Hiding in Closets and Lofts - 6. Chapter 6

“I got you a date,” Mark chimed happily two days later during first period. “So I can pick you up, and then we can pick up Vickie and your date in my truck so you don’t get lost.”

“Who said I would get lost?” Dillon complained. “And do I get to know the name of this girl?”

“You’ll get lost because we have to go to Omaha to go bowling, and no, you don’t,” Mark teased.

“Why not?” Dillon complained, spreading his arms out over his desk.

Aaron rolled his eyes on the side and drummed his fingers on his desk. “Because it’s a blind date,” he filled in.

“No, because she’s in this class,” Mark stressed. “And she doesn’t want drama in the class over it.”

“So how many girls did you have to ask?” Aaron teased. “To go on a date with Dillon.”

“I’m not that bad!” Dillon protested.

Mark cackled and lounged in his desk. “Sorry Aaron, but it wasn’t that hard. Some of them said no just out of not really knowing him, but this one is at least interested in getting to know Dillon.”

“See?” Dillon boasted and sat back in his seat.

Aaron rolled his eyes as the bell for class rang. He took off from his desk with Mark and Dillon following behind.

“So I seriously don’t get to know anything?” Dillon asked outside of the classroom.

“I think you’ll like her,” Mark offered with a shrug of the shoulders. “She’s kind of quiet, and pretty without much make-up.”

“Okay,” Dillon grumbled, though he really hated the idea of a blind date. Granted he didn’t know anyone regardless, but he’d like a face or a name to a… date.

“Anyways, we can talk more details about it after school and practice,” Mark promised, turning away for his next class. “We can hang out then.”

Dillon agreed with a nod and went for his next class. He wasn’t too sure how he felt about the idea of a double date. It would be kind of awkward, wouldn’t it? But, if it was something that Mark didn’t want to do alone… Dillon could suck it up for a little while.

He just wanted to know more about what was going to happen.

When lunch came around, Dillon spent his time at the table with Aaron and Tyler, while Mark was off doing… whatever. He was probably off with Vickie somewhere.

“So you guys are doing a double date?” Tyler asked, his mouth half full of food.

“Yeah,” Dillon admitted. “Is that awkward?”

“No,” Tyler tilted his head off to the side. “Not for the first date. It’s a good kind of a no pressure deal to have fun and get to know each other.”

“Wow, he actually has some good ideas,” Aaron remarked sarcastically. “But yeah it’s not a bad idea for a first date. Just once you guy’s settle into the relationship you might want to keep it more personal.”

Dillon nodded quietly, figuring there wasn’t going to be much of a second date. He couldn’t really date anyone he didn’t know anything about… maybe that’s why so many other girls had said no.

***

“Nice backyard,” Mark commented, immediately kicking off his shoes and peeling off his socks.

“Thanks,” Dillon pointed up towards his house. “My room looks out over it. The tree and stuff is a nice view.”

“Yeah,” Mark agreed. “You have a football or anything?”

“I thought we were going to talk about the date,” Dillon complained.

“We are. It doesn’t mean we can’t throw the ball around.” Mark grinned.

“We just got back from practice,” Dillon groaned, rolling his head back. “But fine, I’ll go get a ball.” Dillon ran inside and spent at least ten minutes trying to dig up a football. Usually he didn’t need one this time of the year. He finally found one and trekked back outside.

“So?” Dillon probed and aimed the ball towards Mark.

“Well, there’s a bowling place in Omaha. We can all fit into my truck. You and I can pick up Vickie, and then your date,” Mark suggested, throwing the ball back.

“And where are they going to sit? Are you planning to cram one, or both of them, in the back seat of your two door truck, and make them crawl back?” Dillon pointed out.

Mark frowned. “It’s better than your topless Jeep,” he retorted. “All that wind.”

“I can ask my mom if we can borrow her car or something,” Dillon proposed with another toss of the ball.

Despite practice, just tossing the ball back and forth felt calming.

“Yeah, but I should drive so that we don’t get lost. I’ll do gas money and we can both cover food and the price to go bowling,” Mark continued.

“That works, I guess,” Dillon agreed. It was a bit of short notice to ask for the car, but he would do it anyways.

The conversation fell off, and they just tossed the football between each other in silence. It wasn’t even for the sake of practice—just familiar, comfortable repetition of fluid movements.

The sun dipped down with the evening, and Mark took a moment to look at his cell phone. “Anyways, I need to be going. We have that vocab test tomorrow.”

“What vocab test?” Dillon asked in shock, the ball slipping through his hands. He swore and turned to chase it down in the yard.

“It’s for a different class, don’t worry,” Mark teased, backing up towards the gate.

“See you tomorrow, then,” Dillon tossed his ball to the side, giving a small wave.