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I let the front door shut behind me, then paused when noticed Brady and Sarah sitting on the couch. They were watching a movie. Brady noticed me, giving me a single hand wave while his eyes were still glued to his show.
I smile, but what really caught me off guard was that the two of them were cuddling. It was the first time I'd seen open displays of affection between them like that. Or maybe I just refused to notice, but it was nice to be able to see them that way. I continued to head towards the stairs but paused when I heard Sarah.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" I glanced towards them once again, realizing that I hadn't even asked if I could go. I mean, I was sure they'd be ok with it... right? They knew the McGuires.
I shrugged and hoped they wouldn't refuse me going. "I have a date tonight."
That caught Brady's attention. He'd been glued to the television and only given me a single hand wave when he noticed me earlier, but when I said the word 'date' his attention quickly turn to me with his show long forgotten.
"A date?" he asked as he dragged out the words as if it was the most the most horrible thing on earth.
"Yes, Brady," I said as I rolled my eyes. "A date."
"With who?" He got up from his spot on the couch, and Sarah followed as they both came over. Brady folded his arms, disapproving the idea already.
I frowned when I noticed this. "With Kayden."
Brady gave me a pointed look. "Uh-huh. And where are you guys going?"
I gave him an annoyed look. "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
I shifted my stance to mimic his. "No. It's a date," I said with most obvious reason.
"Uh-huh," he uttered again with a calculated stare, and then a slow grin appeared. "I'll find out." He gave Sarah a quick kiss, and then he headed upstairs.
What is he up to, I thought as I turned to Sarah, who was grinning happily. She pulled me towards the stairs. "Come on, I'll help you get ready."
While upstairs, I hurried to find something suitable to wear. I wasn't a 'skirt girl,’ and I definitely wasn't a 'dress girl,' so I found a nice pair of jeans and a purple top that seemed nice enough. I grabbed my sneakers and a bracelet, along with some earrings that somebody had once given me.
When I was finished, I was happy with the outcome. Stylish and hip. Sarah though looked a little apprehensive as she took in my choice of outfit.
"Are you sure you don't want to wear a dress?"
A little taken back, I shook my head. "No. I don't do dresses."
"How about a skirt?" she suggested, heading towards my closet as she looked through my wardrobe, almost desperately.
"Don't do those either."
"You sure?" she asked, as she rifled through to find anything, I assumed, that resembled a skirt or a dress.
"Nothing," she whispered in disbelief as she came out of my closet. "You don't have a single dress or skirt. How did I not know this?" she asked more to herself than to me.
I shook my head, amused at her horror with my wardrobe.
"Sorry, Sarah, I don't do skirts."
"But it's your first date."
"Yep," I chirped, still not sure what she was getting at. I was excited about my date with Kayden, even though I didn't know where we were going.
Sarah looked down at my feet towards the tennis shoes that I had chosen. They were one of my nicer ones.
"You sure you don't want to wear, maybe, some nice sandals?"
"Nope, I'm good," I told her. "All I have is, you know, flip flops."
Sarah groaned as she dragged her hand down her face in disbelief. Dropping it, she pointed to me as her face became determined. "You and I—we need to go shopping."
"Okay," I told her not understanding her distress. I grabbed my wallet...
"Not even a purse."
I laughed, amused, and raced downstairs.
"Where are you going?" she yelled after me.
"I'm going to meet Kayden." I gestured towards the stairs as I walked.
"You're not waiting for him to knock on the door?" she questioned from the doorway to my room, confused.
My eyebrows lifted, trying to figure out what she was attempting to say..."No. Why would I do that? He lives right across the street from us. I'll just head on over there. I'm ready before he is. Why should I wait for him to knock?"
Sarah shook her head once again and seemed a little disappointed. I had no idea what she was talking about. We're going to hang out. That's what dating was, wasn't it? I turned to head downstairs. I glanced back to the TV to tell Brady goodbye, but he wasn't there.
I shrugged again. Oh well. It's nice though that he and Sarah could have time alone together. This was his day off after all.
I raced out of the house and started to walk across the street, but that's when Kayden opened the McGuire's front door and came out dressed to the tee. He looked so strikingly handsome that I slowed my pace to take him in, because the ever so cheeky and carefree Kayden was wearing a tie. Now I realized what Sarah had been saying before. I was dressed down compared to what he was wearing.
Decked out in a pair of Dockers shoes and dark-washed jeans, followed up by a nice preppy dress shirt that buttoned at his wrist and a traditional black tie, Kayden looked very handsome. His hair was combed back with only a little bit at the front standing up, giving it a faux hawk look.
After shutting his door, he glanced up, saw me, and frowned. He pointed to my house behind me as he walked my way.
"Get back in there," he said sternly, yet playfully as well.
I was confused as we both met in the middle of our street.
"Why?"
"We're going on a date," he said as if that explained everything.
"I know that."
"So go back into your house so I can knock on your door like a proper date. We're doing this the traditional way."
I groaned as Tyler's talk came back to me. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, Faith, go back inside and wait by the door until I come and knock, like a good girlfriend."
He turned me around, patted my butt and pointed. "Go." He spoke as if I was an actual child.
I twisted my lips and made my way back into the house, slamming the door shut. I couldn't believe Kayden was making me do this. I knew what a date was, but it didn't mean we had to do it traditionally, right?
Sarah looked surprised to see me as she came down the stairs. "What are you doing back?"
I huffed, "He made me come back inside.
Sarah's lips twitched. "Really?"
I glared. "Yeah."
"And why is that?"
I pouted. She knew why, but I said it anyways. "Because he wants me to wait until he knocks on the door."
