Checking my hair in the mirror, I threatened myself that it was going to be the last time, or we were going to be late. I was going back and forth between putting my hair behind my ears or in front of it. I was wearing earrings for once in my life by Elena's instructions. But I have what my father calls "grandpa's ears" which really just means they stick out too far and look like two swinging doors are hanging off the side of my head. Obviously, I haven't forgotten an off-handed comment from when I was ten.

When I'm standing side by side with other people, I'll never stop thinking about my cousin saying I had sharp elbows. Glancing at myself, when I'm brave enough to look in the mirror, I hear my mom's voice as she suggested waxing my eyebrows every time we got our nails done together. Jess used to tell me to ignore all the noise because my mom put "live, laugh, love" signs from Hobby Lobby all around the house. No one in our family had taste.

It was easy for her to say it with all that pretty privilege

Hair down it is.

Following Elena's every instruction, I pulled on a pair of light wash jeans and put my girl in red October t-shirt over a black turtleneck. Comfy, cute, and stylish. It was cold enough for me to grab my windbreaker, and Elena said that was allowed.

I glanced at my letter from Daniella.

Her words, hinting that I may or may not be cute based on my handwriting. Imagining Daniella James saying this out loud with words and her voice made me want to shove my head through the nearest wall and once I pulled my sanity together, I was off, slipping out the front door before my parents could ask too many questions and I was at Mona's house before I knew it.

Looking up at her house, I took a deep rib popping breath and stepped out of the car. I checked my posture, cracked my back, and started for her front door, the nerves settling into my bones like the top of a shaken soda bottle. It was all fuzzy and bubbling, and I was worried about them all spilling over. I already texted Mona that I was here, so knocking on the door wouldn't be a surprise.

Two knocks and the dog inside started losing her mind, and I had to take another deep breath. This wouldn't be my first date. I went out on a little date with Gretchen, a great winger on our team, but we left thinking we were better off as friends.

Friends, but I never saw her outside of practice again. It wasn't as comfy being around her as it was before. This was different. Mona was different. She wasn't even on the soccer team... that was also exactly what I didn't want to happen to Elena and Skipper. They were great friends. What they already had was really special. Adding romance to it just complicated everything. Opened them to failure. If what they had wasn't broken they shouldn't try to change it.

"Peggy, quiet down already. Relax," I heard someone on the other side, who sounded like Mona's little sister Jean. And it was. She opened the door, still in her pajama pants with an oversized sweatshirt on top. She had the dirty blonde hair Mona would have if she didn't dye it purple.

"Hey, Zoey," she said. "Come on in. Mona's almost ready."

"I am ready!" Mona called. "I'm not late!" By the strain in her voice, she sounded like she might as well be late. Her feet rumbled down the stairs and my brow quirked, seeing not only Mona appear, but Allison too.

Allison, for the first time since I've known her, looked completely normal, but Allison wasn't regular people pretty. Allison was movie star pretty. All she wore was plain black leggings and a t-shirt with her sports bra peeking out and I was blushing. Her braids were down and waved by her elbows.

"Hi," I greeted them both.

"Hi, weirdo." Allison grinned and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She leaned against the railing, crossing her arms, establishing herself in the audience and not a part of the show.

"Hi," Mona said, and once I looked down at her, my spirits lifted. She wore a velvet green dress with a black turtleneck top. She laughed. "We're twins."

"Not even official and you're already wearing matching outfits," Allison teased, which earned her a wallop from Mona's purse. She was blushing now, and I mentally smashed my head through the nearest wall.

"They're just jealous they're not cute like us," I said.

Mona raised her brows. "So, you think I'm cute?"

I smiled, sparks igniting in my stomach. I didn't carry around butterflies. I had firecrackers, and they were sparkling. "I think you're beautiful."

Jean made a gagging noise and ran up the stairs. Allison also rolled her eyes and waved as she left. "Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Confused, my brow furrowed, watching her disappear upstairs. "Is Allison staying?"

My parents would never let one of my friends stay at my house if I wasn't there, and especially if they weren't there either. Based on the parking outside, it seems like only these girls were here. No parents in sight.

"Yeah," Mona said. She walked over to the coat rack, plucking off a pretty grey wool peacoat, and I helped her slip it on. "Allison stays over a lot. Both her parents are kind of on her case all the time and she needed a break."

I understood that, but my parents would never let me just stay with someone else who wasn't family. "You two are really close."

"We are," Mona said proudly.

"How long have you been friends?"

"Not crazy long. After Allison came back to school, after she quit modeling and acting and all that, she kind of stumbled into the art room one day. I knew she didn't really join the art club, but I could tell she just needed a place to go."

"You pick up a lot of strays, don't you?" I said, thinking about Daniella.

Dammit.

I really needed to stop thinking about Daniella.

Especially during my date with Mona.

We walked outside, and I bolted to the side door of my car so I could open it for her. She grinned and jumped inside with a little wiggling dance. I hurried to my side and started the car.

"I just like surrounding myself with different people," Mona explained. "Everyone has their own special little thing, and I'm just fascinated by it. Especially the differences from when you first meet somebody to when they become your friends. It feels..." She couldn't quite land on the word for a while. "It feels magical."

"Like, what do you mean?" I asked, plugging in the address to my phone and scrolling through the directions just to prepare myself for the journey.

