I remember everything.

And when I mean everything, I don’t mean some flashes of what happened last night like some sort of flashback powerpoint. I mean everything. I remember everything down to the last detail. Drinking one too many fruit punch, being strangely good at beer pong, that almost kiss with Raymond, that other almost kiss with Parker, and then that successful kiss on the cheek with Parker.

Why does my life have to be like some sort of romantic-comedy?

The question on my mind though, besides the question of why there sand in my shoes, is why do I remember any of this? Aren’t you not supposed to remember the events after being totally wasted? And I know I was totally wasted because a) no one could possibly be that good in beer pong, b) I kissed Parker on the cheek, and c) my head feels like someone hit it with a hammer repeatedly. I would know, sort of, people have attempted to do that, thankfully it was one of those plastic balloon hammers you can buy in the park or beach along with other balloon animals and cotton candy.

The only thing that was supposed to happen after getting drunk off your ass last night that was right was getting a hangover in the morning. I opened my eyes and was nearly blinded by the light. Sunlight was pouring through my windows and into my room. I hissed at it like a cat, making claw motions to make it go away. I never knew drinking can make you into a vampire, I guess fruit punch has that effect on you. I slowly sat up from bed, blinking slowly for my eyes to adjust to the light. It was then I was met with a killer headache almost knocking me backwards on my bed.

“I’m willing to trade my memories of last night if I don’t have this hangover anymore!” I cried to the ceiling, waving my fist in the air. Immediately, I regretted yelling, wincing at the volume of my voice.

I groaned, closing my eyes as I massaged my head. I looked down at myself only to see that I was still wearing the clothes from last night. I must have been so tired I didn’t bother to even change to my PJ’s. I plopped backwards on my bed and hid inside the covers. I’ve watch enough movies and read enough books to know its best to sleep on a hangover and drink a lot of water. The water can wait, I don’t want to go downstairs and bump into my parents so they can see the town drunk Simpsons character, Barney Gumble, in real life. I’m just glad it’s a Saturday. Imagine if I have to go school like this? I wouldn’t be able to answer question one on my linear algebra test. Great, now I have to remind myself to study for it after I survive this hangover.

I let out a sigh and began to replay last night in my head. Going into the party, and then losing Parker. I drank a lot of fruit punch which turned out to be spiked (I should have seen that coming) then became drunker than I can possibly imagine in my teen-nerd life. I showed off some mad beer pong skills, and I still can’t believe how good I am at that, I never even played beer pong before. I got down at the dance floor and bumped into Declan who was with Hannah. Someone got jealous of my dance moves and pushed me out of the dance floor only so I can bump into Raymond. Drunk Raymond tried to kiss me so I wasted a good cup of fruit punch and ran away. Though, now that I think of it, it wasn’t really a waste of fruit punch. I went in search for the bathroom and found Parker instead, but chose the bathroom first. We got out of there and went to Valley Park. We swung on the swings, we almost kissed. We got on the monkey bars, we almost kissed. I went home and he got kissed, on the cheek though.

What really got me was the last sentence, when I kissed him on the cheek. Why did I kiss him on the cheek? Is the question I would ask if I was drunk properly and didn’t remember the events last night until someone told me I did that, which I doubt Parker would do. But I do remember, and I know why I did it. I did it because I was drunk and I thought I would never remember any of this. It was then the thought hit me.

I was drunk and I thought I would never remember any of this.

Parker doesn’t know that I remembered what happened last night, and he’ll never will. I was drunk for Pete’s sake. And I don’t mean a bit buzzed out drunk, I mean drunk drunk. If I could play dumb (which seems harder than it sounds given I’m a nerd) and pretend I didn’t remember anything from last night. There will be no awkwardness between us. Parker will think only he knows, when I know he think he only knows, but really I know what he knows, though Parker doesn’t know that I know.

