Dating: For the Block

by Stephanie Street

  Oooh. Her words were like arrows to my heart. “I know, Mom. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  “Why? I thought you liked Dennis.” Her eyes searched mine and I hated seeing the sorrow reflecting in them.

  “I do. I do like him.” I sat back down.

  “I know he’s your coach, but you graduate in just a few months. Things will change. I told myself I wouldn’t be serious with anyone I didn’t think would be a good role model for you. A good man in your life as well as mine. Dennis is a good man. He’s a good father.” She stopped, glancing away as her eyes filled with moisture. “But I won’t speak to him again, Grayson. If you don’t want me to. You.” She paused again and gripped the front of my shirt, pulling me toward her. “You, baby boy, are the reason I do everything I do. You.”

  “I know, Mom. You’ve given me everything a kid could ever need. But, it’s your turn. I’ve been selfish.” She shook her head. “Yes, I have. I was worried about me. What it would look like to have my mom date my coach. What everyone would think. So stupid. Who cares? I don’t care about any of that. You.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “You are the most important person in my life. I want you to be happy, Mom. I’m so sorry.”

  Her face crumpled as she dropped her head into her hands.

  “Aw, man. Don’t cry,” I begged, hugging her. On one hand, on one hand could I count the number of times I’ve seen my mom cry…unless it was during a movie.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” she said after a moment.

  Pulling back, I looked at her tear streaked face. “I don’t know, either. But we can’t go anywhere until you fix your makeup.”

  She barked out a laugh and slapped my shoulder. “Gee, thanks, kiddo.”

  Keeping my expression blank, I said, “You’re welcome. And I’m serious.”

  Rolling her eyes, she stood up and started for the bathroom. “I’ll just be a second.”

  Perfect.

  Racing into the kitchen again, I removed the pasta from the oven and then turned off the heat. “I’ll meet you in the car!”

  I’d stowed the food in the back and started the car by the time she made her way out the door.

  “So, what is this for again? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about it. We need to sync our phones or something, I swear.”

  I avoided answering. She wouldn’t press it. I was notorious for forgetting things like this until the last minute.

  “Hopefully, it won’t last too long. I was looking forward to vegging in front of the tv tonight,” she said through a yawn.

  “I thought you were going to try and get some day shifts,” I said, mostly to keep her from asking about the dinner.

  “I don’t know. Nights pay a lot better. And weekend nights pay the best. I guess I figure if I work really hard now, I’ll be able to pick the shifts I want later.”

  The drive to the school didn’t take long. Luckily, we’d had some help getting things organized, so there were quite a few cars in the parking lot. It might have been suspicious if we showed up and Coach’s truck was the only vehicle in the parking lot.

  “We must be early,” Mom murmured as we parked.

  For some reason, her comment made me nervous. My armpits started to sweat. Good thing I was wearing black.

  After grabbing the pasta, we started into the school. It had taken some doing, but we were able to pull off everything we’d wanted to do for this date. Hopefully, it would accomplish all that we wanted it to.

  I had my fingers crossed.

  22

  Mia

  “I’m really sorry, Dad. I know we were just here a couple of hours ago. I completely forgot about this worksheet for Calculus. I have to finish it by Monday and I know I left it in my locker.”

  Dad was so annoyed and trying not to show it. If I wasn’t so nervous, the whole situation would have made me laugh.

  “It’s okay. You’re just lucky I’m your dad since I can help you break into the school after hours to get your homework,” he teased as we pulled into the parking lot. “Wow, wonder what’s going on here? I didn’t remember anything on the calendar. Looks like you didn’t need my key after all.”

  “Oh. Well, I didn’t know this was going on, either.” I waved to the ten other cars in the parking lot. The cars were part of the plan. We needed Michelle to believe there was a basketball meeting. Hopefully, Dad wasn’t too suspicious. He seemed happy with the conclusion that some club was meeting late on a Saturday evening.

  Dad unlocked the door he always used to enter the gym. Immediately, we were met with strings of twinkle lights.

  “What’s this?” Dad asked, probably wondering who’d dared to decorate his domain with something so silly as Christmas lights and paper hearts with arrows pointing to the gym.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. We should check it out, huh?”

  Dad shot me a look. I wasn’t a very good actress. That was okay. He’d see what was going on soon enough.

  Grayson and I had meticulously planned this part of our surprise for our parents, even going so far as to time it just perfectly so that Dad and I would enter the school just moments after Grayson and Michelle did only on opposite ends of the gym. Another set of lights and hearts and arrows had greeted them as well.

  Quiet music drifted through the open doors of the gym, courtesy of Mateo who’d prepared a playlist and volunteered his services to hook into the sound system. He and some of our friends were hiding in a classroom at the other end of the school.

