It All Started at an Amusement Park

"So," Joe said, "I'll see you tonight?"

I just nodded as I gave him a kiss a goodbye, shutting the door as he walked to his car. I waited until he pulled out of the driveway, and waved as he went down the street. As soon as he was out of sight, I shut the door.

Joe had finally figured out where we can go for our 'official' first date, since the fireworks didn't really count. But he's keeping it a surprise, so all I know is that I have to be dressed fancy by 8 o'clock. Why, I have no idea.

I looked as the clock, and saw it said a quarter 'til two. Great, I basically had six hours to waste before the date. Since I hardly had anything that was considered "fancy", I decided to go shopping.

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Once I got to the outlets, I decided to just walk around for a bit before I did any major shopping.

As I walked past each store, I finally came up to Forever 21. It was one of my favorite stores, so I decided to stop there. As I was walking in, I bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry," I said, backing up. When I looked up I couldn't believe who it was.

"Sophia?!" Anne Asked, shocked.

"Hey," I said, happy to see her, "I thought you were busy."

"Oh, I was," she said. "I was supposed to be spending 'quality time' with my new stepmom, but she went off after I refused to go in Victoria's Secret with her."

See, this is one of the reasons I hang out with Anne. She wasn't exactly a girly-girl (like shopping in Victoria's Secret) and she wasn't exactly a Tom-Boy. She was somewhere in the middle, like I was. And her mom died when she was ten, so she half knew what I was going through. Actually, I should say she fully knows, since her dad is careless like my uncle, and she hardly calls him dad. Only occasionally does she even call him father, but that;s only when they're in front of family. She hasn't called him dad since her mom died, because right after her mother's passing her dad simply changed. And by new stepmom, she wasn't kidding. Her dad married and divorced at least six women in the eight years after her mom's passing. Actually, I should say seven, since it's a 'new' one again.

"Way to spend 'quality time' together," I laughed, as we walked into Forever 21 together. We were both walking in at the same time, that's how we managed to bump into each other. "Nothing screams 'togetherness' while looking at lingerie."

We both laughed as we went to one side of the store, looking at jeans.

"So, what are you doing here?" She asked, with a knowing smirk. As if she even had to ask. She knew I only went shopping if I needed new school clothes or if I needed something fancy for something. That something most of the time meaning a date. And since it was only mid-summer and I shopped for school clothes in late-August.... well, there was only one other explanation.

"Well, I have a date tonight," I said, like it was completely obvious, because it was. "And I have to dress 'fancy' for it," I said, putting the air quotes around fancy, still not quite sure why Joe used the word.

"Well, when a guy says fancy, that usually means wearing a dress, or a skirt with a nice top. But in this case, I'm pretty sure you should wear a dress," she said, quickly walking over to the dress section. Like I said, Anne isn't really a girly-girl, but by the way she said that last statement, you'd think she is one. Maybe she has turned girlier, since the last time I've seen her or talked to her was a couple of months ago. I suddenly felt terrible.

"I'm sorry," I said, once I walked over to her. "For not talking to you for months. It's just, I had to work pretty much all day and the only time I wasn't working was when I was sleeping, so-"

She quickly cut me off. "Sophia, woah, slow down. It's fine, I know how your uncle can be," she said, giving me an assuring look. I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

"Thanks for understanding," I said, giving her a hug. She quickly returned it, then went back to looking through the dresses.

"Sure, it's fine. Now, we need to find a dress," she said, then looked at me. "Oh, and who's the lucky guy?" She asked while smiling.

That's where I hesitated. Do I tell her I'm going out with the Joe Jonas? I'm pretty sure she knew who he was, and I didn't think she hated him.....

"Um...." I started, hesitating a little, "Joe Jonas?" I meant to say it normally, but it came out as more of a question.

She just stared at me. "Joe Jonas," She repeated, making sure she heard correctly. I nodded. "You can't be serious." Okay, I guess she did hate him.

"Why?" I asked, completely confused as to why she said that.

"Sophia, seriously? I mean, c'mon, don't you read any teen magazines? Joe's classified as the Hollywood heartbreaker. Out of the three brothers, he's the one who started and ended the most relationships. He'll probably break your heart, and use you like....." she trailed off, knowing this was a sensitive subject for me.

"Like who?" I asked, "Like Dylan did?" My voice was cracking at the last part, signalling I was upset.

"Sophia," she stated, "I'm sorry for bringing that up. It's just I don't want you to get hurt again. You don't deserve it."

"It's fine, I can handle it. Let's just stop talking about it," I said, going back to looking at the dresses.

"Okay. Oh my gosh, I love this one," she said, holding up a dress. It was a blue dress, with spaghetti straps. It had ruffles that went downward, and a blue silk bow that tied around the middle. It went down maybe around mid-thigh. I liked it, and it was the kind of dress that I could wear with heels or flats. My kind of dress.

"Yeah," I said, agreeing and taking it from her to try on. I went in the dressing room and came out with it on, to see what she said.

"Wow...." She said, "Joe is going to flip."

I smiled as I went back and changed out of it, then came out with it. We looked a little more, findingapair of heels to go with it.

As we walked out of the store, I smiled to myself.

If this date went anything like today, then I couldn't wait for it to happen.