With that, I planned to go back to sleep. I’m going to sleep this hangover out the whole day until one of three things happen. One, I need to go to the bathroom, which I doubt I will because I got the fruit punch out of my system last night when I chose the bathroom over Parker. Two, I need to eat, but sleep first, eat later. And three-

The doorbell rang from downstairs.

-the doorbell rings. I usually get the door for my parents because I’m a good daughter. But right now I’m a hangover daughter, so hopefully my parents can get it themselves without having to know the hangover daughter part. But then the doorbell rang again.

And again.

And again.

I let out a frustrated groan and threw the pillow at my door for no reason. Who will be ringing on our doorbell in Saturday morning? The only thing I will forgive if its girl scouts selling cookies. I won’t forgive anyone else older than that.

I rolled over to the side. “Can someone get that?” I called out. “Please? For the sake of mankind?”

No one answered. Gee, sucks to be mankind right now.

The doorbell kept on ringing and ringing. I don’t like it, I shouldn’t have put a ring on it. There is now way I can go back to sleep with McRings-a-lot keeping me awake. My parents still must be asleep. I might as well get it. Saturdays are their days off. They earn as much sleep as they can get. Besides, this must be karma for getting drunk besides getting a hangover. I let out a yawn and flew the covers off. Then I rolled over and fell out of my bed, crashing on the ground. I willed myself off the cold floor and out of my room. I zombie walked down the hall towards the stairs. But then I paused then raced into the bathroom and hurled everything in my stomach which consists mostly of fruit punch.

“I hate hangovers,” I grumbled.

After leaving the bathroom, I headed down the stairs with my zombified zombie walk, going slower this time or else I’ll trip and fall, making it the end of my bullied life. If that doorbell rang one more time, I swear-

Ring.

“Okay, that’s it!” I growled.

Ignoring my pounding head, I stormed towards the door and yank it open. The light was blinding now, and my eyes were barely focusing on the figure before me. I squinted at the person, not being able to see the person well.

“Who in their right mind will ring like there’s no tomorrow in Saturday morning?” I exclaimed. “In this generation, we don’t ring doorbells anymore, we text or call that we’re outside! If you don’t have our number, then get lost!” With that, I slammed the door.

I turned around to go back to sleep when the doorbell rang again. I fought the urge to scream and opened the door once more.

“What?” I exclaimed again.

“I just wanted to let you know that it’s actually Saturday in the afternoon.”

“Good to know,” I snapped. “You woke up too soon if it’s Saturday afternoon.”

The person cleared their throat. “Something tells me you forgot.”

“Forgot what-” I choked. “P-parker?”

He eyed my outfit. “Something also tells me you slept all the way until noon.”

I ignored that. “What are you doing here?”

“Yup,” he concluded. “You forgot.”

Despite the fact I just screamed right at him, he still had that same cheery smile of his optimistic attitude given he wasn’t the drunk one last night. Parker was wearing a blue button down over a grey cardigan sweater with dark denim jeans. While I was still wearing the same thing I wore last night.

I forgot? I paused for a moment, thinking what he was talking about. But then I remembered that I asked him out on a date. Wow, I get really bold when I’m drunk. Before I could tell him I’m sorry that I forgot but then remembered what I forgot so I ended up not really forgetting just needing a little remembering, I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to remember and that I should tell him I forgot. Hopefully you got that.

I casually leaned against the doorframe, trying to act cool which is hard given I still have a hangover. “Forgot what?”

“The date?” Parker offered.

I feigned surprise. “Date? What date? Like a date date? Did you ask me out or something?”

He opened his mouth to answer but closed it and frowned. “Naomi, do you remember anything from last night?”

I thought it over. “After my fourth fruit punch, I kind of black out after that. But there were some flashes.”

“Like what?”

I shrugged innocently. “I don’t know, fruit punch, beer pong, and a lot of dancing.”

“Anything else?” He pressed.

I shook my head. “No, nothing else. Why. Did something happen?” My eyes widened. “Did I do anything bad?”

Parker didn’t answer.

