Thirty-Five

Sunday seemed like an odd day for a date. We could have done Friday night or anytime yesterday, but he insisted on Sunday and to meet him at work at six. He was probably going to drive us straight from work to wherever the date was, but it would have made more sense for him to come pick me up than anything else. But since it must have been more convenient for me to meet with him, I agreed.

Devon never told me what we were doing, so I wasn't sure what was going to be too overdressed or too under dressed. I pulled on black nylons and a pair of black plaid shorts with red accents, a black tank top and my leather jacket and creepers. It felt dressier, but it was also toned down enough depending on what we would wind up doing.

"Are you sure you don't want to wear a dress?" Jeanie questioned.

Before I could comment, Rick swooped over to her and kissed her cheek. "Let her wear what she wants. You look adorable," he said to me.

"Thank you." I flipped my hair over my shoulder. "At least someone has taste."

"I'm not saying you don't look good," Jeanie defended. "I love this outfit, but it's your first date as boyfriend and girlfriend. Don't you want to look nice for him?"

"It's our first date period," I corrected, "and we haven't even agreed to call ourselves that."

"But you two are together?"

"Yeah."

They both sighed.

"Mel, are you only saying you're not using titles because you don't want to get hurt?" Rick questioned.

"Or because it's going to hurt less in case it doesn't work out?"

"It's because we haven't actually said that we're boyfriend and girlfriend. We're dating, yeah, but that doesn't mean we're like... official official, or anything, you know?" I explained. "I want to ask him if it's okay to call him that, because it is a big deal. I want to make sure we'agree about what we are, and until I ask him, I don't want to assume anything."

"I can't tell if you're being polite or dismissive," Rick snorted, and Jeanie glared at him.

"Ask him tonight. You said it yourself, you like him, and he likes you. If you're going to be in a relationship, you're going to have to communicate." Jeanie stated. "Why do you think dad pissed off? Mom and him never talked, and now he's gone."

"So is mom," I mumbled as I grabbed my purse.

"At least you have me," Jeanie said. "Oh, and before I forget, The Yoncovik Brothers want to film with me next week. What day are you going to be busy on?"

"Busy on?"

"I don't want to plan it for the one night we can actually eat dinner together. I wasn't kidding about wanting to spend time with you before you get busy with your band."

"I start rehearsals on Tuesday," I stated.

"Every Tuesday?"

"Unless changed, yeah. That's the plan."

"Perfect! We'll plan for next Tuesday, and this Tuesday we can talk all about it when you come home."

"Unless I decide to fall asleep the moment I get home."

She scoffed. "Like you can just fall asleep after playing drums. Especially this time when it's going to be your first actual rehearsal."

She wasn't wrong. I could never play drums late at night, or else it'd be impossible for me to fall asleep that night. Talking with Jeanie would allow me to cool off and get sleepy. And thanks to my schedule change, I had a free period in the morning now. I could just sleep in if I had to and walk to school for second period.

My first rehearsals with the band were finally happening. I was going to be the official drummer. I was going to work with the band as a whole. They had more time to see each other since James and Nate attended the same college, and with Lucy already graduated, they could all leave and head to her house to practice while I had to wait for the end of class. Years of free time filled with playing drums were finally going to pay off. I had to work twice as hard to keep up with them, and I'd drum every damn day to make sure I would fit in with them. On Tuesday, I was going to prove myself and make sure they knew they made a good choice in adding me to the band.

But for tonight, I didn't want to think about my band. Tonight was about spending time with Devon, talking with him, and doing whatever the hell he had planned for us. Tonight was going to be stress free. No matter what he had planned, it was going to be fun.

As Rick and Jeanie drove me to the community center, we kept trying to guess what he had planned. We thought it could be another concert, but there was no one playing anywhere we could see. We thought about going out to dinner, and we hoped it wouldn't be anything too fancy. I wouldn't be opposed, just under dressed. It could have been a movie, but there was nothing out that either of us were excited to see. It was impossible to figure out.

It was more confusing for them on why I'd meet him at the center instead of him picking me up. "Could there be an event going on?"

"It closes at six today."

"Are you sure there's not some staff thing going on that he wanted you to go to?" Rick added.

"Like a party?" I questioned. "I doubt it. If it was a party, he would have told me. Besides, a party wouldn't constitute as a suitable date."

"Especially a first one," Jeanie stated. She gasped. "What if it's a workplace date night thing?"

"I doubt it," Rick said. "Look at the parking lot. There's only two cars here."

One was Devon's, so I at least knew he was here. And he exited the community center and walked up to the car, opening the back door for me. "Hey." He smiled as I stepped out. "I'll have her home before midnight."

"Have fun," Jeanie sang before driving away.

Devon smiled as he took my hand and led me inside. "You look amazing," he complimented, and I blushed.

"You too." Dark jeans and a black t-shirt with his jean jacket. Whatever he planned, I was dressed accordingly. "Should we be heading to the car?"

"Nope," he said, popping the 'P' with a smirk. "We're having our date here."

"Really?"

I'd seen the community center nearly empty before, but there were always people working or a few people with their friends or children. Seeing the place completely empty was weird. There was only one man sitting behind the front desk, wearing a security uniform. When we walked in, he stood up and smiled.

"Mel, this is Steve. He's head of security on weekends," Devon said.

