Zander's P.O.V.

I smooth out my coat, run my fingers through my hair, then give myself a once over again in the mirror. I let out a small nervous breath and point at my reflection, "Zander, you will not screw this up. If you do, I'm going to beat you up." Wait what? I shake my shoulders, loosening up my tense muscles.

"Where are you going, boy?"

I look at his eyes through the mirror, a hard glare settling over my face. "No where you'd be able to remember."

He scoffs and points at me with the hand holding his bottle, "Don't speak to me like that, boy!" He takes a step forward, only to stumble and have to grip the wall again to stay upright. I roll my eyes and turn back towards the mirror, fixing a stray hair then spinning to face him fully.

"Don't call me a boy when you can't even be a man yourself."

He glares at me then weakly throws his bottle at me, "Don't speak to me like that! You know your mother wouldn't allow it!"

I glare daggers at him, my eyes flickering over to her small figure leaning against the door way. She smiles at me sadly and crosses her arms, turning her attention back to him with sadness in her eyes.

"Don't you dare bring her up," I take a menacing step forward, "Especially when you damn well know what she wanted."

He stumbles back with wide eyes, "I - I don't - " He tumbles over his words, his eyes darting around the room for an escape. I scoff and push past him, bumping my shoulder with his as I walk by. He stumbles backwards, gripping the wall to keep him steady.

"I'm going on a date, I'll be back later." I mutter under my breath, making it to the top of the steps before his voice stops me.

"Zander . . . I - You really like this girl?" I look over my shoulder, keeping my face impassive. He stands there gripping the wall, his body slightly slumped and his face tired. His words come out with a slur and his eyes watch me desperately.

I look away and stare down the steps, drawing in a deep breath. Don't get your hopes up, it'll only lead right back here. I chant the words in my head, releasing the breath I was unknowingly holding in.

"Yeah, I like her a lot. She reminds me of mom." Sarah's beautiful smile flashes in my memories, the way her cheeks flush brightly when she's embarrassed, the way her eyes would look so determined and would let me know that she was about to give me a kiss. She reminded me so much of my mom. Beautiful, kind-hearted, always wanting to help others, and let's not forget she's a damn great cook.

"I - Um - Good luck, son." I hear him stumble over to the other wall, making his way back towards his room. I sigh and continue down the steps, the nervousness of earlier returning full force.

Gosh, get a grip Zander. It's not like she's the girl of your dreams and this date could make or break your relationship.

Okay, it's exactly like that.

I grab my keys off the table and head into the garage where Mom's old jeep sat. I run my fingers along the hood while I walk by, a pang of pain stabbing in my heart. She loved this car. I grip the keys in my hand and hop in. I take a deep breath and revel in the leathery smell. I love this car.

A smile spreads across my lips as I rev the engine, the door of the garage opening in the meantime. I quickly send a text to Sarah, letting her know I'm on my way. I flick on the radio and some random song starts playing.

I should just tell you to leave cause I know exactly wear it leads and I -

What the fuck is this? I frown down at the radio and then back towards the road.

You've got that long hair slicked back, white t-shirt. And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt.

I laugh loudly at the lyrics. What is this even about?! My smile turns into a goofy grin and I reach down to change the station. My hand hovers over the button, the words flowing through me giving me a happy feeling. Oh whatever!

"Just take me home!" I sing along loudly, "Yeah just take me home, oh!" I let the girl sing the next parts, drumming on the steering wheel with my thumbs. Spotting Sarah's driveway ahead, I turn off the radio and slow down. The nerves come back full force, making my heart stutter in my chest. It'll be alright, calm down.

Parking in the driveway, I hop out of the car and run up to her door. I take a few deep breathes then knock on the door. Sarah opens it quickly, a shy smile on her face. My eyes widen as I look at her, my heart basically stopping in my chest.

Holy mother of all that was created, I struck gold.

Sarah's P.O.V

I smile up at him widely, "H-Hi."

He stares at me with wide eyes, his mouth slightly parted as he gives me a once over.

"Hi . . . You look beautiful." He stares at me with awe. My cheeks flush in embarrassment.

"You too, er I mean, not beautiful - ah not that you don't look beautiful I mean handsome. You look handsome." I tumble over my words, embarrassing myself even more.

He busts up laughing, leaning against the door to keep himself upright. I blush furiously and lightly smack his shoulder, "It's not funny, you butt!"

He wipes away his tears and nods with a grin, "It kinda is, Cupcake."

I roll my eyes and cross my arms, jutting my lip out in a pout. "It's not. Are you just going to make fun of me all night? 'Cause if so, imma just go right back inside." I glare at him playfully, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. Do not smile, do not break!

He grins mischievously and leans forward, his face only a few inches from my own. My breath catches in my throat at the close proximity. "I might, but you like it."

I scoff and roll my eyes again, pushing him back by his shoulders out of the door way. He laughs hysterically while I lock the door. I can't control the smile that breaks out across my face as I turn back towards him, hooking my arm with his to drag him towards his - wait what?! A jeep?!

I point at the jeep and turn towards him confusedly, "Where's your bike?"

He walks up to me and then looks at the jeep, his smile dimming. "At home, figured it'd be better to drive you around without ruining all your hard work on your hair and such." He looks back to me and gently grabs my hand, pulling us towards the beautifully red colored vehicle.