“Did I so anything good?” I offered.

He didn’t answer again.

I gasped. “Oh no. It’s something bad, isn’t it? I did something bad, didn’t I? What was it? Did I start a fight? Did I drunk text someone? Did I drunk call someone? Did I puke? Did I puke on someone?

“You didn’t do anything bad,” Parker assured me.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, a bullet dodged.”

“Yeah… a bullet dodged,” he said quietly. Then Parker smiled. “Now enough about last night, we have a date to go to.”

“Right now?” I whined.

“Yes right now,” Parker said. “You-” he coughed “-I mean we agreed date starts at noon. It’s noon.”

“Fine, just wait here.”

“Okay, thank-”

I closed the door and ran up to my room to go take shower.

I opened the door again with Parker still standing there with his hands behind his back.

“That was fast.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Most girls would take an hour to get ready.”

“But did you forget, O’Neil? I’m not like most girls.”

He smiled at me. “You have a point there.” I smiled back.

Then Parker looked like he remembered something. “Oh, before I forget,” he said. “I brought you this.” He revealed a bouquet of flowers he was hiding behind his back and held them out to me.

I immediately backed away from them, my hand covering nose. “Parker, I’m sorry, but I’m allergic to-“

“-flowers, I know,” he finished. “You told me that back at that burger joint. These are artificial flowers.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he assured me, still holding the flowers out to me. I hesitated but took the flowers. I studied the flowers and took a cautious sniff. It smelled like nothing, for once I was happy smelling nothing. The only time I’m not happy smelling nothing is when I’m sick and I'm not able to taste my food.

“I’m not a flower fan- obviously –no flower power here, but they’re lilies right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, stargazers.”

I smiled down at the flowers. “Thank you, Parker.”

“You’re welcome. And remember, I promised to give them to you last-” he caught himself, probably remembering that I don’t remember anything last night.

“You did?” I asked. “Wow, I wish I could remember. What else happened last night?”

Parker cleared his throat. “N-nothing.”

“Really, nothing? I see.”

See! He’s so embarrassed by last night that he can’t even tell me what I did even though I know what I did!

“Naomi?” I heard my mother’s voice call out to me as I heard footsteps come down the stairs. “I’ve been up in my study when I heard the doorbell. Is it those door-to-door salesman again? I swear, if I hear one more sales pitch about tupperware I will- Oh, hello Parker, I didn’t know you were here.” My mom said calmly with a straight face.

Parker waved shyly at my mom. “Hello, Mrs. Lorraine.”

It was then my mom noticed the bouquet of flowers in my hand. “Naomi, are those flowers?”

“Yeah, Parker-”

She snatched them from my hand. “They’re stargazer lilies! Oh they’re so beautiful! Parker you have such a good taste in flowers.”

“Why thank you Mrs-”

“They really are beau- Why don’t they have a smell?” My mom had a confused look on her faces as she kept on sniffing the flowers like a dog sniffs a fire hydrant. I don’t know why I compared the two things together, but the likeness is uncanny.

“That’s because they’re artificial flowers, mom,” I told her. “I’m allergic to flowers, remember?”

She gasped. “This makes it so much cuter then! Ooh, I’m going to put them in a vase- with no water, of course.” She quickly ran off to find a vase.

I looked at Parker. “Quick! Let’s leave before she comes back.”

“But-”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you really want to stay here and get showered by uncomfortable questions to the point you want to escape this prison because I feel like that every day, because I live here. I feel the same way about school, too. But really, you should have seen her when I got ‘the talk’, I had thoughts or running way and joining a circus.”

Parker couldn’t help but laugh, making me laugh too.

“C’mon,” I said as I grabbed his hand. Then I looked back at the kitchen where my mom was looking for a vase. “Mom, Parker and I are going out!” I paused and cursed under my breath. Damn, that came out wrong. “I mean we’re going to hang out somewhere-” then I muttered under my breath “-anywhere other than here.”

