After school the girls sat me down on my bed and started to rummage through my closet and dresser and pulled everything out. They laid out all of the outfits that they thought was best for the date and fought about what they thought looked right on me. But when I tried them on nothing looked right to me. That was until I accidently stumbled upon the perfect outfit. I found it when I was picking up and putting away some of the clothes the girls had pulled out. On the floor laid a cute black skirt and sweater lying on the floor. I picked it up off the floor and slipped onto my body and turned around to look at myself in the mirror. The skirt stopped right above my knees, the sweater was thin, long sleeves and a folded collar around the neck. The sweater was a milky white color and small white and silver beads were sewn into the collar. I turned around to face the girls, "What about this?" I asked showing them what I had put on.
"I like that," Maddie said looking me up and down.
"It looks nice but I feel like it's missing something." Alexis said form the bed.
"I think I know what's missing!" Alexis jumped up from where she was sitting on the floor and ran out of the room and down the hall, heading to her room. She came back holding a black and white checker pattern scarf and black tights that stop right under the skirt. I pulled the tights up my legs while she looped the scarf around my neck loosely making sure parts of the collar were still visible.
"Now you just need some shoes to match." Katie said looking at my shoes.
They dug through my closet looking for the right pair of shoes and once they found a pair would shove them on my feet to see if it matched the outfit; however, they couldn't agree on what they thought matched so they would end up throwing them back into the closet each time. This happened until we found the perfect black ankle bootie. I slipped the booties on my feet and stood in front of the full length mirror that was mounted onto the wall. "What do you guys think?" I asked everyone who was sitting on my bed. I started spin slowly in a small circle in front of the mirror, trying to look at myself from all angles.
"I think you look real cute, Maka." Katie said from my bed where everyone was sitting.
"I think Jack will fall head over heels for you, if he hasn't already." Nicole said with a small giggle.
"Jack already has, this outfit is just the cherry on the top of the cake." Maddie said pushing Nicole off the bed.
"I still think you would look hotter in the outfit I picked, no offence Maka." Nicole said putting away the all black outfit she picked out.
"None taken." I said staring at myself in the mirror.
After we picked out my outfit, Maddie sat me down on the floor and did my make-up and my hair. She gave me short thick wings and put a sliver and white eyeshadow on my eyelids. The eyeshadow had little bits of glitter in it so when the light hit it just right my eyes would shine. For my hair, she made two braids on each side of my head down the back. When they meet up in the back of my hair, she merged them into one big braid. By the time she was finished, it was time for me to go on a date. With shaky legs I stood up and took a big breath trying to calm down my nerves. I looked myself over one more time before starting to walk out of my room.
"Have fun sweetie, don't worry about anything. Just go with the flow." Katie said trying to help me calm down.
"Make sure he pays and pulls your chair out!" Nicole yelled more for Jack to hear than me.
"Remember just to be yourself and everything will be ok." Maddie said cleaning up the makeup brushes.
"Guys, I think I'm ok. It's just a small date. What's the worst that can happen? Thank you for trying to help but you guys are stressing me out more." I let out a small sigh and walked down the stairs as graceful as I could.
When my foot hit the floor I peeked to the front door to see if Jack was already there. His back was facing me and he had a rose in his hand. He looked like he was calming his own nerves down. Just from seeing him all the calmness I had went away and all my nerves came back, I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage. My heart was pounding so much I thought it would burst any minute. I knew if I didn't walk up next to him soon that I would never be able to. I started to count from one to five, when I got to five I grabbed whatever courage I had and held onto it for dear life. Slowly I walked up behind Jack trying to find my voice. I took a breath and let out a shaky, 'Hey there'.
Jack jumped slightly at the sound of my voice and turned around on his heel to face me. When I saw what he was wearing I was blown away. His shirt was black with a white cross in the middle, over his shirt was a gray button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. His pants where soft gray cargo shorts, there were black vans on his feet, and his hair was messed up a little and pushed to the right side of his head. "Hey Maka, wow you look beautiful."
"Thank you Jack. I think you look very handsome." I blushed and played with my hands slowly.
"Thank you, I got you a rose." He handed me the rose and I gently wrapped my hand around it, trying to avoid the thorns. Our hands touched for a second and we both blushed while he pulled his hand away and pushed it back into his pocket.
"Let me put it in water and we can go." I smiled up at him and he grinned back. I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a small, round vase and filled it half way up with water. Slowly I slipped the small thorny flower in and put it up on the counter top. I smiled at the single red rose sitting in its vase. Taking small steps, I walked over to Jack and grabbed his soft, warm hand. "Where are we going Jack?"
