Chapter Seven
Marina's POV
Getting ready for my date with Kendall was harder than preparing for the Met Gala. I had cooked habichuelas guisadas which I really hoped that Kendall wouldn't mind. The first time we had a date we ordered pizza so it was easy. This time, however, was the first time I felt truly exposed in our culinary relationship. To be fair, this is also the first time I've cooked for a sixteen year old white boy from Minnesota. Something tells me that he would eat whatever I fed him, however.
I'm wearing my yellow sundress again, the flowy skirt dripping around me like honey. My shoulders were exposed just enough. Not that I think Kendall would notice. He rarely takes his eyes off of mine, only occasionally releasing his gaze to scan me, almost like I was a criminal.
As soon as I stuck in my last earring there was a knock at the door.
Kendall arrived in his classic lightweight sweater, holding in his hand another small bouquet of dwarf sunflowers as mine had obviously wilted since last time.
"Why, thank you," I appreciated, taking them in my hand and bringing them over my sink to cut and arrange them.
"It smells amazing in here," Kendall complimented in response to the seasoning that burst throughout the apartment.
"Thank you." I brought the vase of flowers to the table and placed them on the center. "What you tell people?"
"I told Katie the truth, but made sure she wouldn't tell anyone," Kendall said.
"How could you possibly do that? I thought she was a rebel," I questioned.
"She is, but she also destroyed my mom's curling iron last week and blamed it on Carlos. You and I are the only ones that know," Kendall explained.
"You threatened her?"
"... Yes," Kendall confirmed.
"You're getting good at this," I complimented.
"Speaking of which, I told the guys and my mom that I was going on a date with a girl who I met at the Stop and Shop."
"Name?"
"Rebecca," Kendall answered.
"Look at you! A natural," I said. "Would you like to sit?" I asked after a couple moments of gazing back and forth. The silence between us was deafening in many ways. It blanketed all that surrounded it.
"I would love to," Kendall responded, but he didn't move. We just continued to stare at each other.
I was the first one to break it as I remembered the food sitting on my kitchen counter. I carried it to the table already set with bowls and utensils. Kendall sat down and I followed.
"And you all have been friends since elementary school?" I asked Kendall, in reference to James, Carlos, and Logan.
"Some of them since kindergarten," Kendall added. "We're all really close and this music thing has only really made us stronger. What about you?"
"What about me?" I questioned.
"Who are your best friends?" Kendall asked.
"Umm…" I hesitated. "Well, Camille's a good friend."
"But, didn't you meet her, like, three months ago?" Kendall wondered. "What about your friends back home?"
"Didn't have any," I answered.
"None?"
"Well, I mean, I had friends along the way, but by the end nobody wanted to be around me. I wasn't cool enough for them," I said.
"I can not imagine you as uncool. I mean, I've barely been able to spend a minute away from you," Kendall said.
"I'd hope. That's really been my goal. Moving to LA . Signing that contract. It was all for a fresh start. You know, I think it's the reason why they picked me. I'm a blank slate for them to build a whole new person on. I'm Reynaldo's girlfriend and nothing more," I rambled, fidgeting with the ring on my right hand. It was opal, my birthstone.
"Those idiots know nothing."
I looked up at Kendall's sudden passion, smiling smally, my eyes blazing.
"They should know just how amazing the real you is," Kendall complimented. "If they can't accept your authentic self then they're missing out."
"I bet you've said that to a lot of different people," I sassed.
"... Maybe a couple," Kendall shamefully admitted.
"I did appreciate it. But I'm okay with how things are now. Yeah, some of the conditions are a little annoying-"
"Like the fact that we can't date in public," Kendall stated.
"Yes, that will be challenging, but we're managing. And in the big picture, it's better this way. It's always more complicated than what's on the surface, if that's the only thing I've learned," I said.
"What I've been learning too," Kendall agreed.
"Are your demos close to being done?" I wondered.
"Closer than they were last week, but no, not really. Luckily, we still have six weeks until we need to show Griffin. It's just that whenever we get in the studio something seems to distract us. I still don't understand how we get the work done that we do," Kendall said.
"And you're going to the Palmwoods school?"
"Yes. You're not, though?"
"No. I dropped out of high school," I confessed.
"You dropped out of high school?!" Kendall gasped.
"School wasn't fun for me. I had a job offer here. It was an easy decision," I said.
"But what about getting a job when your contract expires?" Kendall asked.
"If I play my cards right, then I might never need to get a real job. Considering my circumstance I think I'm doing pretty good," I said.
"I can't blame you. I live with my mother so I have to stay in school," Kendall teased himself.
"Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" I joked.
"Wonderfully. I don't have to do any laundry," Kendall said.
"And you get the crusts cut off your sandwiches," I said.
"That too," Kendall laughed.
"Man, being sixteen is crazy. I can barely remember it."
"Aren't you seventeen?" Kendall wondered.
"Like I said, 'crazy,'" I repeated.