Authors Note: Oh my gosh- first off, thanks for those reviews-they're HIGHLY appreciated and keep me going. I really wanted to update the next day after I posted the last chapter, but I kept deleting stuff and writing it again and then deleting it again. I'm very picky about the stuff I type, but I will definitely try to update the next Chapters more frequently –also—just to let you know in case you're not familiar ,CREEPERS are an actual shoe.—au revoir

Riley would be at my house in two hours and I had yet to find an outfit to wear for the evening. We planned on going to the movies together after he met my mother. I was ecstatic about the whole idea because I've never been on a date before and the last time I went to the movies, was at the age of 10. I looked through my closet, still dissatisfied with my options until I came across a mid thigh length long sleeved black dress. I bought it months ago and never thought about wearing it...until now.

I grabbed two pairs of shoes from the bottom of my closet and headed downstairs to the living room. I wanted to ask my mom for a little style advice. After making it down the stairs, I saw my mother on the couch, drinking her tea. It was her usual routine on her days off from work. I walked in front of the TV, holding both pairs of shoes up, letting her take a good look at them.

"Okay-sooo what shoes do you think I should wear? The black platform boots or the black creepers?" I asked

She took a sip of her tea and answered "I think you should go with the creepers..The black boots cut off length to your legs while the creepers has the platform, but still gives your legs a nice length"

I nodded my head, agreeing with her decision. "cool- but what about the dress? It isn't too slutty is it?" I asked, feeling slightly self-conscious.

She shook her head and laughed. "Of course not Zoey. It's nice to see you in something other than pants all the time—now if only we could get you to wear something other than black…"

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed "..maybe—you might just get your wish"

She looked at me and smiled, changing the subject. "I can't believe you're going on a date. This guy has to be a sweetheart because I haven't seen you smile like this in a while"

I nodded my head "yeah—he's nice, but he's definitely quite a character"

She nodded her head and smiled "Yeah, that's sweet, but can you move from in front of the TV? I'm missing my movie"

I laughed and moved to side. "oh, sorry...I'll just go back upstairs and finish getting ready."

Riley Freeman- POV

I had a 150 dollars saved up for me and Zoey to go to the movies and that might not seem like much, but it was a lot for me because soon as money got in my hand, I was ready to spend it. Luckily I started taking my brother's advice about saving up cash. I thought it was about time for me and Zoey to start doing a little more than just chillin by each other's houses.

I threw on a black tee, black hooded jacket, with some blue jeans and timbs. I went down the stairs to let Huey know I was ready to leave. I saw him on the couch reading one of his books. I swear this nigga's life was boring as fuck. All this nigga did was read..

"Aye, Huey..it's time for me to go"

He continued to look down in his book, acting as if he was too busy that he couldn't respond. As much as I wanted to curse this nigga out, I remained calm because he was my ride to Zoey's house.

"Huey..I know you heard me, nigga"

He closed his book, putting it on the coffee table. "Do you have my money?" he asked seriously

I raised my eyebrow at his question "Nigga what?—what money you talkin bout?"

"The gas money you'll be paying me for this ride of yours"

I looked at him and laughed. " Pssh, nigga you trippin"

He continued to give me one of his serious stares. Dude didn't even blink an eye.

"I guess you'll be getting a cab to Zoey's house? And you know they'll charge way more right?"

"Man ,how much you want?"

"20 dollars should be good.." he said extending his hand out

I sighed heavily, giving him a 20 dollar bill from my pocket. "I swear you be actin like a bitch sometimes"

We later on made it out of the house, on the way to Zoey's place.

Zoey Anderson-POV

I stood in my mirror while putting on a little mascara. It was the only makeup I used since I knew Riley preferred me fresh faced. I added on my choker necklace to finish off my look. A few minutes later I heard the doorbell ring and quickly jotted down the stairs, making my way into the living room. I saw my mother about to make her way for the door.

"I'll get it mom" I said, walking pass her. I opened the door and saw Riley with his hands in his pocket.

"Wassup?" he asked in a calm manner.

I quickly responded. "Hey... I need you to take your hands out of your pockets- that kind of annoys my mom"

"Alright" he said, taking both hands out. "Can I come in now?"

"Sure" I said with a smile.

