It's interesting how people that know the least about us usually have the most to say.
"Kaley, truth or dare?"
"Dare!"
"I dare you to go on a date with me."
If I were to try and explain how it came to that event on the day when Blake asked me out, I was not sure that I would do a proper job. We were just laying on the ground in the living room, four hours of shopping for baby stuff later, and bored out of life when he asked me the question. It didn't take me even one second to choose a dare because I was in an incredible need to do anything that I could've even killed someone if he ordered me to.
As for the truth? I don't know. What if he asked me if I liked him? Two versus one, it was only obvious which to choose. But him making me go out on a date with him was something I never imagined. Let's not even start on the part where he didn't ask me if I wanted it or not, just went whole command on me. Blake. So Blake.
Which is the reason why I'm here, in Blake's car, looking through the window replaying those three sentences in my head over and over again, trying to find the reason why I freaking agreed to it. "Do you seriously want to tell our kid that we didn't date before marriage?" he asked. "Don't make our already poor relationship even worse by robbing us of a date?"
Then he added, "I'll tie you up and take you to the haunted house," which was the last straw that made me move. I didn't know if Blake knew what the hell were dates supposed to be about, but this was so not one! Let's face it, first you dare someone to go with you on a date and dares in Truth or Dare were not up to rejection, and then you threaten them using the future events and tying up until they accept, and that is NOT something you do on a date.
Date. Desperate Adults Try Evolving into something better, a.k.a. normal adults in a relationship. That means that two adults are trying together, and not one being forced to go along with the other one. Date is all about two people agreeing to meet each other, isn't it? Wait! I was not an adult! Why was I complaining?
No, I actually was a legal adult, I was eighteen.
"We're going to the fair and the haunted house!" He informed me after a long pause that started the moment we got into the car. I moved my gaze towards him before giving him my biggest smile.
"Go yourself and make sure some ghost or zombie ends up killing you so that I can finally be rid of you forever," I was sure that my smile and my words told two completely different stories, but it couldn't be helped. I came to think that he only wanted to go to that stupid fair for that haunted house instead of an actual date.
"It is actually not a bad idea at all, I could use the rest of eternity to haunt you as a ghost. It would be fun to stalk you forever." He threw back at me, his eyes and his huge smile imitating my previous reaction as I came to realize that he was going to be incredibly huge pain in the posterior.
In which way exactly was what we were doing called a date?
"Are you sure that we are doing this properly?" I asked with a sigh, giving up on the argument. Since I never went out on a date, yes, I was nerdy. I never had a boyfriend, mostly because I thought that boys my age were dumb and those older than me evil. I had no idea what to do. What a kid was I back then.
"We dressed up nicely," he started and I saw the casual clothes he was wearing and jeans with white sweater and jacket I had on myself before shrugging. "We're going to the fair where most dates happen,"âjust so that you could see the haunted house, but yesâ"and it's only the two of us knowing what we're doing. The advice online said that romance is useless, horror is the real push when it comes to love. So, we'll go to the haunted house."
Of course it's only the two of us knowing what's to come when you're the one who forced me to do it!
"But weren't you supposed to properly call me out on a date or something? Flowers packed," I asked and he frowned.
"I did ask you. And I'll buy you flowers on the way," he added, never taking his eyes off the road as I slammed my head in the seat.
"You didn't ask, you ordered me to! And flowers should be bought beforehand, no?" I sighed, we were definitely doing something wrong here.
"You know, you're . . ."âI looked at his way waiting for him to continueâ"extremely annoying. Be happy that I even chose to go on a date with you, even the devil wouldn't have chosen you as his girlfriend!"
I was going to kill him. One time. I made this mistake only one time believing that he was going to take proper care of me, but that pain the posteriorâyeah, that was not a bad nickname for himâwas someone fated to burn in hell.
"He'll be lucky to have my accompaniment! For your information, I agreed to come out with you simply out of pity because no girl would have ever said yes to you," I threw back as his lips curled in what resembled a smile making me suppress my own.
"Is that so? In case you weren't informed, I have quite a number of women willing to go out with me unlike you, that don't even know what a date is," he spoke, I gasped. Women were one, but using my inexperience against me was a completely different story.
Child Blake, why did I not know that you were such a bad child?
"You have some nerve to say that, you litâ" I was about to give him a speech about his life, but was suddenly interrupted when the car came to a sudden halt and noticed that we had arrived at our destination. Date or not, I was going to enter that place and have the time of my life, no matter what.
"We're here, if you have anything against it, speak now or keep silent forever," he spoke and I frowned. What were we doing, going to a wedding or something?
Murdering someone?
"Hmph, we will see how this is going to turn out. Just so you know, one word on social media and you'll forever be remembered as the guy that cannot date to save his head," I added triumphantly as he stared at me like I grew another head.
"Since when were you into social media?" he asked and I grinned.
"Since you gave me your laptop to use." And with that, he bursted out laughing, making the smile that I've been suppressing for a while finally come out to the surface. Not being able to fight it, I joined his infectious laughter. It was odd, how I went from wanting to kill him to laughing my heart out with him in mere a few seconds, really.
"You are a newbie to social media, munchkin, while I'm the pro. I'm pro at Twitter and Facebook. You'd be down in a minute when standing up against me." That took me by surprise. Blake, who was always all business and work and seriousness, was actually a fan of social media.
"You're kidding me, right?" I asked in bewilderment. My smile didn't falter even for a second, I was in awe of this rare specimen.
