Falling Dumb Into Desire

"Kennedy, sweetheart, I have your tuxedo out there. Come on out and make sure it fits." My mom called through the door.

Sighing heavily, I set my guitar down, letting it rest against my bed, before I stood up. I crossed the room in a few swift steps and then opened my door to find my mom standing in the middle of the doorway, holding the tuxedo out to me.

"Mom, I'm not going." I muttered.

My mom's tired gaze turned stern within a half a second, and she put a hand on her hip. "Kennedy, you are going to go." She insisted. "This is your grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary and you are not going to miss it just because you want to mope around in your room."

"Mom, I don't have a date though." I frowned. "I need a date."

"You have plenty of girl friends, Kennedy." She sighed. "Ask one of them to be your date."

"Mom, all my friends that are girls are only my friends because they're dating my guy friends. None of them are single."

"Kennedy, why don't you just call Lacey and ask her to be your date, just for the night. Nothing more than just friends; surely you two are trying to be mature about this whole thing, yeah?" My mom asked, speaking of my ex girlfriend.

"Mom, Lacy made it clear when she ran off with that loser that she didn't want anything to do with me anymore." I frowned. "Besides, she's probably in California right now."

"Well, Kennedy, I guess you're just going to have to go dateless." She said, putting the tuxedo in my arms before I could protest. "Try that on, make sure it fits, and then I need you to go to the store to pick up some things for dinner."

I growled lowly but chose not to reply as I disappeared back into my room and closed the door before my mom could say anything else. Eyeing the tuxedo in dislike, I pulled my clothes off, tossing them aside before forcing myself to dress in the tuxedo. It was uncomfortable, but it fit nonetheless. Not wanting to wear it any longer, seeing as how I was going to be forced to spend a better part of the day in it tomorrow, I tugged it off and arranged it neatly on the hanger before I pulled my other clothes back on.

Scowling slight at my tuxedo, I made my way out of my room and to the kitchen where my mom was writing out her grocery list. She glanced up as I entered, observed my look, and then looked back down to her list.

"I don't know why you're acting like its the end of the world, Kennedy." She sighed.

"Because I don't want to hang out for half the night by myself, with no date." I huffed.

"All your cousins are going to be there."

"They're all gonna be with their dates." I frowned.

"Well then get our ass out there, and find yourself a date somewhere." My mom snapped, clearly running out of patience with me. Giving me another one of her stern looks, she held her grocery list out to me.

Muttering a few incoherent words under my breath, I took the list from her and turned around, making my way from the kitchen and toward the front door.

"Credit cards in my purse." she called after me.

Grabbing my keys from the small table in the foyer, I exited the house, stopped by my mom's Charger to snatch her credit card, and then continued my way to my used '01 Civic. Once inside my car, I started it up and scanned through the grocery list momentarily before setting it aside and stated off toward the nearest Safeway.

By the time I got there, I felt my patience running thin due to the lunch hour traffic I had been caught in; the fact that it was the middle of summer in Arizona didn't help much either.

Inside the store it was considerably cooler but it wasn't enough to keep my mood from sinking from annoyed to perturbed. Slowly, I marked things off of the grocery list as I added them to the cart. While standing in a particularly crowded aisle, waiting for my turn to grab some mayonnaise, I heard a voice call my name.

Tearing my eyes from the mayonnaise I had claimed mentally as my own, I looked over and found myself to be staring at a pretty girl who stood about six inches shorter than me, with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. Almost instantly, my bitter mood faded away, and a genuine smile crossed my lips.

"Hey Madison." I grinned. "Long time no see." How's your summer been?"

"It's been good." She said, returning a smile. "Hot and busy, but good. Yours?"

"Boring." I muttered. "But surprisingly hot as well." I joked lamely.

No matter how lame it was, though, Madison giggled softly before pointing to my shopping cart. "Planning a barbeque?" She asked, motioning to the ground beef and hot dogs I was instructed to get.

"Well ... yeah ... I guess." I sighed. "All my aunts, uncles, and cousins are up for a few days, so we're kind of having a family get together this weekend."

"Oh?"

"Yeah ... Its my grandparents 50th anniversary tomorrow and they're renewing their vows. They're going all out; big ceremony and a hoppin' reception to follow."

"That sounds fun." Madison smiled.

"Eh ... I guess." I mumbled. "I'm required to wear a tux and bring a date. I got the tux part covered, but so far no luck with the date."

"What about Lacey?" Madison asked. "Are you two not an item any more?"

"She ran off with a beach bum California boy." I frowned.

"Owch, sorry." She said, looking like she meant it. "I hope you find someone who would be willing to accompany you."

"Hey, " I said as the light bulb began to flash over my head. "Do you - "

"Madison, hurry up; we're gonna be late." A voice whined.

I tore my eyes from Madison and caught sight of a boy I recognized to be her younger brother.

Madison frowned at him in annoyance and told him to shut up before looking back to me.

"Sorry, Kennedy." she sighed. "I gotta get Jesse to his baseball game."

"At one-thirty?" I asked. "That's brutal."

"Double header too." Jesse mumbled.

