Wake up Under the Sun

I sighed, making a face at myself through the mirror. I was still in my pajama shorts and tank top even though it was pushing 3 in the afternoon. My hair was frizzy, knotted and sticking up on end, the epitome of bedhead. Kennedy had yet to call me, though I wasn’t exactly worried – I was sure he had some things to do with his band, and he promised he’d call.

But then a negative thought would slip in. Maybe he forgot. Or maybe he was too drunk to remember.

I had been going back and forth all day between those thoughts and to keep my mind away from the negative ones, I had already picked out my outfit and shoes and laid out the makeup I’d apply later. I hadn’t decided what to do with my hair, all of the possibilities currently keeping me occupied. I could wear it up in a plain ponytail or down, slightly curly. Or maybe I had enough time to straighten it. I could braid it or wear it in a bun.

I was twisting my hair around my hand toward the top of my head when my phone buzzed along the top of my dresser. I picked it up without looking, answering with a slight whine as I fought to free my other hand.

“Delaney?” Kennedy asked. He laughed softly and I felt my heart stop momentarily.

“Yeah,” I responded.

“You okay over there?” he joked.

I laughed through my nose. “I’ll be alright. What’s up?”

“Um, we just finished band practice. Is dinner at 7 okay?” he asked. Before I could answer, he rushed to add in, “I mean there’s a movie at 4 that I wanted to take you to, also.”

I smiled. “That sounds good, Kenny,” I told him. “I’ll be waiting out front.”

“Great! I’ll be there soon,” he exclaimed, obviously excited.

I laughed out a goodbye before hanging up. I pulled off my pajamas and stepped into my favorite navy blue halter dress with gold buttons running down the front. I tripped over my white flats with a little red ribbon at the toe as I wandered down the hall to the bathroom so I could brush my teeth. I returned to my room moments later to apply some mascara, eyeliner and lipgloss. I wasn’t much of a go-getter when it came to boys, and with Lex gone I wasn’t sure if this was right or not. I twirled around slightly and nodded in approval; I thought I looked cute.

I sat on the edge of the couch with my purse in my lap until I saw Kennedy’s car pull up. I couldn’t help but smile as I headed out the front door and toward his car. He had just shut his door when he realized I was already outside.

“Oh. D-Delaney,” he stuttered, smiling slightly. “You look.. really good.”

I smiled in return, the blush evident on my cheeks. “Thanks, Kennedy.”

He opened the passenger side door for me, allowing me to sit in the seat before he closed it and hurried around the front of his car to get to the other side. We drove into town in silence. Somehow I had forgotten all of my social skills and all I could do was nervously bite at my lower lip.

Kennedy didn’t seem to mind, though. He parked in a parking garage next to the movie theater and he walked close to me as we headed to the line to buy tickets. I was about to ask which movie we were seeing when he grabbed my hand gently and tugged me forward, up to the ticket window. The lady behind the glass looked less then enthused.

“Two for Get Smart,” Kennedy told her.

“I can pay for mine,” I said to him, to which he just smiled at me and handed me a ticket as the lady counted his change.

“It’s a date, Delaney,” he reminded me as he held the door open for me. I stepped inside, waiting for him. A family had taken advantage of the fact that he had been holding the door open and swooped in. There had to have been at least 10 of them filing inside. He huffed slightly, finally stepping into the cool lobby, continuing with his train of thought. “Anyway. It’s a date, so I’m going to treat you. Popcorn?”

I didn’t object after that. I realized it had to have been part of the dating process, giving up some things and allowing the other person to take care of you, and just went with it. He bought a large popcorn for us to share, two cokes, and a package of sourpatch kids. I had to laugh and shake my head slightly; dinner appetites definitely would be ruined after this movie. After Kennedy insisted on carrying everything, that left me to be in charge of the tickets, and nothing else. It was amusing watching him balance everything, and shush me when I offered to take something from him.

We sat at the top of the theater, directly in the middle. I crossed one leg over the other while he propped his feet up on the chair in front of him. He set the sodas into the cup holders, handed me the box of candy and placed the popcorn in his lap. He dug right in, too, grabbing a huge handful of popcorn and shoving it into his mouth.