“Wait! Don’t you want to stay for-“

“Don’t worry, we’ll eat somewhere for lunch. Bye mom, love you!”

“But-” there was a sigh “-Fine, have fun you two!”

“So,” Parker began to fill the awkward silence in the car. “How’s Hangover Part IV?”

I mocked a laugh. “Oh, ha ha. Very funny.” I groaned and leaned my head against the window. “Shut up, you’re not helping.”

Parker laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. I remember my first hangover back in freshman year. Ugh, I can still remember the headache I woke up to-“ he shook his head and smiled at me “-It’s just, you’re so cute being all snarky when you’re having a hangover headache.”

“Then it must be adorable when the death threats start coming,” I growled at him.

He burst out laughing. I would have laughed along too if it weren’t for the headache I was having.

“Can you open the window?” I asked him.

“Why, do you want some fresh air?”

“No, I’ll stick my head out the window. Then you can do me a favor and close it for me.”

Parker burst out laughing again, but stopped when I suddenly cringed at my headache.

“Here, I got something for you.”

“I swear, if you give me fruit punch, you’ll be seeing your own fruit punch soon.”

Parker shook his head. “I’m scared of what you’ll be like when your fruit punch of the month.”

I laughed. “Oh, it gets worse. Way worse.”

He chuckled. “But no. It’s not fruit punch, sadly, it’s this.”

He opened the glove compartment as he kept his eyes on the road. Then he took out a bottle of water and a pill bottle.

My eyes widened at the pill bottle. “Oh no, Parker, I’m not doing that. I’ve been through one too many be drug free assemblies to know those ruin your life.”

Parker blinked. “What, no it’s not-”

“I’m still not taking those. I don’t care if it makes you feel like you’re on Cloud 9 or something, I’m not buying it. I bet when I pass out, you’ll sell my kidneys for a hefty price.”

“Naomi, no, they’re not drugs. I mean, they are. But that's not the point.”

“Then what is it?”

“Aspirin,” he said, shaking the contents of the bottle and showing me the label to assure me what he said is true. “It doesn’t make the hangover go away, but it helps with the headache.”

I took the bottle of water and the aspirin so he can go back to driving. “So you bought aspirin for me?”

“Wouldn’t it have been romantic of me if I did?”

I shrugged. “Kinda. But not as much as romantic as those artificial flowers either.”

“Yeah, but you gotta admit, that was pretty romantic.” He laughed and continued. “But no, it’s my own bottle of aspirin. I have one at home and this one in my car.”

“Why two? I get the one at home, but why do you have one in your car?”

Parker shrugged. “I’ve woken up in one too many weird places after getting wasted the night before. One of them on a boat in sea, another at the top of a Ferris wheel in an abandoned them park. How did I get down with that hangover? That’s a secret,” he said with a wink. “But thankfully, my faithful car’s always close by with aspirin waiting for me.”

“Wow, you could be a TV show,” I told him. “The Drunk Misadventures of Party Parker.”

“The drunk part I get, but why misadventures, couldn’t it be adventures?”

“With the places you wake up to with a huge hangover, if that isn’t a misadventure, I don’t know what is.”

“Well, I still think its adventures from how I get to those places I wake up to with the reason behind the huge hangover.”

“In tonight’s episode of The Drunk Misadventures of Party Parker, we’ll follow Parker as he goes into an underground party at the abandoned subway station. He’s gonna chug-a chug-a, and get drunk off his ass.”

“Actually that episode already happened.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Parker said, chuckling to himself. “That was a crazy night…”

He continued talking about that night. It’s amazing what’s going on in other people’s lives during your own. Like during the time when he was surfing on top of a mechanical bull and beat the new record, I was suffering another dinner with the Myers as I try to picture Raymond’s murder in excruciating detail. I laughed at the part when Parker told me he was screaming his lungs out when he went bungee jumping over the train tracks, but immediately stopped laughing when he said he almost touched the electrical part of those tracks. I took the aspirin, hoping the effects will start working soon because my head is still killing me.

