I Can Not Tell a Lie But I Kind Of Have To

The Date

The week passed quickly in my anticipation of my first date with Leah. The final bell rang on Friday, and I walked with Daniel to our lockers. I reached in and dropped my history text book in my bag.

“Man, this thing is huge,” I said, surprised at its weight. “Mr. Larkins really laid on the homework.”

“I supposed you’ll start that tonight,” he said, “Like you usually do. You know, come home, your mommy will make you a snack-”

“A damn good snack,” I said pointedly.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” he said. “You’re mom makes the best food ever. The only food we have in my house is dog food. So you’ll eat your little snack, walk upstairs and start your homework and probably finish it before brushing and flossing like a good little boy and going nightie night.”

“Shut up,” I said, closing my locker and picking up my backpack. “I can’t do that tonight. Leah and I are going to Tuck’s for dinner.”

“Awesome!” Daniel cheered. “Can’t wait to see how awkward that’ll be for you two!”

“You’re not going,” I said, walking down the hallway.

“Not with you, no but do you think that Eric, Kyle, and I would pass up on an opportunity to watch you squirm?” he asked.

“You and Eric, no, but Kyle might actually discourage you two from going,” I said, walking out into the dreary parking lot.

“Eric and I will win him over,” he shrugged it off. “But we’ll see you two tonight. And don’t wear that cheep cologne you have. It smells horrible.”

“Says the guy who likes the smell of his own feet,” I said, turning towards my car. I didn’t really take into consideration that they might actually come. I thought he was just joking, so I pushed it out of my mind as I climbed the steps to Leah’s house at 7 o’clock that night. A guy about my age answered the door. He looked exactly like Leah, with big brown eyes and wavy brown hair that reached his ears. He, however, was much bigger than Leah. He was about 6 foot and could easily take over for the Hulk if he ever retired.

“Hey Neil,” he said, letting me in. “Leah will be down in a minute. You know girls, always taking forever to get ready.” I shrugged.

“I don’t really mind,” I said. “So do you go to school with Millie or a different school? I’ve never seen you around.”

“Well, I skipped a grade, so I’m a senior,” he said modestly. “My schedule probably doesn’t let me cross paths with you.”

“Wow, you must be a genius,” I said. He shrugged.

“Have a seat,” he said pointing to a chair. I sat down and he sat on the couch next to it.

“So listen,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “Leah’s my sister. I love her and don’t want to see her get hurt. I don’t want to sound creepy or anything, but I’m on the wrestling team with fifteen other guys my size.”

“Nuff, said,” I said, holding up my hands. “I really like Leah. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”

“Good,” he said.

“Andrew, did you just give him the “big brother is watching you” speech?” I heard Leah ask. I turn around and look up at the stairs. She was wearing jeans, a simple shirt, and little makeup. She was beautiful.

“Sorry Neil,” she said, looking to me. I stood up and walked over to the stairs. “He always does this.”

“I’m just a loving brother,” he said, shrugging. “Have fun.” We said good-bye to Andrew and I walked her out to my car. I held open the door for her.

“My, my,” she said, holding her hand to her heart. “Aren’t you chivalrous?”

“Just call me your knight in shining armor,” I said, bowing. She giggled and shut the door. I climbed in, started the car, and pulled out of the driveway.

“Did I tell you that you look great?” I said, after a long silence. I saw her blushing.

“No, really, you do,” I said. She smiled. And that was the high point of the evening. When we pulled into the parking lot at Tuck’s, we had barely spoken. I walked around to the other side of the car only to find that she had opened the door herself. Let the awkwardness begin.

We walked into Tuck’s and found a table in front of the pool tables.

“What do want to eat?” I asked. “I’ll go place our order.”

“Um, a cheeseburger would be good,” she said, sitting down.

“Thank you for not being those one of those girls who doesn’t eat anything,” I said. I heard her giggling as I went to place our order and pay. I was handed a little plastic square that would vibrate when the order was ready, and I nervously made my way back over to the table.

“It’ll be ready in a minute,” I said sitting down. She nodded at me and looked down at her hands that were folded and sitting on the table. I went through almost every conversation starter in my head but nothing seemed that great. Unfortunately, there weren’t any drinks or anything else to distract me from how weird this was getting.

When the little square vibrated in my hand, I went back up to the counter, paid, and brought the food back over to the table. I set it down in front of her and sat down to eat mine. I had only just taken a bite of my sandwich when something behind Leah caught my attention. There was Eric, Daniel, and Kyle standing at a pool table and laughing at me.

“Um, I’m going to the bathroom,” I said politely to Leah. “I’ll be right back.” I walked past her and over to the pool table. I quickly pulled the guys down, so we were crouching by their pool table.

“What is wrong with you?” I shouted at them. Eric just shrugged.

“Daniel called for an awkward seeking expedition,” he said. “I just had to come.”

“Daniel, you are so evil,” I said to him. He laughed.

“Thanks,” he said happily. I looked to Kyle.

“Why are you here?” I asked. “You hate these kinds of stupid things.”

“Two words,” Daniel answered for him. “Black-mail.”

“Blackmail is one word you moron,” Kyle shouted at him.

“Blackmail?” I asked. Daniel and Eric laughed. “What could you possibly be holding over him? He’s perfect.”