“How was band practice?” I asked, giggling slightly as he helplessly watched a piece of popcorn fall from his fingers and bounce down his shirt.

“It was good,” he said. He looked at me and his eyes cut right through me, causing my heart to skip some beats and pick up an irregular pitterpatter. “We’re going on tour soon for a little while, a month or two I think, so we’ve been really kicking it up a notch to get ready.”

I would be lying if I said I was a little disappointed that they were leaving soon. I had only been here a short amount of time but they already meant a lot to me, even by doing the littlest of things. They acknowledge that I exist and they include me in things. It was nice to finally say I could call someone besides Lex a friend, and have them say it back.

“That’s awesome. Where are you going?” I asked, carefully peeling the boxtop off of the sourpatch kids.

“All over this side of the States, really. We’re doing a couple weeks of Warped Tour, then we’re hopping on a tour with Good Charlotte,” he informed.

“That’s great news. I’m excited for you guys,” I told him. He smiled right before the lights dimmed and the previews started.

Halfway through the movie, Kennedy took his hoodie off and let me borrow it. I hadn’t even realized I had goosebumps but he did, and he wanted to fix it. There was something about Kennedy that was so innocent and cute, he would never purposely hurt you. But how were you really supposed to feel on a first date?

The movie eventually ended. Steve Carell wasn’t my ideal comedy man but I do love Anne Hathaway. Kennedy loved it; it was all he talked about on the way to the restaurant. He reenacted the sound effects and recapped his favorites scenes. It was kind of funny and cute; he really did love that movie and I bet he’d go back to see it a second time sooner or later.

“So what did you think?” he asked me.

“It was okay,” I said honestly.

He laughed. “Just okay?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really care for Steve Carell.”

His face fell slightly. I could tell I had hurt his feelings. He pulled into a parking spot outside the restaurant. “Aw, gee, Delaney. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have taken you to that one.”

“It’s okay. I have a girl-crush on Anne Hathaway.”

He smirked. “Win-win, then.”

I laughed softly as we both got out of the car. He loosely draped an arm around my shoulders, leading me inside. It was then that I realized he had made reservations at one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

“Ken-”

“I came here for graduation,” he cut me off. “It’s not that expensive.”

I bit my lip as we were escorted to our table. It sure did look expensive. There were white linen tablecloths and a vase of flowers surrounded by tea light candles on each table. The waiter held my chair out for me and pushed me in once I was seated. I knew this wasn’t going to be cheap when I unfolded the cloth napkin with a slight snap and the elder couple at the table over glared at me.

“Really, pizza would have been fine,” I told Kennedy, looking over the menu. Even the salads were in the double digits.

He scratched the back of his neck. “I guess they raised prices.”

I pursed my lips slightly. I didn’t want to order anything because Kennedy shouldn’t have to pay for this kind of meal on a first date. This was something you save up for and went to on a special occasion, or maybe this was first-date appropriate for people in their late 20s and early 30s. Definitely not fitting for 18 year olds.

“Kennedy, I don’t want you to pay for me,” I told him. “This is too expensive.”

He frowned slightly. “Do you want to go somewhere else? Because I’m going to pay, whether or not we eat here, and you can’t stop me.”

I laughed under my breath, shaking my head at him. “If you’re really going to pay, we can go somewhere where we know we’ll both enjoy the food.”

Kennedy nodded, pushing his chair back. He pulled my chair out, offering his hand to me, and together we walked out of the restaurant as quickly as we walked in. The ride was silent as Kennedy decided where to go now. I knew that had thrown him a curveball but that place was just so awkward and out of our league.

We ended up at a Chinese place hidden in the corner of a shopping mall. The food was amazing – and cheap.

“So, I feel like I don’t really know much about you,” Kennedy said while pushing his snowpeas around his plate.

“What do you want to know?” I inquired, eyebrows raised.

Kennedy smiled and shrugged. “I dunno. You kind of just blew into town, you know? Why’d you leave?”

