Chapter 20.

*****

"You can't do that!" I glared at Maximilian.

"Hey, I am just trying to help you blend in." He said.

"By giving me another person to monitor instead of you? You're making this harder than it has to be!" I said.

"Uh, excuse me for trying to make you look like a normal girl, Jessica." He rolled his eyes.

I ran my hands through my hair annoyed. It was Friday afternoon; the entire week Maximilian had been making Don hang out with us and today he had thought it would be a good idea to tell Don he could pick me up after school for 'a date'. Now Don was downstairs and I was just about ready to ruin Maximilian's perfect white smile by putting his teeth in the back of his throat.

"I'm not sure if you get this, Maximilian, but I'm here to do a job. One job. That is to look out for you. I can't do that when I'm on the other side of town with some guy!" I yelled at him.

"Geez, calm down. What is the big deal here, Jessica?" he asked. I looked at him and he sighed, "Fine. Just this one date and I will never set you up again. I swear." He said.

"I can't –" I began.

"It is just one date. He is already here, we cannot tell him to leave, that will be plain rude. It will not kill you to pretend to be a girl for one evening, Jessica." He smiled, I shoved him but smiled because his smile was so contagious, "See, better already." He said grinning wider. I frowned. "Really, Jess... Sorry. It will not happen again." He said.

"It better not..." I glared at him.

"Shh." I stared at his forefinger as he lifted it to my lips, "Just go have fun... Also, would you like to have one of my condoms?"

"Oh my God!" He burst out laughing as I shoved his chest. "You are so fricking disgusting, Maximilian!" I walked out slightly slammed my door making his laughing muffled sounds behind me.

"Jess, I just want you to be safe!" I groaned as he kept laughing.

That idiot...

"There is a boy downstairs... He says he is here for you?" I looked up to see Adrian walking towards me.

I swallowed nodding. His presence made my heart beat fast and my palms sweaty. I also felt slightly dazed. I had been avoiding him most of the week because every time I was near him, we would somehow end up really close together. In a way an engaged man shouldn't be close to someone that is not his fiancé...

"Who is he?" he asked.

"Some – some friend. Um... I-I should go –" I attempted to walk by him but he caught my wrist.

"Your boyfriend?" he asked.

"N - no..." I said. Why did I keep stuttering?!

"But this is a date, right?" he asked.

"No – yes, I don't know. Ask Maximilian, he set it up." I frowned at the thought of that idiot. Adrian nodded letting me go and I jogged my way downstairs.

I was in washed out, ripped skinny jeans with black sneakers, a black tank top and a checked red shirt over it. I didn't exactly know how to dress for a date, but it didn't matter because I did not even consider this one. This, this was a set up...

"Hi..." I said slowly as I walked into the lounge and was a little happy to see Don seated on the couch looking just as casual as I did in jeans and a short sleeved white t-shirt.

"Hey, you look nice." He stood up smiling at me.

"Thank you... where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise." He said taking my hand and leading me out of the house.

A surprise... Nice...

We drove talking about random things, his family and hobbies mostly, until we got to a miniature golfing park and I smiled.

He parked inside before we both got out and he took my hand as he locked his car. It was a little late, around five and the sun was beginning to set but that was okay because the place was lit up by lights everywhere.

"Have you been here before?" he asked as he led me towards the entrance.

"No," I looked at him.

"Great." He smiled.

"You seem relieved." I tilted my head questioningly.

"Yeah, well, this one time I took a girl somewhere she told me she had been there before. We spent the rest of the date playing carnival games while she told me about everything she did with the guy that took her there previously. You can understand why I was hoping for your response." I laughed nodding.

He chuckled getting two golfing clubs and balls.

We began playing and I found that it was a lot of fun. We played through each little obstacle, me getting it in one or two hits and laughing at him when he struggled.

"How are you this good at this?" he asked frowning as my ball fell into the hole after one hit again.

"Natural, I guess." I shrugged smiling. He chuckled.

"I finally see how you are related to Maximilian." He said hitting his ball. I watched as it rolled and hit the side of the course. I began silently analysing how he could hit it to get it in with the next hit from its current spot.

"What do you mean?" I said not taking my eyes off the ball.

"Well, you guys don't look like relatives. Looks wise, I mean. But you're both incredibly good at everything." He said, "Our team watched him play when we had all started high school. He was so confident, he challenged the entire senior team, and we watched him dribble through eleven seniors who had won the league that year to get the goal."

"Sounds impressive." I had no idea what he was talking about; I knew it was soccer though.

"It was more than that. He's awesome. I guess that runs in the family." He smiled.

"Well... yes." He laughed and I did too.

We played a little more, finishing the game before we got some food. We sat beside over viewing a late as colourful lit-up water splashed from pipes to the beat of whatever song was currently playing. It was pretty...

"We've been talking so much about me all night... What about you? Do you have any family other than Maximilian's?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Yeah, my dad. I have three brothers and a sister." I said honestly.

"Your mom?" he asked.

"She died a while ago." I shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sorry –" he began.

"It's fine. It's been a long time." I said.

He gave a nervous smile before he looked back at the water. My eyes followed.

"So uh... I spoke to Brandon earlier." I turned back to him.

"Brandon?" I raised my brows.

"Yeah, he said you two are a... a thing." He said. I gave a laugh of disbelief.

"What?" I asked.

"My reaction exactly. I mean, Maximilian definitely wouldn't have that." He said taking a sip of his coke.

"I don't need Max's permission..." I said slowly.

"I didn't mean it like that." He raised his hands. I gave a laugh.

We completely changed the subject for the rest of the date until he parked his car close to the gate of the palace.

"You know... you can park at the door..." I said slowly.

"Yes, but then I wouldn't get to walk you to it." I smiled when he said that. Sweet...

We got out of his car and he began walking towards the door, the yard was huge. I knew there were guards currently watching us.

"So..." he began.

"Thank you, Don... It was fun." I gave him a smile.

"It was, wasn't it?" he took my hand stopping me next to the fountain, which was lit up by little lights beneath the water. "Maybe we could..." he spoke slowly as he leaned towards me.

I smiled and hugged him quickly. I saw Jessie and Kendall across the yard, watching and laughing silently. I lifted my finger without moving my hand to flip them off only making them laugh more. I pulled back from Don and he chuckled.

"I guess that's you telling me this won't be happening again." He said.

I gave him a crooked smile lifting my shoulders. "You're nice, Don. You're a really great guy, but I'm not looking for this right now..." I drifted.

"It's alright. I figured, but I had to try, right?" We laughed, "Thanks for coming out with me, Jess." He kissed my cheek.

"Thanks for taking me out." I said.

"See you at school?" he asked. I nodded and watched him walk to his car before I made my way to the house.

I walked in as my phone went off and I pulled it from my pocket.

I froze as I looked at the screen.

I had been staring down at it for about ten seconds trying to figure out whether it was real before I snapped out of it and answered it. I swallowed nervously as I brought the phone to my ear.

"Rave?" I mumbled his name slowly.

"Hey, Ari. What's this I hear about a boyfriend?"

I lowered my eyebrows looking at the plants across the room. Is he serious?

*****