"Hi," I said, waving.

"Hi, Mel. You two have fun."

"Thank you."

As Devon led us down the hallway, I said, "Is it really just the three of us here?"

"Yeah. The community center closes at five on Sunday, and everyone is typically gone by five thirty, forty-five at the latest."

"Except for you, me, and Steve, I guess," I said. "What is there for us to even do here?"

"Well, I wrote a short story for our group last week about a first date. And the idea was to make it something different from a movie, dinner, a concert, or a play. It had to be something you wouldn't think of for a typical first date. I wrote mine about a hot-air balloon ride, but Callie wrote hers about going to McDonalds late at night to play in the ball pit."

I chuckled. "I don't think McDonalds has had a ball pit in over a decade."

"They have not," he agreed, "but we do." He unlocked one of the doors and switched on the lights to an intricate playground with slides, tubes, and the lower level being full of colorful plastic balls. On the bench by the door was a speaker and his phone. "This playground was built so adults can join their kids if they need to climb up and grab them or if there's no one to play with their kids except them."

"Or in our case, if two high schoolers are going to have a date inspired by their friend's short story," I smirked.

"I thought it was a cute story," he defended. "I really liked it, and I thought you would as well. Do you not like it?"

"No, I hate it," I sarcastically said and rolled my eyes. "This fucking awesome!" I took off my shoes as he played rock music. I shoved his shoulder and screamed, "Race ya!" before diving into the pool of colorful balls. He jumped in right next to me, swimming below the surface and pulling me down.

We played tag for an hour, constantly trying to swim away as best we could before getting hit. He kept throwing the blue balls at my head, which I knew he was doing on purpose, so I threw the purple ones right back. Tag and dodgeball turned into Marco Polo. He was it.

"Marco!"

"Polo!" I called back and swam away from him.

He heard the rustling. Snapping his head in my direction, he ran towards me, sloshing through the balls as he exclaimed, "Marco!"

"Pol- Ah!"

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me onto my back. Opening his eyes, he leaned over me, gazing down at me. His smile softened as his eyes glazed over. His lips puckered, and he dropped his head, kissing my lips softly. When he pulled away, my first thought was, Ew, the germs.

Then he lowered his head, kissing me again, and I focused on him. On us. My arms instantly wrapped around his neck, and he supported me by my lower back as he submerged us deeper into the pool of colorful plastic balls. The air flow was shortening, and my arms tightened around his neck. I pressed my lips onto his, melting in his arms as he sat us upright, pulling me onto his lap. Flipping onto his back, I straddled him as we continued to kiss. We pulled away, inhaling a quick breath before kissing again. His fingers ran through my hair, absently untangling it.

How long we kissed for, I wasn't sure. But he pressed his forehead against mine as he panted. My head slipped down to his shoulder. I closed my eyes as he kissed the top of my head, and he pulled me in closer to his chest. We sat in the ball pit, him hugging me, and me laying on his shoulder, sitting in his lap, hugging him just as tight.

"Oh, God," Devon whispered, mortified, with a mouth full of hamburger. He stared out the front wind shield, blushing crimson.

"What?" I softly asked, afraid to take a bite out of my burger.

"I think the ball pit in Callie's story was a giant metaphor," he mumbled.

Snorting, I leaned my head against the passenger window as I cackled. "Just like throwing blue balls at me."

He jerked his head to me. "Did I actually do that?"

"Yup. Just the blue ones."

Once we finally pulled apart at the community center, Devon drove through the Hardy's drive thru. We parked in the nearly empty Target parking lot right next to Hardy's and ate before Devon had his dawning revelation. The moment he mentioned a metaphor, I knew exactly what Callie's story was supposed to actually be about.

Devon blushed and muttered, "That's embarrassing."

"What were you really trying to say?" I asked, my voice deadly serious. "What do I do to you, Devon Quid? Tell me, do I make your balls blue?"

"Melanie!" he exclaimed.

I groaned. "Don't call me that."

"What? Your name?" he smirked. "It's such a pretty name, Melanie."

"It's worse than blue balls."

He snorted. "Come on. What's the real reason you hate your name?"

"I don't actually hate my name," I explained. "I prefer being called Mel, because it's the only nickname neither my mom nor my dad ever called me. Only Jeanie, and when they left, I only wanted to be called Mel."

He grabbed my hand. "Does Melanie make you think of them?"

"No. But it makes my heart feel heavier. Bittersweet, I guess?"

"I'm sorry, Mel," he murmured.

"Don't be. You have literally no reason to be."

Devon leaned over the console and kissed my cheek. "At least we have something in common."

I smirked. "The fact we both have blue balls?"

As he opened his mouth to complain again, he shut his mouth and blushed as he sat back in his seat and took a bite of his burger. Satisfied, I took another bite of my own.

"Can I ask a weird question?"

"Only if I can give a weird answer."

"If I referred to you as my boyfriend, would you be okay with that?"

He turned to face me. "Do I get to refer to you as my girlfriend?"

Flustered, I stared at my lap and nodded before gazing back at him. "So... it's official."

He cocked an eyebrow. "It's been official all week, hasn't it?"

"I mean- Like, with titles... and stuff."

He chuckled and petted my hair softly, running his hand down my arm. "Yeah. With titles and stuff."