Giving it All Away

First Date

Ryder POV
Today was the day of the first date. Well, hopefully. We hadn't decided yet. To be honest, I hadn't even asked her yet. So today, I was going to ask her.
ryder_lynn24: hey marley want to go to breadstix at 7 with me I'll meet u there
A few minutes later, a reply.
marleyrose123: Yeah, I would love to! Uhh, but, i can't drive yet... We don't have a car!! So how should I....?
Oh right! Oh, how did I forget? Okay, I'll pick her up then, it'll make me seem more of a man.
ryder_lynn24: I'll pick u up at 7 in front of ur house, then we can go to breadstix. Then, I'll take u back home
marleyrose123: alright, but 2nite, my moms out of town, so u can stay at my place for a while after. . .
Oh my God! Cheeky little move, there.
ryder_lynn24: OK then c u thn
marleyrose123: ok, see you then!! 😘😝
ryder_lynn24: 😘😘😘
I still hadn't finished the huge load of homework Mrs. Doosenberry had given us. Ugh, geography was not my forte.
30 minutes later and many grunts of frustration later, I finally finished. Phew. It was 6:24. Yikes, I'd better get ready.
Marley POV
He finally asked me on our first date! Out of nervousness, I kind of told him he could stay at our place. . . He probably thinks we're going to do it. Oh boy, not even close, Mister! It was kind of embarrassing, too. I had to remind him that we didn't have a car, to hint that a true man always picks the girl up. I have too many "true man" sayings. . .

I just realized. 1 hour until the date and I still don't have an outfit. I've just been sitting on my bed. Agh!
I look through my closet. Nothing! I'll have to use my mad fashion sense (😂😈) to create a cute, date-worthy outfit with the clothes I already have. Maybe I'll go to the consignment shop to get a cute dress? Or H&M, both very cheap, but sometimes have stylish clothes! Both are also in walking distance from my house. I decided to go to H&M. I always got kids sizes anyway, so it would probably be cheaper.
I got two dresses.
One dress was blue with sort of stripy patterns and the other was black with lace at the top.
Writer's Note Interruption
I would've put pictures of the dresses somewhere, but I can't figure out how, so... Sorry! I hope you're enjoying my story so far! I know only about two people are actively liking and commenting and voting on this story, but it's those people who inspire me to continue to write, so thank you so much!
Back to Marley POV
For the date, I decided to go with the blue one, because it was more fun and casual. I mean, it was only Breadstix! The black lace one will have to wait for a more. . . Intimate night.
(Beware for girly makeup-y stuff here, skip if you want)
Besides a clutch, I wore dark red tinted lip balm and about ten coats of mascara. I put a tiny wing on my usual thin line of eyeliner, along with a smoky eye. If I was going to be fancy-casual, I would be heavy on makeup, but lighter and more casual on clothes. I contoured my face a little to look skinny (these days, I swore I put on ten pounds every time I ate!) and filled in my brows. After I looked at my lips, I decided to borrow my mom's lip liner and lined my lips, then filled them in with plum colored lip stick, then put a coat of lip gloss over that.

