Amazingly, I got a parking spot right out in front of the bar across the street because another car was leaving right as I pulled up. I looked in the rearview mirror, examined my face, touched-up my lip-gloss, and stepped out of the car. WHOOSH, suddenly a huge gust of wind blew right as I got out of my car. Just my luck, my curls looked flawless and now they're completely ruined by the wind. I checked the car window once more playing with my hair before I walked across the street. I stopped when I got to the front door.

"Who're you here to see?" a small blond guy in his early 30s asked me.

"I –I don't know the band's name." And this is where I imagine a bodyguard will escort me to my car for being a foolish teenager trying to get into a stupid bar. Why did I let Eli talk me into this?

"You don't know the bands name?" He seemed annoyed and I thought he wasn't going to let me in because I didn't know the name of Eli's dad's band.

I looked around nervously while switching my weight from one foot to the other. "It-it's my friend's dad's band, I think I'm on a list?" My palms began to sweat.

"Oh, okay, let me see…uh…Clare?" he said as he flipped through the papers on his clipboard.

"Yeah, that's me"

"I need to see some form of identification."

I pulled out my driver's license and showed it to him. He looked at it, then at me, and reached beside him.

"Here" he put a purple wristband on my left wrist and handed me back my license. I attempted to give him the entrance fee Eli had told me about, but he stopped me.

"No need, someone already paid for your fee, you can go right in now miss"

I said thanks and slowly stepped into the bar. Did Eli pay for my entrance fee? I looked around, it was dark, filled with tons of middle-aged rocker people much like Eli's parents I assumed, and I couldn't hear very well from the combination of loud music and talking. I looked around and noticed to my right in the far corner booth was Eli sitting with his family. I started to walk over. He looked up and I saw his eyes bug out a little as I was approaching him, then a smirk hit his face as he got up to meet me.

"Hey!" he said as he pulled me in for a really big hug; I guess this outfit really was working. I broke the hug after 20 seconds and he looked me over once again. He was trying to be really sneaky about it, but I could tell so I just stood up straighter, which made his eyes gaze even more. It was weird – I never relied on my body or clothes to attract guys, but I already had Eli (I think), so why not go the extra mile with my appearance and body language?

"Clare, you look, wow, you look fantastic. I uh I'm, you just. I mean. Haha."

I blushed at his compliment and looked at him while he tried to form a sentence, "Thank you Eli." I said smiling at him.

"You're welcome Clare" he smirked at me still looking me over. "So anyway, we're all sitting over there in the booth. Adam texted me like 2 minutes ago and said he was on his way. Bullfrog is gonna be on in like 15 minutes. Let me introduce you to everyone."

He led me over to the booth with his hand on my upper back leading me, but then I started to sweat. Oh no. I hoped my make-up wouldn't smear so I tried to smile and hoped to God my face wasn't red or that I was already starting to smell from my sweat.

"Hey guys, this is my friend Clare…" crap friend zoned, again. "Clare, this is my mom, Cece, my Aunt Sherry, Uncle Paul, Aunt Tara, and Uncle George." They all said hi to me, but Cece looked especially happy to meet me as she excitedly stood up and shook my hand from across the table,

"Oh Clare honey it's so nice to finally meet you! You're a common name in the Goldsworthy house you know!"

"MOM!"

I chuckled.

"Oh Eli honey calm down. I think I see Adam over there lookin' like a lost puppy. Just go on over to the stage with your friends and we'll all listen from back here"

I followed Eli as we went to meet up with Adam and we all walked to the front of the stage where there was a small dance floor/standing zone. We decided to take a spot on the left side of the stage against the wall because Eli said Bullfrog would be on that side. I stood there awkwardly next to Eli as he and Adam talked to each other about Adam's mother and son's day, but I couldn't even hear what they were saying because the bar was so loud. The only words I could decipher were blood, Drew, pole, orange slice, and fish tank. So I just stood there looking around the bar and waiting patiently for Bullfrog's band to go on stage.

I was still super nervous. I had just met most of Eli's family and most importantly his mom. Not to mention Cece said I was a common name in their house. Did that mean Eli talked a lot about English class, his friends, or me in general? I needed to get an answer tonight from Eli. I just need to know if he feels the same way about me that I do about him. If he doesn't, I can deal. I'll just halt all romantic feelings towards him and just continue to be his friend. It'll be hard though considering he's such an amazing guy. I mean he's intelligent, we have a lot in common from book authors to old movies, and it doesn't hurt that he's not bad on the eyes either…

Pulling me out of my thoughts, Eli's dad's band started to play. Their sound was old school 80s rock and they weren't bad, not bad at all actually. I could hear Eli next to me singing along to their original songs and every so often he'd sing some words in my ear and I just smiled and nodded my head along to the beat of the music. Toward the end of the set him and Adam were in full out air guitar mode in the middle of the dance floor and I couldn't stop my laughter as they made fools of themselves at this bar because everyone was staring at them.

Eli's dad's band's set ended so Eli, Adam, and I headed back to where Eli's family was sitting. There wasn't much room at the table so Eli offered me the last available seat while he stood next to me. The pizza arrived and everyone dug it as if we all hadn't eaten in weeks. Everyone was abuzz about Eli's dad's band and how great they sounded on stage. After most of us had finished eating Eli's Aunt Sherry and Uncle Paul said they were tired and were going to leave, so they said bye to everyone. I scooted over and I was now sitting next to Cece and Eli had taken a seat next to Adam. Rats. Then Eli's dad came with a glass of gin in his hand and sat down next to me.

