DESPITE the laidback sentiment I'd thrown at Reese the day before, that having both Savannah and him there, really, nothing could go that bad, I was suddenly feeling very different. I had realized that, in fact, absolutely everything could go bad.

      And judging by my track record- that it probably would.

     Savannah's eyes sparkled. "How excited are you?"

     I swallowed, taking a moment to consider her question, and then nodded my head. "If my math's right, there's a 95% chance I'm going to throw up."

     And I was being generous with that.

     The blonde chuckled under her breath, keeping her grip on my chin steady while brushing a chocolate brown colour all over my eyelids. "Good thing you suck at math, then."

     I snorted, but it did little to curb the anxiety that had been decimating my veins all day. Even with the familiar, upbeat melody pouring from the radio and Savannah's constant reassuring grins, I couldn't swallow my worries. I had run through about a million different scenarios, each worse than the next, and sitting statuesque had become almost impossible.

     The only thing keeping me still being the heated glares Savannah would burn into my face every time I moved.

    The twitching and the shifting might have annoyed Savannah, but really, it was completely reasonable. As far as I knew, this could be the last day of my life.

    Or even worse, my social life.  

     Regardless, I kept still, mostly because while she was somehow able to create a flawless smoky eye without giving me black eyes (ie. Makeup by Stella), she was also very ready to poke mine out if I didn't cooperate.

      Savannah with a makeup brush in her hand was a menace.

     The blonde took a step back and studied her work, the tip of her tongue peeking out between her glossy lips. "Not to brag, but I'm a genius."

     A grin broke out across my face. "Ah, yes, that's the modesty you're so famous for."

     Savannah's face mimicked mine, a laugh trickling past her lips. "Seriously though, Tyler's going to be blown away, you're so hot. I still can't believe that he asked you on a date, though."

       There was something in her voice that was a little too skeptical for my liking. Why couldn't everyone be as gullible as Wyatt had been?

     I furrowed my brows. "I told you! We were talking about steak in geography, and he said that he had this gift card, we should all go. It's more of a group outing than a date. Seriously. I don't think 'date' and 'Reese' have any business being anywhere near each other." I crossed my arms over my chest to mean business, hopefully silencing the rest of her doubts.

      Savannah eyed me carefully, but then drew a sigh. "Fine, fine," she relented. "Whatever you say. Just talking about steak."

      "That's a perfectly reasonable topic of conversation, Vannah. Do you want to hear my fully-fleshed out thoughts on filet mignon? Because I can give them to you. Don't you worry, free of charge."

     She fixed me with an unimpressed look and I gave a toothy grin. In a weirdly terrible way, the lies were becoming easier, more reasonable, rolling off the tongue with little resistance. Reese might not have given me asbestos poisoning like I thought before, but he was definitely leaving some lasting effects on me of the not wonderful kind.

     "I think I'll live," she drawled, fixing me with a knowing look. "Anyway, now it's just lipstick. I'll see if I've got anything."

     "Ah!" I jumped up from the chair and dashed over towards my bedside table, pulling open the drawer. I could feel Savannah's curious eyes following me, but ignored it. "I've actually got you all covered."

      When I pulled out the lipstick Reese had given me the day before, I was once again the recipient of a very weird look. Savannah tilted her head, confusion melding in her eyes. "First the dress, now this? Have you been going on a shopping spree without me?"

     "No," I said, maybe a little too quickly. "Mom bought, she was excited."

      There was a beat of silence, but then a smile quirked on Savannah's face and I was immediately eased into relief. "Well, it's a fabulous choice. Seriously, you always look great, but this time Tyler's probably going to propose." 

     "I mean, I'm not saying he will, but I already have my shocked face on lock." When I gasped, slapping both my cheeks in mock surprise, Savannah fixed me with a cocked brow, and then broke down laughing.

      Hearing her giggle was oddly calming in the way that only Savannah could make it, and it was a feeling I grasped tightly onto if only to keep my lunch down. The clock continued to tick, despite whatever I wanted, and I watched with both mild fascination and anxiety as Savannah got herself all dolled up.

     For a moment I was mesmerized, watching with awe-induced, unblinking eyes as she expertly blended and lined and transformed her face with the precision and expertise of an artist.  Savannah doing her hair and makeup was entirely captivating in its own right, and I was drawn in like a revolutionary thought-piece at MoMA. Her face glowed in all Zeus lovechild fashion and I watched with the expression of a gaping fish.