Mona messed with the radio without success and switched to the aux cord. "I mean, Allison was all talk and showy when we first met, but now that she hangs out with me, she's relaxed. Like she's not trying to impress me anymore. I just know she's a big, nerdy dork. She talks a lot."

"She does?"

"She does!" Mona said, like she was gushing about her child or something. "All her stories are long, and she can go on a thousand tangents before she gets back to her original story."

"What about Daniella?"

"Daniella?" Mona echoed. She leaned back, pondering it and as she did, her smile grew. "Daniella might seem harsh on the outside, but I think that's just because she's intentionally honest. She's the opposite of Allison. Daniella is a fantastic listener and always gets right to the point."

She scrolled through her phone, painstakingly choosing a song, while the words rolled around my skull. I said, "You're pretty observant, huh?"

"Thank you. I like to think so."

"It's probably good for your art."

She let out a huge sigh. "Let's hope so."

"That reminds me. That mug you gave Daniella. Why did it have a bunch of hands on it?"

The gasp that jumped out of Mona made my bones hit the ceiling of my skin and I swerved a little out of my lane. "What? What?" I asked, assuming she had injured herself somehow.

"You don't recognize it?! It's from Pride and Prejudice! 2005 when Darcy flexed his hand!"

"Fl-flexed his hand? I don't..."

"Zoey Marie Summers, don't tell me you've never seen Pride and Prejudice."

"Uh...." I gargled the truth for a moment, knowing the truth was the absolute wrong answer. Still, it seemed like a lie I couldn't back-up. I said, "No."

"Your loved ones have failed you! No one has shown you Pride and Prejudice? Not even your mom?"

"Uh, I actually," I said through a desert dry mouth. This was never a fun explanation. "I don't watch a lot of movies. Mostly when people talk about movies, I like don't know what they're talking about."

"Really? That's so funny."

"Is it? Uh, yeah, I guess it is," I said to be agreeable, but my stomach was all twisty and squirmy like there was a splinter on the bottom of my foot and it was itching.

"How come? Are you just too busy?" She asked, giving me a clear way out. It was an assumption. Another one from Mona I didn't understand, but she liked these guesses. She was quick to assume something about me, instead of waiting for me to say the truth. Someone like her was probably usually right.

The flush crackling across my face made the rest of my body too hot. It was always so embarrassing to admit this kind of thing. People always judge me a little, sprinkling in bits of pity for the girl who didn't have the parents everyone else had, didn't have the same experiences, and didn't have the complexity.

I said, "Yeah, just too busy."

That wasn't true. My parents were just strict with what I was and weren't allowed to watch. I've never seen the same cartoons as my friends. Never watched the same movies. My parents didn't even let me trick or treat growing up because they didn't like how over-sexualized girls dressed and how many people partied and drank. The first time I went out, it was with Jess and her friends. My costume was a little cat with the whiskers drawn on. We thought the markers were washable, but not washable enough. Our parents found out, and they grounded us both. We had to throw away all our candy and Jess screamed so loud at our mom; she almost lost her voice.

That might be the first time Jess said she hated our mom. It wouldn't be the last, but I couldn't get it out of my head.

"What's wrong?" Mona asked.

Oh, yeah.

Mona's observant.

My stomach was twisting. I put on a smile and said, "It's nothing."

"Really? You know you go somewhere sometimes, you know? I always wonder where you go."

My stomach twisted tighter. I shifted uncomfortably, not ready to be under Mona's microscope. I didn't want to be categorized and filed away in her brain palace of strays.

I said instead, "Just nervous. I've been looking forward to this."

"Me too.'' She reached over and took my hand. Her skin was indescribably soft and so warm. Just what my cold hands needed. I'd dare say my doctor should prescribe her hands to me.

"This is just such a cool opportunity. They only do this once a year."

And Daniella just gave it to me? I was so surprised in the moment; I thought about texting Daniella that she probably should win that challenge over me and then another horrible thought entered my head...

Maybe Daniella really was most suited to be with Mona. Their interests match up. Someone as shy as Daniella might benefit from having a more outgoing girlfriend that understands her so easily without her having to say much. That doesn't get offended every time she opens her mouth. That thinks the best of her.

This sucks.

I suck.

Blocking it out, I told Mona, "I had no idea it was so rare. I'm really glad we got these tickets."

"You didn't know?" She looked at me again and I was begging to wish she'd stop. "And you don't watch a lot of movies. Why are we going to the movies, then?"

"Well..." I shrugged a little, more sheepishly than the animals I count before bed every night. "You like movies, right? I wanna go do the things you like."

Mona squeezed my hands. "Thank you. You're always so sweet to me. What do you like?"

"I like this," I said and squeezed her hand back. The car became quiet again, but not in the painful needles in the air kind of way, but in something sweeter and softer and fluffier in the air. Like our smiles spoke for us, like we both knew what we're saying without actually having to verbalize it. I had to tell myself, "She likes you. She likes you. She likes you."

And begged myself not to get too into my head about it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Part one of the Zoey and Mona date! We're finally here. What do you think of the date so far? How do you get ready for dates? So far... would you rate this date? Lol. For fun! Let's try to imagine if hell froze over and if Daniella and Zoey went on a date, where do you think they'd go?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! And I'll see you again next week :) If you like this book, please consider reading my other three. This is also a great time to read NED GETS STOOD UP as it takes place during Christmas Eve!