Part of the Plan (Book 2 in the 'part of' series)

Chapter 22 First Date

Chapter 22 First date

Karim's POV

"You said that we were going to have a look at the forest." I muttered angrily to my cousin, who was standing with her arms crossed. "Why would I wear something like that?" It wasn't the first time that she had barged into my room and demanded that she pick out my clothes for the day.

"Yes, we're going into the forest." She nodded and pointed towards the clothes. "Get dressed."I huffed and picked up the clothes before changing into them. It was a good pair of jeans and a t-shirt which I usually kept for parties which didn't particularly call for a fancy dress-code. "Handsome as ever."

The compliment didn't shift the frown from my face as disapproval and suspicion laced my features. "What have you got planned?" She didn't answer my question a\s she pulled up a chair and stood on it. I bowed my head so that she could mess around with my hair. "Why are you getting me dressed up?"

"You're going to keep asking and I'm going to keep not answering." The sing-song tone made me want to push her off said chair, so I did. She fell straight onto my bed with a surprised squeak. "Not nice! Now I have to do it all again." I walked away from the chair and over to my mirror, fixing it for myself.

"And why aren't you going to answer it?" I looked at her through the mirror. She seemed very unhappy with my actions, and that made me smirk.

"Another thing I'm not going to answer." She looked at her watch before clapping her hands. "Right, we best be off." She grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the door. It was the weekend now, so her parents were home. I wasn't sure exactly what they were doing but I honestly didn't care. It didn't take us long to get to the forest, it never really did as it was rather close and we were rather fast. "He should be here any second."

I opened my mouth to ask another question but quickly closed it. There was no way I would get any kind of answer from her. So I waited for the person to show up. I was extremely surprised when I saw the familiar dark brown hair. Harlow was the person who was meant to be meeting us. "I shouldn't be surprised." I chuckled lightly, causing Emi to elbow me.

"Be nice." I snorted slightly and walked forward with her. "How low can you go? I'm so glad you came." His eyes went from her to me and then back again. Nervousness was clear as he shifted from foot to foot and fidgeted with his fingers.

"Glad to be here." His voice was small. I just now took notice of what he was wearing, a plaid button up with jeans. It looked a little raggad, a lot more suitable for the forest than what I was wearing. "It'll be nice to go in here with some people."

I raised an eyebrow. "You've been in here before?" I might have already been told but my mind wasn't really focused on that at the moment. I was still trying to figure out why we were here.

"Yeah, not too long ago." He bit his lip nervously and looked around. "The trip was very short and sweet...putting it lightly." Emi scoffed slightly and shook her head, crossing her arms. She started to step back slightly.

"You can tell Karim all about that." She gave a grin before sprinting in the other direction. "Have fun on your date!" She called behind her. I was frozen for about thirty seconds before I just sighed and looked towards Harlow.

"No choice?" I wanted to make sure that we were in the same boat. Emi had been acting rather suspiciously. I wasn't sure if Harlow was the kind of person who would ask her to set this up. Then again, I had only spoken to him for one evening. I didn't know Harlow well enough to make definite conclusions.

"Little to none." He nodded as he shifted from foot to foot. "She just said that she was doing it. I couldn't argue too much unless I just didn't show up." He huffed a weary laugh. "Though I'd fear the consequences severely if I didn't."

I nodded and started to lead the way into the forest. Emi didn't give me any instructions, so I guess we were just going for a small walk. "I don't blame you. Though I wasn't told that this was a date." I raised an eyebrow even though it was a statement.

"Oh I was told it was a date." Some pink came to his cheeks. "Though I wasn't too sure if you'd said anything to cause Emerson to have the wonderful idea." He spoke quickly, as though trying to make up for his actions. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Emerson is a being that few understand." We shared a chuckle as we headed deeper into the woods. It wasn't a bad day out, it was slightly sunny but rather breezy. "So, what are we supposed to do for this date?"

"I have no clue." He shrugged with a smile. "I guess we just walk and talk?" I shook my head at him but continued to walk. "So, what's your favourite colour?" I raised my eyebrow at him again.

"The most basic question." I said somewhat sarcastically, he gave a small huff inr response. "My favourite colour is green, if you hadn't guessed by my room decor." I turned to see his reaction, noticing a nod and a chuckle.

"Oh I could tell. My favourite... oh wow this is a difficult question. How did you answer it so quickly?" I wasn't so sure if he was being serious or not. "My favourite colour is orange, like the sunset or sunrise." I hid a small smile as I listened to him.

"Not a bad choice." I commented calmly. "How about what you do in school? Emi doesn't tell me a lot." That was a dirty and rotten lie. Emi tells me much more than I care to listen to.

"Really? She never shuts up." We shared a chuckle. I could hear something moving in the distance but it seemed quite far away and rather unthreatening. "There's not a lot to say about school. We show up and sit through classes. My favourite is woodshop." I chuckled slightly as he said that, I was rather horrible at it when I was at school. "How about you? Emi didn't tell me anything about what you do at the moment, nor did you at the party."

I could see what he meant. I didn't really tell hima anything about myself at the party, because honestly I thought that I wouldn't see him again. "Well I go to college. I study Math, psychology and business." I rolled my eyes and I was sure the distaste was clear in my voice. "I only picked one of them. I don't really want to be a businessman in the future. What're your plans for after GCSE's?"

He was about to answer when he got cut off by noises not too far ahead. With narrowed eyes I walked forward slightly, not stopping when I felt his hand on my arm. It was clear that he was scared of whatever the bushes held. His heavy breathing was clear as day in my ears. He must have gotten quite a shock from the noise.

With each step I took towards the bushes I could feel his grip getting tighter. That was until something grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around.