She giggled. I glared. Then she quickly brought her hand up to cover her mouth, but it didn't matter I still heard it.
I stomped my foot. "Not funny! I can't believe he wants to knock on the freaking door. He lives right across the street!" I huffed as I gesture to the door behind me.
"I know," Sarah reasoned. "But if he wants to do it traditional, then you're doing traditional."
"I know, I know. I got that, but..." I stopped when a knock came at the door, and I threw my hand up in a 'see' kind of gesture. Before I could turn around and open it, Brady came hurriedly down the stairs, dressed in his police uniform.
Sarah looked at him, as confused as I was. "Honey, I thought you had the day off?"
He grinned as he made his way towards me or maybe it was towards the door. "I do. Move, Faith."
I got what he was doing and snorted. "He's not going to be intimidated, Brady. His dad's a police officer too," I told him. I stayed in place as another knock sounded at the door.
Brady moved me aside to open the door. "But I'm not his dad," he said, and then he shut the door.
I only had to wait for a few minutes before Brady came back in, seemingly satisfied. I went out to meet Kayden once again with a raised eyebrow. "You ready now?"
He smiled. "Yep." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me to his car.
"So are you going to tell me where we're going now?"
"Nope," he said, as he seated me in the truck and got in himself.
"Did Brady give you another pollination talk?" I asked as we drove off.
He laughed and took my hand to kiss the back of it. "Worse."
***
He took me to a fancy restaurant. One where you could make reservations. We walked up the cobblestone walkway past the flourish water fountain that was in the center and towards the large, frosted, high-end glass door with long copper handles. Kayden opened the door and guided me into the low lit restaurant and towards the hostess counter.
"H! Welcome to the La Douleur Exquise. Do you have a reservation?"
Kayden gave his signature smile. "Yes. Kayden McGuire."
I wandered to the side while he figured things out and looked at the art that filled the entrance area. This place seemed to be very unlike Kayden. Somehow I imagined he would take me paintballing, skating or something more adventurous and fun like his personality. I didn't picture us sitting in a stuffy restaurant eating. I was grateful for the effort, but this wasn’t what I expected out of him.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," I heard Kayden mutter as he walked my way with a little flat black piece of plastic.
"They overbooked our table. We’ve got to wait." He lifted the plastic thing up as we walked out the door, finding a place to sit across from the fountain. "We have to wait for this thing to vibrate for another table."
As we sat, Kayden rolled up his sleeves to his elbows for a more casual look. I bet he was uncomfortable. I felt sorry for him wearing that tie.
As we waited, Kayden talked about school and what has been going on with his classes.
"It’s funny, you know," he said, taking my hand in his. We looked out at the water fountain situated in the middle of the stone walkway. "If you weren’t so dang smart you'd be in school with me."
I smiled as I turned to look at him. "Sorry?"
He bumped my shoulder. "No you’re not. What are you going to college for anyways? You’re in all of those math classes so you must know what you’re going for. I know some of the classes are prerequisites, like the one you share with the twins, but how long are you going for and for what?"
"Twins?" I asked, confused for a second.
"Yeah, Kane and Wendy."
"Wait," I said, turning to him confused. "They’re twins?"
His eyes went wide, and he chuckled. "Yeah."
I looked back to the fountain. "I wondered, but I wasn’t sure."
"Soo—” Kayden hedged.
I smiled, "I’m not sure yet. I have two ideas of what I want to do. It’s either a forensic analyst or a cryptologist." I bit my lip and looked towards him. "Pretty ambitious of me, huh?”
Kayden gave me an encouraging smile. "With how far you’ve come, I have no doubt that you could either."
I smiled. He believed in me. He didn’t think either of those ideas were out of my reach. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you, Kayden," I said as I pulled away. "I’m glad you believe in me. I have until the end of this semester to figure it out."
His hand tightened on mine as his thumb slowly caressed my wrist. "Will you let me know what you choose, then?"
"Yes." I turned his question back on him. "What about you? What does the famous Kayden want to be when he grows up?"
He grinned, drawing me in closer to whisper into my ear, "That's easy; I’m already doing what I want to do."
I drew back confused, "You work?"
He feigned hurt. "What? You think I just mooch off my parents?"
I felt bad. "I-ah-what–trying- argh!"
He laughed, bringing my hand up for a kiss. "No. It’s ok. I work in the family business, just like my brothers do. Except Tyler’s doing it so he can pay for school to be a CPA and Lincoln’s planning on going to school to be an architectural engineer, but I’m actually going to take it over."
I was curious. "What is the family business?"
"Real estate. That’s how you guys got the house." He chuckled. "My dad’s the police officer and my mom’s the realtor."
"Oh. That’s cool. So you want to take that over." He murmured an agreement. "So, do you have to go to college for it?"
Kayden grimaced. "I can go to some classes, but get a degree online."
"Oh." Something was bothering him, and I wanted to make him happy. "So, what is it that you do when you work?"
"I take pictures of homes." He shrugged. "The outside, the inside when they go up for sale, and then figure out what the homes in the area are selling for so my mom can come up with a base price and we can go from there."
"That’s sounds neat. And now I realize why your brothers and you have a lot of free time." I mused.
Kayden sighed and looked at his watch, then let go of my hand to stand up. "Wait here. I’ll be right back."
After a few minutes, he came back empty handed, and I stood up. "Table ready?"
He shook his head with a secret grin, as he took my hand and pulling us back to the parking lot. "What are we doing then?"
"We’re going to do what we should have done in the first place," he told me, losing the tie before opening the truck door for me.
I grinned, liking the new idea as I got in. "And what is that?"
He bent over, giving me a brief kiss, before saying, "Forgetting traditional and going rouge."