"What the hell?"

Parker dropped the spatula he was holding, and French toast batter flew everywhere. "Did I scare you?" I asked.

"Of course you did. Are you aware of how you look right now? You look like a ghost" he exclaimed, clearly angry at me for scaring him. But, what does he mean by the way I look? He must've sensed my confusion, because he handed me a spoon and told me to look at my reflection.

Oh! That's what he was talking about! I still had my face mask on. I do look as pale as a ghost right now. Quickly, I tore off the mask and threw it in the trash. At least my skin felt clean and refreshed.

"Why'd you scare me like that?" Parker wondered while he cleaned up his mess. I grabbed some paper towels and cleaner and bent down to help.

"Uhm, what are you doing?" he asked me. "Helping you clean up. What does it look like?" Parker should be grateful I'm helping him at all. I was in a good mood today, so I was being generous.

"But my question is why? You never help me, and I never help you." Parker's eyes looked at me like he was trying to figure out the world's hardest puzzle. "Please, I help you all the time."

He laughed. "Yeah, okay." he said in a condescending tone. "I'm serious, I have!" I exclaimed. "There was that time when uhm, no that wasn't me. OH! How about that time last year when, no I said something else," I mumbled too myself. Parker's lips turned upwards in a triumphant smirk.

"Wait!" I suddenly shouted. "How could I forget? It's so obvious. I helped you with your math and history homework. Ha! I'm a genius."

"No you didn't," Parker rebutted.

"Uh, yeah I did. It was literally 2 days ago. How do you not remember it?"

"That doesn't even count. I didn't actually need help, I only asked you for help because-" he cut himself off before I could hear the rest of his sentence. So he was only faking having trouble with his worksheet. Why would he do that?

This is not the Parker I know. The Parker I know would've completed it in 5 minutes with no help and bragged about getting an A on it and being the first one done.

The Parker I know wouldn't ask for help when it's not needed, he's too stubborn to ask for help. He must be sick, that's the only explanation. He recently found out he has some disease that's killing him and he only has a few months left to live so he's making amends with people.

It would also explain why he's been so nice to me these last couple weeks and why he's helping me get with his best friend.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out without thinking. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "I'm sorry that you're dying."

The house was silent for a few seconds, but soon filled with a boisterous laugh. Parker was clutching his stomach, laughing the brightest I've ever seen. This was the first time I've seen his real laugh.

I wonder if anyone else has seen this, it looked really nice. It made me feel warm inside. Soon, I joined in on the laughing. His voice was very contagious. He had one of those laughs that made everyone around him crack up, even if they were crying.

I was soon clutching my stomach and wiping my tears away as well. "Ahh, that's a good one. Thanks for making me laugh!" Parker squeezed about between laughs.

"T-thanks?" I fumbled. I suddenly felt very nervous.

After an eternity, we both settled down and focused on the cleaning. While I was cleaning, I thought about what just happened. If someone witnessed this, they would've thought the world was ending.

I mean, me and Parker, together, laughing and not fighting with each other? It was unheard of. We've never been this nice to each other. It kind of sucks that he's going to be gone in a couple months. "Hey Blaze?" Parker asked sapping me out of my thoughts about him.

"What's up?" I gathered all my trash and supplies and put everything away. Once that was done, I sat down on the counter and watched Parker start cooking again. "How come you said I was dying?"

"Well, aren't you?"

"No... why would I?" Was he not dying? That doesn't make any sense.

"It's the only thing that makes sense to me. I mean, if you weren't dying then why were you being nice to me and asking for help when you clearly don't need it?"

"Oh, uhm I-I don't know. I did it just because. Do I need a reason to talk to you?" he stuttered. Something deep down was telling me that that was not the true story. "You know for being so smart, you sure do make the most idiotic excuses."

"But it's true!" he exclaimed, pointing his newly cleaned spatula at me. "Okay," I scoffed.

After that little incident, we sat down to eat. Turns out Parker's actually a really good cook. Who knew. I gobbled down the food and washed it down with a glass of orange juice before washing my dishes and cleaning up.