"Well thank you for considering that." I grin up at him to take away some of the tension that formed around the topic of the jeep. He grins back down at me and opens the door, holding my hand the entire time I get in. I smooth my hands over the grey skirt Gina let me borrow, more like forced me to wear while squealing about how cute the outfit would look.

It really did look cute though. She matched it with a maroon colored sweater, dotted tights, and a pair of simple black flats. She then pulled my hair up into a cute bun, making the outfit look causal yet dressy enough. And it's surprisingly really comfortable, that is if you minus all the anxiety and self-doubt.

The engine comes to life, scaring me a little bit. Zander laughs at my sudden jumpiness, flashing a smile my way before pulling out of the drive way and starting down the road.

"Nervous?"

I blush and look out the window to avoid his gaze, "Maybe."

He smiles again but not as brightly, "Don't worry, I am too." His words send a small pang to my heart, sending it skipping around with the butterflies in my stomach.

Okay, Sarah, that just sounds ridiculous.

I look back over him, studying his face as he stares ahead. His jaw is clenched tightly, his eyes locked onto the road. I glance down to his hands on the steering wheel, taking note to how tightly he is gripping it. He wasn't kidding.

"Done checking me out?"

My eyes widen and I look up at him wildly. My mouth parts open, my cheeks igniting in flames. Oh my gosh, I wasn't!

"I - I was - "

He grins and winks over at me, "It's alright if you were, I don't mind. Besides, can't say I haven't checked you out a few times myself."

I reach over and punch his shoulder, "Jerk!"

He laughs loudly and grabs my hand, surprising me by intertwining our fingers. "I can't help it, Cupcake, you're just too cute."

I stare at our hands and smile widely, my heart dancing around happily. He's holding my hand, eeeep!! I bite my lip and look back out the window. I can't help but think of Gina's words.

If it doesn't feel right, then it's not. I let the huge grin spread across my lips, turning my head back to look at our hands then at Zander.

And again, this felt perfect.

He notices me looking at him and flashes me a smile, his hand lightly squeezing mine. "Everything alright?"

I quickly nod and squeeze his hand back, "Yeah, everything's great." I look back down at our hands and bite my lip, "Everything's perfect." I sigh happily, gently rubbing my thumb across his. This is actually happening, I'm not dreaming!

He laughs softly, "Glad to know that, Cupcake."

I giggle and reach over to poke his cheek, "I need to come up with a nickname for you!"

He scrunches his nose up and sends me a strange look, causing me to bust up into another fit of giggles. He fake shivers in disgust, "No that's quite alright, Zander works for me."

I shake my head and poke his cheek again, my grin so wide that my own cheeks hurt. "No no, you call me cupcake so now I need to make a nickname for you!"

He laughs and shakes his head, "Alright if you insist, what're you going to call me?"

I open my mouth to respond but stop when I realize I don't have any nicknames. What would fit him?! He looks over at me with his eyebrow raised, a knowing smirk spreading across his lips.

"You can't even think of one, can you?"

I huff annoyed and silence his teasing with a small glare. "It's not as easy as you think." I mumble, my glare turning into a pout.

He barks out a loud laugh, actually leaning forward in his seat while he does. "Sure it is, I can think of a lot for you. Cupcake, angel, kitten, sweetheart, flower - "

I scrunch my nose up in disgust and look at him incredibly, "Flower?!"

He looks over at me innocently, then scrunches his nose in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. That doesn't sound very cute."

I giggle and shake my head quickly, "Yeah, no. It sounds like the skunk from Bambi."

He looks at me confusedly, "From what?"

I gasp loudly, my eyes widening and my mouth falling open in shock. "You've never watched Bambi?!"

His eyes widen and he quickly looks over at me then back to the road a couple of times, "No, is that a bad thing?"

"Yes, that's a bad thing!" I gasp again and lean back in my seat in awe, "I can't believe you've never watched Bambi before."

He laughs and squeezes my hand again, "Don't worry, we can watch it together some time, yeah?" He smiles and looks over at me questioningly, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He wants to plan more time together!!

I blush under his gaze and nod lightly, "Yeah, we can do that."

He grins and nods, his eyes turning back towards the road. I look down at my skirt again, my hand reaching up to fiddle with my locket. The car slows to a stop, bringing my attention up.

Zander squeezes my hand once more before letting it go to turn off the engine, his head turning to look at me. He gives me a huge grin, my forgotten nervousness returning again.

"We're here."

~•~

Woo! Chapter 30 is here!! Gee, I can't believe I'm already up to 30 chapters already. AND 20K VEIWS?!?! HOLY MOTHER OF AHJZKSKWHWNS
We also hit ranking of #143 WOO!!

Okay so, you're probably cursing me out like: "Why did you stop it there?!?" Well my dear readers, reason being is A) I'm evil and B) I actually wanted to dedicate the next chapter solely on their date, where they go, what happens through out it, etc. And with this chapter I couldn't quite do that as well as I wanted because I also didn't want to skip out on the ride to said date so, here we are!

To anyone confused about the beginning, Zander's mother is in fact dead. BUT, he sees her from time to time in hallucinations and such, going along with the whole voices screaming in his head thing. So our baby has some minor issues so keep watch!

What should his nickname be? Comment your suggestions!!

Song added is Style By Taylor Swift because Zander seems to like T swifty even if he doesn't know it 😂😂 Pictures added are of Sarah's hair, outfit, and Zander's 'beautifully red colored vehicle' 😂😂😂

Vote, Comment, and Share!

The next chapter will be out soon (hopefully)

Stay lovely!
~Molly