I grabbed his hand, leading him to my mother, who was standing near the couch. She put on her fake smile and gave Riley a slight wave. I knew her oh so well and this was a smile she gave to people that she was not impressed with.

"Mom, this is Riley-Riley this is my mother"

Riley shook her hand. I noticed him admiring her figure as well.

"Wassup Mrs. Anderson- I have to say, I can see where Zoey gets her looks from- and you must stay in the gym too huh?-cause that body is a killer."

"Well, I do try to workout at least four times a week-but enough about me, I want to know more about you Riley"

Riley took a seat on the couch, leaning back a bit " Ask away- It's coo with me…you know I've been interrogated before"

A look of concern appeared on my mother's face. "What for?" she asked curiously

"Man, they wanted me to snitch, but I was like forget that. I ain't see nothin you feel me?"

I turned my head to the side, a little embarrassed of his answer, while my mother continued on asking questions.

"So, when did this happen?" My mother asked, still curious.

"Way back when I was 8 years old" Riley replied nonchalantly.

My mother looked at me with a slight aggravated look on her face. It's like I could read her mind. I knew exactly what she was thinking, which was probably "what the hell has Zoey brought in my house?", but I knew in time she would warm up to him.

"Mom, it's nothing you need to worry about. It's all in the past…right Riley?"

"..Yeah, you have nothin to worry about and I know what you're thinking too" Riley answered.

"Oh really?" my mother asked with her arms folded.

Riley nodded his head- "yeah I do-you judge my looks, thinking I might be trouble, but I really like Zoey and have no intentions on being a bad influence to your daughter."

I quickly agreed with Riley's statement before my mother had the chance to speak.

"Yeah mom, If people would stop judging a person based on their looks, I would probably have more than just one friend.."

She made a light sigh and walked towards the coffee table to get her keys.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just grateful enough that you have a friend Zoey." She replied.

"Are you guys ready to go?" My mother asked "It's 4:00 and the movie starts around five, so we should probably get going" she said, continuing on.

"Yeah..sounds good to me" I said, making my way to the door. Riley followed behind.

We arrived at the movies 25 minutes later. As soon as my mother drove off, I noticed Riley staring at me, but he wasn't looking at my face.

"Um, what are you looking at?" I asked

He gave me a slight smile. "I'm just admiring that ass- looks real nice in that dress..I couldn't say that shit while your mom was around."

I rolled my eyes. "I hate my ass.."

"Seems like you hate everything about yourself.." Riley replied

"I do…I'm just learning to live with it"

He pulled me over closer to him "Give me a few months and I'll have you loving everything about yourself"

I smiled at his reply. "I'd love to see you do that" I said while looking into his eyes. He leaned over to kiss me. It was short and sweet, lasting just a few seconds.

"We better go inside…I don't want to miss the movie" I said breaking our kiss. We finally made it inside the movie theater. After we got our tickets, Riley wanted to stop and get something to eat, so we headed over to the concession stand.

"You want anything?" Riley asked. I thought about it for a few seconds. "no thanks-I'll just share with you.."

Unfortunately Riley ordered a large bag of popcorn, a bag of Skittles and a bag of M&Ms with a large Coke. I looked at him in disbelief. "He couldn't possibly eat all that junk" I thought to myself while looking at his slender frame. A slight jealousy came over me-Jealous of the fact that he can eat this junk and not gain one pound. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Riley call my name.

"Aye Zoey..can you put some butter on this popcorn while I wait for my drink" Riley asked, pointing to a section that had condiments on the other side.

"Are you sure you want extra butter?" I asked. "Seems like there's enough already"

"Nah, I like my shit with extra"

I grabbed the popcorn, making my way to the condiments section. As I was about to put some fatty butter over Riley's popcorn, I heard a familiar voice call my name. A voice I hadn't heard in quite a while.

"Zoey..Zoey is that you?" The familiar voiced asked. I turned around to see my one of my old classmates, Bradley Cooper, but everyone called him Brad. He had curly dark brown hair and brown eyes to match. Brad was quite popular in middle school, while I was the weird fat loner girl who had no friends.