As if I wasn't nervous enough already I was now sitting between Eli's parents. Adam, Eli and his aunt and uncle were in full conversation at that point, so Eli's dad turned to talk to me.

"So you must be the famous Clare I've been hearing so much about! I'm Bullfrog, Eli's dad. You know Eli talks an awful lot about you, even more than Adam over there"

I nervously smiled as Eli glared at his dad and flipped him off and Bullfrog did the same back. It took me a little by surprise, but once again I was in a bar at 16, a tiger in a bikini could come out and it would seem normal to me at this point.

"Oh stop it boys, you have ladies in your presence" Cece smiled at me as she patted my shoulder and mouthed sorry, apologizing for Bullfrog's and Eli's actions.

Then Bullfrog sat up and took a bite of a piece of pizza, "So Clare, what did you think of my band?"

Crap, as if I looked like 80s rock was my forte. "Uhm, you guys were really awesome, I really enjoyed the music, you all sounded very well together" Oh God that sounded really bad, I hope he didn't catch that I wasn't someone like Eli who ate, slept, and dreamt rock music.

"Heh heh, well thank you Clare, glad you enjoyed it! We have a CD and a Facerange page, you should like us and check out some of the songs online" Whew. Bullfrog didn't seem too offended by my mediocre answer.

"Oh I'll definitely go like you guys on Facerange, what's your band's name?"

"RMB"

"So Clare, how did you meet Eli?" Cece gushed as she put her elbows on the table and her head in her hands like she had just asked who my crush was at a middle school sleepover.

I looked around nervously, because now Eli, Adam, and Eli's aunt and uncle were paying attention to our conversation. "Well, at the beginning of this year I was in the front of the school with my friend Alli and my glasses fell out of my hand and into the street. Eli was driving by and happened to run them over with Morty. So he got out of the car, handed me my glasses and told me he thought they were dead."

"I think you left out some details there, Edwards!" Adam butted in. I mildly glared at him trying not to make it obvious in front of the adults or Eli. Oh how Adam loved to torture me.

"Yeah Clarabelle, I wanna hear what other dumb stuff my son had to say" Bullfrog added in.

I looked over at Eli and noticed that even in this dark bar I could see his face turning pink as he was looking down at his lap.

"Haha, well. He also told me I had pretty eyes and I said thanks. Then I said 'I'll see you around?' and Eli said 'Guess you will' and then he drove off."

I heard Cece say aw loudly, Eli buried his face in his hands, Adam laughed, and Eli's aunt and uncle nudged and smiled at each other. We weren't even dating and I felt like an embarrassed girlfriend.

"Well damn son, that wasn't dumb at all, I guess I have taught you a thing or two to use on the ladies."

"Oh baby boy, you can be so mysterious at times, just ask the girl out already!"

I froze and the smile on my face faded. Dear God this was not how I wanted Eli to ask me out. I honestly didn't care that much how he did, but I know I didn't want his parents to force him into taking me on a date.

Thankfully Adam spoke up. "Hate to ruin the party, but my mom's outside waiting for me. I'll see you guys at school on Monday. Always good to see you Bullfrog and Cece! Nice meeting you George and Tara."

Time passed and I continued to talk to Cece and Bullfrog about movies we liked, TV shows we watched, and my favorite subject: Eli as a child. My favorite story was about how Eli used to pretend to be a rock star like his dad and put on little shows for his parents. Cece and I talked about how she and I were both born around the same time and how our personalities reflected our zodiac sign. We even said things at the same time, it was really uncanny how much I had in common with her considering the way she looks with all her leather clothing, black nail polish, and dark make-up, but I guess like the cliché says: you just can't judge a book by its cover.

Later Bullfrog was talking to me about school and just general things about me. I must say it was a bit more dificult to talk to him because we didn't have TOO much in common, but we managed. Although I will say he is a riot, a lot of the things he said made me laugh until my sides hurt, so I guess I now know where Eli got his sense of humor from.

Although I came to this bar mostly to just hang out with Eli, I found myself spending most of my time with his parents. I wasn't having a horrible time though because his parents are two of the most interesting people I have ever met. I was actually really glad I got to know them so well because if anything really did happen between Eli and I, I would already kind of have his parent's blessing and I wouldn't be too nervous upon meeting them again.

Then Cece announced that her, Eli's aunt, and uncle would be leaving. Eli wanted to stay so at the end of the night he could help his dad pack up the equipment and take it home. Bullfrog double checked with the owner who said so long as Eli and I didn't drink we could stay since we hadn't been doing so much as sitting and eating the entire time (plus we were wearing purple bracelets indicating we were underaged). I didn't want Eli to be sitting around all by himself while his dad was at the bar with is band mates (ok, I also realllllllly wanted to spend alone time with him) so I decided to stay longer even though it was already 10 PM, the time I originally planned to leave. I looked at my phone and my mom had texted me saying she'd be back in the morning (I could have figured that one out by myself) so I could have stayed out all night if I really wanted to. After Cece and Eli's aunt and uncle left Bullfrog said he'd be at the bar with his band and to just call if we needed anything.

And now Eli and I were alone.