"You look decently nice," Sarah says as I walk into the living room after getting ready to go to Heath's party. She was currently watching some television after her day at work. "Who's your date?"
"Slater," I mumble, and Sarah's eyes widen. But before she rants about me liking Slater, just like Lyndzi, I say, "It's not a date date, he's just hanging out with me."
She quickly frowns and turns back to the television. "He should just ask you out already. You two would be the perfect couple."
"Shut up, Sarah," I groan. "Quit saying that, he's getting back with Madison. She'll be where we are tonight, I know it."
Sarah smiles and says, "But you are intending that you would say yes if he were to ask you out, right?"
"No, Sarah," I strictly say. "We're friends, and that's all we are."
My mom and her boyfriend, Joey, came down stairs. My mother looked at me the same way Sarah did, and she laughed.
"She's going on a date with Slater Stallone, Mum," Sarah smirks, and I stick my tongue out at her.
Joey smiles. "Sydnei's going on a date? This guy must really be--"
"It's not a date," I announce for the umpteenth time today. "We're just hanging out."
And after that, Iggy and Priscilla, Joey's son and daughter who are my age, come down the stairs and say basically the same things.
I huff, not wanting to explain myself again. "I'm going outside to wait for Slater."
"Slater? Slater Stallone?" Iggy says, and I turn around to look at him, wondering how he knew him. "You're going to Heath's party, too?"
I throw my head back in a non-showing way of disappointment. "Don't tell me you're going."
Iggy nodded. "The boys are picking me up in about an hour. Guess I'll see you there." He smirks and winks, and I storm out onto the porch.
Soon after, Slater pulls up, and I hop in his car. "Are you even legal to drive yet?"
Slater shakes his head. "No one's going to catch us, we're only driving for another fifteen minutes." His eyes are fixated on the road as he speaks.
"Fifteen minutes?" I say, and Slater nods. "I thought we're going to your house? You know, for Heath's party?"
Slater laughs. "Why would I want to take you to my brother's boring party? I don't even know half of the people there."
"Oh," I say. "When people were asking me what I was doing tonight, I told you I was hanging with you. And they automatically told me that I'd be seeing them there at Heath's party."
Slater shakes his head, eyes still transfixed on the road. "I wanted to hang out with you, not a bunch of people I haven't seen in years."
"It feels like you haven't seen me in years," I laugh.
"I know," Slater says. "Which is why I'm taking you to your favorite place on earth."
I freeze. He hasn't done this for me in, like, two years. "Don't tell me you got tickets to--"
"Yep," Slater smiles. "Diamondbacks."
I screech and punch him in the arm. "Slater! How'd you get tickets on a last minute notice?"
"Well, Madison's dad used to be one of the coaches," he begins, and I cringe at her name, "so he gave me two tickets half off."
As much as I didn't want to hear her name all night, I was happy Slater thought of me like that. "You're the best, you know that?"
"Nah," he lightly laughs. "I just figured we haven't been to one of their baseball games in a while, and I missed you."
There was a pause in the conversation before I had to ask him. "Are you back with Madison, then?"
Another pause.
"I don't know," he shrugs. "She's a little difficult--"
"As much as I told you to stay focused on her, I regret that," I interject. "You know, Slater, if I were you, I'd just be so embarrassed. Everyone knows all the crap you put up with for her. Why are you trying for her when all she gives you is shit? I mean, it's embarrassing the way she treats you. She's such a--"
"Sydnei," he says, stopping me and sighing. "This is a bad subject right now. Let's just, uhm, get into the game, okay?"
I nod, feeling like I hit a nerve.
"I'm happy to be spending time with you," he says, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Me, too."
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Picture of Sydnei Mendoll above!