Finally! He's here. I'm not even hungry, but I haven't really eaten today. It was a Saturday, and my mom left me at home for the whole weekend. She left last night for some Lunch Lady comic book convention. She trusts me to do this type of thing for just a weekend. I've babysat before, which is how I got the money for the dresses.
Okay, walking up to the door. . . Opening it, and here he is. He looks really handsome in a white shirt and black pants. "Hi," I say nervously.
"Hey! You look beautiful!" Ryder replies.
"Thanks!" I smile. "You don't look half bad yourself."
He laughs, "Oh, this old thing? I've had it for ages. Now, shall we get going?"
He links arms with me, and in my other hand, I have my white and blue clutch that I pulled out of my closet from one of my friend's Bat Mitzvahs. He offers his hand to point me to the passenger seat in the car. He sits himself in the driver's seat.
"I made a reservation at Breadstix for 7:15. That sound okay?" Ryder asks.
"Ooh, æyou made a reservation all by yourself?! Wow, classy and responsible. I like it," I joke.
He laughs again, "Yep, just go on the computer and click on that button! It's actually very easy! I'll teach you how to do it some time.
Our mood is sarcastic, funny, and light. I like how this is going so far.
After a conversation about pillows and girl vs. boy sleepovers, we arrive. He opens the door to let me out of the car, and we walk to the entrance together. A waiter with a thin mustache (honestly looks a bit suspicious) escorts us to our table for two. "Thank you," we say to the waiter. After he walks away, we start talking.
"Man, that guy sure looked suspicious! But either way, I am thirsty! What drink do you want?" Ryder says.
"Yeah, I know, right?! I was thinking that too. Uh, I'll just have water, I'm not that hungry anyways. It's kind of funny, I haven't really eaten much today, but I haven't been hungry in a while. Well, I've been that way all my life. Kitty kind of contributes to me puking a lot, but it's also myself. I tell myself that I'm fat. That's why I'm bulimic. Sorry, for the gross details, but I feel so comfortable with you," I blabber on and on as Ryder patiently listens. "Sorry, I'm not letting you talk. Uh, how was your day?"
He laughs. "Marley, sometimes I really worry about you when you say things like that. Like about your. . . You know, bulimia. You're not fat at all. You're beautiful. Especially tonight. I'm so glad you agreed to have this date with me."
I blush under the many coats of blush already on my face and chuckle nervously. He was complimenting me! "I'm happy you asked. Thank you."
He smiles back and puts his hand on mine. "So, let's order. Let's call that suspicious waiter back here. What was his name again? Like, Brian, or William, or Mark. Or, maybe it was Harry. Or Rumpelstiltskin. I guess we'll have to look on his name tag when he comes."
"Excuse me?" Ryder waves him over. He rushes to our table.
"Uh, yes. How may I help you?" He. . .uh, let me see, Chico asks.
"Uh, we would like some water, and sparkling water, please," Ryder says.
"Okay, coming right up."
When he leaves, I say, "Chico? What kind of name is that?" Chico looks back at us. Whoops. Dang it, I've heard that some Breadstix waiters do bad things to our food if they don't like us.
Ryder laughs under his breath. "He heard you!"
"I know, now I feel really bad. Aww, dammit," I say.
Chico comes back with our drinks.
"Thank you Chico! What a great name! Chico, doesn't that mean something in some language?" Ryder jokes.
"It means boy in Spanish. My parents were from Peru. I was born in Lima, Peru. They both died. My dad was shot and my mom died of cancer one week after. I came to Lima, Ohio because I didn't want to be in Peru, but I wanted to be in Lima. You wouldn't understand. Sorry. Uh, call me back when you're ready to order," Chico tells us."
"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry, Chico. Really sorry, thank you for the drinks," I say as sympathetically as possible.
He walks away sadly.
"Wow. That got deep," Ryder says.
"Yeah."
"Well, let's order," Ryder says.
"Yeah."
We look at the menu. Again, I really am not hungry. But, to please him, I'll order something small.
"I think I'm going to have the all-you-can-eat pasta course. Then I'll share some with you," Ryder says."
I nod. "I'll have the all-you-can-leaf salad. Cheesy name, though." The all-you-can-leaf salad was a build your own salad type of thing. There was a salad bar where you could assemble your salad. Plus, it was cheap.

After we ate, (I had some spinach leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette and Ryder had lots of pasta.) he drove me home. I said I would pay, but he pulled out a 20 dollar bill and covered it. I obviously wasn't going to pay for it, anyway.

"Thank you, Ryder. That was delicious. Thanks for everything. For driving, dressing up, paying, talking to me. It was fun. Want to come in for a while?" I say.
"Thank you, it was fun. And I would love to come in.
"Awesome," I say.
I open the door and lead him up to my living room.
"Want me to make you some tea?" I ask.
"No thanks. I'm not much of a tea drinker," he says.
"Alright then. I'm just going to make some tea for myself, but you can just make yourself comfortable in the living room. You can watch some TV if you want, but we only have a few channels," I say.
Ryder POV
I flipped on a random channel. How I Met Your Mother was on. Yes! I love that show! I sat in Marley's worn couch. I heard her turning her kettle on. I sinked in to the comedy that is HIMYM. Soon, the lovely aroma of peppermint filled my nose and I drifted to sleep.