Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer

The moment I stepped in my house, I bumped into Ranger. Literally. My nose had collided with his chest and I placed my thumb, and index finger on it to make sure it was okay. It hurt a lot! Ranger must have been working out or something.

“Jeez, woman!” He complained, rubbing his chest. “Can you watch where you’re going?”

“Sorry.” I groaned. “I wasn’t paying attention, I guess.”

“That was pretty obvious. What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t know what to wear for my date tonight. Kent said to wear something nice, but I’m not sure what.”

He closed his eyes, pointed his index finger to the ceiling and spoke, like a true nerd. “I am sorry, lady, but that is one problem I am unable to solve.” He pretended to give a small bow before backing away.

I rolled my eyes and dragged him back from the back of his shirt. “Don’t be a baby. Just tell me which of my dresses look good okay?”

He raised his eyebrows at me and crossed his arms. “No. Why should I? I have better things to do, you know.”

Sure you do. “Oh, come on. Please? I’ll clean your room for a whole week.” I made a deal, giving him a persuasive smile.

He placed a finger on his chin and pretended to think. “Make it two, and you’ve got a deal.”

I hesitated. Ranger’s room was like hell on earth but I had to agree. I could not possibly get anyone else to judge my clothes at such a short notice. I shook his hand. “Deal.”

I won’t bore you with all the details. Ranger was pretty helpful in helping me pick out a dress. He told me which dress complimented me and which one didn’t.

In the end, we agreed on a spaghetti-strapped white dress with a small black sash. I wanted to tie my hair into a ponytail, but Ranger told me to let it go, but clip up my fringe.

By the time I was done, the doorbell rang. Ranger went down the stairs to answer it, while I gave myself a quick once over to ensure I looked good. And not to sound boastful or anything, but I did.

I walked down the stairs and the moment my eyes laid on Kent, I literally stopped breathing. Dang, that boy looked good. I wouldn’t say he looked hot, the word sounded too dirty. He looked… gorgeous. He was wearing a casual white T-shirt with a brown blazer and faded jeans. His hair was gelled and looked much more suitable for his outfit.

His eyes lit up the moment he saw me, and he grinned before looking worried. “Hey, Ash. You look beautiful… and a bit blue. Are you all right?”

I remembered to breathe once again and walked over to my boyfriend. “Hey.” I grinned and wrapped my arms around his neck, nuzzling my face in his chest. Butterflies rammed against my stomach as his arms laid to rest on my waist.

“Okay, you two lovebirds.” Ranger began, making me pull away from Kent. “I would appreciate it if you would do that somewhere else. Don’t bring her back too late, Kent.” He warned, voice sounding exactly like Dad’s. I rolled my eyes and dragged Kent out the door by the cuff of his blazer.

“Sorry about that. I swear, Ranger is growing up to be like my dad every single day.” I rolled my eyes, walking next to him towards his car.

“Not a problem. I mean, men should have to take care of the important women in their lives, shouldn’t they?” He asked rhetorically, opening the passenger door open for me. I shrugged and took a seat whilst he went over to the other side of the car to sit next to me.

I waited for him to start the car but he just fumbled around his pockets for something. “Oh yeah. That reminds me.” I snapped my fingers and turned my whole torso to look at Kent. “You still haven’t mentioned where we were going.”

He gave me a sly smile before taking out a piece of cloth. “A blindfold?” I whined, holding the other end of it.

“Yup. Don’t worry. I won’t take you to a strip club or anything like that.” He motioned for me to turn around so that my back was to him.

“You know, I wasn’t thinking about that at all. But now that you mention it…” I trailed off, as Kent’s gently brushed my face with his hand and tied the blindfold around my face.

“There. Perfect.” I could almost hear him grinning as he said that.

I rolled my eyes, but hey. What was the point right? It wasn’t as if he could see me. The ride to wherever took about fifteen minutes. Kent was trying made small talk, which annoyed me because he still wouldn’t say where we were going, when he abruptly stopped talking. “What’s wrong?” I asked, panic seeping into my voice.

He chuckled. “Nah, I think I just saw Summer and Dustin. You will never guess what Dustin was wearing.”

“A red hoodie, white beard and white wig?” I tried.

“How’d you know?” I heard the confusion in his voice and giggled. Dustin was the only one among us who had only one disguise. And that was as Santa Claus’s son. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the gang and I are big on spying, especially on random people. And if this person catches our eye (and/or attention), we’ll keep changing disguises to watch out for him/her. Weird, I know. But hey, that’s just the way we roll.

“I’m psychic.”

He rolled his eyes before finally parking the car somewhere. “We’re here, dar-” He immediately broke off what he was about to say and modified his sentence. “I mean, we’re here!”

I frowned. What was he about to say? I shook the thought away and found myself feeling excited. “Can I take off the blindfold now?” I inquired eagerly.

I didn’t hear his reply, but instead heard the sound of a car door slamming. What the chicken wings? Did Kent just bloody leave me in the car alone?! I felt the door on my side open and the sound of a familiar laughter rang in my ears.

“You didn’t honestly think I was going to leave you right?” I felt so guilty right then. I should have known he would never desert me. A hand slipped into mine and pulled me out of the car.

