Home Run

Charlie’s POV

I heard my cell phone ring as I was stepping out of the shower. I rushed into my room, where my phone was sitting on my nightstand, charging, and looked at the caller ID. I saw that it was Zacky, and I didn’t know what to do. We haven’t talked in a while, so I had no idea what he was going to say to me. Was he going to say that he hated me, or that he didn’t want to talk to me anymore and this was going to be the last time he was going to talk to me? I was freaking out so much that I didn’t realize that my phone was still ringing and that it was almost going to go to voicemail. I pushed the answer button and slowly brought the phone up to me ear.

“Hello?” I stuttered.

“Hey, Charlie, what’s up?” Zacky asked like we have been talking to each other every day.

“Nothing much, just got out of the shower. What about you?” I asked.

“I have something I need to ask you.”

All I could hear on the other end of the phone was his breathing. I could tell that he was really nervous because since I have known him, he’s always talking and having a good time, but when he’s quiet like this, I know that he’s nervous about something. I don’t know why he’s so nervous around me right now. Usually when we’re together, we’re always smiling and laughing and having a good time, so this is new to me. I thought we had a great friendship, not one where we’re nervous around each other.

I heard him take a breath and waited for him to start talking.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” He finally asked.

“Not that I know of, why?” I asked back.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. THE Zacky Vengeance was asking me out on a date. As all of you know by now, I have liked Zacky when I didn’t know him personally, but now since I do know him personally, that just made me like him even more.

“Um, Charlie, are you still there?” Zacky questioned.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry. I would love to go out with you, Zacky.” I smiled.

“Great.” He said, smiling and taking a deep breath. “Is seven okay with you?” He asked.

“Yeah, that’s perfectly fine.” I said.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you at seven then.”

“Okay, bye Zacky.”

“See ya, Charlie.”

Zacky and I hung up at the same time, and I had a huge smile on my face. It was a dream come true. I scream so loud and happily, causing my brother to throw open my bedroom door.

“Where’s the fire?” He yelled over my screaming.

“There isn’t one.” I yelled, running towards Keegan and threw my arms around his neck, giving him a big hug.

He was totally confused so he just patted my back a few times. He pulled away from me and gave me a confusing looked while I was still smiling really big.

“What has gotten into you? One minute you’re moping around because Zacky hasn’t called you in like a week, and now you’re happy as a clam. What happened?” He asked me.

“Zacky just called me.” I smiled.

“And?” My brother asked.

“We’re going out on a date tonight.” I shouted.

“I think I just gone deaf. Good for you, sister. Now when he gets here, I need to give him the big brother talk.” Keegan said, taking off down the stairs.

“No you don’t. I’m a big girl.” I yelled down to him.

I walked back into my bedroom and went straight to my closet to pick out something to wear tonight. As I was looking, I realized that I didn’t have anything that would get Zacky’s attention.

Gotta call Val.

Val and I have become great friends, almost best friends. She’s really nice and easy to talk to. I can tell her things that I couldn’t tell my brother, and I know that she won’t tell anybody. She’s another Hallie, except nicer.

I grabbed my cell phone off my bed, where I threw it from all the excitement, and dialed Val’s number.

“What’s up, girl?” Val answered.

“Are you doing anything?” I asked.

“No, why?”

“I need to go to the mall like now.”

“Why?”

“Zacky asked me out on a date, and I have nothing to wear.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

“Val, are you still there?”

“Of course. I’ll be at your house in twenty.” She hangs up.

I look at the screen of my phone and laugh before pushing the end button. I start blow drying my hair and then straightening it. After that, I brush my teeth and put on my makeup. As I’m putting on my shoes, the doorbell rings.

“Val’s here.” Keegan yells up the stairs.

“I’m coming down.” I say and start walking down the stairs.

When Val sees me, she squeals and pulls me into a big hug.

“I am so happy for you. We all have been waiting for that man to grow some balls and ask you out. He’s had a thing for you since you guys sat next to each other at the baseball game.” Val said, pulling me to her car.

“You’re lying.” I tell her.

“I swear on mine and Matt’s relationship that I’m not.”

I turned to look out the window so Val wouldn’t see that I was blushing. If she swore on her relationship, then this must to big. I guess I was just too blind to see that he had feeling for me.

We pulled into the mall parking lot, and Val parked the car in a decent spot. The mall wasn’t too crowded, and I’m happy for that because I didn’t want to spend half my day here. I wanted to look perfect for Zacky, so I needed to get home as fast as possible to be able to make that happen. When we got inside the building, Val grabbed my arm and pulled me into the direction where Forever XXI was located. While we were looking for clothes, Val turned to me.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Val asked.