After my surprised reaction, I finally got the courage to speak. " ….hey Brad" I said in a shy voice. He walked a little closer to me. "Wow, Zoey…you look great, if it wasn't for that pretty face of yours, I would have hardly recognized you.". A confused expression formed across my face.

"Pretty? You hardly ever talked to me"

"Yeah, but I always thought you were pretty and you look even better now- what did you lose? 30? 40 pounds?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know whether to take his comment as a compliment or to be offended. He continued to smile in my face, trying to keep the conversation going. I looked over at Riley, who was still waiting on his drink. I decided to try to cut this conversation short, before Riley came over.

"Look..it was nice talking to you, but I have to-"

"Wait, I would love to talk to you more..can I get your number at least?" he asked, taking out his cell phone. I thought about it for a few seconds. I was a little skeptical about it at first, but then I realized there's no harm in just talking to someone over the phone.

"- my number is-"

"Zoey! Does it take you that long to butter some popcorn?" Riley asked walking towards me. Bradley stood there observing.

"…It took you that long to wait on a drink?" I asked

"Yeah, cause the bitch gave me a large Sprite. I told the ho she gave me the wrong drink and she got a fucking attitude, so I was waiting for my shit."

Riley grabbed my hand. "Come on let's go" he said, trying to lead me away. I but I quickly stopped him.

"Wait, Riley, I was talking to someone- this is Bradley..my old classmate from middle school"

"Oh, I ain't even see that nigga over there"

I gave him a look of disbelief. Bradley was pretty close, so I knew he saw him standing there. Either that or he had terrible fucking vision.

"Is this your boyfriend?" Bradley asked.

"No..just friends" I replied. I could see Riley giving me a pissed off look from the corner of my eye.

Bradley looked at Riley and then back at me.

"Well, I don't want to make you late for your movie, so you can just email me at bradleyc00per28(dot whatever)the O's in Cooper are used with zeros instead of the letter o"

I nodded my head and smiled. I also knew that the 28 in his email address represented his jersey number from the soccer team in middle school.

"Okay..I guess I'll talk to you later" Bradley said, walking off. I waved goodbye. I could still see Riley giving me one of his mean stares. I turned around to acknowledge him.

"Is there a problem?" I asked

He snatched the bag of popcorn from my hand. "Nah, no problem at all" he said, walking off. I took a deep breath for a second and later on followed behind him.

"Riley, what's your problem?" I asked, finally catching up to him, our bodies side by side as we stood in the hall of the theater.

"Why you all on that nigga dick?" he asked with a face full of frustration.

My eyes widened by his question. "..excuse me? He's my old classmate. We went to school together"

Riley made a slight laugh and shook his head from side to side with his anger still present on his face. "look, you're a smart girl Zoey, so stop actin like you fuckin stupid alright?- you know what I'm talkin about.

I thought about it for a few seconds. "…..Is it because I said we were just friends?"

"See? I knew you were smart" he, replied

"I don't get it Riley- we are just friends, how can you be mad at me for being honest?"

"We're not just friends Zoey."

" …then what are we?" I asked curiously.

"I don't fuckin know, but we're not just friends."

"I don't know what kind of category you're trying to put me in Riley, but it doesn't work like that. We are friends and you have no right to be mad at me and I'm not going to entertain your ignorance anymore. "

"I'm going to watch the movie, even if I have to watch it by myself" I said, walking off.

I heard him mumble the words "whatever", but I ignored it as I walked into the movie. I had sat by myself for quite a few minutes, but I later on noticed someone taking a sit next to me. It was Riley. He remained quiet, not saying a word, while I thought to myself how horrible this day was going. I had a tiny ounce of hope that maybe it will turn around..

An hour and 30 minutes later, the movie was over. We walked side by side out of the movie theater and had yet spoken to each other. Riley decided to lean against a wall as we waited for my mother to arrive. I decided to stand next him, while thinking this silent treatment thing was beginning to get childish. I decided to make small conversation.

"I texted my mom-she should be here in about 30 minutes"

"Good.." he said, reaching in his pocket. I continued to look down to see what he was pulling out. It was a cigarette and a lighter. He brought it to his mouth, lighting the cigarette.

A surprised look appeared on my face.

"You smoke cigarettes?.."

He looked at me annoyed. "Are you blind?"

