that's because he's been on a lot of dates. I mentally slapped myself for thinking about him with other girls. "Wow that is good" I said after I had finished, I'll have to bring Clay here, he loves lasagne, and my chicken pasta alfredo is awesome so he wouldn't even mind swapping. Clay always does that, he orders something I'll like so that we can swap half way through. Wait why the hell am I thinking about Clay? Jeez Riley you are on a date with a super hot guy and your thinking about your best friend! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"Yeah me and my sister some here a lot to eat" he said simply digging in again.
"Yeah, how old is your sister? Are you close then?" I asked,
"She's 26, and yeah we're pretty close, I live with her actually, my parents died when I was 13, Michelle was 19 so she became my legal guardian after that, she's really great, you'll like her" he said with a fond smile. Ok did not see that coming, his parents have died?
"I'm sorry about your Mom and Dad, but your sister sounds great for taking you on like that and still being a kid herself" I said kind of in awe of this girl who was two years older than me when she had to start raising a grieving hormonal teenage brother.
"Michelle's great, she works here actually, not tonight though, night off" he said with a grin. I breathed a sigh of relief I didn't really want to be meeting his family on a first date.
"And what does your sister think of you dating a minor?" I asked smirking, there is no way he's told his sister about me. Ha lets see what lie he'll come up with.
"Well at first she thought I was crazy but now she just said 'what will be will be', whatever that means" he said with a shrug, Wow ok he actually looks like he's telling the truth, he must be a good liar.
"Hey guys you all done here?" the waiter asked taking our empty plates,
"Can I get you any deserts or coffees?" he asked Blake looked at me
"Jailbait?" he said cocking his head to the side looking extremely cute.
"Umm no thanks" I said smiling at the waiter.
"Ok just the bill then please" Blake said with a smile.
"You don't want a desert? I thought all girls liked desert" he said frowning and leaning in towards me over the table.
"No I like sweets and popcorn" I said waggling my eyebrows making him laugh.
We decided to watch a comedy film in the end and he bought popcorn and chocolate. He wouldn't let me pay for anything, he said that I could pay next time and gave me a sly wink saying that then I would need to come out with him again. As we walked past a group of boys standing around the foyer waiting for their screen to be cleaned they all turned to me and started whistling and making cat calls. I felt him stiffen next to me and he grabbed my hand pulling me away from them to his other side protectively, whist shooting them death glares.
I giggled "Wow possessive much?" I asked grabbing a handful of popcorn, he just continued to glare at them until we were at the door to our screen.
"So where do you want to sit?" he asked once we were safely inside.
"What? You don't want to sit at the back?" I asked faking shock, he chuckled,
"I would definitely like to sit at the back, I'm asking you where you want to sit" he said giving my hand that he was holding a little squeeze.
I chuckled and pulled him forwards "Lets go for the middle back" I said giving him a smile.
He sighed "Whatever you say Jailbait" he said following behind me.
I sat about three quarters of the way down, not too close to the back that he would get funny idea's, not that I didn't want to make out with him because I definitely did. This date was actually going great and I was surprised at what a nice guy he was, well so far anyway. I tried to keep in mind that he was a player but it was hard when he was being so sweet. As the movie started he put his arm over the back of my chair easily and casually as if he thought nothing of it, it was quite sweet actually. His hand was only a few centimetres away from my shoulder so I reached out and tangled my fingers with his pulling his arm around my shoulder instead of being on the chair. I saw him look at me and smile out of the corner of my eye so I just kept looking at the screen. The film was funny and we both actually laughed at the same parts which was good.
Once it had finished we walked slowly back to the car holding hands, my shoes were really starting to hurt me now, I knew I shouldn't have listened to Rachel. "You ok?" he asked when I stopped to take the damn things off,
"Yeah my shoes are hurting me, they're new I should have worn them in" I moaned taking the other one off.
"You can't walk barefoot, there could be glass or something" he said frowning.
I laughed "Blake jeez! It'll be fine" I said staring to walk again.
"No way" he said tuning around and bending down in front of me,
"What are you doing? Checking for glass?" I asked laughing at him,
"I'm not letting you walk with no shoes so I'll carry you" he said I could almost hear him roll his eyes at me, I sighed wow this boy is sweet!
"I'm heavy" I warned as I wrapped my hands around his neck and my legs around his waist.
He just laughed, "Heavy? Yeah right, I think I can handle it" he said standing up and wrapping his arms around my thighs. It actually felt quite weird to have another guy do this sort of thing, I was so used to Clay that even Blake's body felt a little wrong between my legs, wow there I go again thinking about Clay!
* * *
When we pulled into my drive he smiled, "There I got you home in plenty of time" he said proudly looking at the clock on his dashboard, it was 11:15, I laughed.
"Well thanks for tonight I had fun" I said honestly smiling.
"I did too" he said smiling his perfect smile showing me all of his teeth. "I'll walk you to your door" he said getting out and jogging round to my side to open the door. As I went to step out he grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder making me scream slightly, he just chuckled, "Shh, you'll wake the neighbours, I don't want Clay to come and kick my ass" he joked as he carried me up the steps to my porch and putting my down gently. "Next time we go out wear more comfortable shoes" he said nodding at my heels in my hand.