AS SOON AS HE'D SAID it and seen the look on Liam's face, he knew he'd made a mistake. Liam's mouth was wide open in amazement, just like his eyes.

"Dude!" he exclaimed. "Why are you only tellin' me now you have a date?"

Darren rushed to correct him. "It's not a date."

"Dakota wanna go out with you," Liam said. "That's the textbook definition of a date." Before Darren could say any more, Liam turned his head and yelled, "Aimee, Darren has a date!"

Darren sighed, but Aimee came rushing out of her room. "With Dakota?" she shrieked. When Liam grinned, she started jumping up and down and grabbed Darren by his upper arm. "When is it?"

"Tonight," Darren muttered.

"He's leaving in twenty minutes," Liam added.

Aimee's eyes widened. "Twenty minutes?" She looked him up and down. "You ain't telling me you want to leave like this, right?"

Darren looked at his outfit too, but didn't see an issue. It was what he'd worn all day. "What's wrong with this?"

She rolled her eyes. "You are such a man." She nudged Liam in the side. "Big brother, we're gonna have to fix this."

Liam grinned in agreement.

Adelaide stumbled into the living room, and when she saw the looks on her children's faces, she asked suspiciously, "What's going on?"

Aimee had a broad smile that showed off her perfectly white teeth, and her dark skin made it look even brighter. "Darren has a date."

Adelaide's jaw dropped. "No." She turned to Darren. "Really?"

"It's not a date," he mumbled again, but his words got lost in the cheers of the McCosta family.

"I never got a date that quickly," Adelaide laughed. "He's only been here four days!"

Darren blushed.

"But mom," Aimee said to Adelaide, "don't you agree that he has to wear something else?"

"You wanted to wear this?" Adelaide asked. Her eyes were wide open and she held one finger up in the air. "No, no, no, boy. Not on a date."

"But it's not–"

"Do you have anything else than a polo?" she asked.

He couldn't wear polos at all? It was what his wardrobe was full of!

"Liam, maybe you have something he can wear," Adelaide said.

Liam frowned. "You know I'm two sizes bigger than him, right?" He flexed his biceps. "It's all those muscles."

"Don't be a jerk," Aimee said, pushing his arm away that blocked her sight.

"You might have some old clothes," Adelaide said. "And isn't the oversized look in right now?"

"For girls, yeah," Aimee said. "On guys, it just looks baggy. And it's very unlike Darren."

Darren shot Aimee a thankful look. At least someone understood that Liam's fashion style was much different from his and would make him feel uncomfortable.

"Where are you taking her?" Adelaide asked Darren. "The venue is very important in deciding what to wear."

He shrugged. "I don't know, she's taking me. She wanted it to be a surprise."

Adelaide pressed her lips together. "That will make it more difficult. We gotta find you something that will be good for both outdoors and indoors..."

Darren had to shamefully admit he hadn't thought about any of those things. He had just planned on going in the clothes he was wearing and not put too much effort in. Was Dakota dressing herself up right now too? And more importantly, did she think it was a date?

"Y'know what," Adelaide said, grabbing Darren by the shoulders and turning him around. "You and Aimee go into your room and get you fixed up. Liam and I will figure the outfit-situation out."

"Can't I just wear –"

"No!" all three of the McCosta clan said.

Aimee dragged him into his room and told him to take a seat in the chair behind his desk. She rushed out of the room and came back with a big mirror that she put down in front of him.

"Is that really necessary?" he asked, flinching when he was confronted with his reflection.

"Yes," said Aimee dead-serious. "Now, we gotta do something about this hair situation..." She started brushing through his hair with her hands.

He ducked to get out from under the hold of Aimee. "Do you have to?"

"Your hair is a mess," she argued.

"It's fine," he said, brushing his hand through his hair to bring it back in the shape it used to be in before Aimee attacked him.

"Please?" She didn't await an answer and reached out to his hair with her hands.

"Aimee!" He took one of her hands to keep it out of reach from his hair.

"Let me just try something out," she said. "If you don't like it, you can wear it however you like."

He sighed and thought about it for a second. "I'm only saying yes because I don't want to fight with you."

She shrieked happily and smiled, which caused her hair to bounce.