  “Mia, what is going on in here?” Dad asked, his stern voice laced with a hint of wonder.

  “Come on, Dad. Let’s keep going. I’m sure we’ll see soon enough.” Grabbing his arm, I propelled him toward the open gym door.

  He pulled up short as soon as we reached the threshold. Directly across from him, standing in her own door, was Michelle. She looked gorgeous with her blond hair curling softly over her shoulders wearing a pair of skinny jeans with a long off-white sweater and a pair of ballet flats. She was beautiful. It made making fun of Dad for wearing his warm-ups so much this week totally worth it since he’d changed into a pair of jeans and a nice button down after the game earlier today.

  Between them, right at center court, we’d set up a table. I’d raided Dad’s garage for a set of dishes, complete with wine glasses, that had once belonged to my grandma. They weren’t fine china by any stretch, but they were lovely and looked fancy on the round table covered with a white table cloth that Grayson had discovered in a closet at his apartment. We’d found battery operated tea lights at a dollar store and bought all of them to set on the table and on the floor around it. We’d sprung for fresh flowers from the market for a centerpiece. The lights in the gym were dimmed and with the music playing, I thought the effect was perfect.

  “What is this?” Dad turned to me, truly perplexed.

  “It’s an apology,” I answered.

  He stared at me a few moments before his face cleared and he turned to give me a hug.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

  “I love you, sweetie.”

  “I love you, too.” I pulled back and gave him a little push. “Now, go get your girl.”

  Dad grinned, his gaze straying to the other end of the gym where Michelle and Grayson were likely having a conversation identical to ours.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” he said, and took a step onto the wood floor.

  I watched for a moment before I raced to the room we had set up for assembling the food. Grayson was right behind me.

  “Hey, how’d it go? Was he surprised?” he asked, carrying the pasta he’d been responsible for since it fit better with the story he’d told Michelle.

  I nodded. “He was. What about your mom?”

  Grayson smiled. “She was shocked. I thought she was going to cry.”

  “Good tears, right?” I asked as I put together a tray with rolls and butter and glasses of water.

  “Yes, good tears. Now, are you taking t
hat out or me?” He gestured to the tray.

  “Why don’t you do this and I’ll stay here and get the salads ready?”

  “Sounds good.” Grayson picked up the tray and headed out to the table where our parents were hopefully enjoying the little cards we’d made them explaining why we’d set this up and how we were sorry for trying to keep them apart and lastly, how we hoped they would forgive us and enjoy their ‘date’.

  While Grayson was gone, I assembled the salads. We’d collect the dinner plates from the table when we dropped off the salads and then give them ten minutes to eat them before taking out the final course, the pasta, and a dessert. After that, we planned to join our friends down the hall to hang out until Dad and Michelle were finished. The school janitor who’d helped us get into the school after hours, Mr. Lowery who’d been more than happy to help surprise the school’s basketball coach, promised he’d be here late working on cleaning project and told us to stay as long as we needed. We’d let Dad and Michelle know that, too, before we left them to their own devices.

  “I think our plan is working. They were making goo-goo eyes at each other already,” Grayson said as he swept back into the room.

  “Oh, good. Do you think they like it?” I was surprised by how much I wanted them to.

  Grayson nodded. “Yes. Mom’s eyes were sparkling and your dad couldn’t take his off her. I’d say it’s a success.”

  I would have sagged with relief if I wasn’t so busy. “Okay, the salads are ready. Should we take them out now?”

  Grayson shrugged. “Sure. Then, we’ll wait here for a few minutes and take out the pasta, right?”

  “Yep. Here you go.” I handed him the plates, thinking he made a pretty hot waiter as I slid into a chair and watched him leave. I’d been on my feet for most of the day, setting up lights and getting everything ready for tonight. I was exhausted.

  Grayson swept through the door again with a grin on his face and two dinner plates in his hands. “You should go spy on them for a minute.”

  “Grayson!” I smacked his shoulder as he sat down beside me.

  “Not like that,” he laughed. “But we’ve worked hard on this. You should go judge for yourself how well it’s working.”

  “How about we go together to deliver the pasta? Then I can see up close.”

  He nodded. “Good plan.”

  We sat in comfortable silence for a few moments. This week had been a good one for us. We hadn’t argued once. I attributed that to the fact that we hadn’t discussed our relationship the whole time, just our parents.

  “This was a good idea,” he said, making me glance over. He was closer than I’d realized and I could see the bright shades of green in his eyes. Grayson was so dang good looking. But he was more than that.

  “It was your idea,” I reminded him.

  He shrugged. “I said we should do something, you came up with all this.”

