In My Head

Worst First ~ Kaden

I swear, today has gone wrong in every single possible way. My date is allergic to the food I made, I locked us out of the car that isn't even mine, and now to top it all off, it's going to rain. The first raindrops have just started falling, and we're still a couple blocks away from Jake's house. Somehow Melissa isn't out of optimism. She even thinks this is funny.

Melissa looks over to study my face. "Hey." She grabs my hand. She feels soft and warm. "Don't get upset again. At least it waited to rain until we were done eating, right?"

I can't keep the smile off my face. "Melissa, you are so amazing."

She makes a disgusted face. "Ugh, do me a favor, call me Lissa."

Lissa. I like that. "Okay, Lissa." I squeeze her hand.

"Do you have a nickname?"

"Not really. My brother calls me Kade, but I don't really like it."

Melissa-Lissa holds her hand up and says, "Then I swear I'll never call you Kade. How about sweetie or honey?"

"Ugh, anything but sweetie."

She laughs again, and I smile. We round the corner. Just one block to go. Lissa skips a step to catch up to me. Her legs are so short she practically starts jogging to keep up with me.

"I'm sorry, am I walking too fast?"

"Well, I'd like to think I'm in pretty good shape, but-" she puffs out her cheeks "-one of your steps is like two of mine."

"We can slow down," I say, but before I even get all the words out, a big drop of water hits me right on the nose. And suddenly it's not just going to rain. It is raining.

Lissa lets out a goofy scream and breaks into a run. I hold onto her hand and jog next to her, down the street toward Jake's house. The downpour hits us with a rush of cool air that sends chills up my body. By the time we reach the doorstep, we're both soaked.

I jump up the couple steps and ring the doorbell. Lissa gives me a strange face. Here goes nothing. "Lissa, I should tell you something."

She stops messing with her hair and raises her eyebrows at me.

"The car-"

The door opens. Jake looks at me, glances at Lissa, and stares back at me.

"Is my friend's," I finish, and I point at Jake. "He let me borrow it so I could drive you around on our first date."

Jake's eyes go wide. "What happened?"

Lissa lets out a laugh. "Your keys are locked in your car."

"What?!" He turns to me. "Kaden!"

"Relax, you have a spare, don't you?"

"My dad has the spare." He crosses his arms with the hint of a smile on his face.

"I guess we can hang out here until he comes home," Lissa says.

It'sofficial. This is the worst first date ever.