June 25, 2021

"What are you still doing here?" I said stepping out of the house and closing the door.

I wasn't angry, I was more confused at the moment.

"I came back for you." He said with puppy dog eyes. "You weren't answering my calls or texts."

"Because I blocked you." I rolled my eyes.

"Then unblock me." He said as if there wasn't a problem with that.

"Why are you even here Jake?"

He hesitated, then ignored the question.

"I visited the bakery, but you weren't there. Some other guy that was working there jumped me after your Gran told him who I was." He pointed to his eye as dramatically as possible.

Oh my God. Phillips beat Jake up. The thought of him caring about me gave me butterflies.

I smiled. "So you met Phillips?"

His face turned even redder than it already was.

"Is he your friend?" He said crossing his arms.

"Why does that matter?" I said shrugging my shoulders, "we're not together anymore. You can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with."

His eyes went wide. I'm guessing he still wasn't used to me finally yelling back at him after all these years.

"I wanna make things right with you." He said sincerely.

I couldn't tell if he was actually being genuine or not anymore. I squinted my eyes at him and focused on his body language to see if he did anything that would mean he was lying, but he didn't. He just stood there and stared at me with eyes full of sorrow.

"Just go on one last date with me." He said, "if you don't end up liking it then I'll leave you alone. I promise."

I took a deep breath in, then slowly exhaled.

"Fine," I said. "But after the date, you leave me the fuck alone. Got it?"

"Yes." He replied, "If you don't like the date, I'll leave you alone."

"Good." I turned around and walked inside closing the door behind me.

My dad's head shot up from his phone and over to me.

"You're going on a date with him?" He said in disbelief.

"Were you seriously watching us? I hate technology." I said walking up the stairs.

Dad stood up and ran after me. Before I could close the door he stopped it by putting his hand between it and the doorway.

"Nope." He said pushing the door open, "I change my mind... You're still grounded."

"Dad." I said frustrated, "if I go on one more date with him he'll leave me alone."

"Fine. But if he hurts you-"

"He won't." I said sitting down on the foot of my bed, "you raised a badass remember? Nose, throat, balls."

He sighed then gave a soft smile. "That's my girl."

He turned and walked out of the room.

After purposely taking an hour to get ready so Jake would stand outside, suffering in the heat, I was ready. I didn't try to look good because I knew this wouldn't last long at all. I was prepared to make this the worst date ever.

My hair was straightened, I had mascara on but no other makeup, and I had on ripped jeans and a black champion t-shirt on. I tied my running shoes before slipping pepper spray in one back pocket, and my phone in the other.

As I walked down the stairs I saw my dad standing in the front doorway giving Jake the death stare again. I went on my tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek, then walked past Jake without a word.

He jogged to catch up beside me, then looked at me with a smile, then back up in front of him.

My dad watched us walk until we were out of sight, then went back inside. I know he was trying to protect me, but as I said, he raised a badass.

"Where are we going?" I asked, not looking at him, but I could feel his eyes on me.

"A diner for lunch." He said with a smile.

"Kinda basic." I said trying my best to get under his skin, "you couldn't have set up a picnic on the beach or something?" I crossed my arms.

"I mean, I just got here this morning." He said trying to not catch a temper. "Cut me some slack. I'm trying to make things right with you."

I stopped right where I was, then waited until he stopped to turn back and look at me.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want things to be right between us?" I yelled.

He took a deep breath. I could tell he was trying his best to not lose his temper.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, "just please, let's go." He nodded his head towards the direction of the bakery.

I sighed then continued to walk beside him.

When we got to the diner. I looked up at the sign and read "Normas Diner" then looked back down to see Jake holding the door open for me. I stared at him for a moment, then walked to the booth in the farthest corner.

After sitting there in silence while looking at the menu for five minutes, a tall blonde girl who looked about sixteen walked up to us. She had a pen behind her ear and her hair was in a long ponytail. I'm not gonna lie, she was very pretty, but I paid no attention to that. I was just focused on getting this date over with.

"What can I get you two love birds today?" She said taking the pen out from behind her ear and letting it hover in her hand above a notepad.

"We're not love birds." I said with no expression on my face, still staring at the menu.

"Alright then, what can I get you... two." She said focusing her attention on Jake.

"I'll have the Western omelet with a side of mashed potatoes." He said, then smiled up at her.

She wrote it down on her notepad then turned her attention back to me again.

"And for you ma'am?" He said as politely as possible.

"I'll just have the Grilled cheese." I paused, then added, "and a large Chocolate milkshake."

