"Are those for me?" Mimi asked, still shocked that Brady was in her house, especially with flowers in his hand. Brady laughed.
"Do you see another Mimi around here, of course they're for you." Brady said, smiling before extending his arm to place the flowers in her hands. She took them and examined them closely.
"Uh, wow, Brady, I don't know what to say.." Mimi began, still looking at the bouquet in her hand.
"Don't say anything, just go upstairs and change. We've got dinner reservations." Mimi's head snapped up at that.
"Change? Dinner reservations? What are you talking about?" She asked, confused.
"Well, not really dinner reservations, actually just a picnic, but still, go change."
"Brady, wait, I'm confused. You couldn't even stand to be in the same room with me 2 days ago. Then not even 5 hours ago, I bit your head off, and now you're here with my favorite flowers and wanting to take me out?" Mimi asked. Brady just nodded.
"Wait, how did you even know what my favorite flowers were?" Mimi asked, then a light bulb turning on in her head.
"So that's what Belle meant when she told me to have fun tonight. She's been scheming with you."
"I wouldn't exactly call it scheming, Mimi. More like…giving me a push in the right direction. Yes, she told me what your favorite flower was, and I also told her what we plan on doing tonight, but she didn't help me with that at all. This is all me." Brady said, grinning like he just won Prom King.
"Okay, who the hell are you and what have you done with the *real* Brady Black?" Mimi asked.
"I'm serious, Mimi, it's really me, and we're also gonna be really late if you don't get up those stairs and change." Brady said, turning her around and pushing her out the door of the den. He followed her up the steps and into her room.
"Okay, I'm not gonna tell you what we're going to do tonight, but as you can see," Brady said, gesturing to his ensemble of black dress pants, black leather belt, and a deep red button up shirt,
"It's not entirely formal, but jeans and a t-shirt aren't accepted, either. Get to lookin', Lockhart." He said, sitting down on her bed. Mimi silently walked over to her closet and began looking through her dress clothes. She took out a few dresses and laid them out on the bed. Mimi met Brady's eyes.
"You wanna watch me change, too, Black?" Mimi asked.
"Well, if you're giving me the option, then su-"
"Out, Brady." Mimi said, walking over and opening her bedroom door for him. He exited without saying anything. After she shut the door, she sat down on her bed.
"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" Mimi said to no one in particular.
'Are you kidding, Meems? No matter if you want to go or not, he'll make you, even if he has to drag you kicking and screaming.' Mimi thought to herself. He really would do that, too. Or at the very least, call Belle and she'd do it for him. She figured she might as well get it over with, because there was no telling Brady Black no once he got something into his head.
Mimi examined herself in the full-length mirror. While green definitely looked good on her, it just didn't look right tonight. She groaned and when back to the pile of clothes she had accumulated on the bed. She grabbed the next dress in the stack and held it up to her. It was one she bought 2 months ago on a whim. Hadn't even tried it on, just liked it and bought it. She wrestled herself out of the dress she had on, and slipped into the one she held in her hand.
"Wow." Mimi said out loud. The dress was, amazingly, the color of Brady's shirt, and had black vines running from right side down to the left. It was strapless and the dress ended above her knees, but had a slit on the front left side of the dress, where the thorns ended, that reached midthigh. She even had to admit it looked great on her. She went over to her jewelry box and took out her black gemstone drop earrings and a matching bracelet. She then exited her bedroom, careful to make sure Brady wasn't there, and hustled into the bathroom to do her hair and apply her makeup. For some reason, she didn't want Brady to see her until she was done with everything. She curled her layers to where they flipped out, and she silently thanked God that she had redone her highlights last week. It only took her a few minutes to do her makeup, putting on foundation, powder, a gray eye shadow, kohl eyeliner, and waterproof mascara. She finished it off with red cherry lip gloss, and went back into her room to find the shoes she wanted to wear. They were black strappy heels that tied up her ankles. She saw them at Fredericks one day and knew she had to have them. She took one last look at herself in the mirror and she couldn't believe what she saw.
"God, I match Brady completely." She said, thinking about his own clothing choices. She laughed, grabbed her purse, and left the room. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw no one.
"Mom? Dad? Brady?" She called aloud. Brady came pounding in the hallway from the den.
