Take a Breath, Don't It Sound So Easy?

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

Those are the ten words that kept repeating in my mind, almost as if they were on a constant loop. Those ten words are also the reason that I’m currently stood in front of my wardrobe, looking through and endless amount of outfits, desperately searching for that one outfit that’ll look great and I’ll feel amazing in. Sadly, that was a very hard feat; it would be for anybody who was preparing themselves to go on a date with Jenna McDougall.

Jenna McDougall, the name itself brought butterflies to my stomach. Everybody in the school wanted Jenna, her great looks and personality to match had any girl who hit for the other team melting in their seats and every guy practically drooling. It was no denying that Jenna was one of the most wanted girls in the school.

Somehow, out of everyone that Jenna could have chosen to take on a date and to spend time with, she chose me. I’m nothing special. I’m a bit of a nobody really; I don’t fit into any of your typical high school groups. I’m not ‘popular’, I’m not a cheerleader and I’m not a band geek, I just kind of float around in the middle.

I sighed as I threw yet another rejected outfit onto my bed, catching a glimpse of my clock as I did so.

“Shit.” I let out, dragging out the I and rushing into my wardrobe again. I had ten minutes until Jenna was meant to pick me up. Thankfully, I’d already done my hair and makeup before I’d started choosing my outfit. I don’t know why I was making such a big deal out of this. Jenna had told me casual and that anything close to dressing up would be overdressed. Keeping this in mind I walked over to one of my draws and pulled out a pair of denim shorts, throwing on a Blink-182 shirt and my purple low top converse to go with it. I walked over to my mirror and took a look at myself, not too dressed down and I didn’t look too bad, I was pretty proud of myself actually.

The next thing I knew I heard the doorbell sound through the house and I was knocked from my thoughts. A large grin overtook my face as I grabbed my phone and some money, shoving them into my pockets and heading downstairs. Upon arriving at the bottom of the stairs I could see my mum talking to Jenna in the doorway. I can’t be seen from the door where I’m stood so I took a minute to take Jenna in. She was dressed similar to me, opting for black denim shorts, a Sum 41 shirt and red vans. Her hair was thrown up into a ponytail with some parts hanging out around her face. She looked amazing and once again the grin came creeping onto my face as I took in the fact that she was dressed like that for me. I decided I’d been staring at Jenna long enough and decided to make my appearance, slowly creeping back up a few stairs then running down again to make it seem believable that I had just come from my bedroom.

“Hey Jenna.” I greeted her with a huge smile on my face as I walked towards the front door. I’m pretty sure that Jenna’s face was a mirror of mine, as a large smile crept up on her face too as I came into sight.

“Hi Tay, you look amazing.” She complimented, pulling me into a hug.

“I could say the same to you.” I said giggling, turning back around to my mum. “I’ll be back no later than ten, I promise.” I told her, giving her a hug then following Jenna out of the door and into her car.
“So, what are we doing then?” I asked eagerly as soon as the car door had shut. Jenna simply laughed at me while shaking her head.

“I told you, it’s a surprise. But I think you’ll love it anyway so don’t worry.” She told me, showing off her million dollar grin once again. I nodded at her response as Jenna turned on the radio, the sound of Jimmy Eat World instantly filling the car. Both of us started singing along loudly as we drove to wherever our destination for the night was, our voices mixing together with the radio to form what was far from an unpleasant sound. I smiled to myself, I’d been on this date for about five minutes and it’s already one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.

The singing continued on for a while as more bands came on the radio, the likes of Bowling For Soup and New Found Glory filled the car along with our singing until we reached our destination. As soon as I saw where Jenna had decided to take me for our date the smile on my face got bigger if that was even possible. The park; simple yet so much can be offered from the location.

“I hope you like picnics because that’s what we’re doing.” I heard Jenna laugh nervously from beside me; I looked over to find her rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Who doesn’t like picnics? Come on, let’s go in.” I replied enthusiastically, grabbing Jenna’s hand from where we were stood in front of the car, only to feel her pulling back, holding up a finger to signal that she’ll be back in a few seconds, which she did, holding a picnic basket. As soon as I saw her hold up the basket I started laughing, realising that you can’t have a picnic without food, which I was very willing to do not even thirty seconds ago.

