*NOT EDITED*

Chapter 13

---

   I wondered how Shawerma was made. I mean, you had the chicken as a whole, you know, with the legs and arms and everything, but how did you turn it into the mass of chicken stuck together on the stick. Did they cut several pieces of it and then stick them together with some paste, or something? Or did they remove the bones before molding the chicken like Shish-Kababs together? Maybe I should check out a documentary or something about it. But then again-

   "Ash!" Ryder yelled and snapped his fingers in my face. Blinking a couple of times, I realized I zoned out again and that we had stopped the car in some random place by what looked like a forest.

   "I've been trying to get your attention for 4 minutes now."

   "Sorry, I zoned out. So, what is this place?" I asked, craning my neck to look past the trees. Then a sudden terrifying thought popped out to me. "Are you kidnapping me? Are you part of a gang that's supposed to hold me hostage? Ryder-"

   "Calm down for God's sake; you have the imagination of J.K. Rowling. I'm not kidnapping you or anything, just follow me." He turned off the engine and left the car, waiting for me outside.

   "I don't know why I don't have a good feeling about this," I said doubtfully once I left the car and started following him.

   "No one ever has a good feeling about following a guy you've only known for 2 months and a half now into an abandoned forest."

   I stayed silent deciding he was right. We kept walking, him leading, for a short while until I decided to make small talk like the civilized person that I am.

   "So, Ryder Adams. I really know nothing about you as you stated a couple minutes ago," I said, making sure not to trip over the uneven ground scattered with twigs, and is that a snail? Eww. "Let's play 20 questions."

   "Okay, I start," he said making way for me between two trees, "give me one fact that I probably don't know about you."

   "That is not a question," I said smartly to which he shrugged. Nevertheless, I answered, "Damon and I are adopted. He's only older than me by 5 months."

   "You guys are adopted? That's so cool."

   "Yeah, I guess. It's my turn, now. How many siblings do you have?"

   "I have four siblings- 3 are female and are older than me, 1 younger guy."

   "I didn't take you for the big family guy," I said surprised, then, "If I had not been playing soccer for 7 years now, I think my legs would've already collapsed 5 minutes ago."

   "How many boyfriends did you have over the years?" He said ignoring my complaints.

   "Umm, I had Smelly Sam, Geeky Greg, Big Billy, Disgusting Derek-"

   Ryder interrupted me with a deep laugh that echoed through the forest. I don't think I've ever heard him laugh so genuinely.

   "Are you serious? Big Billy? Geeky Greg? That's ridiculous," he said, still laughing.

   "Nah, I was just kidding. But Smelly Sam was real." I smiled at the nickname that Reece gave him. He was my first and last boyfriend- Smelly Sam of course, not Reece. I thought guys were just allergic to me. Was it even possible for a human being to be allergic to another human being?

   "Okay, now I need you to close your eyes, but keep walking," he said, covering my eyes.

   "How can I walk with my eyes closed?" I asked, shaking my head before pulling his hands away.

   "Give me your hand, and I'll lead you," he said comfortingly.

   I stared him right in the eye and wondered whether or not I should trust. Making my decision, I laced my fingers with his, giving him my tub of ice cream, and closed my eyes. His calloused fingers felt rough against my soft ones. It was weird how my small hand fitted perfectly in his large hand.

   Trusting him completely was very hard, especially when I had no idea what we were doing or where we were going. We kept walking for a while longer until he told me that I could finally open my eyes.

   We were standing in front of a large tree house with a ladder dangling down. It looked old, but I was dying to climb inside. I loved treehouses ever since I was little. Damon and I tried to build one before, but we couldn't do it and Damon almost lost an arm. You don't want to know how.

   After the tree house, there was a pond, and I could hear the frogs making their weird cute sounds.

   "Please tell me we're going up that treehouse," I said excitedly.

   He laughed before looking at me in a strange way. "Yes, we are."

   We climbed the tree house and I was shocked to see what was inside. There were fairy lights hung on the walls and the window faced the pond that I saw earlier. There was a pretty baby blue rug that covered most of the floor. The tree house looked larger than it was on the outside and the ceiling could be pulled off by a rope.

   We sat down comfortably on the rug and he pulled out a cooler, that I didn't realize was there, from behind him. Opening it, he pulled out two bottles of 7Up, wrapped sandwiches that made my stomach grumble (much to his amusement), a bag of candy, apple pie (much to my delight), and a box of freshly cut fruits.

   How the ice cream managed to last that long, I'll never know. Ryder put the tubs in the cooler while we started eating our sandwiches.

   "Did you build this house?" I asked Ryder, taking a bite out of my turkey and ham sandwich.

   "Yup, it was built by my sisters, dad, and I. My younger brother was too young back then," he said, "Let's continue our 20 questions."

   "Okay, the renown question: Favorite color?" On an another note, this sandwich was amazing, my God.

   "Don't have one."

   "You're no fun. Mine is brown."

  "Brown? Who likes brown?"

   "I do. It's the color of warmth and happiness. Comfort."

"You're the weirdest person I've ever seen," he said, shaking his head, "When's your birthday?"

  "April 24. You?"

  "January-" he interrupted himself when he burped a loud and deep burp.

  I think he was afraid that I'd be disgusted, but I once made my whole family leave the room because of my burping contest . . . with myself.

