First Date

{If you're still in school, are you all on summer break yet? I'm two weeks in and nothing is inspiring me.

Speaking of inspiration I once had a friend who told my mother she would love to "redo me" and I was getting flashbacks to that while writing this chapter. Just for the lore, that was the person I said I blocked last week. Again if you're reading this, fuck you bitch and my mother hates you.

40K reads is absolutely insane!! Thank you all ❤️

Alright lets talk about the update schedule. I don't want to make any promises but I might be able to swing 3 updates a week instead of 2. At the moment I'm writing 3-4 chapters a day (not including editing). I'm very excited for you all to read them.}

Jessie never came into my room for our talk last night. I don't know what happened but I didn't want to ask. She probably just fell asleep. I just woke up. I don't know if Collin is planning on doing something with her today since he hasn't seen her but I'm gonna kidnap her before he can. I decide to text her and tell her to come to my room.

I hear the door to her room open almost immediately. She knocks and I yell come in. She opens the door. "Whats up?" She asks.

"What are you doing today?" I ask.

"I don't know." She says.

"Would you want to go on a date with me?" I ask.

"A date?" She questions.

"Yeah" I confirm.

"Sure" Why is she playing hard to get now that I don't have a boyfriend?

"Go get dressed. We'll leave here in half an hour" I say.

"Ok" She says and walks out.

She clearly couldn't be more excited.

I shake it off and start getting ready anyway. She could just be tired from her trip. I'm going for a casual outing; I grab my new denim dress and a plain yellow baby tee underneath. The dress even has pockets. I also do some light makeup.

I leave my room and start walking down the stairs.

"Good morning" My mom says.

"Good morning" I say back.

I sit with Jessie, Levi, and Collin at the dining room table. My mom sits a few seconds after me and puts the last few waffles on the plate.

"I was thinking we could all go to the beach today" Collin says. "I could even invite grandma and grandpa" He adds.

"Jessie and I are going shopping today" I say.

"And you didn't ask permission?" Collin questions.

"No" I say bluntly.

"We're going to the beach" He says.

"Let them go. I want Harper to get back to school clothes anyway" My mom says. I love having a chill parent. Collin should take notes.

"We haven't been together as a family in over a week. We're going to the beach" He says.

I roll my eyes. "We are not a family"

"Let them go" My mom says kinda firmly.

"Fine, but we're going to the beach tomorrow" He says. Haha asshole, I win.

"Sounds great see ya tomorrow" I say and stand up. Jessie does too right after me.

"Thanks, dad." Jessie says.

We go into the living room and start putting our shoes on.

"No invite?" Levi comes in and says.

"Not today buddy. We'll make it up to you tomorrow" I say.

"You better" He says and goes back to the dining room.

"Harper, take my card its in my pocket book. Get school-appropriate clothes. Jessie, you too"  My mom yells from the other room.

"Thanks, mom" I yell.

I grab the card and head out the front door. Jessie follows closely behind me. We get into my car and I start heading to the mall.

"Are we actually going shopping?" Jessie asks.

"Yes. I want to take you to the mall" I say.

"Ok" She says.

"What happened when you were in NY?" I ask. She's been slightly off today. Something must be on her mind.

"I'll tell you later. I don't want to ruin the vibe" I say. She slightly is but I'm not gonna say anything.

"Did you at least have fun seeing your friends?" I ask.

"Yeah, I missed them. They couldn't believe some of the stories I came back with" I say.

"Sorry for being a bad influence" I say.

"They were thankful I went to my first high school party. They think I'll go with them now. The club was a little much for them" She says.

"You wouldn't go to a party with them?" I question.

"No. Only you" She says. I don't have anything to say back to that. "You just passed the mall" She says.

"I know" I say.

"Why are you not turning around?" She asks. Such a backseat driver.

"We're not going to that mall" I say.

"How come?" She asks.

"I know too many people at that one, especially family. If we're going on a date I at least want to be able to kiss you" I say.

She didn't say anything but I saw her get slightly red out of the corner of my eye. We drive about half an hour to get to the next mall. This mall is a lot bigger than the other one. I love going here but don't come here often.

I park and we get out of the car. I finally get a good look at her outfit. She is wearing a plain light pink t-shirt with cuffed sleeves and blue jeans. She dressed even more casually than me. That was kinda to be expected. I would never tell her that though.

"You look cute today" I look her up and down. She got slightly embarrassed.

"Thanks" She says shyly.