"Well I was thinking about a movie and then taking you to a nice restaurant just down the road." He said softly rubbing his thumb over my hand.
"That sounds nice," I replied smiling up at him, ready to leave the house. Jack laughed softly and opened the front door for me. When we were both out of the house, he turned around and locked the door. We walked side by side holding hands to the car. He opened the car door for me and I slid into the passenger seat of his car. Jack walked around the front of the car and got behind the steering wheel. With a small roar of the engine, the car started up and the radio played some cheesy popular song in the background. The ride to the movie was a little awkward; not one of us talked and Jack kept his eyes to the road while I couldn't stop staring at him. I tried to look away from his handsome face but I couldn't remove my eyes. Every once in awhile, I would catch his eyes shifting off the road and on to me and then back onto the road. Ten grueling minutes later, we finally pulled up to the only movie theater in town. It wasn't really big and it only showed a few movies at a time. Currently, only action movies and romantic comedies were playing. Jack pulled into the closest parking spot outside the movie theater's doors and jumped out of the car to run over to my door and open it for me. I thanked him and stepped out of the car smiling, up at him. He took my hand and led me to the ticket booth which was outside in between the two front door.
"What movie should we see?" Jack asked me while he took out his wallet.
"Well, since you're paying you should pick." I said, reading the list of movies playing.
"Ah ah, you're the lady here, you get to pick."
"Well ok but I don't think you will like it."
Jack laughed and bought us two tickets for 'Finding Dory' form the ticket booth worker. We walked through the front door, handed the man our tickets, and went into the front lobby where all the yummy snacks were. Jack and I got into the back of the line for the concession stand. When it was our time to order, Jack got a big tub of popcorn that could feed a family of five. He also paid for the drinks, ordered me a big blue raspberry slushy (my favorite color), and a large soda for himself. We walked into the theater with the number three above the door. Somehow, we were able to snag the best spot in the theater. When everyone else was in their seats, the lights dimmed and the movie turned began to play.
Sometime during the movie, Jack put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. I put my head on his shoulder and I could faintly hear his heartbeat. I liked being that close to him. Soul never held me like this. Every once in awhile, I would catch Jack staring at me and when he realized he was caught he would look away fast and blush. I giggled at his cuteness and gave him a little peck on his cheek. A little while after that, he put his hand under my chin, tilted my face up, and leaned down to kiss my lips. At first I was shocked by his boldness but then I melted into the kiss. The kiss was amazing, when he pulled away I let out a quiet 'wow'. He smiled and pulled me closer to him before returning back to the movie.
After the movie, we were full on popcorn and soda so we skipped going to the restaurant and went to the local park instead. It was dark out and lamp posts lit up the park paths that we walked down, holding hands. We talked about everything and anything: school, things we liked, and we even shared funny stories from when we were kids. While we were walking, we passed a small playground with swings. I ran to the swings pulling Jack with me. I sat down on the nearest swing and gave Jack puppy dog eyes.
"Jack will you push me please?" I asked pushing myself slightly.
Jack let out a cute laugh and walked behind me. "Sure." He grabbed the swing's chains and then pulled it back and pushed it forward. I went higher and higher up into the air until I got to the point where I could go no higher. I felt him stop pushing me and heard him go quiet as well. I turned my head around the best I could, trying to see if he was still there. He wasn't.
"Hey, where'd you go?" I asked out into the darkness.
"I'm right here." I almost fell off the swing when he said that. He was sitting in the swing next to me pushing himself and trying to get up to where I was. How did I not see him move?
"I have an idea; let's jump off the swings and see who lands the farthest away." He suggested.
"You're on. You so are going to lose."
He laughed and got ready to jump. We both jumped off the swings at the same time and soared for a few seconds before landing. When our feet hit the ground, we fell and rolled down a hill for a bit before landing on top of each other. I was on top with my hair falling into my face. Our faces were only a few inches apart and we leaned into each other. Slowly, we closed our eyes while our lips touched. If this were a cheesy romance movie, fireworks would have been going off at that moment. That's how good this kiss was. We pulled away slowly. When we were completely separated, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my clothes. We stared into each other's eyes, his hand lightly wrapping around mine.
"That was…" I trailed off.
"Amazing." He said.
"Yeah." I smiled up at him.
He pulled me close to him as we continued on our way deeper into the park.
We walked the whole path that looped around the park and as we left, we passed a small ice cream shop. "Would you like some ice cream, my lady?" Jack asked using the best British voice he could muster.
"Why, I would love some ice cream, my good sir," I replied, doing the same. Jack giggled and held the shop door open for me. "That's very gentlemanly of you."
