Potholes

Chapter 5

"What do you think, Ace?" L.A. asked the cat sitting on his bed while looking at himself in the mirror. Ace ignored his owner as he licked his paw and wiped it over his head.

L.A. had struggled for the past hour and a half to put together an outfit for tonight. He usually never went out. Outside of the occasional art exhibition Dakota forced him to do, he rarely did anything where he would have to dress "nice."

With everything he tried on, it either didn't look right on him or didn't feel right for a first date. After a series of trial and error, he settled for a pair of black dress pants, a gray button up shirt, and bolo tie with a turquoise stone in the middle. With one problem solved, another one revealed itself: his hair. Should he just wear it out? Would that look too unkempt? Should he put it up in a ponytail? Will that look too casual? What about a braid? What about the stray hairs that would escape it?

"Spade, what should I do with my hair?," he asked the cat who had just sauntered into the bedroom, "your brother's been no help."

Spade kept walking, ignoring his owner, and made his way under the bed.

"Both of you are useless." L.A. groaned, proceeding to section his hair and braid it into one long braid going down his back. He grabbed his phone and looked at the last message Tulip sent him, which had her address and short message about how she was excited for their date. With one deep breath, he grabbed his keys and made his to his truck.

As he drove the 20 minutes to Tulip's place, he kept thinking about how this night was going to go. He was so confident last night when he asked her out last night. He was so set on pissing his sister off that he didn't even stop to think about how he hasn't been on a date in, practically, 16 years. Now, he didn't know what to do. He liked Tulip. He wanted to get to know her better and see where things could go. But, he knew enough about dating to know that if this date didn't go well, he wouldn't get that opportunity.

He began to think about different topics they could talk about, so he wasn't searching for things to talk about and leaving Tulip in an awkward silence while he thought of stuff.

As he was thinking about different movies to ask her about, his phone rang. Without looking at the screen, he pressed the green button that had popped up.

"Hello?"

"What's up, man. What're you doing?" Dakota's voice asked from the other end of the phone.

"On my way to pick up Tulip for our date."

"I thought so. Did you tell anyone about your date or where you're taking her?"

"Uh, I told my mom about it and she helped me figure out a place to take her. Why?"

"Look, I'm not trying to freak you out or anything, but be on the look out for your crazy ass sister and her crazy ass friend."

"What? Why?" He asked, completely confused.

"Because she texted and called me, asking where you're taking her. I didn't tell her shit. So, I figured she may have asked your mom. I'm guessing she's going to try and sabotage your date and try to get Robin in there."

"Fuck," L.A grunted out, clenching the steering wheel, "thanks for the heads up, Kota."

"You need me to pull up to the restaurant and try to intercept them? I can be there in 10 minutes."

"No, I don't need a scene. Thanks, though. I'll handle it. Just keep your phone on you."

"I got you, man. Let me know what happens and if I need to come through."