Parker stopped the car at the stoplight. I looked out the window and my eyes nearly popped out of my eye sockets. It was a Mercedes-Benz roadster convertible, with dark blue paint and its top down. Oh man, I gotta take a picture of this. To be honest, the only guy I know who most likely has this is Bennett given he owns a car show in his parking lot. I frowned at the thought and looked at the driver’s seat. Hopefully it’s one of those side effects of having hangovers to see things because I see a guy who looks exactly like Bennett. And there was also a girl who looks exactly like Abby, actually she sounds exactly like Abby. She was talking his ear off through the radio music with the volume all the way up. I’m thankful the music is muting her voice, but I don’t know if it’s working for Bennett who’s only two feet away from her. Abby suddenly lowered the volume so you’ll be able to hear them talking.

“And then Carmen was like-”

“Hey cinnamon?” Bennett interrupted her.

Great, he’s actually using spices as pet names. And the thing is, she’s not sugar and spice or anything nice.

“Why exactly did you choose this?”

“Choose what?”

I unconsciously leaned towards them to listen better. Choose what? Him? That outfit? Salad?

“This car,” he said. “You called me and started spouting out a list of cars I doubt you know besides the fact they’re expensive.”

“That’s because it’s true, all of those cars have one thing on common: they’re expensive. And I still can’t believe you don’t have a flying car.”

Is she serious? And no, I’m not referring to the fact she’s a gold-digger, Bennett should’ve seen that one coming. I mean the fact she said flying cars. There is no such thing as flying cars. Yet. Hopefully.

“I already do, but I still need a sports pilot certificate to drive the Terrafugia.”

What? They’re already here? I’m not surprise Bennett has it- mean c’mon, who would? I’m surprised they’re here and I didn’t know it!

Abby rolled her eyes. “Excuses,” she muttered under her breath. “Well, I wanted to go somewhere in style. Not in hand-me-down cars or second-hand motorcycles.”

“But does it have to be this flashy?”

“Of course it does! Jealous girls will get trashy if they see I have something flashy.”

Did she just rhyme? I think she just rhymed.

“I love it when I see the jealous stares of girls when I go the looks, clothes, guy and ride.”

Does she also love it that those stares also picture her murder in excruciating detail too?

Bennett sighed. “Yeah, whatever.”

Abby went back to talking about whatever she was talking about. Honestly, he goes through one ear and out the other for everyone who doesn’t care. He looked at the stoplight, impatiently tapping the steering wheel. Then he looked to the left and out eyes met. I instantly shot down in my seat, sinking low so he would see me.

“Naomi?” His voice called out.

“No, no, no, no, no,” I muttered.

I shook Parker’s shoulder to get his attention. Then I motioned my head towards Bennett’s car. Parker followed the direction and his widened.

“No way.”

“Yes wa-“

“Is that a Mercedes-Benz?” He asked in disbelief.

Cue the facepalm.

“Yes, it’s a Mercedes-Benz. Now guess who’s driving it.”

He looked at me. “A really lucky guy?”

“No.”

“A really rich guy?”

“Close.”

Parker looked at the driver’s seat and his eyes widened again.

“Parker?” Bennett’s voice called out.

“Hi,” Parker said nervously, pathetically waving at him.

I grabbed his hand. “Are you crazy? Don’t wave!”

“Why not?”

“Oh, I don’t know, besides he fact he’ll kill us with the help of the guys.”

“Okay, that’s a pretty good reason.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“So what are we going to do?” Parker asked me. “I don’t think I’ll make a good impression to your parents if I bring you home in a coffin.”

“Well, you don’t worry about that. You’ll be in your own coffin.”

“From Bennett or your parents?”

I shrugged. “Either or.”

He frowned at that.

Then I looked at him. “How good are you at driving?”

“I can somehow drive while drinking and not get caught or get into an accident so far.”

