Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

“Good luck Trini, we’ll see you tomorrow and Blaike’s house!” Mistey called, and I nodded and waved before getting into Brian’s truck.
“Hey kiddo, you excited for tonight?” It was finally Friday, and Mitchell was coming over tonight.
“Excited for him to come over? Yes. Excited for him to get the third degree from 4 scary buff dudes and Johnny? Not so much.” I said, and just laughed and nodded.
“We have to make sure he’s good enough for you sweetheart, we only do it because we care.”

“I know, but do you think you could at least TRY to be nice to him?” I pleaded, clasping my hands together and working my best sad face.
“I make no promises kid, we’re gonna do what we feel is the right thing, if it makes you feel any better, the girls will be there to back you up.” I sighed and nodded, knowing that was all I was getting out of him. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket, smiling when I saw Mitch’s text.

Hey cutie, what are we doing tonight? I grinned and tapped out a quick reply before slipping the phone back into my pocket.
Just a small family thing, nothing formal, shorts and a t shirt is ok.
Sweet deal man, I might be a little late, I told my mom that I would drop my little brother off at a friend’s house before I came over.
Aw, you’re such a good brother. That’s cool, text me when you’re close to my house, I’ll make sure I answer the door, my family is kind of intimidating lol.
Haha ok, I’ll see you in a few hours.
Yessir, see ya in a bit =]

I was still grinning when I walked in the door and ran up to my room to figure out what to wear. I came down twenty minutes later dressed in black Abercrombie shorts and a blue Billabong tank top with my black converse. My dad frowned when he saw me, and I just looked at him, deeply confused.

“Don’t you think those shorts are a bit small Trin?”
“No, I wore them to school on Friday and they passed the dress code, look, they go past my fingertips!” I demonstrated the length, and just sighed before shooing me out of the kitchen. I just laughed and skipped into the living room, plopping down on Johnny’s lap.

“Hiya Uncle Johnny! How’s life? Have you grown yet? I guess I shouldn’t be talking, since I haven’t grown an inch since I was 12, and trust me, I checked. Well, I’m gonna go see if Brian is standing by the pool, I have to get him back for pushing me in last week. Toodles!” I waved and hopped off his lap, walking outside, and quickly running over to Brian and pushing him in the pool before running back inside and sitting on my dad’s lap.

“Dad, you have to save me, I totally just pushed Brian into the pool, and he’s gonna come in here and try to throw me in, I know it. So if I could just chill here for a bit, until he forgets what I did, that would be amazing. Oh hi Steph, how’s it going? Good? Good, ya know, I’m really excited about Mitch coming over, I need you to make my wonderful loving father right here be nice to him. I’m sure he can hold his own, but I don’t want the guys to scare him away before we even go out ya know?” Steph just looked at me and blinked, nodding her head.

I made my way upstairs, I hadn’t seen Aja since yesterday and I wanted to say hi.
“Aja baby! How’s it going sweetie? You wanna come make cookies with me?” She giggled and nodded, so I picked her up and we slid down the stairs. And yes, I mean slid, as in we sat on pillows and slid down the staircase, it was amazing. Two hours and seven dozen cookies later, my phone buzzed, signaling an incoming text.

Be there in five
Ok, see you soon.
I was waiting in the front hall five minutes later when there was a knock on the door, and I quickly opened it to reveal Mitchell, holding a little boys hand?

“Hey, I am so sorry, but his friend got in trouble, and my mom is at work, so I brought him with me. Is that ok?” he asked nervously, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. I smiled and bent down to the little boy’s level, he looked about 5 years old.
“Of course it is, what’s your name sweetie?”
“Christoper, but Mitchy calls me Chris. You can call me that too if you want.”
“Ok Chris, you wanna come inside and play, there’s a little girl here named Aja, and I’m sure she’d love to play trains with you.” His whole face lit up.
“A girl who likes trains? Cool, where is she?” I smiled and led them inside, grabbing Chris’s hand and taking him to the living room, where I knew Aja would be with the rest of the guys and girls.
“Aja, this is Chris, can you share your trains with him?” the little girl nodded and stood up, going over to Chris and putting her hands on her hips.
“Ok, here’s the rule, don’t break the pretty ones mister!” Chris huffed, crossing his arms over his tiny chest,
“I don’t break trains, I’m not a baby!” Aja smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him up to her room. I smiled and glanced at Mitch before turning to the group.

“Ok everyone, this is Mitch, Mitch this is Brian, Zacky, Jimmy, Johnny, and my dad, Matt. These are the girlfriends, Lynnie, Corra, Jaz, Jasey, and Steph.” Mitch shook the guy’s hands, and got pulled into hugs by the girls. My dad then decided to speak,
“Alright everyone, let’s go sit outside and talk.” We all walked outside to the fire pit, where we usually had all our ‘family meetings.’ Dad started off the questioning,

“So Mitchell, how old are you?”
“I just turned 17 Sir.” Brian went next.
“What kind of car do you drive?”
“It’s a white 98’ Honda Civic sir.” Zacky’s turn!
“Was that your little brother or you’re son?”
“My brother sir, he supposed to go to a friend’s house, but his friend got in trouble, so I brought him with me.” Yay Johnny!
“What are your grades like?”
“I have straight A’s sir, I’m planning on being a doctor. Can’t get into Med School without at least a 3.5” And time for Jimmy.
“Since we know you have a job, do you scam on a lot of girls at work?”
“No sir, I’m not like that.” What felt like a billion questions later, (which Mitchell answered quite well) we sat down to eat the Chinese my dad had ordered. When we finished eating; Mitchell and I cleared the table; hand washing the dishes so we could have some alone time.

“So, have they scared you away?” I asked him, accepting the plate he handed me to dry and put away.
“Naw, they’re actually really cool, nothing I wouldn’t have done,” he smiled and kissed me softly on the cheek. I turned bright.red; then turned my attention back to the plate, which was now so dry it was shining. I heard him laugh and put the plate away, still blushing furiously as I accepted the next one.

Time Elapse: 30 Minutes Later
I stood at the door with Chris and Mitch,
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yep, I’ll pick you up at noon ok?”
“Alright, see ya later, bye Chris, thanks for playing with Aja!” Chris just smiled and hugged me, before taking Mitch’s hand and leading out the door. I waved one last time before shutting the door and walking back into the living room. I looked at my dad hopefully, and just looked at me for a minute before nodding his head in approval. I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck,

“Thank you daddy! I love you soo much!” I let go and ran up to my room to conference call Mistey, Blaike, and Sarah. Once they all picked up I shrieked my news,
“I’M GOING ON A DATE!”