“Right… the basket… yeah, we kinda need that.” I managed to get out through my laughs as Jenna grabbed my hand and lead me into the park. The park wasn’t exactly busy but it wasn’t quiet either, it was that nice in-between amount where you could be around other people if you wanted to but you could just as easily find a part of the park where you wouldn’t be disturbed, which is where we were heading judging by the direction Jenna was dragging me in, away from the row of little cafes and family owned businesses and up the hill that gives you an amazing view of the park and beyond. Not many people ventured up the hill, mainly because there wasn’t much on it and it took a while to walk up or climb all the stairs up to the top, making it the perfect location for our picnic date.

As we reached the top of the hill I didn’t expect to see what I did. A blanket was laid out and was surrounded by tiny candles glowing gently, blending in perfecting with the slowly setting red sky. It was perfect.

“So um, I hope you like sandwiches and cupcakes because that’s all I’ve got in this basket.” Jenna broke the silence; I turned around and smiled, pulling her into a hug.

“This is honestly perfect, seriously. Although I have one question, if you left everything else here why didn’t you leave the basket here?” I asked. I honestly was curious about that; it obviously wasn’t a case of being scared it’d get stolen so there had to be something else behind it.

“I didn’t want any animals to get at it, I come here quite a lot and it’s not rare to see different kinds of wildlife passing by or sometimes sitting and joining you.” I smiled even wider at that, I found it so cute how much she cared about this date and how much thought she’d put into it down to the very last detail.

We sat down together on the blanket, the basket at the end of it, and took out our food, eating in silence while we looked over the city. The view honestly was amazing, especially with the reds and oranges in the sky fading out behind the offices and houses off in the distance. I must have looked like a right fool with a huge grin on my face at supposedly nothing as nothing had been spoken in the last five minutes, but in reality Jenna had just taken me on my idea of a perfect date without even knowing. Yeah, restaurants and fancy dates are nice but the smaller things like this, the things that you don’t need a reservation for weeks in advance, these are the kind of dates I really loved.

“Thank you, Tay. For agreeing to come tonight, that is. I’ve liked you for a long time but I’ve never had the courage to say anything to you until now. As soon as I’d said something to you it seemed so easy, almost as if I had no reason to worry at all before, but then I realised it’s because I scared myself into thinking that you’d reject me in the harshest way possible and completely shatter me. I don’t know why I thought that. Even if you had said no you’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met so I know that you’d have tried to be nice about it. But yeah, basically all I’m trying to say is thank you so much.” Jenna spoke up. I smiled at her words, realising that Jenna had done the thing that I’d been pushing myself to do for a long time, but never quite getting there.

“I’ve liked you for a long time too, Jenna. I was in the same state of mind as you. I’d hype myself up to do it, asking you out, I’d sit there at lunch watching you at your table waiting for the guys to come, I’d take a deep breath and just as I’m about to get up every time someone would come and sit by you. I’m so glad that one of us finally did ask.” I replied with a smile, seeing the smile on her face get even bigger. She really did look stunning in the light of the setting sun; the different colours shined down on her and highlighted her best features, making her even more beautiful than normal.

“Come on then, Tay. It’s starting to get cold and I should probably get you come considering it’s nine thirty and it’ll take twenty minutes to drive back to your house, don’t want your mum worrying.” Jenna said with a laugh, grabbing my hand and pulling me up, grabbing the basket with everything in in the other hand, as we set off down the hill together.

The drive back was very different than the drive there, the loud pop punk sing alongs being swapped for quiet rock classics playing in the background as we both stared out of the window thinking over everything that had happened tonight. Too soon were we pulling into my drive with five minutes to spare before my curfew. Myself and Jenna both got out of the car, Jenna taking my hand straight away and leading me along the path to my front door.

“I’ve really enjoyed tonight, thank you so much, Jenna.” I rushed out, pulling her into a hug. Jenna just laughed in response and smiled at me while pulling away from the hug.

“Me too, Tay. But I do have one question.” Jenna spoke with her signature smirk on her face.

“And what’s that, Miss McDougall?” I teased her, laughing a bit as I spoke.

“Be my girlfriend?” Jenna asked, all signs of joking from her voice had vanished and she was left nervously biting her lip. I placed one of my hands on either side of Jenna’s face and pulled her in towards me, placing a gentle kiss on her lips that lasted for a few seconds. Nothing too short and nothing too much for this early stage in our relationship. I let a smile take over my face for the millionth time that night as I replied.

“Yes.”