He wrote my order down as she did for Jake, then gave us both a friendly smile and walked back into the kitchen.

"A large?" He said with a smile then winked at me.

"Not for us to share dip shit." I rolled my eyes, "I just love their milkshakes." I lied.

His smile quickly disappeared.

I had never been here before. It was very vintage. It would be a cute place to take pictures with your friends or something.

As I was trying my best to look anywhere but at Jake, he decided to start a conversation.

"You know I hate what I did to you."

My head shot over to him and finally, our eyes locked. Mine were full of rage and confusion, while his were full of sadness.

"I hate myself more and more every day." He put his head in the palms of his hands, then looked back up at me. "I had my dream girl, and I fucked it up."

I didn't say anything. I just let him say what he had to say. But it wasn't until a tear fell from his eye when I realized he was being serious.

"I don't want to let go of everything we had, because you were all I had."

"Jake I-"

"No," he said cutting me off, "let me finish."

I sighed, then nodded.

"I had just got kicked off the football team the day before I came here for your birthday. Some guy on the team said doing coke would make me feel better about myself since it was obviously killing me inside. When we played baseball with your friends, it brought back memories of football and how much I loved it, so I went to your bathroom and did a line."

He wasn't lying. I could tell because when he looked at me, I could basically feel his pain.

I softened the expression on my face and reached my hand over the table to put it on top of his in attempt to comfort him.

"I'm sorry about the team Jake." I said kindly, "and I don't want to forget everything that we had either, but we can't go back to dating again after what happened. You know that." I tried to say that as kindly as possible because I really did feel sorry for him.

"I know, I just couldn't stand the thought of you hating me." He said looking down at my hand on his and smiling.

"Don't worry about that anymore. It's all in the past." I took my hand off his and set it down on the seat beside me.

The same girl came back with our food and set it down on the table.

"I'll be right out with your milkshake ma'am."

"Thank you." I said smiling.

She smiled back then took our menus and walked to a table where an older couple was sitting.

We both dug into our food which smelt amazing.

"I love old married couples." I said, admiring the old woman and her husband who were sitting across from each other hand in hand.

"Me too." He smiled.

We continued to eat and talk about how much we loved old people, when the girl came back with the milkshake.

As she turned her back to us, I said "wait! Can we have another straw?"

She smiled and pulled another one out of the pocket of her apron. "Of course." She winked at me, then walked away which made me laugh.

"You changed your mind?" Jake said with a confused smile.

"Who said friends can't share milkshakes?" I smiled. "Plus your paying so..."

He laughed then suddenly, a song started playing on the jukebox. I looked over to see the old man walking towards his wife and holding out his hand as a gesture to dance with her. The song was so familiar and I gasped when I realized what it was.

"Oh my god." I looked at Jake who was looking back at me with a knowing look on his face.

"Oh, pretty woman" by Roy Orbison was playing through the speakers loudly.

When Jake and I were in third grade, we danced to this song for our school talent show. It was hilarious. My dad got it on tape with his camera, but it would be impossible for him to still have it.

We laughed at the memory then continued to eat our food. As I watched the old couple together, I couldn't help but wonder who I would be dancing to old songs with one day. So much could change in a couple of years, and I hated that, but knew it was true.

Once we finished our food, we left a tip and paid at the register, then left.

We were both quiet for a while then I said

"Thank you." As I smiled up at him.

"No, thank you." He said looking back at me.

I hate to admit it, but I had a good time with him. I was glad we were on good terms now, even if we weren't dating. He was definitely a better friend than a boyfriend.

When we got back to my house, we hugged for a while, then said our goodbyes.

"See you in Texas?" He said walking backward.

"See you in Texas." I said watching him walk away.

My dad was sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch when I turned around.

"How long have you been sitting there?" I yelled from the end of the walkway. One hand was shading my eyes from the sun, and the other hand a thumb in my front pocket.

"Since you left." He yelled back.

I shook my head with a smile as I walked up to the house.

"I'm guessing you two made up?" He said with a look on his face that I couldn't quite make out.

"Yeah, but we both agreed to just be friends."

He stood up and walked over to the door and opened it. "I'm okay with that." He said holding it open for me, "as long as he doesn't lay a hand on you ever again."

I rolled my eyes playfully then walked inside.

"Hey, do you have that video of Jake and I's third-grade talent show?" I asked sitting on the couch.

"I'm not sure, if I did then it would be in Texas." He sat down next to me. "Why?"

"Just wondering." I smiled.