He let go of her hand, but not before his eyes caught something on her skin. "What's that?" he asked, turning his head to look at it again. All over her arms were tiny, white specks that he hadn't noticed before. Maybe he'd always been too far away from her to see it.

"This?" She glanced at her arm. "I have vitiligo." She pulled her arm back and looked in the mirror, avoiding his eyes and staring at his hair as if contemplating what to do with it.

"Vitiligo?" He had heard from it before, but had forgotten what it was.

"It means I have these spots of white skin all over my body," she said. "There's no pigment there."

Darren cast his head down.

"It's not as bad as it could have been," she said. "And I've learned to deal with it. Honestly, mine is not even that noticeable."

"I hadn't noticed before this," he confirmed.

She smiled. "Exactly. And aside from my skin, I'm totally fine."

A silence fell for a few seconds, in which she passed her hand through his hair. "So, you don't mind having it?" he asked, his voice soft.

She tilted her head and focused solely on his hair now. "Well, if I could have normal skin, I would trade mine immediately," she said. Her voice had lost all its cheer now, too. "But if this is all there's wrong with me, I feel lucky."

"Will it always stay like this?"

She nodded. "It might get worse, I don't know, but it won't go away."

Liam burst into the room. "We found something!" he said.

Adelaide followed him inside. "It was the only thing we had in your size, Darren, but coincidentally, it works perfectly."

Liam held it up in the air, and when Aimee caught sight of it, she yelped. "That is perfect!" she said.

Darren just saw a white t-shirt with FRIDAY printed on it in caps, and didn't understand why they were all freaking out about it.

"And we have this jacket," Liam said, pulling out a red leather jacket from behind him.

Adelaide and Liam looked expectantly at Darren. "So?" she asked. "You can wear your own jeans with it, we thought – at least, if you have black ones."

If he was honest, the outfit scared him. It would look ridiculous on him; he wasn't the type of guy that could pull off leather jackets.

"You get bonus points if the jeans have rips," Liam chimed in.

Darren bit his lip. "I don't know..."

"He doesn't like it." The smile on Adelaide's face immediately vanished. "It's not it."

"I'm sorry..." Darren began.

"We have a second option," Liam said. "It's from your closet, Aimee."

Girls clothes? He couldn't imagine that option being any better, but he put up a smile and waited for the reveal.

"You have to wear this with white or grey jeans," Adelaide said. Simultaneously, she held up a flannel shirt in black and red. "And if the date is outside, you can pair it with a denim jacket. Liam probably has one for you."

Liam nodded. "What do you think, Darren?"

Darren took another look at the shirt again. It was simple, but... "Great," he said. "I'll wear it." Even if flannel wasn't a regular item in his closet, it wasn't too out of his comfort zone either.

Adelaide cheered, and she high fived Liam.

"Now, let me do his hair!" Aimee said. "The boy has to leave soon."

Adelaide rolled her eyes, but did as her daughter asked her too. "Just so you know, 'that boy' is two years older than you," she said over her shoulder as she walked through the door.

✩

Dakota texted that she would pick him up at Honeypie, a small café, but explicitly said that they wouldn't be eating there, so he didn't go inside when he arrived at the café and instead stood in front of the door.

"Good evening," a couple said as they walked past him.

Did they think he was a doorman? "Good evening," Darren mumbled back quickly in an attempt not to come across as rude. He didn't want to be blamed for a potential bad reputation of the café.

He took his phone out and glanced at the clock. Five to eight. He shouldn't be surprised he was early; he usually showed up earlier rather than later. Dakota, on the other hand, was the type to be exactly on time or a minute late, so he should expect to be standing outside for a little while longer. Fortunately, it was warm in Florida even at night during the last few days of summer. Actually, this was the first time today that he found the temperature enjoyable.

There was no text from Dakota either, so he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket, where he felt the two bills Adelaide had handed him before he had left. "A gentleman always pays for the date," she'd said.

He had to shamefully admit he hadn't even thought about that and had been about to object that it wasn't a date, when she added, "Just be you, okay Darren? You'll be fine, I promise. There's no way she can't love you."