“Oh and to answer your question, yes. I’ll do it, though.” Kent’s fingers stroked my cheek before he removed the blindfold. I didn’t want to open my eyes. I was too busy thinking. Why did he touch me? He didn’t HAVE to. My cheek wasn’t even in the way of the blindfold. Could he…?

“What’s the point of me taking off the blindfold if you don’t even want to open your eyes, Ash?” Kent’s voice got me to instantly open my eyes and I almost hyperventilated, right there and then. His face was so close to mine, if I leaned one more inch, we would be kissing.

Kent must have noticed the expression on my face because he pulled back and smirked. “Come on.” He grabbed my hand and started walking. I took the opportunity for Kent to be my eyes, and looked at where we were. I think we were at the park. There were tons of trees around, and they looked magical because each one of them was decorated with pretty and colorful lights.

We were walking through grass, but the grass wasn’t the everyday kind of grass. It felt fluffy and it was green, with hardly any spots of soil. Kent walked a little further and I gasped in surprise. There was this picnic thing right in front of us. You know, a picnic mat with food. There were even two glasses, a cd player and a candle. The best part, the place was completely deserted! It was just for us.

“You like it?” Kent released my hand, sounding worried. I tore my eyes away from the picnic place to stare at him.

“Are you crazy? I love it!” I gushed, running over to where everything was laid out. I sat on the one end of the mat while Kent sat on the other.

“Good! I didn’t think you would.” He smiled, relieved. He unpacked the food basket and offered me a sandwich. We spent I-don’t-know-how-long just sitting there, eating and talking and laughing. If my boyfriend, I mean a real boyfriend, did this for me, I might actually start crying. And I never cry.

After eating, Kent switched on the Cd player and stood up. “You wanna dance?” He blushed, offering me his hand. I smiled at his shyness and took his hand. The first few beats of the song began to play as he placed his other arm on my waist and I placed mine on his shoulder.

“It's too late baby, there's no turning around.
I've got my hands in my pocket and my head in a cloud.
This is how I do
when I think about you.
I never thought that you could break me apart
I keep a sinister smile and a hold of my heart.
You want to get inside
Then you can get in line
But not this time…”

As we were dancing, I couldn’t look away from him. But I didn’t feel awkward, because it seemed as if he couldn’t look away from me either. I stared deep into his eyes and moved just infinitesimally nearer to him, as the song continued to play.

“I won't try to philosophize
I'll just take a deep breath and I'll look in your eyes
This is how I feel
And its so so real
I got a closet filled up to the brim
With the ghosts of my past and the skeletons
And I don't know why
You'd even try
But I won't lie…”

He slowly pulled his hand away from mine and wrapped it around my waist. I took my other hand and rested it on shoulders. He brought me closer to him, all the while still maintaining eye contact.

“And I feel a weakness coming on
Never felt so good to be so wrong
Had my heart on lockdown
And then you turned me around
I'm feeling like a new born child
Every time I get a chance to see you smile
It's not complicated
I was so jaded…”

I was the first to break eye contact. I rested my head on his chest because my mind was overwhelmed with my thoughts. Why was I feeling all these emotions towards Kent? They’re not anger, or frustration. No, they were… much more pleasant.

“And you caught me off guard
Now I'm running and screaming

I feel like a hero and you are my heroine
Do you know that your love is the sweetest sin?”

I looked back at Kent. He had been staring at me intently, but when I met his eye, he gave me a small smile. I smiled back and rested my head on his chest once more.

The song soon ended (much to my disappointment) and we pulled away. As I stepped back, I noticed the night sky and it was beautiful. The sky was a royal shade of dark blue and it was filled with millions of shining stars.

I gasped in wonder and amazement. “Beautiful, right?” I looked around for Kent and found him lying down on the grass. I laid down next to him and moved a wee bit closer.

“So beautiful. This whole place is. Thanks for bringing me here. Really.” I murmured, interlacing my fingers together.

“No big deal.” Kent stretched his right arm and began stroking my hair. He pulled at the strands very gently, sending shivers from my head down to my toe. I moved closer to him, and he noticed this time.

He placed his arm around me and pulled me towards him. I shifted my body so that I was able to look at him. I didn’t want to think anymore. I just stared at his profile intently. So intently, I almost didn’t notice him holding my hand. I blinked, and looked away from him to gaze at the stars instead. I rested my head against his chest and faced upwards, hands still intertwined with him.

I slowly began lifting my eyelids and found myself in Kent’s car. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and turned around to find Kent steering the car.

Kent turned to meet my expression and he grinned. “You’re up. Ranger called, and told me to get you home.”

My frown deepened. What time is it? I turned to the clock on the dashboard, and my eyes widened. It was already midnight. Damn, did time fly by fast.

“We’re here.” Kent’s voice brought me back to reality. The car was already parked in front of the house. Kent got out of the car and opened my door. He offered his hand and I let him pull me up from my seat.

We walked silently to the front porch and we just stood there, not really looking at each other.

“Hey.” I whispered. He looked up and I smiled softly. “Thanks for the date. I loved every single minute of it.” I opened up my arms and leaned against him. He pulled me tighter and spoke in my ear. “I’m glad.” He pulled back slightly and leaned in, kissing my forehead. I found the gesture to be extremely sweet.

He released me and waved at me as he walked back to his car. I waved back as he drove away, and I walked inside the house with a goofy grin pasted on my face.