I sucked my lip between my teeth. I didn’t want to explain the whole story, much of it too complicated to boil down into a short story, and I’m sure the real thing was boring to hear. The same old thing happened to a pretty little girl, boohoo.

“Just.. Differences between my parents,” I offered lightly. “With everything changing, they figured I’d be best living with my grandparents.”

Kennedy nodded, now playing with the remainder of his fried rice. He had eaten all of his chow mein already, leaving behind a few select vegetables. “Do they know you’re back?”

“I mean, I called them and everything..” I purposely trailed off. I really had called them; they chose not to answer. It was surprising to me, considering they were the ones who sent me away. Was I just supposed to disappear forever?

Kennedy made a soft noise. It was one of those ‘I know what you mean’ noises, the one that spoke all of the words you knew they wanted to say but couldn’t figure out how to piece together into a comforting sentence. That one noise made me wonder exactly how he knew, because the look in his eye said he knew the feeling all to well. He set his fork down, allowing the waitress to take our plates.

“So,” I said cheerily to pick up the mood. “Have you always been in a band?”

His eyes lit up at the mention of music. “I’ve been in a couple of bands,” he told me as he scribbled numbers onto the receipt. He signed it sloppily and slid out of the booth. He waited for me to stand as well, and then we left. “Before this one, I was in a band called Last Call for Camden.”

“That one obviously ended,” I said. “Do you think you’ll stay in your current one?”

“Well, that’s the plan, really,” he answered. He stopped outside a window and gazed inside. He looked to me, his eyes glittering with childhood memories. “Want some ice cream? This place is seriously the best in town.”

It was called the Sugar Bowl and I had to admit when I walked inside I felt like I had been taken to heaven. It smelled like wonderful, freshly homemade waffle cones. They served everything, too, from fresh baked breads to sandwiches to ice cream.

“I’m paying this time,” I told Kennedy with a stern look in my eyes. He laughed, holding his hands up in defense.

We ordered – cookies n crème for me, rocky road for Kennedy – and I paid, after much nagging from Kennedy that I shouldn’t have to pay for anything on a first date. We sat outside in the cooling evening air, taking in the amazing tastes packed into the ice cream.

“So you were saying about your band,” I reminded him.

“Oh right!” he exclaimed. “The Maine. I hope we go far, you know? Music is my life.”

“Well it sounds like you’re doing well,” I commented.

“We are,” he beamed. “I have to say, we’re doing pretty damn good. I just never want this feeling to end.”

I smiled, taking another bite of my ice cream. “I never want this ice cream to end. You were right, this place is the best.”

Kennedy laughed. “We can come back sometime.”

We left after that, tossing our empty ice cream cups into the trash on our way to his car. As he drove, my mind kept going back to that little noise he made. The little mmhmph that hummed against his lips. It didn’t make sense that such a little, insignificant noise could mean so much but at the same time I could feel that it meant we were a lot more alike than we thought we were.

“I feel like there’s so much more about you that I want to know,” I said to him, my neighborhood coming into view. He looked at me as he pulled into my driveway, my little rented house waiting for me to come back inside. “Music may be your everything, but there’s something else about you that I can’t put my finger on.”

“We can save that for another time,” he told me solemnly. I swallowed hard, my lip yet again between my teeth as I pushed the door open and carefully got out of the car. He walked me up to the front door and waited as I fished out my keys.

“I had a great time tonight,” I told him, retrieving my keys.

“I’m sorry about the mess ups,” he apologized softly, his eyes focused on his shoes. He scuffed them on the walkway. “I didn’t know you didn’t like Steve Carell. Or that the restaurant was so expensive.”

“No, it’s okay,” I laughed.

“Can I ask you a question?” he asked sheepishly. “I mean, a kinda serious but awkward one?”

I nodded, “Of course, you can ask me anything.”

“I mean, I know you haven’t had a boyfriend before, but um.. was tonight okay for a first-ever first date?” he mumbled. “I’ve never really been someone’s first first date. I hope it was okay.”

“I mean, I have nothing to compare it to,” I told him. “So, in my eyes, it was perfect.”

His eyes lit up again, just like they did when he talked about music. “Perfect?”

