Stay Positive.

Damon stood in front of the mirror mounted upon his bedroom wall, straightening out his clothes. He wore a baby blue, white vertical striped button-down shirt, a simple black fedora, and an old pair of jeans. It was his best try at dressing up, and he had a feeling that he had done miserably. Taking a deep breath, he brushed his hair out of his eyes and looked down at his feet, where his puppy was pawing at a piece of denim that was hanging loose from his jeans. Damon chuckled, leaning down and picking her up. He held her up at eye level for a moment, her gaze meeting his. He felt a grin forming on his face instantaneously as he stared into her big brown eyes. After a few seconds she inched herself forward, her tongue quickly flicking his nose. Damon shook his head, unable to stop grinning as he pulled her down and held her against his chest, walking to get his wallet and his keys. He slid them both in his pocket before exiting the house and pulling out his phone.

Just as he was about to text Jordan to tell her he was walking over, he saw her car already on the curb. He blinked, surprised. That was unexpected. He climbed in, smiling at her as he pulled on his seat belt. She pulled away from the curb, reaching over and scratching Damon's puppy under her chin before turning back towards the road. "How was your day, Damon?"

Damon glanced at her, shrugging before looking down at his dog. "Fine, I guess. I wasn't really doing anything. Sitting around, you know."

Jordan laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and nodding. "I did the exact same thing."

In fact, she was still in her pajamas. He noticed how she wore a baggy, paint stained white t-shirt, as well as pink and white flannel pajama pants.

And to think I attempted to dress nice for you.

Damon didn't respond to her, just nodded and turned to look out the window. In about five minutes, they were at her house. He climbed out, puppy in hand, looking up at the two-story house. It was a lot bigger than his small, two room place. He felt slightly intimidated, but brushed it off and began to walk up to the door after her. He walked in, looking around. "This is... a pretty nice place."

Dark-wood floors contrasted against the light beige rug under a black leather foot rest in the center of the room. He slowly walked forward, running his fingers along the soft surface of the beige sectional couch that sat against a window, red curtains pulled away to let in sunlight. While one wall was a light gray, almost white, the other was so dark it could almost be mistaken for black. Against the dark wall was a faded, yellow-brick fireplace. A flat screen TV that could easily be four times as big as Damon's tiny dinosaur television was mounted above the fireplace, facing the coffee table, connected to a black Xbox 360. The gaming console sat on top of a small table that one would usually put next to a bed, and this table sat right beside the fireplace.

"It's nothing special."

Damon looked at her, his eyes wide. "Are you kidding me? This living room his like, half of my entire house." She just giggled and he set his puppy down. She looked down at the unfamiliar floors, lifting one of her paws and setting it down a couple of times as if she were testing it out. She finally began walking, plopping herself down on the rug, laying against the leather foot rest.

Damon hadn't even noticed that Jordan had walked out until she came back and set a bottle of wine and two glasses on the foot rest. He just stood there, his mind blank, until she sat and patted the seat beside her. He shuffled his way over to her, sitting down. As she began pouring the glasses of wine, he cleared his throat. "I, uh, I don't drink."

She glanced at him and shrugged. "More for me, then," she said, pulling her feet up under her and taking a sip of the dark liquid. "The pizza should be here any minute." He nodded, rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans. After a few minutes of him staring at his dog, now completely asleep, and her staring at him, she spoke again. "You don't talk much, do you?"

He glanced at her and leaned back against the couch, removing his hat and running a hand through his hair. "Sorry... I just haven't been on a date in so long. I guess it's kind of awkward for me."

She shrugged, about to speak just as the doorbell rang. She set her glass down before getting up and walking to the door, paying the pizza guy before walking back over and picking up her glass, putting the pizza box in it's place. She opened it, then gestured to it, welcoming Damon to take a slice. He studied the pizza, seeing how half of it was plain cheese, and the other half had vegetables. It was a good sign for him, considering he was vegetarian, but it made him curious.

As he took a slice, he looked at her. "Are you vegetarian?"

She looked at him and shrugged. "More or less." She took her own slice, taking a bite before taking another sip of her wine.

He was slightly confused, but he just decided to drop the subject. It wasn't important, anyway.

They had finished the pizza by the time the sun was starting to set. Damon had watched Jordan down roughly half of the bottle of wine, and she was certainly feeling the affects of the alcohol. The puppy had woken up after the second time Jordan had thrown a piece of pizza at the wall and screamed once it didn't stick. The small puppy was now laying beside Damon on the couch, and he was calmly stroking her back.

"You know, you're a very handsome boy, Damon," Jordan cooed, walking over to him from where she stood, finally finishing cussing out the third piece of pizza that had refused to stick to her walls. Damon raised an eyebrow, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Thank you..?" He murmured, watching her as she sat on the couch beside him, turning towards him and grinning goofily at him.

She bit her lip, running a hand down his chest and popping the first button on his shirt. He pushed her hand away, only to find her swinging a leg over him. She straddled him, pinning him to the couch as she began to kiss his neck.

Damon didn't know what to do. He hadn't ever had a girl come onto him like this, and it was honestly scaring him. He pushed her back again, shaking his head. "Jordan, you're drunk. Don't - " he jumped when he felt her hand on his crotch. "Jordan. I'm serious. Stop." He pushed her off of him, standing and re-buttoning his shirt before he scooped up his puppy. "I had a great time, but I think it's time for me to head back."

He didn't even give her a chance to respond before he walked out of the house, not even caring that his hat was still sitting on the cushion. He ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep, shaky breath as he walked. It took about ten minutes to drive here, which meant that walking would take even longer. Oh well. He wasn't going to stay there when Jordan was drunk enough to... he shuddered.

He was about halfway to his house when the sun was completely down, the street lights blinking on. He was walking through the rough part of town, knowing it would be a short cut. It was dangerous, but nothing had happened to him before when he walked through this part of town.

Then again, he had always walked through during the day.

Damon held his now shivering puppy to his chest, biting his lip and glancing around every few seconds. Just when he believed that he was safe, he heard footsteps. He didn't think that it was going to be anything to worry about - it was on the other side of the street, and it was just a group of teenagers. They wouldn't bother him.

"Hey, you! Cute puppy!"

Oh, God.

Damon took a deep breath, pretending that he hadn't heard them. He just sped up his pace.

"I'm talking to you!"

"Yeah, he's talking to you!"

"Listen to him when he talks to you!"

He didn't answer, just kept walking.

"Hey, bastard, why are you walking out all alone? Shouldn't you have your mommy with you? It's dangerous at night!" He could tell that these boys were on something; their speech was slurring. If they weren't drunk, he didn't know what they were. He still didn't answer, relaxing slightly when he saw that he was almost to the open road.

"He isn't answering you. The prick won't answer you! Show him what happens when someone doesn't answer you, Rick."

Damon's heart began to race. He was expecting one of them to run up and start beating him. He had braced himself, though kept walking. He didn't hear anything for what seemed like forever, but was only about ten seconds. He thought they had given up. But once he heard a small click, then another, his face paled.

Two, simultaneous gunshots.