I lock the car and we start heading inside. I grab her hand on the way. She looks down at our hands and then back up at me but doesn't say anything.

The first store we go to is a toy store. It wasn't what I had in mind but it was what she wanted and I wasn't going to say no. We look around for a bit. I didn't understand half the toys I was looking at. These kids watch weird shit nowadays. She picks out a Lego set for Levi and then we head out.

"Can we go into a clothing store now?" I ask.

She says yes and we head into the first one we see that wasn't for middle-aged women.

"Let's pick you out a whole new wardrobe," I say as we are looking at some shirts on a rack.

"What's wrong with my jeans and graphic tees?" She asks.

"Nothing but this would look really cute on you" I say and pull down a long flowy white cardigan with a tie in the front.

"That looks like something you would wear" She says.

"I already have it" I say and smile.

She laughs a little. "Of course you do" She says.

She takes a graphic tee from a table, what a surprise, and starts heading to the dressing room. I take a couple of shirts for me and then a couple that I am going to make Jessie try on and then follow her to the dressing room. Some of the shirts I grabbed two of so we could match. She goes into one and then motions for me to come in with her so I do.

"I need you to help me." She says.

"With what?" I ask

"Everything you picked out" She says.

I laugh. "Ok honey"

She takes her shirt off and tries on the first shirt I picked out for her. I remember a month ago when we were at Legoland and I made her turn around to put our bathing suits on. I grab one of the shirts I picked out and try not to look at her. I saw her looking at me in the mirror though.

"Can you tie this for me?" She asks.

"Yes" I say and make a pretty little bow for her. "What do you think?" I ask.

"It's ok. It doesn't really feel like me" She says.

"It looks amazing on you. I think you should get it" I say.

"I'll think about it" She says.

We try on the rest and she has me help her with buttons and zippers. Once we're done we separate into piles of what we're taking and what we're not. She put everything I picked for her in the not-taking pile.

"Why aren't you taking any of it?" I ask.

"Because it's not me" She says.

"I can't argue with that" I say. "Can we at least get one matching shirt?" I ask.

"Yes but I'm picking it out" She says and puts her hand on the knob

"Wait before we leave the dressing room can we do one thing?" I ask kinda shyly. She puts her arm back to her side.

"What is it?" She asks.

"Can I kiss you" I ask and she nods.

I step a little closer to her and cup her cheek in my hand. I give her a small kiss on the lips. She leans into it and grabs me by the waist pulling me closer. After a couple of seconds, I pull away and rest my forehead on hers.

"I never get to kiss you during the day," I say.

"Maybe next time it won't be in private," I didn't think she would be into PDA.

We leave the dressing room and head toward the cash register. On the way, she picks up a second shirt for me of one she already got. "Do you go into dressing rooms with your friends often?" I ask. I don't know why I'm asking. I just want to know.

"Nope never"

"I always go into dressing rooms with my friends," I say.

"Do you always kiss your friends in dressing rooms too?"

I didn't have a response to that. I just smirked and looked down.

Once we're done in the store start walking around again.

"Are you hungry?" I ask.

"Sure" She says.

"Let's go find a restaurant" I say.

We walk around for a little while longer. I don't remember where the restaurant is but we eventually find it. I ask the hostess for a table for two and then we sit down to eat. We had a nice little conversation. It was small talk really. Subjects like Levi's birthday at the end of the summer, I learned a bit about her friends back home and what type of movies she likes to watch. In case you were interested it is horror movies and 80s movies. She loves an 80s horror movie too obviously.

Once we're done we go to a little novelty store. She gets a couple of things, I think it was a magnet, a couple of water bottle stickers, and a mug. I don't even think she drinks coffee. We head over to one more clothing store, it was quick. She knew what she wanted and didn't need to try it on.

We were pretty much over the mall by the time we were at that store so we start heading home. More small talk in the car. I asked one more time if she wanted to talk about what happened in New York and she declined.

When we get home my mom and Collin are on the couch watching a movie.

"Really girls? It's nice outside now so you're gonna watch a movie" I ask when we walk in, mocking them.

"Hey how was the mall?" My mom asks.

"It was good we got some new clothes and then got lunch" I say.

"Aw thats nice" Collin won't even turn to look at us. Cry baby that didn't get his way "Their school appropriate right?" She asks.

"Um some of them yeah" I say.

"I guess we'll have to go shopping together" She says.

"Where's Levi?" Jessie asks.

"Oh he went out with Casey today" Collin finally turns around.