I smiled and stood on my toes to kiss his cheek. “Perfect.”

He blushed a deep red as I unlocked the front door. “I’ll call you later,” he said, cheeks still burning, and slowly turned to walk back to his car.

I smiled again as he drove off. It was true. With nothing to compare it to, tonight was as perfect as it could get considering neither of us knew much about each other. But as I walked through the empty house, I found myself sighing and leaning against the kitchen counter in dissatisfaction. I didn’t want to invite Kennedy inside, that gesture being way too forward for my tastes, but I felt too alone now. Lex wouldn’t be back for another day and this house was just too creepy to be in it by myself. I fished my phone out of my purse and sent a text to John.

come keep me company?

I set my phone down and grabbed a teapot and a mug from the cabinet. I poured some water in, set it on the stove and turned the burner on high. I heard my phone vibrate with an answer from John while I was searching the pantry for my favorite lilac tea. I finally found it hidden behind Lex’s Easy Mac box then began to dig around for a bottle of honey. I finally read the reply about five minutes later and instead of replying back to him, I dialed Lex’s number.

“Hey Lane,” she answered loudly. “What’s up?”

I could hear the music in the background and I realized I had called her during a concert. “I just got home from a date with Kennedy,” I said, voice raised just enough so she would be able to hear me.

“What?” she nearly yelled. “Did you just say- Hang on.”

I held the phone with my shoulder and opened random drawers to find a spoon. Lex and I had ordered in so many nights in a row now that I still hadn’t become accustomed to the layout of the kitchen. Suddenly the noise in the background faded and I could hear her perfectly.

“A date with Kennedy?” she repeated.

“Yeah,” I laughed.

“Wow,” she said softly. “Hm.”

I removed the teapot from the stove and poured some boiling water into the cup. “What? Why hm?”

“I mean,” she hesitated. “I just.. John texted. He’s going to keep you company so you won’t be in the house alone.”

“Well, yeah. He’s a friend,” I defended.

“Lane,” she groaned. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?” I asked, annoyed.

She sighed heavily, obviously annoyed too. “This isn’t the first time he’s texted me since I’ve left. And hello, we talk about you all the time even when I’m there. Did you say you’d go on a second date with Kenny?”

“I mean, not in those words, no,” I responded slowly. What on earth was she getting at? “Why?”

She sighed loudly, dramatically. “You went on a date with the wrong boy, Laney.”

The doorbell rang. “I’ve gotta go, John’s here. I don’t think I get what you’re saying.”

“Whatever,” she laughed. “You’ll find out. Call me tomorrow, okay?”

I agreed and hung up. I picked up my cup of tea, headed through the house and peeked through the peephole. John was rocking back and forth on his heels, looking around as he waited for me to answer. I pulled the door open as I took a sip of the tea. I made a disapproving face, realizing I had forgotten the honey.

“Well, hello to you, too,” he chuckled.

“Sorry,” I laughed, covering my mouth. “I forgot to put honey in it.”

John followed me back to the kitchen and as I seeped a cup of tea for him, I mixed honey into mine. He leaned against the counter, staring intently at me. I sipped my tea, eyes focused on his. It was written all over his face that he knew he should ask about the date to see how it went and if it ended up okay, but I could see in his eyes that he really had no desire at all to hear anything about it.

“I know you don’t want to hear about it,” I said softly.

“Sorry,” he apologized under his breath, removing the tea bag from his cup. He, too, stirred honey into it before taking a taste.

I stared into my cup. “It’s fine. TV?”

John leaned into the corner by the armrest, his feet propped up on the coffee table, and his lanky body took up almost half of the couch. I set my tea down on the coffee table and leaned against him, flipping through the channels. After a few minutes, he finally took the remote from my hands and changed it to a specific channel. He then shoved the remote between the cushions. I sighed softly as Paula Deen pranced around the screen, squawking about something.

“Laney,” John said softly. I looked up at him, tilting my head back lazily. “Why did you want me to come over tonight?”

“What?” I asked, sitting up so I could get a better look at him.

“I mean Kennedy was already here. He could have stayed,” he reasoned.

