It's about time I made a third chapter to this! Enjoy!
Stella paced nervously back and forth in her room, chewing at the tips of her already scraggly fingernails endlessly. Ray was supposed to pick her up anytime now. She glanced at her alarm clock on the nightstand: 7:55. C'mon, you've got five minutes, Beech, hurry up, she thought.
Stella was never nervous.
Sure, she got excited, maybe a little anxious at times. But she was never nervous. Especially this nervous.
It's just one silly little date. What could go wrong?
Actually, a lot could go wrong.
They could get caught sneaking out of her house by her parents or caught by one of her friends or Ray's friends. Or anyone they knew, for that matter.
They would have to be very clandestine, very secretive. Go somewhere where no one would even think of searching for them. It was going to be very difficult.
Her hands started to become clammy and her whole body jittery and jumpy. She glanced out her window and saw a clear, midnight black sky, and a thin, silvery moon. The perfect cover of darkness.
Then she heard footsteps climbing the staircase straight to her room. Quickly, she threw on her fuzzy robe to cover her clothes, kicked off her sneakers, and plopped on her bed, plugging in the earbuds to her MP3 player. Just as she predicted, her mom pushed open the door, peeking her head through.
"Hey, Stella," she greeted, a tired smile adorning her face. Stella pulled out an earbud and looked to her mom. "Hey, Mom," Stella said. "Everything okay?"
"Yep, just wanted to see if you were here. Listen, there's some strawberries downstairs in the fridge if you want a few." Stella's eyes widened; she loved strawberries. In fact, they were the only fruit she would eat without complaining. But she was afraid if she left her room, Ray would come for her.
"Uh, no thanks, I'm not really hungry."
"Really? Well, okay, just remember that there's some downstairs if you want some." Her mom closed the bedroom door, and Stella breathed a sigh of relief. Phew, that was way too close to call.
Then, she heard a slight knock against glass. Particularly, her window. She jumped up from her bed and shed the robe. Another knock. She pulled on her worn black sneakers, and peered out her window. Standing there was none other than Ray himself, clad in a toffee-brown leather jacket, a blue t-shirt, denim jeans, and Vans sneakers. As quietly as she could, she pulled open the window, and immediately felt the cool September breeze.
"It's about time," she said, quiet enough to not attract attention.
"Well, I'm sorry, but I got held up by my mom. I told her I was going to go study at Scott's, but she didn't believe me, so we got into an argument, and—"
"I don't care. Let's just go, okay?" Stella swung her legs one at a time over the windowsill, now sitting on it. She cautiously turned around, and started to climb down the escape ladder attached to the side of the house. Once she made it to the bottom, she jumped down and faced Ray.
"So, what did you have planned?" she asked curiously, now the two walking to his car.
"I was thinking of this little bistro right outside of town, not too far from here," he replied. "I've been there a couple times; it's pretty good." They climbed into his car, and he started the ignition.
"Ray Beech, at a quaint little bistro? Wow, I would've never thought I'd see the day," she said, trying to keep her laughs to a minimum. He started down the road east, the residences getting more sparse as they went. About ten minutes in, they could start to see the jagged red rock cliffs. Stella was getting that nervous feeling again.
"Are you sure you remember how to get there?" she asked.
"Of course. See, here it is." He pulled up to a small building with glittering, twinkling lights streamed around it, a speck of light in the Arizona desert. There were several tables set outside, guarded by a wrought iron fence.
The couple climbed out of the car and walked through the gate of the restaurant, and were greeted by a older blond woman with too much makeup painted on her face.
"Welcome to LaBianca Café. Let me show you to your table," she said in a bored voice. The waitress led them to a table sitting at the very back corner of the section. She handed them menus and left, only for a younger female, with bright red hair and freckles, to prance up to the couple, holding a pad of paper.
"I'm Gina, and I'll be your server this evening. What can I get you to drink?"
"Water for me, please," Stella said.