“Nope, Zacky never told me.”

Val pulls out her cell phone and starts texting, who I’m guessing is Zacky. When her cell vibrated, signaling she got a response, she smiled really big and put her phone back in her pocket.

“I know the perfect outfit for you.”

She leads me to where the shorts are at and starts looking for a cute pair for me.

“These would look so great on you. Go try them on.”

I walked to the fitting room and changed my pants. Val was so right; they did look great on me. I walked out of the fitting room to show Val. When she saw me, she started hopping up and down in her space.

“You are so getting those. Zacky is going to piss his pants when he sees you.” She squealed.

I laughed at her while walking back into the dressing room to change back into my pants. When I got out, Val wasn’t by the fitting rooms anymore. I started walking around the store, searching for her. I finally found her where all the cute shirts were, and I was shocked at how many shirts were on her arm, and she kept putting more on her arm.

“Val, aren’t you getting a little bit carried away with shirts?” I asked.

“You can never get too carried away with cute shirts. Plus, we need to find the perfect shirt to go with those perfect shorts.” She said.

I rolled my eyes as she gave me half of the stack of shirts and followed me back to the fitting rooms. I tried on about half the shirts that Val found for me before we both decided that this one shirt looked the best on me. We put the rest of the shirts on the racks by the fitting rooms before heading to the cash register to buy my stuff. The cashier rung the clothes up, and I paid for them before heading to the foot court to get us both smoothies.

“Are you going to tell me what Zacky has planned?” I asked Val as we waited in line.

“Nope, my lips are sealed.” She said, “locking her lips and throwing away the key.”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Nope, so get your smoothie.”

I pouted and told the person working that I wanted a strawberry smoothie. Val ordered a strawberry banana while I was paying. I drank some of my smoothie while Val was paying for hers, and after, we just walked around the mall some more. About an hour later, Val decided that we needed to leave to give me time to get ready. She was going to stay over and help me out. She was going to do my hair and make-up, even though Gena was the “hair lady”, as Val likes to call her.

When we got to my house, Keegan was spread out on the couch, watching a baseball game, and didn’t even hear us come in. We just ignored him like he did us and walked upstairs to my bedroom. Val pushed me into my bathroom and told me to put on my clothes before she would start on my hair and make-up. After putting on my clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror with both articles of clothing put together, and I got to say, Val did a really great job picking out my clothes for my date.

“You look so great.” Val screamed as I stepped out of the bathroom.

“Well, it’s all thanks to you.” I said.

“I know, right. Now, sit at the edge of your bed. It’s easier if I do your hair standing on your bed.”

I sat down, and Val started straightening my hair.

“Why aren’t you doing anything fancy? This is a date we’re talking about?” I asked Val, looking at her in the mirror.

“It’s just the first date. You don’t need to look like you’re going to some fancy place. You just need to look your best, and that’s what I’m doing for you.” She told me, running the straightener through my hair.

“But, on all the dates I have gone on, I’ve always made myself look better than I already do.”

“And have any of them taken you out on a second date?”

“Well no…” I trailed off.

“And that’s why. I know what Zacky looks for in a girl, so trust me Charlie; he just wants you to be yourself. That’s all he’s asking for.”

We both stayed quiet while Val was finishing my hair, and I’ve got to say, I looked really good. After my hair was done, Val told me to put on my clothes. After doing that, Val started on my make-up. She said that Zacky likes a girl that doesn’t wear too much, so she was giving me a natural look.

I’ve always worn make-up because I don’t like the way I look without it; I don’t think any girl likes what they look like without make-up. I was a little bit scared on how it was going to turn out, but when Val told me to look in the mirror, I was blown away. You couldn’t tell I had any make-up on, but I didn’t look ugly. This is the prettiest I have ever looked for a date. I never thought I was the most beautiful girl ever, but I didn’t think I was the ugliest one either, just average. I mean, yeah, I’ve had a few boyfriends, but none of them were long-term. The main reason the guys broke up with me was because they found a prettier girl to date, and the next day, I would see them holding hands with one of the popular girl from my high school.

“Oh my goodness, Val, I love it. Thank you so much.” I said, getting up off the bed and giving her a huge hug.

“No, it was no problem, darling.” She said returning the hug.

A couple minutes later, we both heard the doorbell ring.

“That must be Zacky. I’ll go answer the door while you put on your shoes.”

She ran out of my room and sprinted down the stairs. I put on my shoes, like she said to do, and looked at myself one more time in the mirror. I still looked better than ever as I walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs to greet Zacky.

Here goes nothing.