Is this was Lex meant by I’d find out? Did she know that this would happen? “Why do you and Lex talk about me all the time?”

John made a face. “That’s irrelevant.”

“How? How is that irrelevant? I haven’t even been in town for a full month but apparently you two talk about me a lot, you even admitted it. I want to know why.”

“The same reason I talk about you a lot is the reason why I don’t want to hear about what you and Kennedy did on your date,” he groaned, his face in his hands.

“So, what does that mean? You like me?” I asked. “You wanted to be the one to take me on a date first?”

“I thought that was pretty obvious in the kitchen last night,” he said. He was going to say something else to further prove his argument but I had to cut him off.

“Wow, I am not a mind reader, John. If you didn’t want me to go on a date with Kennedy, you should have said so, not be a jerk about it and then come running after me to apologize,” I vented.

He stared at me for a moment then shook his head. “Let’s just stop. This isn’t where this was supposed to go.”

“Where was it supposed to go, then?” I demanded.

John swallowed hard as he stood up. “It was supposed to be heading towards me persuading you to stop seeing Kennedy and giving me a chance instead. Obviously I blew that one, because I’m such an asshole all the time.”

I didn’t understand at all. I had hung out with John probably four times, maybe five, and I had only been around Kennedy twice since meeting everyone. In a way it made more sense for John to have taken a liking to me than Kennedy, but to hear that both of them were interested in me? That was something I never thought I’d have to be prepared for. But John was leaving; he had left the room with his cup and I heard him rinse it out in the sink. He returned, glanced at me once, then bee-lined straight for the door.

“Stop,” I cracked. He listened, stopping immediately. I moved around so I could see him over the back of the couch. “I don’t know what is going on or how I should handle it. No one has ever expressed any interest in me but all of a sudden two guys – two best friends – like me? I don’t know how to approach that. But I do know that I don’t want my best friend to leave right now, because I asked him over so I wouldn’t be alone.”

John’s face crumpled at my words. “Laney-”

“Can you just come back over here and watch obnoxious Paula Deen with me?” I practically begged. “I hate this woman and you took the liberty to hide the remote.”

A little bit of light came back to John’s eyes as he slowly shuffled back toward the couch. We resumed our earlier positions, this time with John’s arm draped over my shoulder. He rested his head against mine.

“I’m sorry,” he started to apologize.

“I know,” I said softly. “You’re just an ass.”

He laughed, pulling me closer to him. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I didn’t want to lose my best friend. I liked what we had right now; I didn’t want to chance that vanishing. He offered me this sense of hope and ease, like whenever he was around I would be okay. Maybe that feeling made more sense than jumping into uncharted waters with Kennedy.

“I won’t go on another date with Kennedy,” I told him a while later. Paula Deen had finally ended and now it was a lesser evil, Bobby Flay.

“Lane, if you want to you can,” he persisted. “I don’t want to stop you from doing anything.”

I sighed. “It just.. right now I feel more connected to you than I do to Kennedy. It isn’t anything Kennedy has done, but I’ve spent more time with you and I know you. I feel more at ease with you.”

John sat there in silence for a moment, breathing quiet and even. “Well then, Delaney,” he began, his voice filled with confidence. “I’d like to take you on a date.”

I giggled softly. “My, two first dates in one week. I must be such a lucky girl.”

“Well, either that or-”

“Don’t make me hit you,” I warned him, knowing exactly where he was going with that sentence.

“What? I wasn’t going to say slut,” he laughed.

I rolled my eyes, “Sure you weren’t.”

“Hey, didn’t you call me a slut the first night we met?” he pondered aloud. I bit my lip. “Hey, yeah, you did.”

I grabbed a pillow and hit him in the head with it. “I apologized so many times for that.”

John took the pillow from me and smiled. “It’s in the past now,” he said smoothly.

Hours went by before my eyes became extremely heavy. John was softly snoring beside me, so I sleepily stumbled to my room and pulled my comforter off my bed. I sank into the couch, cuddling into John’s side, and tossed the blanket over both of us. So maybe things were moving a little fast for me right now, but I had all of my teenage years to catch up on.