Vivacity

"You're going to call me after the date," Aubrey said. It wasn't a question.

"Of course. I need someone to tell me what he was probably thinking," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Brent's... Pretty open about what he's thinking." I raised my eyebrow at that, but she didn't elaborate. "I'll talk to you later."

With a wave, she turned and walked to her car, leaving me with ten minutes to go.

For the remaining time, I made sure my make-up was clean and my hair was tame. Aubrey had dressed me in a short, white dress with red tights underneath. It made it more casual, she had claimed. She let me do my hair for the most part, letting me style it the way I usually did, but she added a small, black bow. My make-up was fairly casual, the only stand-out thing was the red lipstick.

I heard a knock on the door, and rushed to open it. Only, it wasn't Brent.

"What're you doing here?" I asked, trying not to sound harsh. He looked me up and down.

"Oh, wow. Sorry, are you going out?" Josh asked.

"Actually, yeah. She is," Brent answered for me, coming up the walk behind Josh. He wore white summer shorts and a usual button-down shirt, a few left undone.

"Who're you?" they both asked at the same time.

"Uh, Brent, this is Josh," I introduced, feeling the tension. "Josh, this is Brent. He's my... Date."

"Right," Brent scowled, looking the younger teenager up and down. "Are you ready, Sarah?"

"Mhm," I hummed. "Just let me run upstairs to get my phone and leave a note for my mother."

When I returned from getting my cellphone, Josh was still here and the two males were glaring at each other.

Sighing, I scribbled a note saying who I was with and to not worry. "Okay. I'm ready."

Josh cleared his throat, clearly not liking the fact that we were ignoring him.

"Did you need something?" I asked, resisting the urge to scream at him.

"My mom wanted me to invite you for dinner." He shrugged, looking past Brent.

"I have a date, Josh," I muttered. I stared at him as he nodded.

"So what do I tell her?"

"Dipshit, you tell her that Sarah has a date," Brent answered for me, anger painting his face.

"A date with an asshole," Josh snorted. "You know how to pick 'em, Sarah. I'm beginning to believe your earlier statement."

"Get out, Josh. I'd like to leave."

"Right, right. See you at school, then."

I bit the inside of my cheek, staring at Brent. "So what? Y'all fucked in the past or somethin'?"

My cheeks heated up and I quickly shook my head. "He was... My friend in elementary school."

He didn't look like he believed me, and we stared at each other for awhile. But then he shrugged, saying, "We're late. I told them we'd be there at three."

"Them?"

"Yeah. Just a couple of people I know."

"Where're we going? Because I really can't drink or smoke today," I told him as he pushed me out of my own house. "I have school tomorrow."

"We're not going to do any of that, don't worry," he assured me. "We're just going to the park."

"The park?"

"Mhm."

"Why?"

He grinned at me, opening the car door. "Surprise."