Emily
The familiar sound of my ringtone woke me up. It was Brennen.

  "Hey Em, is it okay if I pick you up in an hour for our date?"

  "Brennen, it's still the morning."

  There was a moment of silence, then a soft chuckle on the other side of the call.

  "Emily, it's six in the afternoon."

  My jaw dropped. Devyn was still asleep on the couch, breathing softly. We had stayed up almost until five in the morning, so we definitely overslept.

  "Oh yeah of course, an hour is great."

  We talked about for another five minutes, then hung up.

  I looked at Devyn, deciding whether to wake her up or not. Her breathing was off, faster than normal. That's when I noticed her left eye twitch slightly, like it was about to open.

  A chuckle escaped from my mouth. She was pretending to sleep, listening to my conversation with Brennen.

  "Alright, wake up Dev, I know you're not sleeping."

  Her eyes shot open and her bright white smile spread across her face. "Let's go get you ready!"

  Getting ready took quick - maybe only a half an hour or so. We waited in the living room for Brennen to come.

  I felt like something was missing, then noticed that Lilly still wasn't back yet. I scrolled through Instagram and saw that Colby had posted a story of him and Sam in the pool - Lilly nowhere to be found.

"Where do you think she is?", Devyn asked, peaking over my shoulder.

"I - I don't know."

We spent another twenty minutes calling and texting Lilly, blowing up her phone - yet there was still no answer.

My heart started to beat as thoughts ran through my head; all possibilities of what could have happened to her.

The doorbell rang, causing me to jump off the couch and swing open the door. A smile greeted me, but it wasn't Lilly's. It was Brennen's.

I waved my hands around, trying to get out the words. But, before I could start explaining to Brennen, Devyn placed her hand on my shoulder, startling me.

"Go on, Em. Enjoy your date. I'll keep looking for Lilly, her phone is probably just dead - you know how she is. I'll call you if anything pops up."

  My cheek burned as I bit the inside of it. "Thanks, Dev."

  She gave me a small smile as she shut the door.

  Brennen and I walked to his car, both of us silent. He started the car while I fiddled with my phone, scrolling through Instagram, desperately trying to spot any sign of Lilly.

  "Em? What happened?"

  "It's Lilly, she said she was going to hang out with Colby, but he hasn't seen her. And it's really unlike her to not post anything or not answer our texts. I'm really worried Brennen."

  "I'm sure she'll answer soon, you know how much she uses her phone - it's probably just dead."

  A sighed escaped from my lips. "You're probably right. Now, where are we going?"

He smirked, which answered my question. I already knew Brennen was never going to tell me where we were going - he loved surprises. Don't get me wrong, I love surprises too, but they bug me sometimes.

The whole car ride was silent, the only sound being the quiet clink of Brennen's rings tapping against the wheel and my humming.

My attention reverted back to the road as Brennen make a quick turn off the highway, and onto a dirt road leading to a secluded forestry area. All I could see was trees for miles - and that same scenery continued for another hour or so.

I began to doze off, as it was starting to get a bit dark with the trees covering the sunset. However, my eyes shot back open when he parked the car and got out, coming over to the passenger side and opening my door.

Brennen smiled at me, and covered my eyes with his hands as I shut the car door. "It's just a two minutes walk."

Nodding, I let him lead me left and right - until we came to a complete stop.

"Alright, now look."

I grabbed his hands, and gently pulled them off of my eyes. What stood before me took my breath away. There was a small stage with a roof, with bright fairy lights hanging over; lighting up the area.

On the stage we're two chairs with a table covered in white cloth. Before I could say anything, he took my hand, walking me over to the chair. We both sat down, and I smiled.

"You hungry?"

Smiling, I nodded. I didn't see him bring anything out of the car with him, and I doubt that anything that he left here beforehand would still be good and not be covered with flies, but he seemed to have some tricks up his sleeve.

"Hey Emily!"

My head whipped around, trying to find whoever said that. It definitely wasn't Brennen, because he was right in front of me, and it was definitely not his voice.

Bushes rustled, and someone stepped out with a huge plate covered in aluminum foil, and two glasses filled up with something tucked to his sides. I couldn't help but laugh hysterically.

"Cole! You were in on this?"

He nodded, setting the food and drinks down on the table. "Yeah, I've been waiting here almost all day, almost got eaten alive out here."

Brennen smirked at Colby. "Thanks bro, I think I can take it from here."

  The blue-eyed boy walked away, back into the forest, where I presumed his car was hidden. A strong, delicious scent came from underneath the foil, and I sighed in delight.

  "What's under there?"

  He smirked and looked down at his lap. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know."

  My face grew beet-red, and I buried my head in my hands, chuckling nervously. "My god, Bren, I meant the plate!"

  Sitting back down, he smirked. "Sure you did."

  The aluminum crinkled as he pulled it back, revealing a savory chicken parmesan. Inside the glasses were two Shirley Temples - he knew I loved those.

  I looked around the whole surroundings, then at Brennen. "God Brennen, this is amazing. Thank you."

  We smiled at each other, then dug in our forks.

a/n: well the plots building uppp. And I'm really fucking sorry guys, I haven't updated in forever. I said that I would turn to regular updating, and i PROMISE that it will soon. To be honest, I forced myself to write this for u guys - bc a lot of y'all have been asking for another chap.

it's just that things are really fucking horrible right now, and I haven't been able to update due to stuff. There's too much to put in a damn authors note so i won't put it here.

I haven't and will never give up on this story, even though it fucking sucks and so people hve stopped reading, voting, and there's not even a lot of comments anymore. Hell, even my friend irl stopped reading this.

Thank you guys so much if you're still here and reading, since a lot of people gave up on me and this story.

Even if I have to fucking push my limits and mental health to write a chapter, then I will because I care about my readers and don't want them to give up on this. Sorry for this huge rant and all, I just thought I should give y'all some insight.

I'd like to thank JapanColby , pytxbriii , Brianna041305 , Evu003 , @moekiixo , briarannee for sticking and staying with this story, ik I say this a lot but it honestly means a lot ❤️❤️

Song: Skinny Love - Bon Iver

Stay spicy, my readers 🔥 🔥 🔥