Beth got ready for her date with Dean. She didn't have a car and Dean hadn't offered to drive her so she called her other close friend Ruby, who did have a car and only lived 3 blocks away from her house to drip her off at the diner.
Ruby had been her closest companion besides Lucia since they met the summer before their sophomore year of high school. She had literally crashed into her mailbox with her moms sedan trying to make it to the grocery store after school with Annie beside her. Her Mother had refused to get out of bed and she needed to get food for Annie and herself so she swiped a twenty dollar bill from her mother's purse and grabbed her car keys and took off with the car, even not having no driving experience.
Ruby had been her savior that day, she was new to the area and had moved into her grandmother's place with her parents just a few weeks prior. Ruby took control that day and drove the girls to the grocery so that they wouldn't starve for the week. Ever since they'd been constantly close to each other. When she wasn't at Lucia's , she was at Ruby's.
She had done her best to look how Rio had described Dean's type, a cheerleader. She had styled her long strawberry blond hair gathered into a high ponytail. She had gone with just the bare basics with makeup, but her lips were highly glossed with strawberry scented lip gloss. She worn a cute, ruffled skirt and baby pink cropped sweater with her old converse high tops.
Her family didn't have much money since her dad had left and her mom stopped working after sinking into a deep depressive state. They mostly lived off government subsidies as well as Beth's meager paycheck. Her converse high tops were her prized possession though, she had bought them at the mall two years prior and wore them everywhere. She didn't have the money to get new clothing but made do with what she already owned and was able to find at secondhand stores.
Beth saw Dean's jaw drop as he saw her when she walked into the diner. His face erupted into a big, goofy smile. This caused Beth to smile back at him, pleased that he liked what he saw.
Beth blushed, she had only worn the outfit once before when she had gone over to Lucia's house and Rio had done a low wolf whistle as soon as her saw her.
"Elizabeth, are you trying to kill me right now by wearing that". His eyes drifted down to her cleavage which was exposed by the V neck sweater. Rio averted her eyes and looked at the ground. He grabbed his chest with his right hand and pretended to start to faint, rolling his neck back and falling backwards slightly before straightening his body back up.
Beth just looked back at his, her eyebrows knitted together as she looked at him with confusion by his reaction. That's all that he had said to her as he retreated into his room a few minutes later. Lucia had burst out laughing and escorted Beth into her bedroom as they chatted about what had happened at school that day.
Dean certainly wasn't whistling at her and he certainly wasn't looking at her like Rio had, like he was undressing her with his eyes, but his smile was enough for her.
"You look great", he said and ushered her to sit in the booth that he was already occupying. "This is my favorite place to take all of my dates", he stated. Beth frowned when he said that thinking it sounded strange, made her seem just like one of many dates Dean had.
Dean wasn't known as someone that had serious girlfriends, but he was known to date the varsity cheerleaders. The girls that Beth had strived to fit in with during her brief stint on the team. However, no matter how much she had tried to fit in, she always felt like an outsider. She felt like every time her team mates smiled at her, there was a hidden thought of unacceptance.
"I had a bad experience here last time I went here. I had eaten the chicken salad, didn't feel great right after eating it and then before I knew it I started to...", she started to say.
"What will you have?" he said, cutting other off mid-sentence and shoving the menu into her hands. She looked down at the thick menu and didn't see anything appealing to her.
As she scanned the menu her mind raced about what to say to dean, where should she place her hands?, how should she eat in front of him? Should she maintain eye contact? Should she let him lead the conversation?
"Hmm give me a minute. I need to look at the menu more to decide", she said.
When the waitress came to the table to order Dean gave his order and then once she turned to Beth and asked her what she wanted Dean didn't let Beth speak he said, "She wants the chicken salad".
Beth frowned and her eyebrows knitted into confusion. She had just started to tell Dean about her bad experience with the chicken salad at this diner and all he had heard from that conversation was "chicken salad" and assumed that's what she wanted.
Beth didn't argue though, she didn't want anything to go wrong on the date and pointing out that wasn't what she wanted could possibly upset Dean, so she remained silent.
Once their food came, Beth barely touched her food. Her stomach lurched thinking of the memory of what happened last time she had the chicken salad.
Dean was talking and Beth tried to do what Rio had said and be more assertive, she tried to interject into his conversation and tell her about her experiences in high school as he had been telling her about his but she was constantly cut off.
She looked up when she heard the bells ringing on the main door and saw Rio walking into the diner with a group of boys she recognized from school. He walked past her table with a smug smile on his face and winked at her.