  "Not bad, but I could do better," I said finally.

   He rose his eyebrows, as if challenging me. I took a big and long gulp from my 7Up before getting ready.

   I let out a deep, loud, and better burp than the one Ryder did. He made an impressed face and slowly clapped to which I bowed in appreciation.

   It was his turn and he burped an impressive burp, but in my opinion, it wasn't as good as mine. We went on and on until we finished our food.

   "It's time for the ice cream and apple pie," Ryder said excitedly.

   "I'm so full. Oh, my God," I said, placing my hands on my belly before lying on my back with my hair fanned out. "What are you waiting for? Bring on the treats."

   He laughed before lying next to me, our legs brushing, and handed me the tub. "So, what do you want to work as when you grow up?"

   "I want to be a psychologist or a lawyer," I said dreamily, opening the tub.

   "Did you know that half of the people that are psychologists end up being crazy themselves?"

   I winced in pleasure when the cold treat made my teeth hurt. Blowing hot air in my mouth, I said, "Some people need a little crazy in their life, otherwise they wouldn't really be sane."

   "I used to have a lot of crazy in my life, and when it went, my life was never the same again. It was extremely difficult." His eyes were distant and his expression thoughtful. I would've taken it serious if not for the ice-cream mask all over his mouth.

   I burst out laughing at his image. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, making his ice-cream-smeared confused face even funnier.

   "Is there something on my face?" He asked wiping at his cheek.

   "Just a little thing . . . everywhere," I said, motioning to everywhere on his face, still laughing.

   After calming back down, we lied on our backs staring at the starry sky in silence.

   "We're gonna play a game that I love. Pick up lines," I said.

   "Oh, I excel at this," he said winking.

  "Word."

   We burst out laughing so hard, tears started falling on my cheeks. Only a pair like us would be able to do this and find it funny.

   "Kiss me if I'm wrong, but dinosaurs still exist, right?" He said with a mouthful of ice cream.

   "I'd offer you cigarettes, but you're already smoking hot."

   "You know where you would look beautiful in? My arms." He winked at me and I just laughed, turning away so her couldn't see me blush.

   I thought hard before finally saying, "Are you from Jamaica? Because Jamaican me crazy."

   "Did you fall out from heaven? Because have sex with me," he deadpanned and I started laughing.

   "That's not a pickup line!" I said, still laughing hard. I think I was high on ice-cream and sweets.

   "That's the point, Foxy" he said laughing, "you still laughed."

   I shook my head before we exchanged more pickup lines until we finished the heavenly tubs of ice-cream.

   "I think," I said, stopping to lick the spoon, "I think that you fell in love before." I looked at him, watching out for his reaction.

   "You thought correct." He leaned on his side so now he was staring at me. I noted that he fell in love when he was talking about the crazy in his life thing. I didn't want to pry or anything so I left the matter to itself.

   "Sh-t. It's 10 and I promised Damon you'd be back by 9," he said after a while, looking at his watch worriedly.

   "I love the treehouse and I don't want to leave. Relax, I'm not scared of Damon."

   "Yeah, but I am, Ash. You don't wanna hear the threats that he gave me." He stood up and brushed his hands on his jeans before offering me his hand.

   Taking his hands, I said, "Just so you know, I'm an independent woman. I don't need no man. But right now, my stomach is so full and I think I'm gonna explode like a piñata handing out sour patch kids and blobs of ice-cream."

   "Yes, I know you're an independent woman who can kick ass and doesn't need no man. You proved that at the beginning of the year when you punched me, then when you tripped me, then today when you beat me up."

   I laughed along with him as we packed the garbage and climbed down the ladder. The walk back to the car didn't seem as long as it was when we were coming here. It was probably because I anticipated where the date would be or how it would turn out when we were coming. It was actually the most fun I had ever since the boat trip.

   Once we reached the car, we sat in a comfortable silence in the car, the humming of the engine coating the silence. As we entered our neighborhood, I started hearing loud music- like party music.

   Must be a party of our neighbors, I shrugged.

   Once Ryder parked in front of our house, I realized that the music was coming from our house.

   What's going on?

   Ryder gave me a questioning look and I shrugged in return. I quickly got out of the car with Ryder on my heels, and rang the doorbell several times.

   Damon opened the door laughing and when he saw my face he stopped.

   "What's going on?" I had to yell over the music so he can hear me.

   Then, Emma, Drake, and Bex came and stood in front of me looking nervous as heck. And that's when it clicked.

   "YOU GUYS THREW A PARTY? ELYSE, SARAH, AND DAD ARE COMING IN 15 MINUTES!" I started panicking, my heart beating frantically.

   "We have pizza?" Damon said weakly trying to make better of the situation but stopped when he saw the murderous expression on my face.

   "Theese ees a deeeesaster," Damon said in the accent of Esteban from Zach and Cody.

   I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose. This was gonna be a long night.

------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:

Hey guys! Here's part 2 of the date and I really annoyed writing it. I love cliffhangers. You may have realized that this was longer than the other chapters by 500 words. Or maybe not 😂

Thank you guys so much for making me go from #774 to #624 on Humor in a day. I really appreciate it and it made my day.

Don't forget to VOTE, SHARE, FOLLOW, and COMMENT!