“So far?”

“So far.”

“Well then, let’s get those driving skills to use.”

He grinned wickedly at me at the sound of that. Parker revved the engine, as he gave Bennett a smirk. Bennett frowned back, and then suddenly realized what he meant. He revved the engine of his car which was like a lion’s roar compared to Parker’s Mitsubishi which sounded like a kitten’s meow.

Roar.

Meow.

It was sad really.

Now all eyes were on the stoplight- except Abby’s who was glaring at Bennett for that engine rev to cut her off from talking (thank you for that) -that still lit up red.

Three.

Two.

One.

The light turned green.

Both cars sped away so fast it could have left a smoke outline of it that is still hanging in the air. The card were nose to nose, time to time one will be ahead of the other, but the other will catch up. The guys kept on glancing on each other when they should be focusing on the road, so I blocked their view so they can stop making goo-goo eyes with each other.

We caught up to the cars in front of us, and the both cars began to swerve around the cars like those action movies. I had to hold onto the car’s grab handle as I rocked left and right from the car’s sharp turns. Bennett was trapped behind a Volkswagen Beetle. Though being trapped behind the Beetle isn’t as bad as being trapped in the same car as Abby who was yelling how crazy he was. Maybe we are, normal seems pretty boring to me. Parker took a sharp right at the next intersection. I looked back and saw that Bennett was back on our tail, and the thing was, he was catching up.

“We gotta ditch him,” I told him.

Parker grinned. “On it.”

He took another sharp right then took a left turn. Cars almost crashed together and drivers stuck their heads out the windows, cursing at us.

“Sorry,” I called put in apology, waving at them.

I looked behind us and saw that Bennett was still able to catch up with us, avoiding the almost car accident.

“Parker,” I warned.

His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror to see what I was so worried about. “Don’t worry sweetheart, I know this city like the back of my hand.”

Then he hit the acceleration .

“You know the city like the back of your hand,” I repeated his words just minutes before.

“I’m sorry,” he whined. “Don’t be mad.”

“You know the city like the back of your hand,” I repeated again.

“It was a mistake, I swear!”

I had to say it one more time. “You know the city like the back of your hand.”

“How was I supposed to know this was a dead end?” He exclaimed.

Yeah, what he said was right. When Bennett was closing in on us, Parker panicked and went into a random street, hoping to lose Bennett. What he didn’t see was the sign that said dead- end until we saw the reason behind the sign. There was a he wall at the end of the street, laughing at us, laughing at how stupid we are- well the driver mostly. Parker stopped the car and began to repeatedly hit his head against the steering wheel. I would have helped if I wasn’t too worried about own life.

“Now what are we going to do?” I asked him when I heard the distinct Mercedez-Benz engine coming closer.

He slowly lifted his head up and said in realization, “There’s only one thing we can do.”

“A showdown between cars?” I said excitedly, but then I caught my tone and cleared my throat. “I mean what? Some lame showdown between cars, because that would be so awesome.”

“No,” he said, making me say aw. “I mean the classic J-turn, a reverse 180°.”

My jaw dropped. “No way! You know how to do that?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking at me. “Drunk.”

Well then, we’re going to die.

I heard a car driving up behind us, we both turned around and saw Bennett’s car at the end of the street.

“We only have one shot at this,” I told him. “We only have two-thirds of the rest of the block  until we reach the end of the street and have enough room to turn. The timing needs to be right or else they’ll be scraping us off the wall with spatulas.”

“Would you like a side of eggs with that Naomi pancake of yours?” Parker asked me.

“Of course!” I exclaimed. “And can I have a Parker pancake to go as well?”

He winked at me. “Right after we survive this.” He looked at me. “You ready?”

“Ready to die if this doesn’t work?” I asked him, but then I shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Then let’s do this.”

The Mercedes-Benz began to drive towards us. Parker pressed on the gas and drove towards the dead end.

