The Summer Lake House

Chapter 8

Kristen stood in the mirror clumsily holding up two different pairs of earrings to her ears to see which set looked best with her outfit. Kristen felt so out of her element she never dressed up with this much thought for a boy, never even cared really, but there was something about Dylan that made Kristen nervous and on edge. She felt like she was supposed to look a certain part around him, like the rich girl blonde hair bombshell type she ever so hated, yet now desired to be. Kristen brushed her fingers through her hair creating the illusion of a hair brush. Her hair was a mess. It needed serious damage control, and that was usually Jenna's specialty. Whenever Kristen had a serious hair emergency she would call up Jenna, and within minutes her yellow bug would be parked out front and she rang the doorbell, flat-iron and curling-iron in hand. Kristen had no time to straighten her hair, it was already 6:30. Kristen brushed through the ends a bit to make it less knotty and left her hair in it's natural form which was big loose waves. Kristen wasn't very good at makeup either she never had anyone to show her growing up, because her mother was always so busy working to pay the bills being a single mom and all. Kristen applied a quick swig of black eyeliner to her water line and looked in the mirror again at her full appearance. She was wearing this stupid outfit, with these stupid earrings, and stupid shoes. She look preppy and she hated it. She was definitely not thrilled about how she looked but she decided to head out anyways because she didn't want Dylan to think she was bailing out on him. She walked outside on the cobblestone, avoiding her mom in the kitchen at all costs. She made it out of the house safely, but didn't think it was fair to leave her mother in the dark about where she was going so she decided to send her a text and she walked up Dylan's driveway. Kristen found the huge sycamore tree with the swing attached to it, that identified his house from the rest of it's replicas on the block. She sat down on the swing resting her phone on her lap, and kicking her wedges slightly in the air, she twisted the swing from side to side, feeling stupid for being so early. As she looked at her phone it was only 6:50, she probably looked so desperate, she thought to herself. Let's just say she was lacking in the self confidence department. Kristen nervously watched as minutes ticked by and Dylan still hadn't come outside. She didn't even have his number, but she was too nervous to ring the doorbell, she wasn't prepared to be face to face with the town's mayor. Suddenly she heard a slight creaking sound as the front door swung open, and out walked Dylan. He looked gorgeous, Kristen couldn't help but blush when he turned to see her sitting on the old rope swing. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt, with khaki brown shorts, and his famous boat shoes, except these were different, more fancy and they had the same blue color that his shirt did. Kristen couldn't help all the nervous thoughts racing through her head. Did she look dressy enough? Where were they going? Would people wonder why a beautiful guy like him was hanging around a dull average looking girl like her? She quickly stopped her thoughts as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Kristen, oh wow how long have you been waiting for me out here?"

Kristen twiddled her thumbs nervously, and knew she had to lie.

"Oh really only about a minute! I just got here."

She felt her cheeks flush, what a lie.

"Well good. You look uh..."

Oh god. Kristen thought. He probably thought she looked like a fool, a mess, a wannabe.

"Well you look really beautiful."

The words slowly unraveled from his lips, almost like a stutter, he was nervous but Kristen didn't know why. No guy was ever nervous around her before. She was Kristen Finebrooke, a nobody who lived with her all to popular and well known mother, who put Kristen beneath her. Hearing the words escape from his raspy voice, which was very attractive, made Kristen suddenly feel like a somebody, like she belonged somewhere.

"You do too."

Kristen could slap herself in the face. "You do too?" Was she stupid? That wasn't even a response that made sense. Dylan looked down at the dirt and cobblestone ground and laughed.

"Oh my god, i'm such a spazz."

Kristen said under her breath, thinking Dylan didn't hear her.

"It's really okay Kristen, I am quite good looking."

Dylan smirked at Kristen and they both laughed as there eyes met each other's gaze, Kristen knew he was kidding too play off the awkwardness of the situation and she was ever so grateful that he had a good sense of humor.

"We should get going. You ready? First stop is dinner, the best place in town. Blue Water Café."

Kristen nodded in agreement, and noticed Dylan's hand stretched out in a gesture, that meant he wanted to hold her hand. Kristen felt tense, and shy which was very new for her. Probably because two hours in this town, and she already had the biggest gushing crush on the mayor's son. Kristen nervously extended her hand to meet his and he smiled with satisfaction as she slipped her phone in her pocket of her sundress, and they headed down the road.