"So what are we going to do now?" Parker asked me once all the dishes were done. "I'm going to go upstairs and prepare for my date this afternoon, you can do whatever you want, I really don't care."

"But it's only 11 am, why would you start getting ready now? Plus, you're already dressed and you don't need to wear any makeup."

"I appreciate the effort, but you clearly don't understand girls. We always get ready hours ahead of time, it's called time management."

"Okay, but all I'm saying is you don't need to wear makeup or get dressed all fancy, Scottie doesn't care about those things."

"But I do. I want to look good for this date. It's the first, and I want to make a good impression," I explained. Parker eyed my outfit up and down before scoffing. "If making a good impression is your goal, I guarantee that outfit won't cut it."

What? I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I thought my outfit was very cute. It was very me, and it would keep me warm since we were in the middle of fall. Plus, it had pockets, and pockets are a must for me.

"There's nothing wrong with it," I defended my outfit.

"Sure, if you won't to be a basic white girl going to Starbucks to get a pumpkin spice latte after her 10 am church service," he shot back.

"First off, ouch, you didn't have to be that rude. And second, what do you even know about fashion. You're the one wearing sweats and a t-shirt right now. At least I look better than you."

Just because he looked semi okay in that basic outfit, does not mean he had the right to criticize my outfit. "Oh please, of course I have a better fashion sense than you. You know how many girls have dragged me along with them to go shopping? I couldn't help but pick up on a few things."

The things guys will do to get laid.

"Alright Mr. fashion police, if my outfit is really as bad as you say, what do you suggest I wear?" I asked. Although I didn't want to trust Parker, I knew I had to. I knew deep down what he said was right, I did look really basic, but I still thought my outfit was cute.

I led Parker up to my room so he could see what was in my closet and hopefully pick out a better outfit for me. "Taking me to your room already? Moving a little fast, aren't we Blaze?" he joked.

"I would never, I actually have standards, unlike you," I shot back, "now hurry up and help me pick out a outfit."

He opened my closet door and started rummaging around. There were a couple "ew's" and "the hell is this?" here and there, but after a couple minutes, he pulled out some clothes. "Okay, so some of your clothes are really ugly and I don't know why you still have them, but I managed to find an acceptable outfit for this afternoon."

"What is it?" I asked excitedly. He was hiding it behind his back so I couldn't tell what it was yet.

"Ta-da!" he exclaimed, shoving the clothes in my face. He had picked out this pink skirt that was slightly asymmetric, a tan long sleeved top, and the brown boots I was originally going to wear. "How'd you even find these clothes?" I asked.

My mom bought them for me last year, but I buried them deep in my closet, because they weren't really my style. The color combination was a little out there, and I wasn't comfortable getting attention from people because of the clothes I was wearing.

"They were hidden in the back of your closet, although I don't know why. These are probably some of the best clothes you have." Looking up at Parker, I saw that he had a smile on his face as he looked at me.

He really believed I would look good in these clothes.

Maybe I should trust him. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen? People stare and point? Like that's never happened to me before. All I have to do is ignore them and focus on my date with the guy I like.

I took the clothes and walked into my bathroom to change. It only took me a minute, and when I looked in the mirror, I was genuinely shocked. I think is the best outfit I've ever worn.

It complimented my skin tone, made me look curvier, and it made my short legs look even longer. I know that sounds cliché, but for a short girl like me, it's everything.

"Hurry up and show me, I don't have all day," Parker yelled.

When I stepped out, Parker took a second to access the outfit and then nodded in approval. "So, what now?" he asked.

That only wasted half an hour, meaning we still have 3 more before we have to leave. "I'm going to finish getting ready, and then maybe we can go eat something before we have to go."

"Sounds good," Parker sad and left my room, careful not to slam it on his way out. I sat down at my desk and grabbed some of my makeup to start on my face.

Parker did say I don't have to wear makeup, but I want to. It makes me feel prettier and more confident in myself, and I don't want to be a stumbling mess on the date with Scottie. I want to be confident in myself.

I wonder if he'll like my outfit. Maybe he'll even compliment me on it.