     It was almost weird to think that we'd been friends since grade two. All of my most vivid memories were doused with her blonde hair and those crystalline eyes. And just as I was thinking of how ridiculous it was that I couldn't even remember her going through that supposed-inevitable awkward phase (meanwhile grade 7 Stella was always known as She Who Should Not Be Named), the doorbell was echoing through my room.

       We both froze, Savannah piling her hair into a messy ponytail, and I could feel my heart leap into my throat. My nerves were igniting underneath my skin. Savannah gave me a reassuring smile, as if she had read my thoughts all over my face, and I nodded.

      Well, there was no backing out now.

     (I knew this because I had begged Savannah and texted Reese, both who refused to let me do that.)

     When I swallowed my nerves and forced my feet down the stairs, I looked by the door to see both Reese and Tyler had stepped in, more likely due to Reese's habit of inviting himself. They were both dressed up in pale dress shirts and ironed black pants, although Reese had unbuttoned his at the top, and Tyler was wearing a dark blue bow-tie, which was adorable.

       So adorable, it made me want to throw up again.

      I forced my mouth into something I hoped looked more like a smile than a grimace

      "Wait," Reese, threw up his hand, "Is this happening in slow motion? Should we pause, sigh, and say you look gorgeous now? Isn't that how this works?"

     I snorted, rolling my eyes and feeling my worries begin to evaporate. I was right, dates and Reese had no business being anywhere near each other, and that still stood tonight. 

     "Thanks, Powers, I took off my glasses and everything for this," I drawled, receiving a toothy grin in response.

       "No high heels though, no stillettos?"

     I shot him a deadpan look. "Trust me, I don't need a heel to stab you, I'm very resourceful."

     A smirk dug into Reese's cheek, creating an impish dimple. "Is that a threat or a promise?"

     Savannah giggled behind me, and when I finally reached the ground, I locked eyes with Reese. He cleaned up pretty okay, even wore a belt and everything, so I gave him internal points for putting in an effort. Not enough points to touch Savannah, but enough that he could look at her for under three seconds.

       Four and silverware would be ending up in places where the sun did not shine.

     "You look great, both of you guys," Tyler said, grinning, his hands casually in his pockets.

     "You guys don't clean up half-bad either," Savannah returned with a light smile, toying with the hem of her soft pink skater dress.

      "All right, all right, we all look great, time to go, reservation's at eight, don't wanna miss it." I swung my arm very gung-ho and then cut through Tyler and Reese to find myself on the porch, ignoring the stares I could feel burning into my back.

       Small talk gave me the opportunity to royally screw everything up. At least at dinner I could shove food in my face and opt for the safer nodding thoughtfully option.

     Just as freedom was on the tip of my tongue, I felt my arm being jerked back, causing me to lose my balance and stumble. Wrenching my arm out of Reese's grip, I looked to the boy with my mouth gaping in shock and outrage. "No touchy!"

     Tyler and Savannah had walked passed us, and looked back with mild confusion. "You guys okay?" Tyler asked, eyebrows furrowing.

      Just as I was about to say that I was definitely not okay, and that my hospital bills will be paid for in full by Reese, the boy in question interrupted me.

      "Contacts! Lost one of my contacts! Stella, you help me find it, since it's your house. I dropped it right here. You guys go over to the car." Reese's grin was broad and innocent, hand shooing them over toward Tyler's car, and receiving all of the rightfully earned weird looks.

      Even worse, he was forcing me to be his accomplice in all this. Guilt by association.

      "Ah, okay," Savanah murmured, nodding, not even bothering to question what I figured would be the first of many strange things, and turned her back to us. Tyler, thankfully, did the same.

     Once they'd taken a few safe steps, I turned back to Reese, eyebrows knitted in bewilderment. "You don't even wear contacts!"

      "Yes I do! I just- get down," he demanded in a half-whisper, giving me no chance to respond as he grabbed my arm and dragged me down to his level, crouching.

      With pursed lips I ripped my arm back again, shooting him a heated glare. "Grab my arm one more time and I'm going rip your hands off and use them to gouge your own eyes out, I swear, try me again," I growled.

     He lifted his hands in innocence, but quickly returned them back to the ground, padding the concrete absently. "Listen, we can't let them talk to each other too much, since they think the other one is on the date. We need a diversion, just in case."