"Believe it or not, but not all of us are savages."
"Oh I believe you."
We got in line. Luckily it was short and soon it was our turn to order what we wanted. I got mint chocolate chip in a cake cone with rainbow sprinkles on top while Jack got rocky rode in a waffle cone. We sat outside the shop at one of those metal tables with the metal chairs. We watched the people as they passed while we ate our ice cream.
"Maka?" I heard him call my name.
"Hm?" I turned to look at him and found that all of his ice cream was gone and that he had a serious look on his face.
"I know this may be a little early but... I think I love you."
"Jack, I think I love you to." I took his hand and weaved my fingers in between his. He started to lean in like he was going to kiss me but instead he took a bite of my ice cream cone! "Hey!" I yelled at him, I pulled my cone far away from his evil mouth.
He went back into his seat laughing. "How can you like that? Mint is so gross."
"Why'd you eat my ice cream if you don't like it?" I asked him clearly angry about him stealing a bite.
"Because you're so cute when you're angry."
"I am?" I blushed looking down at the table.
"Very cute." He said, getting close to me.
I smiled and kissed his cheek. "You're still not forgiven for the crime you committed."
"When will my time be severed?"
"I don't know, it depends on how good you are for the rest of the night."
"Oh yeah? What if I'm not good?"
"Well you may lose your chance for a second date."
His jaw dropped down to his feet. "You're joking right?"
"Not even close."
He leaned back into his seat trying to muffle a giggle. "You are the most interesting girl I have ever met, Maka."
"Why, thank you."
We sat outside that shop, talking until the owner closed up and kicked us out. It was eleven by then so we decided to go home. During the car ride home, we sang along to the radio. Our singing was off tune with the singers but we didn't care, we were having too much fun. Singing makes time go by fast because soon we pulled up into the driveway. Someone had left the front porch light on for us (most likely Katie).
We hopped out of the car and climbed up the front steps. Jack used his house key to unlock the front door and I stepped in first. He came in after closing the door behind himself and turning the deadbolt lock. The first floor was empty and the lights in the basement were off. Everyone must have been in their rooms.
"I had a lot of fun tonight." Jack said.
"Me too, I hope we can do it again."
"So if I ask you out on second date, you would say yes?" He asked.
"Yes, you idiot." Jack smiled and pulled me into one more kiss.
"Goodnight Maka."
"Goodnight Jack." We headed off to our rooms. When I got into mine, I wiped off my make-up and put on my PJs before jumping onto my bed and passing out.
The next morning when I woke up, all the girls surrounded my bed and were staring at me. Most of them were still in their PJs and had bedhead. "What are you guys doing?" I asked them. They all started to talk at once.
"Finally you are awake, we've been dying to know what happened. You guys came home real late. " Maddie said
"How'd the date go?" Nikki asked.
"What did you guys do?" Katie asked.
"Did he do anything to hurt you?" Alexis asked.
"It went well. We saw 'Finding Dory' then took a walk in the park and got ice cream. We talked mostly and no, he didn't hurt me, though he did take a bite of my ice cream." I said trying to answer all of their questions.
"What did you guys talk about~?" Nikki purred.
"Nothing much, school and things we like. We told some stories that happened when we were kids."
"Did you guys kiss?" Maddie got closer.
I blushed, "Yes we did kiss, we kissed a few times." The girls let out some 'ohhhs' and got even closer, some of them were right on top of me.
"Did you guys do anything dirty?" The last person I expected to ask that question was Katie.
"No! Um, I mean, no we didn't do anything dirty. He was a gentleman the whole time."
Alexis and Maddie let out disappointed sighs while Nikki crossed her arms and shook her head. "He better have been. If he was anything less he would be dead."
I giggled, "Can you guys get out of my room? I'm still tired and I'd like to sleep alone."
"You better. No one is allowed in your room." Nikki said in her parent voice. The girls crawled out of my bed and left my room so I could go to sleep.
The next few days after the date were boring and nothing much happened. At first, everyone had questions about the date but soon those all stopped. Not much happened at school or in the house, though Maddie started to become distant. She always looked like she was nervous that something was going to happen and she avoided us. Whenever someone asked about it, she said she was fine, 'just stressed over something.' Nobody pushed the issue any farther than that.
If only we had, then maybe we would have been able to save her.
During the night while everyone was in their room while trying to go to bed, there was a blood curdling scream that came out of Maddie's room. I was one of the first to run into her room. I burst in, almost breaking the door down to find Maddie dead on her bed. There was blood everywhere. Frantically, I looked around the room to see a man jumping out of her window with her soul in his hands.