“Well, almost,” Daniel snickered. “Remember that Halloween party in 7th grade?”

“At Julia Van’s house?” I asked. “That was the one where we played seven minutes in heaven, right?”

“Yeah, and then her parents sent everyone home after they found Mark Bleecker and Amanda Graham making out in the closet,” Daniel said. “But do you remember who Kyle got?”

“Julia!” I said snapping my fingers. “Oh yeah, I remember! She scared you silly. You came out of the closet-” Daniel cut me off, holding out a picture.

“Looking like this,” he finished for me. The picture showed a very young, pimple covered Kyle who was trying to get away from Julia’s tight grip. His hair was ruffled and there were kiss marks all over his face. I started cracking up, and Kyle made a grab for it. Daniel snatched it out of my hand just in time and put it back in his pocket.

“I can not believe you kept that,” I said laughing.

“Oh shut up,” Kyle said, standing up and shooting a ball into a corner pocket.

“So how’s the date going?” Daniel asked.

“You already know creeper,” I shouted at him. “You’ve been watching me for the last ten minutes, or ten years knowing you.”

“Not a very talkative one, is she?” Eric said standing up.

“Not like Kyle’s Ashley,” Daniel said snickering again. Kyle brought his pool stick down, hitting him in the head.

“What was that for?” he shouted, rubbing his head.

“Oops, slipped,” Kyle muttered.

“I got to get back to her,” I said standing up. Daniel pulled me down again.

“One question,” he said.

“What?” I asked annoyed.

“Will you name your first child after me?” he asked. I rolled my eyes and left him laughing on the floor. I walked back over to the table and sat down.

“Sorry,” I said.

“No problem.” I noticed she had already finished her dinner.

“Okay Neil,” she said strongly. “You and I both know how awkward this is.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, “Just a little.”

“And I don’t know about you, but I feel a little less awkward now that I mentioned that,” she said, sighing.

“Yeah, me too,” I said, laughing. I looked over her shoulder and saw Eric and Daniel doing provocative dance moves. I gave them a weird look and looked back to Leah.

“So, what’s your family like?” I asked, sipping my drink. “I know you have a twin brother. He’s really nice by the way.”

“Well, I have a sister who goes to New York University for filming,” she said, “A little brother in 7th grade and an eight year old sister.”

“Wow, I wish I had a big family,” I said.

“No, you don’t,” she said. “I get all of my sister’s old clothes, the house is always loud and chaotic, I have the most annoying little sister ever, and my parents are going insane.”

“Aren’t they all?” I asked. “My dad’s been insane my entire life. Every year for my birthday, he gives me bill for all the things I’ve broken in the last year.”

“Wow,” she said laughing. “At least your dad has some grasp on life. Mine sits in his ugly, beaten up recliner chair, watching old golf tournaments from the 90’s.”

“That sounds like fun,” I said sarcastically.

“So what’s the rest of your family like?” she asked.

“Well, my mom is a mom right out of the 50’s,” I said. She laughed.

“No, seriously she is,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll come home from school, and she would have cleaned my room, my sister’s room, the living room, the stove, oven, and refrigerator, and made some sort of dessert. Today, it was cranberry and white chocolate chip cookies.”

“I wish my mom would do that stuff for me,” Leah said. “Every day I get home from school, and she just tells me to clean my room. I have yet to do that.”

“I have no idea what my room would look like if my mom didn’t clean it for me,” I said. “My sister will pretty much trash it every day. She hates me.”

“Oh, that’s horrible,” she said.

“I know,” I said. “I have absolutely no idea why.”

“No,” Leah said. “I meant it’s horrible that you think your sister hates you.”

“She does,” I said nodding. “She tells me daily. If she had the ability to vaporize someone into oblivion, I would be the first person there. I’m the good child in my family.”

“Me too,” Leah smiled. “My parents all want something different from each of us.”

“Let me guess,” I said, putting my finger to my lip and thinking. “They want your older sister to be successful.”

“Yes,” she said. “They’re convinced she’s going to produce a Hollywood film one day.”

“They want Andrew to be a famous athlete,” I continued. She nodded.

“Your little brother, and I’m just going to guess on this one,” I threw out there, “They want him to be a author.”

“How did you know?” she asked amazed. I shrugged.

“Just lucky, I guess,” I said. “And your sister…”

“Well, she’s only eight years old, but I think I know what my parents want out of her,” she said.

“Scientist?” I guessed again.

“Yes! You are one good guesser,” she said. “But you left out me.”

“Oh, yes. I was saving the best for last,” I recovered quickly. She giggled.

“They want you to be the first person on Pluto,” I said. She shook her head, laughing.

“They want me to be perfect,” she said a little more quietly. “I don’t know how I can be something that’s impossible to be.”

“It’s not impossible,” I said. “Because you are perfect.” Then, not caring that Daniel and Eric were watching my every move or that a half-eaten burger sat between us, I kissed her.
♠ ♠ ♠
There are very few romantic books where I have actually said “aww!” when it got to a really cute part, and the ending of this was one of them for me. I know that makes me sound really superficial and super confident that this is awesome, which I don’t think it is, but comment and tell me your thoughts.