He'd taken the first few steps out of the house with the idea that Dakota loved him and thought it was insane. She was his friend – a gorgeous friend, yes, and a friend that was a girl, but they weren't in love. They were just hanging out because they liked to, not because of any romantic interest. And even if she liked him, he didn't want to have a relationship with her anyway.

However, he'd said none of that to Adelaide as she waved him goodbye.

While the nerves that the McCosta family had given him with their behavior had slowly subsided, as he was standing in front of Honeypie, waiting for Dakota to come, those nerves came back again. He didn't know when she would come, what they would do together on this not-date – or was it a date?

He checked his phone. Eight o'clock. She could come any second now. What did arrive in that moment, however, was a text on the display.

Liam: I hope you aren't checking your phone right now because that would mean she stood you up but in case you are, I just wanted to wish you the best of luck.

Liam: You're pretty awesome, by the way, even though you chose flannel over a leather jacket.

Then, following each other up even quicker came another flood of texts.

Liam: I'm kidding.

Liam: Just have fun, okay?

Liam: Now stop reading these texts.

Darren chuckled and tucked his phone away. He noticed that his heartbeat was much too fast for the lack of activity he was undergoing, so he took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Liam was right: he should relax. In all the forced preparations, Darren had forgotten that this was a time to have fun. Hanging out wasn't something to get so worked up about. It was just Dakota, he didn't have to be nervous.

In an attempt to get his body on the same level as his headspace was, he sat down on the pavement along the road, where he would wait until Dakota came, and just watched the cars come and go without checking his phone again.

Without an awareness of time, Darren sat there for a while. He counted the red cars (six) the cars with a broken taillight (two), and the people that gave him a weird look, ignored him, and walked past him into Honeypie (nine). None of them was Dakota.

Eventually, he figured it was taking her very long, which he knew even without knowing what time it was, so he texted her.

Darren: Where are you?

While awaiting her reply, he checked if he'd gotten the location right, and indeed, she'd told him to meet up at Honeypie. He also caught sight of the clock in the top right corner of his phone: it was half past eight.

Dakota: DARREN

He could almost imagine her gasping right now, with her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped, looking straight at him with those round, blue eyes.

Dakota: I'M SO SORRY

That made his recently calmed heartbeat pick up its pace again. Hearing "sorry" from the person you're supposed to meet up with is never a good thing.

Dakota: Something came up

Dakota: I can't come right now

Dakota: I'm so, so sorry, Darren. I totally forgot.

He sighed and stared out in front of him. Not only was she late, she wouldn't show up at all anymore. This couldn't be the surprise she had promised him.

Dakota: I'm such an ****.

Dakota: And yes, I bleeped that out for you. You don't seem to be the type to curse.

The buzzing of his phone made his attention turn back to it, and a small smile crept on his lips when he read the message despite the disappointment of knowing he would spend the evening alone.

Dakota: I really am sorry, Darren.

Dakota: This is why I don't plan things. This always happens when I plan things.

He chuckled because she had only planned this on the day itself. Even those few hours in between lunch and eight p.m. had been too much.

Dakota: Darren? Say something...

His fingertips hovered over the keyboard. What was there to say?

Darren: It's okay.

He bit his lip, and when there wasn't an immediate reply, he dared to ask the question that had been on his lips.

Darren: What happened, though?

She had seemed so excited about it at lunch, so whatever happened must have been big if it had made her forget all about tonight. The fact that it took her a while to type a reply also pointed in the direction of a big story.

Dakota: Bennett came to my house. Long story short: he's my ex, but he apologized, we got back together, so he isn't my ex anymore, and we decided to celebrate that. I'm with him right now, somewhere in the city centre. I totally forgot about the time.

Dakota: I'm so sorry, Darren, really. Can we do it another time?

He pressed his lips together. If he said yes, would she also forget about it? She'd just said she couldn't plan activities, so he didn't know if replying would make a difference.

He exited the chat without replying and looked up Liam's number.

Darren: Can you pick me up?

Another little cool fact: Aimee is based on Michaela DePrince! I recommend looking her up, she's gorgeous and inspired the character of Aimee. She's a ballet dancer, and she also has vitiligo, which was the reason for me to include vitiligo in the story too. It's only a small part because I didn't want vitiligo to be the thing she would be known for. In future chapters, you'll get to read more of her bubbly personality!