𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙕𝙀𝙍𝙊 ─── 𝖯𝖱𝖤 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟭
❝ 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖲𝖳𝖠𝖱𝖳 𝖮𝖥 𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗧𝗧 ❞
❪ 𝙏𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙊𝙉𝙀, 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘈 ❫

𝟬𝟬. ╱ ✷ ❝ it's 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 pretty
𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱, baseball boy ❞

𝗙𝗜𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗢𝗟𝗗, Riley Jensen stand in front of her locker, strands of her blonde hair falling down her back in soft curls as her blue eyes scan the inside of the royal blue locker, grabbing the books that she would need for her next class.

"Hello, my beautiful best friend!"

The locker door is slammed shut - the metal door barely missing her fingers - by the hands of Jeff Atkins, who just so happened to be her best friend since literally forever, their parents having been high school best friends themselves.

"What a fine day it is today, huh? The Grass is greener, the sky is bluer, I'm still good looking, and you look absolutely amazing - as always." Jeff grins as he leans against the locker next to her own, arms crossed over his chest, the sleeves of his Letterman jacket tightening against his toned muscles.

Riley turns to face him, eyebrow raised in question as she eyes the bright smile on the baseball players face, giving him an accusing look, "What the hell did you do, Jeffery?"

"Wha - I didn't do anything!" Jeff exclaims, an offended look clear on his face.

"What did you break?"

"I didn't break anything either!" He throws his hands up as his girlfriend, Leah Martin, walks over to the two of them with a wide smile of her own.

"Did you tell her yet, babe?" Asks Leah, wrapping an arm around Jeff's waist, excitement laced in her voice.

"No, I haven't had the change to." Says Jeff.

The blonde looks between the couple, arms crossing over her chest, "What did the two of you do?"

"We didn't do anything!" Leah's voice goes up an octave before a sigh leaves her lips, "Fine! We're going on a double date Friday night! Me and Jeff, along with you and-,"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Riley holds her hand up, cutting her off, "I am not going on any date, much less a double date. Besides, Friday nights are movie nights with Justin."

"Well, I hate if for Justin, but you're going." Jeff shrugged, "I'm setting you up with a guy that I know for the baseball team."

Riley shakes her head with a scoff, "Yeah, that's not going to happen. I'm not going on a date with Zach, Monty, Bryce - anyone - from the baseball team. No thank you. I'm not fucking doing it."

"Bryce Walker? Fuck that guy! Not after what he let fucking happen to you! I'm still pissed off that you're hanging around him whenever he's around Justin." Jeff hisses, anger filling his veins at the thoughts of Bryce Walker, "And I wasn't talking about Monty or Zach either."

"Jeff, I'm not dating a baseball player." Riley says as she tries to walk away from the two, but her grabs her by the arm before she can get away, pulling her back just as a tall boy with light brown hair and blue eyes walks over to them, backpack hanging from one shoulder as he smiles at them.

Riley can't help but to swallow the saliva that had built up in her mouth as the two held an intense eye connection with each other.

"Riles, I'd like you to meet Scott Reed." The Atkins boy smirks as her watches the two stare one another down, "Scott, this is my best friend, Riley Jensen."

Leah grins, "He's new and on the baseball team with Jeff."

Scott finally speaks up, his smile growing even more if that were possible, "Hey."

"Hi." Riley nods her head slowly, her blue eyes never leaving those of Scott's, "Um, Jeff? What time is this double date Friday night?"

Jeff shakes his head with a laugh, "You will be going home with Leah after school Friday so that the two of you can get ready together. Scott and I will pick the two of you lovely ladies up from there at seven for a movie at The Crestmont and dinner at Rosie's."

"Okay."

｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

"𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗔𝗠 𝗜 so nervous?" Scott mumbles to Jeff as the two of them stand outside of Leah's house, her mom having gone up to let the two girls know they boys were there for their double date.

"Dude, stop worrying so much. I don't just let anyone date my best friend, okay?" Jeff slaps the boy's shoulder, "Riley is a sweet girl, and the two of you will be perfect for each other. My match making skills are out of this world, kay? And when the two of you get married, you can both personally thank me in your wedding speeches for setting the two of you up with each other."

"Riley's better than Amanda Reynolds, who Bryce originally wanted to set me up with." Scott tells him.

"Yeah, don't do that." Jeff shakes his head, "Bryce Walker's idea of a girl is one who puts out on the first date."

"What are we talking about?"

Boy boys turn around, finding Riley and Leah standing behind them, both dressed to perfection.

"Wow, you look - you look-,"

"Beautiful." Jeff chuckles, slapping the boy's back as he stutters with his eyes glued to Riley's. "Both of you look beautiful. Are you ready to get to the movies?"

"Yeah, let's go."

｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

"𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬, 𝗜 𝗖𝗔𝗡'𝗧 be a the only one that thought that movie absolutely sucked!" Jeff rolls his eyes as the four walk out of The Crestmont, the only movie theater in the small town of Evergreen.

"It was your idea to watch that movie!" Scott laughs.

Leah and Riley look at each other in disbelief, "The two of you didn't even watch it!"

"Yes, we did!" Jeff looks at his girlfriend in disbelief.

"The two of you were cuddled up together and screaming, along with every other teenage girl that was watching the movie." Riley says.

"We were not!" The two boys exclaimed.

Leah raises her eyebrow, "You're both still holding hands."

Jeff and Scott both look down at their intertwined hands, quickly pulling them apart and leaving the two girls behind them in fits of laughter.

"This is so much more entertaining than when Zach and Monty both wore dresses to the middle school dance!" Riley laughs, wiping a stray tear away from her face.

｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

"𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 parents?" Scott asked as he and Riley sit two booths away from Leah and Jeff, the actual couple wanting to give the - hopefully new couple - a chance to get to know each other.

Riley feels herself tense up at the mention of her parents, bring her milkshake up to her lips to take a sip before she decides to answer him, "Uh, they're both dead. I've been living with my aunt, uncle and cousin for the last three years. It was either live with them, my grandparents on my father's side, or my grandma on my mom's side, who collects the stuffed bodies of her dead animals."

"Her dead stuffed animals?"

"She's...special."

Scott nods his head as he gives her a soft smile, "I'm sorry about your parents."

"Thank you," She smiles back, "So, besides baseball, what else does the great Scott Reed like to do?"

"Well, uh, I like going on dates with pretty girls." A smirk grows on his face as he leans forward, "Maybe even with the same beautiful blonde that's sitting in front of me right now."

"That was super cheese." Riley laughs, throwing her head back slightly.

"Anything to keep a smile on that beautiful face, Miss Jensen."

｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

"𝗜 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 was a good night." Jeff says as he and Leah walked behind Scott and Riley, both of them laughing a little bit ahead of them, hands intertwined.

"I would say it was." Leah grinned, leaning into her boyfriends side, "Just look at the smile on her face."

Jeff can't help the small smile appearing on his lips as he looks over his best friend, "Yeah, I haven't seen her smile that big in a long time."

"Hey," Leah stops her boyfriend, "Riley's been doing fine. She's okay now."

Jeff nods, "I know. I just worry about her, you know? As her best friend that's my job."

"So, what are the odds that you'll go on another date with me?" Scott questions as he swings his and Riley's intertwined fingers between them, "Without two other people going with us?"

Riley grins, "It's looking pretty good, baseball boy."

"Good."

"Great."