"Same for me," Ray said. The waitress left for their drinks, and they sat there in awkward silence. It was so quiet, all they could hear were the faint chirp of the crickets
"Well, how are things?" he asked, breaking the silence.
"Good. You?"
"Same." How are things? What are you, a moron, Ray? Tell her she looks good. "Um, you look, nice." Nice? Be a man, Ray! She blushed slightly.
"Thanks," she said. The waitress burst through the door, haphazardly balancing two glasses of ice water on a plastic tray.
"Well, here you go, two glasses of wate—oh!" She seemed to have tripped over her own feet, and the glasses went flying. Soon, they landed on Stella's head, the cold liquid spilling everywhere, soaking her hair and clothes to the core.
To say it wasn't a pretty sight was an understatement.
"I am so, so sorry, miss!" the waitress apologized. "I didn't mean to do it."
"I-it's fine. B-but can I-I get a t-towel?" Stella asked, shivering from the ice.
"Yeah, sure, I have a fresh one right here." The waitress pulled a clean white towel from her apron and handed it to Stella.
"T-thank you," Stella said, and the waitress hurried away to grab more cloths to clean up the mess. She shook the towel on her head, trying to dry her hair as efficiently as possible.
"Are you okay, Stella?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied, hoping it would get him to leave the subject. Suddenly, she caught sight of two familiar teenagers, one with spiky red hair, and a blond girl with a braid draped over her shoulder. Oh, crap, this could not get any worse. Stella's eyes widened. Ray happened to notice.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She pointed over his shoulder, and he twisted his head around to assess the situation. Sure enough, it was Olivia White and Wen Gifford, the lead singer and the keyboardist from Lemonade Mouth. They were sat at a table right at the front of the restaurant.
"As if my night couldn't get any worse," Stella muttered to herself. She looked down at the table, trying to hide her face.
"How is your night worse than mine? I got sprayed with water too, you know," Ray complained. She looked back up at him, and rolled her eyes.
"Because those are my two best friends, and if they see me with you, they'll go berserk," she explained tiredly. She ran a hand through her drenched brown hair and sighed. "And I'm the one who got drenched with ice water, for God sakes. You'll live."
"Are you kidding me? My hair is ruined; it took me an hour to get it styled just right."
"You are such a drama queen."
"Excuse me?"
"Read my lips, Beech. You are a D-R-A-M-A Q-U-E-E-N."
"Well, you're, a, uh…" He stuttered, trying to come back with a retort, only to leave himself babbling like a moron. Get a hold of yourself, Beech, he thought. She sat in front of him, waiting with bated breath.
"Well?" she said, cupping her hand around her ear and leaning forward in a dramatic style.
He was speechless. A triumphant smile formed on her face.
"That's what I thought you said." Soon the waitress came back with their meals, a mushroom ravioli dish for Stella and a panini for Ray. They ate their meals in silence, keeping their attention on the food.
But once in a while, Stella glanced up and looked at her friends' table, letting her mind wander a little.
It was a little strange, if not comforting, to see Wen and Olivia out on a real date. It made her wonder about her relationship with Ray.
Once they were finished, the waitress came and took the dirty plates. The check arrived, so, naturally, Ray took the check and went up front to pay for their meals. Stella followed far enough behind him as to not draw suspicion.
She felt somebody's eyes on her as she went through the wrought iron gate to wait in Ray's car. When she turned around, she met Wen's disappointed blue eyes. She turned back and let herself into Ray's car, buckling her seat belt. Soon, he came back, climbed into the driver's seat, and they drove back west, towards town. It was a silent ride.
Ten minutes later, they pulled up to the front curb of her house. She unbuckled her seatbelt, got out of the car, and watched as Ray pulled away. She glanced at her watch: 9:07. She walked to the back of the house, where the ladder hung, waiting for her to climb it up back to her room. Just as she was about to start climbing up, she heard footsteps in the grass behind her.
"Just where were you, young lady?" she heard her father ask.
Uh oh.