Chapter 4

Andy stood by her living room window, leaning over the couch. She pushed the curtain aside to look out.

"Why don't you just sit down?" Her mom asked her.

"I'm too nervous to sit."

"Yeah, well, you're making me nervous just looking at you." It was 6:51 and there was no sign of Josh. Andy began to pace the living room floor. "Andy, it's not even seven yet. Calm down."

"What if we have nothing to talk about? What if the kiss was just a fluke and I really can't kiss? What if he takes me somewhere totally horrible? What if he doesn't like my outfit?"

She looked down at the outfit she had picked out the night before. The patchwork blue, grey, and green skirt matched beautifully with the white off the shoulder shirt she wore with the blue tank top underneath. Even her blue flip-flops, although not as fancy as the heels she had tried on, matched well. There was nothing extraordinary about her outfit, but it was her.

"Honey, he'll love your outfit. And believe me, you two will never run out of something to talk about. I swear, you could talk about video games for twenty-four hours straight."

Andy smiled. It did help that they had that in common.

"Thanks mom," Andy said. Unlike most teenagers' parents, Andy's mom understood her to a T. She was never overbearing and she knew exactly what to say and when to say it. As she went to give her mom a hug, she heard a car stop outside and a door slam.

"Now remember honey, be yourself and don't let him do anything you don't want to do."

Andy rolled her eyes. "Mom," she groaned.

Her mother kissed her on the top of the forehead. "And remember that I love you."

Andy walked slowly over to the door and went to open it, but then stopped. She didn't want to appear too eager.

"You get the door," she said to her mom.

"Oh honey…"

"Please."

Her mom smiled, remembering what it was like to go on her first date. "Fine. Go upstairs."

The doorbell rang and Andy bolted up the stairs. Shaking her head and laughing to herself, her mom opened the front door. Holding a bouquet of mixed flowers, Josh nearly frowned when he saw Andy's mother. He was hoping Andy would have answered the door.

"Hello Mrs. Jensen," Josh said. He had only met Andy's mom once before at a school function and he hadn't yet met her other mom.

"Hi Josh. It's nice to see you," she said.

"You too."

"Please, come in." Josh stepped slowly into the house. Parents made him nervous. "Andy!" She unnecessarily called up the stairs. "Josh is here!"

Hidden at the top of the stairs, Andy slowly counted to five. She took a deep breath and began her descent. She knew that it was stupid to be nervous about going out with him. It wasn't like they hadn't gone out plenty of times together, but this was different. This wasn't him picking her up for a night out when his real date stood him up and this definitely wasn't just meeting him at the Rack to grab something to eat. This was a real date. Hopefully the first of many to come.

She came down the stairs slowly. A smile spread over her face when she saw him and all of her nerves faded away.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi back," she replied.

"Well, you two have fun. Don't stay out too late," Andy's mom stated before exiting the room.

"You look…you look…" Josh stuttered.

"Yes?"

"Like you."

"Uh…thanks, I think."

He noticed the disappointment in her voice. "No, I like it."

"Well, you look like you, too."

And the truth was, he did. He traded in a graphic T-Shirt for a plain white shirt with a black button down, unbuttoned over it, but he still looked like him.

"I was afraid you'd look different or something." He realized how dumb he was sounding so he held out the flowers. "These are for you."

"Thanks, they're great." She took them and sniffed them. They smelled wonderful. She put them down on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "So where are we…"

"Look, this is weird," Josh interrupted.

"What's weird?"

"This…us…our date."

Andy's face fell. "If you want to cancel, we can…"

"No, I don't want to cancel. Trust me, I don't want to cancel. I just…I want us to be us. I want to still be able to eat too much junk food in front of you and not worry about what I look like."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Me too." He laughed. "What's so funny?"

"I was so worried about tonight. Worried about what we'd do, worried about what I'd wear, worried about if we would have enough to talk about."

This time she laughed, too. "I was worried about the same things."

"Let's not worry about those things anymore. Let's just pretend that nothing's changed."

"Well, I think I'd be pretty disappointed if one thing didn't change." She leaned in and kissed him lightly. "We should go," she whispered against his lips.

After a final, lingering kiss, he pulled away.

"Or we could just stay here…"

"And make out with my mom in the other room? I don't think so. So, where are we going?"

"You'll see," he teased as he reached for her hand. She smiled at him as their fingers intertwined. It felt so right holding his hand, as if they had been doing it their entire lives.

Author's Note: This was a fun one to write. I tried to think about what Josh and Andy's first date might really be like and what they might be thinking and this is what I came up with. Hope you enjoyed it!