Wait, what am I thinking? I don't need his approval on my clothes. I can wear whatever I want. Oh, who am I kidding, of course I want his approval.

Keeping what Parker said about makeup earlier in mind, I did the bare minimum on my face (concealer, lip gloss, mascara, and my eyebrows). It was that no-makeup makeup look.

When I was done with that. I quickly brushed my hair and headed downstairs to find Parker. He was in the living room playing a game on my brother's Play Station. "What game are you playing?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm playing Grand Theft Auto," he replied, not even looking up from his game. Boys, I rolled my eyes. "Have you ever played Andrew in this game?"

He didn't bother replying to me that time. Fine, I'll just ignore him too. I crossed my arms and leaned back, bored out of my mind. There was 2 hours until we had to leave, and I was done getting ready.

Why did I have to get ready so early? Now I'm hungry. Oh, I wonder if we have any good chips. Maybe I should wait to eat since I'll be eating a shitload of greasy foods at the festival tonight.

While debating with myself in my mind, I didn't notice that Parker's game was over, and he was staring at me. "Do you know that you get this weird look on your face like you're taking the most intense shit when you think about something?"

I chucked a pillow at his head which he easily caught and set down on the floor.

"I see you're done getting ready," he stated.

"Yeah, I really thought it would take me a lot longer to get ready, but I didn't want to look like I was trying too hard, so I went with something simple."

"Good idea," he replied.

"Thanks," I chuckled.

You know, spending time with Parker is not as bad as I remember it to be.

---

Before I can even blink, 2 hours have passed and Parker and I were currently standing in front of the entrance to the festival waiting for Scottie and Sophia.

Parker had made us stop at his house real quick so he could change into better clothes. He was currently wearing these off white slacks with a white button down shirt peaking out from beneath the collar of a light blue sweater. He also had a long, tan coat hanging on his arms in case it got cold out late tonight.

I have to admit, he does look really good in that outfit. His hair also looked really good, almost like he took an extra five minutes just to make sure it looked perfect.

Originally he and Sophia weren't going to tag along, but they both insisted on it. I didn't question it, because I was too focused on the figure approaching us.

Scottie was walking towards us with a smile on his face, and a rose in his left hand. Did I also mention that this looked like a scene taken straight from a rom-com? Despite the cheesy-ness, I felt myself blushing. No guy had ever gotten me flowers before; not to mention Scottie looked handsome as well.

He was wearing a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up part way and part of the shirt tucked in, and denim jeans with some type of white shoe that I don't know the name of. Simple, but sweet.

As he approached, I felt Parker pinch my arm. "You better not faint on him," he hissed in my ear. Using how close he was to me against him, I elbowed him as hard as I could in his stomach.

I heard hum grunt from the impact, but he quickly tried to conceal it with a cough. "Hey Scottie!" I waved when he got close enough. "Hi Blaze. I see you're looking as beautiful as ever." He handed me the rose and I blushed more.

"Thanks for the rose," I giggled. Okay, I really need to calm down, I only giggled when I was really nervous.

"You're welcome. I thought I should give you a little something since this is our first official date after all." We both looked into each other's eyes. I never noticed, but he has a small freckle right under his left eye. It was cute.

Parker must've gotten bored, because he suddenly interrupted our staring session and exclaimed, "So, what are we doing first? I vote for going on all the rollercoasters first."

"Yeah, that sounds fun!" I agreed with him. Roller coasters are one of my favorite things here. I love the thrill I get from going down the first drop, or riding upside down on the loops. "Oh, I guess we could do that if you want, but I was thinking we could play some games first and then go on some rides, if that's okay with you?" he directed at me.

Sure, I wanted to go on the rides, but I also wanted to spend time with Scottie. "Of course that's fine. We can always go on the roller coasters later."

"Great!" Scottie grabbed my hand and started leading me inside.

"Wait," I said, stopping Scottie. "What about Parker? Sophia isn't here yet." I felt bad leaving him by himself. "I'm sure she'll be here in a couple minutes. Plus, Parker is a big guy, I'm sure he'll be fine waiting by himself for a while."

"Okay," I mumbled.

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