      I nodded, surprisingly finding no fault in his words, and began feeling the ground with him. "How about if it gets too close, you loudly announce that you have to take a shit, and then leave. That way we can talk about it when you leave to the bathroom, and they'll totally forget about their conversation."

      He gave me a look, eyes narrowed. "I was going to say we could mention the food."

     I hummed. "I guess we could also go with that direction, if you really want to."

     His face was not very impressed. Whatever.

     "And most importantly, we cannot let them be alone together. We need to monitor their conversation for the entire night," he insisted, sober eyes trained on me, no trace of those familiar dimples in sight.

     I didn't know if I had the heart to break it to him that he wasn't the coach of a losing football team in the locker room at half-time.

     I nodded again, rolling over his words in my mind, and giving a shrug. "All right, so, we don't let them be alone, kind of like how you left them to tell me about this."

      As my words touched the air, his eyes grew wide and whipped in the blonde's direction, finding Savannah and Tyler both standing by the car and chatting amicably amongst themselves. The very thing we were supposed to spend the entire night preventing.

     "Shit!" he cursed, jumping to his feet. I was quicker, though, and was already up and dashing towards them at Olympic speeds.

      Maybe that 5K run of death really did have some sort of good effects.

      "What you guys up to?" I blurted out, slapping a huge grin on my face with wild eyes and my fists poised at my hips once I'd reached them. "Fun conversation?"

     Tyler paused mid-sentence, and Savannah turned to me, tilting her head. "We were just talking about English. Anyway, so did you guys find Reese's contact?"

     "Nope!" I chimed instantly, still grinning too widely and immediately wanting to duck my head in a tub of ice water. "He's just going half-blind tonight. It doesn't matter. Who cares about Reese anyway, am I right?"

      I elbowed the air animatedly, only to receive a look of confusion by Savannah and a curtesy laugh from Tyler. Not exactly the response what I was hoping for.

      Now my hopes were a meteor shower to bring me a much needed early death.

     "Is Stella talking shit again?" Reese asked as he materialized next to me, a good-hearted grin on his face.

      I refused to let my smile falter, and instead nudged Reese with my elbow a little too hard to constitute friendly. "Of course not! Why would I ever? Anyway, who wants food? I know I sure do. I'm so hungry."

      He stepped to the side to avoid further elbow jabs, shooting me a clear side-eye, but also kept on his cheery demeanour. "Well, we can't let Stella starve obviously. We all know how she gets when she's angry! Time to go. Also, shotgun."

      "Shotgun," I mimicked him under my breath as I threw him a look, receiving a cheeky grin from him in response.

       The thought of keeping up this jolly persona all night was dreadful, but the idea of either Savannah or Tyler finding out the logistics of our plan was even worse, and I'd grown regrettably tolerant with the fact that working with Reese was an inevitable. Even if every word that left his lips made me want to punch him in the face.

      Restraining a smart-ass remark to Reese, I trekked over to the driver's side of the car and pulled open the door, accepting my lack-of-shotgun fate. Feeling a little too ready to get going, I slammed the seat forward and climbed inside, not really paying attention to my surroundings, which could have been the reason that my ankle got caught up in the seatbelt.

      With barely enough time to think, I was hurtled forwards, my arms flailing wildly and a river of curses pouring from my mouth as I was splayed across the back seat. My chin made contact with the car floor, painfully slamming my jaw shut and biting the tip of my tongue in the process. I winced as the metallic taste of blood mingled with the sharp bursts of burning pain, and Reese's laughter was ringing in my ears.

      "Looks like you didn't need heels to fall on your face after all. Nice underwear, by the way. Black's a good look."

      I felt my dress being pulled down, probably by Savannah, and was too bothered by pain and smouldering fury to find myself to be embarrassed.

      "Powers, I'm going to murder your face."

     "Could you do it after dinner? I really am starving."

***

hey guys! so i did that think again where i write a 4500 word chapter, so to not overwhelm you i split it up into two. trust me when i say that the shenanigans have not even started yet. oh boy. also isn't the new cover everything? i love it~

but also !!! updating on time !!! i was supposed to update yesterday but binge watching law and order svu got in the way. oops.

also stella is showing her underwear so much, she might be an exhibitionist. let me know what you guys think! any predictions for the double date? c: