Capsized Erring On The Edge Of Safe

“These pants with this shirt? No these pants with that shirt. Ugh Dede I don’t know what to wear!” I exclaimed falling on my bed in exasperation.

“Hon, we both know you will look adorable in whatever you decided to wear” Deanne told me reassuringly.

I finally picked up one last item of clothing that I decided was what I was going to wear.

“Thanks for staying with me and helping me get ready for my date” I told her gratefully.

“Oh you know I’d do anything to help my Anberlin” she replied grasping my shoulder affectionately.
***
The door bell rang and I was rushing around the corner to get it but my dad beat me there to my dismay. He jerked open the door staring for a moment before stepping back to let Demi into our home. I had to stifle a giggle at the way Demi looked standing next to my father. My father was wearing a polo shirt with a pair of khaki pants and a polo shirt even though he wasn’t working. Demi on the other hand was wearing a blue T-shirt with a faded pink heart over the left side of his chest, ridiculously tight jeans, and those same ratty converse. Not to mention he had sweat band around his head plastering his shaggy unwashed hair to the sides of his face. I loved it. My dad had a strict policy of no dating clients because he didn’t want me mixing with those types of people. Demi was definitely one of those types of people.

“Hi Mr. French, I’m Demi,” Demi said extending a hand to my dad and breaking the awkward silence.

“Hello Demi, so you’re planning to take my daughter out tonight?” my dad replied shaking Demi’s hand.

Oh god I could feel a dad speech coming on. “Yes sir,” Demi answered like a good boy “and I was wondering if there was a certain time you wanted Anberlin home by?”

My father looked taken aback at the question but replied barely skipping a beat, “She’s an adult so I trust her to be home at a good time.”

Demi finally turned to look at me and a wide grin spread across his face. “Wow, you look beautiful,” he said stepping forward to give me a hug.

The outfit I had finally picked was a long sleeved turquoise baby doll dress that came down mid thigh, a tangle of chains and glass beads around my neck, and black flats. My hair was flat and wavy against my head instead of its usual tendency to stick out in every direction. “Well if you don’t mind then I think we’ll go,” he stated turning back to my dad.

On our way out the door my dad called down the front steps “Take care of my little girl. She’s the only one I’ve got.”

We strolled hand in hand to his car down in the driveway where he opened my door for me. His car was a little beat up but still drivable. Demi turned the ignition and backed out of the driveway and out of my neighborhood of big houses in silence. “So what are we going to do tonight?” I asked him curiously.’’

“Well first I need to know. Do you like Chinese food?” he asked in return.

“Duh who doesn’t like Chinese food?” I replied with a grin.

“Then in that case our first stop the Panda Garden. They have the best take out… you’ll see where we’re going after that,” he said mysteriously.

“Oh come on. Tell me where we’re going,” I demanded, but he refused.

The rest of the ride to the Chinese place was spent on me trying to get him to tell me where we were going. Once we got back in the car with our food though I stopped asking a started munching on an egg roll. After we left the food we got back out onto the highway and chattered on about this and that, mostly music and movies. “Where are we going?” I asked after we took an exit in a direction I hadn’t gone before.

“I already said I can’t tell you silly,” he replied squeezing my shoulder although not in the same way as Deanne a few hours before.

The rode we were driving changed to gravel and after about five more minutes of driving Demi pulled off the to the side of the road. “Well here we are,” he said turning to take the food.

“I still don’t know where we are,” I told him raising an eyebrow.

“We are at my uncle’s old farm… and I have somewhere special to show you” he said giving me a smile.

He got out of the car and began to put the food and a blanket into a big basket he had taken out of the trunk of his car. He told me not to bring my purse so I slipped my phone in a pocket of my dress and put my bag under the seat.

“Okay come on,” he said taking me by the hand and leading me across an empty field and into a row of trees.

It was growing dark so I followed Demi dependently so I didn’t trip and fall on the uneven ground. We had driven over an hour to get this far from the city. After what seemed like forever we reached a huge tree whose leaves were already beginning to turn colors and fall.

“Now here’s the part where you’re going to have to trust me,” he instructed taking me around the edge of the tree.

“I’m going to need you to climb up these planks and I’ll stay right here so that you don’t fall and get hurt.”

The tree had planks nailed to it going all the way up the tree like a ladder. To be quite honest, falling was a very legitimate concern as it seemed the ‘ladder’ was very old.

“Promise you won’t look up my dress?” I asked rather meekly.

“I would never do that!” he said sounding a bit offended.

I nodded to him walked to the tree. I closed my eyes and grabbed the first plank at my level and began to step and pull my way high up into the tree. After about planks I reached a little platform just big enough for two or three people. I sat down carefully and peeked over the edge to see Demi climbing up carrying our basket of food on the crook of his arm. I slid over to make room for him when he reached the platform.

“You must be cold,” he said pulling the blanket out and draping it over me.

I took the blanket appreciatively because the air was very chilly as all nights in fall. We spent the next few minutes separating food and breaking apart chopsticks.

“Demi how are you so nice,” I asked him through a mouthful of vegetable stir-fry.

“What do you mean?” he returned

“Well it seems like you put so much thought into this. I mean, do you always do this for dates,” I continued.

“Oh I only do this for the especially cute ones,” he said smiling broadly.

I let him put his arm around my shoulders and put the blanket over his lap. We talked about our families… and I told him about my mother. His mother was gone too but she chose to leave. I told him that I thought that was worse than being dead and he agreed. The moon and stars were so brightly through the leaves that every time the wind blew it was like thousands of glittering ants were scurrying in every direction for miles.

“You have stars in your eyes,” he said searching my face.

“So do you but I don’t think it’s because of the sky.”

“I think you’re right,” he whispered and kissed my forehead.