Perfect timing, I’m starting to have doubts.

“Parker.”

“Wait for it.”

The car’s acceleration was slowly but steadily climbing. He’s going to mess up and we’ll be pancakes on that wall.

“Parker.”

“Wait for it.”

He suddenly turned the wheel left, having us jerk to the left. We’re going to die, we’re so going to die!

“Parker!”

The car began to slide, skidding on the road. He pressed the breaks and put the car in neutral. Then halfway through the turn he put the car in gear and stepped on the gas.

“Now!”

We zoomed past the Mercedes-Benz. Parker and I flashed wicked grins and peace signs at Bennett and Abby who were wide-eyed and had their mouths dropped in disbelief. We high-five each other, then left the dead-end street, laughing.

“I think we lost them!” I said in triumph.

Parker let out a sigh of relief, parking the car on the street for a break. “Yeah, I think we did.”

“I can’t believe that just happened!”

“Me too!”

“You were like this!”

“And then I did this!”

“This was straight out of an action movie!”

“Best. Date. Ever.”

“So far,” I corrected, having us both share a smile.

“So what are we going to do after we survived that car chase?” I asked him.

He shrugged, smiling. “I have something in mind.”

“What? The classic movie date where we sit in the back and you do the yawn-and-reach maneuver?”

Parker snorted. “Pfft, no.” He suddenly took a sharp left, driving away from the movie theater.

“Oh, c’mon, I know you were planning on a movie. I was messing with you, we can still go.”

“No, I am more creative than just some lame movie.” He told me. “And I don’t always do the yawn-and-reach maneuver.”

“Really, like what?” I asked him.

“There’s the counting shoulders trick,” Parker told me. “Let’s count shoulders shall we? One-“ he touched his left shoulder “-two-“ he touched his right shoulder “-three-“ he touched my left shoulder “-and four!” He asked as touched my right shoulder and put his arm around me.

I gasped. “Wow! You can count!”

“Wait, there’s also the, ‘do you see that rocket?’” He asked me as he pointed at the right, then stretching his arm all the way to put it around my shoulder.

“Do you see how cheesy that was?” I asked as I pointed at him. "Is as cheesy as the moon that rocket's headed."

“No,” he said as he took his arm off. “There’s also, ‘I once saw a fish this big!’” Parker said as he spread his arms out and put one of them back on my shoulder.

“I once saw something so cheesy it was this big!” I said as I spread my arms out.

“Hey, there’s something on your shoulder,” Parker told me, making me look at my shoulder if there was. At the same time he put his arm around me. “Yeah, it’s my hand.”

I burst out laughing. “Okay, I have to admit, that one was pretty cute.”

“Not the only thing that’s cute.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. Puppies are pretty cute too.”

“You have a point there.”

I eyed him. “So what did you have in mind besides the classic movie date where we sit in the back and you do the yawn-and-reach maneuver?”

“Well after the classic movie date where we sit in the back and I do the yawn-and-reach maneuver, I was going to take you out on a nice dinner then maybe we’ll walk in the moonlight-“

“We’ll have dinner?” I asked him. “I heard dinner and blanked out.”

“Yeah sure.”

“And what about that thing you were saying about that walk? Will you be walking me to the park with a plastic ba-”

“Let’s not go there, sweetheart.”

I laughed. “I was just messing with you. And we can still do that, the dinner mostly. Free food, why not? But what could we do before then?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. I usually take girls out on a movie and-” he caught himself when he noticed the blank stare I was giving him “-I’m going to shut up now.”

“How about a walk? Let’s move the moonlight walk alone together where we could be mugged or kidnapped and have a walk in the daylight with lots of witnesses.”

“So you want a walk? Like a walk around the city?”

“Maybe. But I’m more of a romantic walks kind of girl. I like take long romantic walks… to the fridge.”

The both of us burst out laughing.

“Besides that, yes, I mean a walk around the city. Let’s ditch the car because one thing, I don’t want another car chase with Bennett, I think he memorized your license plate from how long he kept on being behind us on the race.”