"Honestly, I hope he passes out form the heat." Madison stated.

"Madison." Jesse growled. "We gotta hurry."

Madison rolled her eyes as she ran her hand through her brother's hair, messing it up.

"Well, we'd better get going then." She sighed. "I'll see you around Kennedy."

"Yeah." I called after her. "See you later Madison."

As I watched her walk away, I couldn't help but frown to myself, knowing that I had a perfectly good candidate for my date standing just in front of me, but didn't act fast enough to ask her. Still grumbling to myself, I snatched up a container of mayonnaise and then sulked through the store, collecting what was left on the list.

About thirty minutes later I was packing the groceries into the kitchen.

"Receipt?" My mom asked when I was done bringing everything in.

I pulled the receipt out of my pocket, as well as her credit card, and handed them to her.

She quietly thanked me and looked through everything before she turned her knowing eyes back to me, and then tilted her head to the side a bit. "You're in an even fouler mood than when you left." She pointed out. "What happened at the store?"

"Nothing big," I explained, "it's just ... I ran into Madison at the store, and I got the bright idea to ask her to be my date, but she had to take off before I got to ask her."

"Well, sweetheart, call her up on the phone and ask her." She suggested.

"I don't have her number though, mom." I said quietly. "Besides ... I doubt she'd want to hang out with me at some lame wedding anniversary. She probably has plans already for tomorrow; it's a Friday night after all."

"Kennedy, ask her to be your date." My mom pushed. "You won't know what her answer will be if you never ask her. You have John's number, he's bound to have Madison's number; they're first cousins for Pete's sake."

"Oh yeah," I remembered.

Knowing that she had me backed into a corner from which there was no way out, my mom gave me a soft smirk and then slid the house phone across the kitchen island toward me. Sighing nervously, I picked up the phone and quickly punched in the number to my friend John's cell phone. As my mom watched, I held the phone up to my ear and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?" John asked hesitantly. "Mrs. Brock?"

"No dude, it's me." I replied.

"Oh," John said, sounding more at ease, "what's up, Kennedy? I haven't heard from you in like two weeks."

"I know." I mumbled. "Listen, I ran into Madison a little while ago at the store, and I was wondering if maybe she'd be my date to my grandparent's anniversary party tomorrow. I, uh ... I don't have her number though."

"Huh? Madison?" He asked. "Well, I can't think of her number off the top of my head, but she's right here beside me. You want to talk to her?"

"No, wait - "

I was too late, though, and there were some strange, muffled sounds that flowed out of the phone's speaker as John's cell went from him to Madison's possession. I heard John in the background, talking indistinctively before Madison's soft voice came to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey Madison." I said, trying to keep my nerves from showing. "This is Kennedy."

"Oh, hey Kennedy." She greeted me. "Did you manage to get all your groceries?" She teased.

"Yeah," I grinned, despite the fact she couldn't see me, "I did." I paused momentarily, and then cleared my throat before I continued. "Um ... do you, by any chance, have any plans for tomorrow night?" I asked.

"Um ... tomorrow night?" She repeated. "No, none that I can think of. Why, what's up?"

"I was wondering if maybe ... you wouldn't mind being my date tomorrow night." I said shyly. "You know, for my grandparents' anniversary party and ... stuff."

"Hmm ... do I have to get dressed all fancy for it?" She asked. "Or can I just wear like ... a pretty summer dress and call it good?"

"Um ... I think something a little ... semi-formal." I stated. "Like maybe, your little black dress?" I suggested.

"How do you know I have a little black dress, Kennedy?" Madison asked in a teasing tone.

Even though we were only holding a conversation over the phone, I felt my cheeks start to burn lightly. "I don't know," I admitted, "I mean ... don't all girls have a little black dress that they keep on reserve for situations like this?" I asked slowly.

Madison laughed softly on the other end of the line before she replied, "yeah, actually I do have a little black dress."

"That'll work." I told her. "So ... is that a yes then?"

"Hmm ... yeah, I'll be your date tomorrow night, Kennedy." She said. "What time do I need to be ready?"

"Um, the ceremony and stuff is scheduled to start at 7 o'clock, and the reception will be immediately afterward. Maybe start getting ready around 5:30 or so?" I suggested. "I can call you tomorrow once I know for sure what time everything is happening."

"Alright, sounds good to me, Kennedy." Madison said.

"Alright," I confirmed, unable to keep a smile off of my face, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Kay, see you later, Kennedy."

"Bye." I said quietly before the other line went dead, indicating that Madison had already hung up on me.

Still smiling, I turned off the phone and sent it back on the countertop.

"See," my mom said, "that wasn't so hard."

"No, I guess not." I agreed.

"Madison is a nice girl, she'll be a fun date." My mom approved. "Maybe if things go good tomorrow night you should take her out on a date sometime ... like an actual date, date."

"I don't know, mom." I sighed, "We'll see."

It's barely been two weeks since my ex girlfriend has dumped me. I'm not sure whether or not I'm ready to start looking around for an actual girlfriend already. What I needed for now was just a friend, and a sweet girl like Madison was just the right person.