"I thought you'd never be finis-" He started, but never finished his sentence. Mimi started fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Is something wrong? Should I go change?" She asked, about to head back up the stairs.
"No, don't even think about it…God, Meems, you're gorgeous." He said, no longer having control of his words. Mimi smiled.
"Yeah, I notice we match. We'll have the town talking, Brady." Mimi said, giggling. Brady smiled.
"Let 'em talk. They'll be just jealous that you're with me and not them."
"I have it on good authority that for some people, it's the other way around."
"Well, I can't help it that I'm so devastatingly handsome."
"Devastating? Yes. Handsome? No." Mimi replied, walking toward him. He laughed and offered her his arm. She hooked hers through his and smiled.
"Shall we go, then, Miss Lockhart?"
"You're the one that planned this, Mr. Black, you tell me."
"Yep, we are." Brady said, before leading them toward the door.
"Bye Mom!" Mimi yelled. Her parents came out of the den.
"Miriam, you look great. Have fun tonight." Her mother said.
"We will, thanks Mom. Bye Dad." Mimi said, letting Brady escort her out the door and to his awaiting Jeep.
"So where are we going?" Mimi asked, while messing around with the radio.
"That's for me to know and you to find out." He said, and laughing at her when she stuck out her tongue at him.
"Oooh, great song!" She exclaimed, stopping on the station.
YOU GIVE LOVE, YOU GET LOVE AND MORE THAN HEAVEN KNOWS
YOU'RE GONNA SEE
I'M GONNA RUN, I'M GONNA TRY
I'M GONNA TAKE THIS LOVE
RIGHT TO YA
ALL MY HEART, ALL THE JOY
OH BABY, BABY PLEASE
RUSH, RUSH
HURRY, HURRY LOVER, COME TO ME
RUSH, RUSH
I WANNA SEE, I WANNA SEE YA
GET FREE WITH ME
RUSH, RUSH
I CAN FEEL IT, I CAN FEEL YOU ALL THROUGH ME
RUSH, RUSH
OOH WHAT YOU DO TO ME
"Wait, wasn't this popular when I was, what, 13?" Brady asked, chuckling. Mimi gasped in offense.
"Just because it was popular then doesn't mean we can't like it now!" Mimi said, while laughing along with him.
"This coming from the girl that used to be in love in with drummer from Hanson."
"Hey, Zac is very talented with a pair of drumsticks!"
"And the fact that you still remember his name is even more disturbing." Brady said, switching gears. Mimi just slapped him playfully on the arm and switched the station again. She decided on a station playing The Wallflowers and stopped.
"Finally, some decent music." Brady said, turning up the volume. They sat in silence until Brady pulled up to a secluded spot beside the lake and turned off the Jeep. He jumped out and reached over the backseat to get out the supplies. He motioned for Mimi to follow him onto something that turned out to be a pathway. When she saw that it led to a dock, she squeaked.
"Ooh, a dock, how cool!" She said, running ahead of him and jumping onto the dock, making it rock back and forth.
"This reminds me of the swinging bridge on the playground, remember that?" Mimi asked, continuing to make it rock. Brady sat the stuff down and reached for the blanket.
"How can I not? You pushed me off of it and I broke my pinkie." Mimi laughed.
"Hehe, yeah, I did, didn't I? Did I ever apologize for that?" She asked.
"Yeah, you got your mom to make me a chocolate cheesecake, and I forgave you." Brady said, gesturing for her to sit on the blanket. She sat with legs stretched out in front of her and leaning back onto her arms.
"So, is this your apology to me?" Mimi asked.
"Part of it." Brady said, reaching over and taking out Tupperware filled with great smelling food.
"What's the other part?" She asked, grinning at him. Brady reached deep into the basket and brought out two tickets.
"Since I know you won't leave me alone until you know the next part, I'll go ahead and show you." He said, handing her the tickets. Mimi looked at them, screamed in delight before launching herself at Brady. She wrapped her arms around him, knocking him onto his back and her landing right on top of him, with her arms wrapped around him still.
"Les Miserables?! I can't believe it!" She screeched into his ear before turning her head and kissing him on the cheek in her excitement.
*Song: "Rush Rush" by Paula Abdul.