Beth smelled his distinctive cologne when he walked past her. He wore this Nautica cologne that she loved the scent of but sometimes he was a little heavy handed with the cologne. She had gotten it for him last Christmas and he wore it almost every day since. He also was a little heavy handed with his hair gel, his hair slicked back on his head in a wave pattern which didn't look like it would move no matter how much he shook his head.
His group was loud the entire time they were there. She heard them talking about girls and she heard Rio bragging loudly, "My girl is hotter than all of your girls combined and the way she kisses me, it's out of this world. You losers wouldn't know anything about how a real woman kisses.".
Then she overheard one of the guys say, "Rhea's alright, she's attractive wouldn't say exactly hotter than all of our girls but your sister and her friend Beth, now those are two hot Chica's that I wouldn't mind banging".
That's when she heard someone slamming their fist on the table and Rio saying in a deep, growling voice, "You don't talk about them in that way ever again, you hear. If I catch you looking at either of them, you'll be sorry"
They were being so loud, that their voices were drowning out Dean's talking. She felt like she was in a trance, only hearing Rio's voice. She finally snapped out of trying to hear what Rio and his friends were saying when she heard Dean said, "I can give you a ride home after we pay if you want".
Beth paused for a moment, "We, pay? You mean as in we split the bill?", she questioned.
Beth gulped and frantically looked around, catching Rio's eye. He stared at her as if he was gauging her expression.
"Yeah, what did you think I meant?", Dean questioned. Dean didn't seem to be phased by the look of panic on Beth's face.
Beth sighed with disappointment but dug out of her purse the last 10-dollar bill she had to her name and handed it to him begrudgingly as she was paying. When he had asked her out he never mentioned that she'd have to pay for her own meal so that meant she wouldn't have enough to grab the basic groceries that she needed to get.
She shouldn't have assumed, Beth thought to herself. Beth had never been on a date before but on television shows and in the articles in her teen magazines, the guy usually paid for the meal if her was the one to ask the girl out. Maybe she was thinking too traditionally she thought.
As she walked out of the diner and passed Rio, he caught her eye and looked at her with a questioning expression. She quickly looked away and turned back to looking at Dean as he pushed open the door. She didn't want to lose an opportunity to be alone with Dean so she followed him out the door and shrugged her shoulders at Rio and waved at him as she walked out of the door into the parking lot, where Dean was waiting for her in his car.
Once Dean was parked in front of her house, they sat in silence for a few moments. She awkwardly started to get out of his car, she pulled the passenger door open when all of a sudden, he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her face forward so that his lips were crushing hers. It wasn't the experience that Beth expected.
The kiss didn't feel as passionate and bruising as the kiss with Rio. She had to count the kiss with Dean as her first real kiss because obviously the kiss with Rio had only been a teaching moment but compared to the way that Rio had grabbed her, pulled her into him and kissed her made her feeling tingly all over, although unexpected. Dean grabbing her and pulling her into a crushing kiss hadn't made her feel the same way. It wasn't what she had pictured in her head when she had anticipated Dean would kiss her at the end of their date.
As Beth was halfway down the sidewalk, Dean screamed out to her, "You'll be at my game on Tuesday won't you. Its going to be a tough one against Lincoln High and I'd love to see you there. We can get a hot dog or something afterward at the concession stand".
Beth had to watch Annie that night as her mom had some meeting but supposed she could take her to the game as well.
"Sure, I'll be there", she told him.
Beth waved goodbye to him and headed into the house where she was promptly greeted by Annie, who had just come from the ledge of the windowsill.
"So that's the guy that asked you out, Deansie", Annie asked.
"Its Dean Annie, not Deansie", Beth corrected her younger sister.
"Looks like a Loser with a capital L to me", Annie retaliated.
Beth sighed, "Annie, you are 8, what do you know about dating guys? Dean is popular and plays football at my school", she explained. "I was honored that someone like him asked me out".
Annie rolled her eyes at Beth, "Being popular does not make him not a loser", Annie stated while heading into her bedroom.
"Even Rio is a better choice for you to date than Deansie and that's saying a lot because I think he's a big jerk. He would actually come to our house to pick you up for your date", Annie retorted. She slammed her door shut just as Beth was going to retaliate.
Beth had been disappointed that he hadn't picked her up for their date but justified to herself that he had at least dropped her off.
Annie tolerated Rio for Beth's sake on the few day's that Beth had been so desperate for a ride to school or the store that she had broken down and asked him for a lift, taking Annie with her. Rio had bought a used clunker that he fixed up as soon as he had turned 16.
Beth couldn't wait to tell Lucia about her disastrous first date. She really hoped that the second one would go better than the first one had.