"Nope, not at all," he said before getting out of the car as I followed. "One thing I realized about business is that you have to have a good relationship with your supporters and newspapers. For example, the more you respond to them and give them proper answers, the less chances of them creating fake gossip that will only bring you down. Newspapers, especially. I always look to have a proper conversation with them and give them the most satisfying answer as I can, being careful of things that shouldn't be said. With that, I can avoid commotion and remain on good terms with them. Plus, they don't have a problem with their work because they do their tasks. And I rarely end up in highlights with bad news. They all contact me before publishing something about me. It's a win-win situation, really."
I could only nod in response, amazed by his wisdom. It wasn't unusual for famous people to avoid newspapers and their fans in order to avoid drama as well, but I never thought that solution could be going that way either. Whenever I looked at the news about Blake, I never saw anything bad about him which left me speechless. This explained everything.
"So, what about us?" It suddenly hit me as we walked towards the entrance where Blake bought us tickets.
"What about us?" he asked with a look that seemed like he was feigning innocence, no matter how I looked at it.
"You know what, I meant their questions about us," I replied as he only licked his lip with a grin that called forth trouble.
"Well now, I wonder," he mumbled while rubbing his chin as I glared at him.
What was there to wonder about? Speak before I beat it out of you! That's the kind of thing I wanted to tell him, but couldn't bring myself to. Blake wasn't the only one who could use smart tactics, and it was the time to prove him that.
"Alright, then. Let's go on that date, shall we?" When people want to tease you about something you want to know about, they usually want to see you begging for it. But if you throw them off guard by pretending not to be interested, they will lose their cool and will try to check on you, to make sure that you surely don't want to listen to them. Funny, but effective.
"Alright." He dragged that one word and my inner self smirked. Here he comes. "Are you sure you don't want to know what I told them?" he asked again and I, oh-so-innocently, shook my head.
"Why would I? I could always Google it up later, you know?" There was it, the answer that would make him lose interest in hiding it and give in to me.
Of course. Normally, one couldn't Google about anyone hiding something from them, which is why you simply give them knowledge that you have zero interest in finding out the answer. Don't be too blunt, though. That one was way too easy to see through. And as the time passed, they'll eventually blurt it out and you'll get to know what you want.
Manipulation isn't my favorite thing, but if someone were to try and manipulate me, I'd turn it against them. Especially Blake. He was a worthy enemy.
"I see, let's go then andâ"
Girls suddenly started screaming. When we turned, we saw them running towards us and at that moment, just like it would happen in some chick-lit movies, Blake grabbed my hand and started running away. When I was finally able to think properly and run on my own, I turned to him and started yelling in the heat of the moment.
"What happened to the good relationship with your followers, now?" I exclaimed, with hordes of girls who recognized Blake running on our trail.
"Those are too complicated relationships to uphold, woman! Too much! Don't you know that idols should be untouched, like the moon you can only look up to, but never really reach?" Blake yelled back as I found time to sigh among all that heavy breathing.
"Wasn't the date supposed to be something for only two people? What the hell is wrong with your popularity?"
People who failed to recognize Blake running at incredible speed only threw us confused and annoyed looks, while some girls joined the already existent horde of them throwing all kinds of love words at him. I wanted to turn around and tell them to leave him alone, that he was engaged now, but what right did I have to say no when he wasn't even mine. Moreover, I was sure that they wouldn't even pause, but would simply stamp on me and move on, therefore I didn't want to take the risks. Who would?
"I told you that women want to date me, didn't I?"
"This is on a completely different level than a normal wish to be with someone!" but then again, he was famous and handsome, those types of guys surely had tons of fangirl clubs and so on.
"Shut up! I didn't want it to be like this!"
"Then why did you end up being like this anyway?"
What I realized at that moment was that the more we ran, the more girls gathered and my thoughts somehow drifted to the possibility of us being locked alone in the fair, surrounded by fangirls at every corner.
"This won't do!" I shouted between my breaths. My legs were starting to give away. "We need to hide somewhere!"
"Haunted house! Haunted house!" Blake threw back and I glared before hitting his arm.
"Just to what extent do you want to visit the goddamn haunted house?"
Needless to say, after finding out about Blake's true intentions, we actually ended up hiding in there. Of course, some girls chose to come and check that place as well, so we had no choice but to hide among the props and pretend to be a part of the act, scaring them away. It was mostly by saying how we already devoured a couple that ran by and wanted to taste more of human souls. We used muffled voices and all. Combined with an already rundown house and other props, it somehow all worked out. When the owner came to check what was all that about and we explained our situation, he actually told us to keep up with the good work and even brought us food and drinks.
Apparently, we brought even more customers, hence making him earn more money.
I was only able to look at it with that old saying "All's well that ends well!" and try to enjoy the so-called date with only one thought left on my mind:
"We're definitely not doing this date thing right."
And Blake's response, who clearly enjoyed his newfound attraction.
"Shut up, be happy that you're on one at all."
Me, on the other hand, knew that this definitely wasn't a story one would tell their children, so I demanded to repeat it in the future, properly, and without his complicated idol-fan relationships.
On that day, I learned the true meaning in being careful what you wish for. And that sometimes, things we want to avoid the most are the things we also need the most.
We just didn't want to accept it.
____________________________
...I actually remember my first date.
So like, aside from having my sister around as the third wheel, I was young as heck and couldn't understand why people had problem with confessing. They all said that "I love you" was difficult to say out loud, so the smartass me went ahead and told that to my date (we only knew each other for like, a day?) and the poor guy almost had a heart attack back then. Sigh, it's nice to be young and ignorant hahahahahaha
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