I rolled my eyes and ignored his question. "Cigarettes are disgusting" I replied

He blew smoke from out of his nose and responded. "Well, I'm sorry I'm not fuckin perfect..maybe your friend Billy might be a better match for you"

"It's Bradley…" I responded, in an aggravated tone.

"What the fuck ever"

I shook my head in disgust "well, I'm not going to continue to inhale your second hand smoke" I said while walking off. I stood about 12 feet away from him and ran both hands through my hair while sighing of aggravation. This is the time that I wished I had more than one friend, someone I could vent to and tell them how awful my day was going. I could easily tell my mom about this, but it would just make her dislike Riley even more, so my idea was to pretend like this never happened once this day was over.

I glanced over at Riley, who was still smoking his cancer stick as I like to call it. I noticed him watching me as well. A few minutes later he put his cigarette out. He must have been keeping up with the time because 10 minutes later, my mother had arrived. The car ride was awkward and extremely silent. After my mom dropped Riley off at his house, she couldn't wait to ask me questions while we were still in the car

"So um- I couldn't help but notice you guys were kind of quiet. Did everything go well?" my mother asked.

I nodded my head. "Yeah ..everything was good" I said, fidgeting with my hair.

She turned her head towards me. "Are you sure?...because it seemed like a lot of tension in this car"

I sighed of annoyance. "Yes mom, I'm sure we had a good time…a great time- it was wonderful"

She turned her head back around, paying attention to the road, but still continued on talking. "You know another thing I noticed? It kind of smelled like cigarettes in here. Does he smoke?"

"Ugh, of course not mom- there was some lady smoking a cigarette next to us; The smoke must have lingered or something."

"To be honest Zoey, I'm not really fond of Roscoe…He just doesn't seem like a good friend for you"

"His name is Riley and it shouldn't matter if you like him or not..he's not your friend- he's mine. Like I said before, he's a good person"

"Well, he looks like damn hoodlum in those oversized clothes and don't even get me started on those long braids –they need to go"

I rolled my eyes and turned my head to side, looking out of the window as I tried to tune out my mother's nonsense.

Riley Freeman- POV

When I made it home, I went straight upstairs to my room. I ain't feel like playing no games or watching TV. I just wanted to relax, chill out and think for a bit. I went through the pile of clothes on my floor and changed into some sweatpants and a wifebeater. A few minutes later Huey walked in the room.

"Where you was at nigga?" I asked, taking a seat on my bed. I laid down and put my hands behind my head.

"I was in the garage.."

"oh –you was working on some stupid shit that's gonna save the world right?"

He ignored my question, taking a seat by the computer. "So how was your date with Zoey?"

"Man- don't even get me started on that bullshit.."

He turned his computer chair around, facing towards me. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"I saw Zoey talking to some nigga. She was smiling in his face and shit… and this was before we even looked at the movie, so the date was fucked up from the beginning.."

"Well it wasn't like a boyfriend and girlfriend date- you guys went as friends. Am I right?"

"….i guess"

"So you had no reason to be upset with her"

I turned my head to side to avoid looking at Huey's face. "I just feel like she dissed me man and that shit wasn't cool. She knows I got a thing for her and I know she got a thing for me—so why be all up in some other nigga's face when I paid for the fucking movie?—she should be on my dick- not his..you feel me?"

"I'm pretty sure you're overreacting…you always do" Huey responded

He continued on with his lecture. "I mean, if you really like her then you should take it to the next level. Let her know how you really feel and stop hiding behind anger. It's going to get you nowhere."

I looked back towards Huey. "So why don't you tell Jazmine how you really feel? You been playin that friend card for years."

"…that's …that's different"

"Nigga, you need to stop actin like you ain't feeling her because everybody know your dick got reserved for Jazmine written all over it. You ain't foolin nobody."

"Man, whatever"

I laughed while getting off the bed. "See nigga..you can't even deny it"

I went back to my pile of clothes to the get my cell phone out of my jean pocket. I finally came to my senses and realized I had to talk to Zoey and apologize for the way I acted. There was no way I could stay mad at her, but hopefully she wouldn't stay mad with me.

Author's note: okay guys-don't forgive to give me some inspiration aka reviews- they keep me going.