“You know it!” We both high-five each other.

“And c’mon, we should get to know the city because some people I know do not know it like the back of their hand.”

“Okay, you’re right about that. But do you really just want to walk? Girls would hate-“ he stopped and smiled at me “-What am I saying? You’re not like most girls.”

“And I’m thankful for that.”

“So a walk around the city,” Parker mused to himself. “We’ll see where the concrete roads take us before the polluted air will take us. Take our life, I mean.”

I smiled. “Don’t forget, the best things happen unplanned right?”

Yeah, and so did the worst.

This is dedicated to my awesome friend in Wattpad who needs to seriously tone down on the candy and coffee. The first thing I see when I go to Wattpad is the number of messages she sent me. New record: 123. She’s a Bennomi fan, yay for her. And she actually made me some fan art, it’s so cute, I love it! Delouisabelle I hope you enjoyed this chapter because it had Bennett appear on it.

Well, I’ve finally decided that besides being a novelist, I’m interested in being a computer science engineer. My school is having computer science classes with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program, and I want to take them as well as the psychology course and creative writing. I’ll get to use both my imagination and intelligence. I’ll have one foot in the past for writing and another foot in the future for typing. My parents want me to be a doctor, dentist, or a civil engineer (and boy did we have an argument there) I doubt any family would have an argument of choosing one good job over the other because one is “more in demand”. When I told them what I wanted to be, let’s say they didn’t like it. Yes, my parents didn’t want me to have some good job that fits me but wanted me to have another job called civil engineering because it’s “more in demand”. Both jobs are “more in demand”.

Everyone let me tell you this, everyday there are more opportunities for us kids of the future. Your parents and other old people (no offense to them) just don’t know that the world has changed. It’s not the Great Depression where everyone is striving and searching for a job. This is the future, this is now, we are able to take anything we want, when we want it. Don’t let them decide your future, you’re your own future. But I’m not telling you to go and elope with Romeo, or follow your dream and join the circus. At the same time of following your dreams, you have to dream the possible when people think it’s impossible. If you want to be a doctor, but people don’t think you’re smart enough, prove them wrong. If you want to be a writer, but people don’t think you won’t make it, prove them wrong. If you want to be a singer, go on American Idol and try to see if you’ve got talent. And don’t wish to have some big career if you don’t care about school so much as to not even get good grades. You need to work hard to earn it. I’ve worked hard to get good grades every day since I was elementary because I want a future and a job that will make me happy. I don’t want to be stuck having a waitress job or do a boring job every day until I die. I want a job that will make me happy, that will make a difference, which will be worth it. I’m fourteen, can you believe that? I’m fourteen years old and I’m already worried about all this grown up stuff. I should be worrying if this pants make my butt look big, or what will happen in the next season of some TV show, or if that cute guy likes me or not. But no, I’m putting my education first because I care. While you carefree people are doing all three of these things, I’ll be at home, studying to have a good future. I can worry about them after college when I’m done with school and get a good job.

If you haven’t figured out what you want to do with life, you still got a couple of more years. If you know what you want to do, I wish you the best of luck. Sorry for this little rant, I bet you didn’t want to read this. I had an argument with my parents about this and I wanted to write this out. I hope you all enjoyed this extra long chapter to make up for the wait. I know it's still Parkomi, but a little of Bennett if any of you missed him. But don't forget, there were some funny parts to make up for the Parkomi-ness (yes, that's a term, shut up) in the chapter. And to those who thought Parker forgot that Naomi was allergic to flowers, "Ha! I got you! Don't think I'm actually going to forget that, huh?!" There were readers who said isn't Naomi allergic to flowers or how Parker actually forgot she did and all I replied was, "Wait for it..." I’m going to go and watch Two Broke Girls while working on the next chapter. Max is just plain awesome, like older, not a nerd, Naomi

RubixCube89201