We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

The week had went by quickly. My friends were all glad that I was back at school and didn’t question what happened unless I told them. It was refreshing to not have to relay what had happened over the past few days.

It was currently Friday night and Violet and Adam were over, helping me get ready for my date with Rylan. Every one of my friends had tried to scope him out on what we were doing tonight, but he swore it was a surprise and that I’d just have to wait. It was a little nerve wracking to not know if I was wearing the right clothing and what not.

“Cass, Rylan’s here,” my mom yelled up the steps as I slipped my shoes on my feet.

“I’ll be right there!” I yelled back.

I nervously glanced at Violet and Adam who were grinning from ear to ear.

“Don’t be nervous, honeybee. It’s not like you can’t trust him. He fucking went with you to get Brylee,” Adam said.

“Language, Adam,” I scolded him as I pointed to Brylee sitting on my bed. She just giggled at the word.

Adam bent down and picked Brylee up.

“I love this little girl. She’s my favorite by far,” Adam said, kissing her temple. I smiled at them.

“Okay, guys, I need to get going. Thanks for helping me. Wait in here until I leave then you’re free to leave or stay until later. I don’t really care,” I said, grabbing my phone and money and slipping it into my pocket.

“Have fun!” Violet yelled.

“Use protection!” Adam yelled, causing me to blush. I then heard Brylee question what protection he was talking about and he responded with things like seat belts. I kept on walking, trying not to laugh.

I walked down the stairs and saw Rylan standing there talking to my mom.

“You ready?” Rylan asked as I stepped off the stairs.

“Yep,” I responded before saying good bye to my mother and walking out of the house. Rylan walked to my side of the car and opened the door for me.

“You don’t have to do that Rylan. It’s really not necessary.”

“I know, but I want to.”
I laughed as he shut the door and waited for him to get in on the other side. He started the car and we were off.

“Here,” he said, handing me his iPod. “You can look through and find something that you like.”

I scrolled through his song list and found Paramore as one of his artists. I turned on Misguided Ghosts and let Hayley Williams sweet voice fill the car.

“So, can you tell me now where we’re going?” I asked with a smile.

“Nope. You’ll know soon enough though,” he said with a smile in return.

The rest of the ride was a comfortable silence with minimal interruption. He held my hand throughout most of the ride and focused on where we were going. I stared out the window at the scenery, occasionally looking over and watching him. He pulled into an empty parking lot and walked around to my side of the car to let me out.

“Thank you,” I said, as he closed the door and wrapped his arm around my waist. I snuggled into his side as he lead us off to wherever he was taking me.

We walked for what seemed to be a very long time before he lead me to the top of a hill. Waiting there was a table and two chairs with a picnic basket sitting on top of the table.

“I tried to make a nice meal for you by myself, but I almost burnt the house down a few times, so David helped me. I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a laugh.

“It’s the effort that counts, right?”

“Right,” he agreed. “So for this evening, we will be enjoying chicken parmesan with garlic bread and sparkling grape juice to drink.”

“Sounds good,” I said as he pulled out all the plates of stuff and poured the juice into glasses for us to drink.

We started eating right away while asking general, relaxed questions.

“So, how did you find this place and why did you bring me here?” I asked him before taking a bite of my food.

“Well, when I was little, my parents used to be around a lot more. My mom and dad used to take me to picnics here all the time and we’d watch the sunset. I come here when I’m stressed and need a release. You’re just one of the first girls I’ve dated that I thought would really appreciate a place like this,” he said with a smile.

“Aww. That’s super sweet. This place is gorgeous.”

“Yeah. I think so too,” he said, before continuing to eat.

We finished eating right before the sun started to go down. Rylan packed up all of our dishes and pulled a blanket out of the basket before laying it out on the ground and sitting down. I followed his suit and sat down next to him. He wrapped his left arm around my waist and pulled me closer into his side.

“This is so pretty, Rylan. Thank you for bringing me here,” I said.

He looked down at me and kissed my lips slowly before pulling away and mumbling a ‘you’re welcome.’ We watched the rest of the sun go down. Rylan laid down completely and pulled me horizontal to his body so that my head was resting on his stomach. We chatted aimlessly about random stuff for a couple of hours before we noticed the thunder start up.

“We might want to get headed back. Sounds like it’s going to be a nasty storm,” Rylan said as he started to sit up. I sat up as well and stood up.

Rylan folded up the blanket and placed it back in the picnic basket before holding the basket in one hand and grabbing my left hand with his right. We got about half way back to the car before the rain started pouring down. Rylan started to run, dragging me along with him we got just to outside the car when he turned to me.

“I don’t think I’ve told you just how beautiful you look tonight,” he said with a lopsided smile.

“Thank you, but is this really the right time?” I said with a laugh over the rain.

He then grabbed my face in his hands, having already sat down the picnic basket, and pulled me closer to him. He bent his tall frame down to mine and kissed me slowly at first and picked up the pace over time. I pulled away first to catch my breath.

“Wow,” he whispered.

“Wow, indeed,” I replied with a laugh.

He pecked me quickly and hugged me close to his body.

“I know this may seem a little fast, seeing as we’ve only had one date, but I feel this connection with you, Cassidy. Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked, suddenly becoming shy.

“Um…I suppose so,” I said, with a big smile on my face. He laughed and kissed me again.

“Now let’s get out of this rain, yeah?” he said, opening up the car door for me.

He went and put the picnic basket in the trunk before running to the driver’s side of the car and getting in. I shivered in my wet clothes, waiting for the heat to kick on.

“Here,” he said, handing me the blanket from the basket.

I quickly put it on as he backed out of the spot and blasted the heat. He grabbed my hand and gently held it on the glove box between us.

I held my boyfriend’s hand the whole ride home. I like the sound of that.

My boyfriend.