  “It was a group effort.” Our friends had really come through.

  Grayson shook his head with a chuckle. “Always gotta argue with me.”

  “I do n-”

  He raised his brow in challenge.

  “I’m sorry.” He was right. I had no idea what it was about him, but I kept feeling like I had to defend myself. It was stupid.

  “We should probably get the plates ready.”

  As one, we rose and began putting the dinner plates together so we could take them into the gym.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yep.” We each held a plate of pasta. In my other hand, I carried two plates of chocolate cake from a bakery in town while Grayson carried a bottle of chilled sparkling cider for the wine glasses in his.

  “Let’s do this thing.” Grayson held the door open for me with his hip. I squeezed past him, careful not to touch him or dump the plates in my hands.

  The music in the gym was subdued enough Michelle’s soft laughter could be heard above it. I was glad to see Dad’s face full of smiles as well.

  “Oh, my goodness. More food!” Michelle exclaimed with a smile.

  “Don’t listen to her. This looks amazing,” Dad laughed as he patted his flat stomach. He worked out a lot to be able to eat as much food as he did.

  Grayson set the cider on the table and collected the salad bowls one-handed so we could place the dinner plates in front of them. While Grayson poured cider into the glasses, I set the dessert plates to the side of table and stood back to wait until Grayson was finished.

  “You guys stay as long as you like. Mr. Lowery’s letting us hang out until you leave so we can clean up,” I told them as we prepared to leave.

  “And I’ll take Mia home, Coach,” Grayson said with a polite smile.

  “You guys, this is great. Thank you so much,” Michelle said and surprised me by standing to hug us both.

  Dad followed her lead giving me a hug and Grayson a firm handshake. “Michelle’s right. This was really nice. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. And again, we’re sorry,” Grayson said grabbing my hand. We waved to them as we exited the gym, but they were already too wrapped up in each other. I had a feeling that wouldn’t be so sweet in the future, but for right now, I was happy they were happy.

  “We did it!” Grayson pulled me into a one arm hug since he was still holding the salad plates.

  “Yeah, we did.” I hugged him back wishing I didn’t have to let go. But I did. “We should go see what every one is doing.”

  Grayson let go of me with a nod.

  We took a few minutes to clean up our stuff. We wouldn’t finish until Dad and Michelle left, but we did as much as we could.

  “Okay, I think that’s all we can do for now,” Grayson said looking around for anything we might have missed. The last thing we wanted to do at this point was make Mr. Lowery upset because we weren’t responsible enough to clean up after ourselves. He’d already stuck his neck out for us, we wouldn’t give him any more work to do than he already had.

  Grayson opened the door for me again and followed close behind after I passed through. Mr. Lowery had let us use an empty classroom beside the library that was used for special things like taking tests or doing makeup work or listening to a guest speaker that didn’t require the whole auditorium.

  “Hopefully, the guys aren’t messing around. They can be such dummies sometimes.” Grayson led the way down the hall.

  “That’s why Piper and Tierney are here, too,” I reminded him.

  He chuckled. “That’s right.”

  We turned again and stopped dead in our tracks.

  “What in the world,” I breathed.

  In front of us, dozens of tea lights lined the floor of the darkened hall. They went all the way to the room by the library where they stopped.

  “Look,” Grayson said, pointing at the floor.

  I did and saw a heart. Just like the ones we’d used to lead Dad and Michelle to the gym. “What does it say?” It was dark in the hall except for the tea lights.

  Grayson reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the heart.

  “We,” the both of us said at the same time, reading the single word on the heart.

  “We?” I had no idea what it all meant.

  Grayson shrugged. “Let’s keep going. See what happens.”

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  Grayson smiled and reached for my hand. I could have pulled away, but I didn’t want to. I’d missed holding his hand, being close to him. Suddenly, I was glad for this dim hallway that made him reach for me.

  We walked a few more steps until we reached another heart. This one had a word printed in it as well.

  “Thought,” we read it together.

  “We thought-,” I said the two words together.

  “Come on.” Grayson tugged on my hand and we kept going.

  In all, we read ten hearts.

  “We thought you could use a second chance, too,” Grayson repeated them all together as we walked to the last one
. It was bigger than the rest and had everyone’s signatures in it. Piper. Drew. Noah. Tierney. Luke. Mateo. Will. And AJ.

  I read the names, stalling, too afraid to look at Grayson. What were they thinking? I was mortified.

  “Mia.” Grayson’s voice was so soft I almost didn’t hear it, but still I avoided his gaze. “Mia, please,” he implored. Reaching up, Grayson framed my face with his warm hands, tilting it until our eyes met. “Let’s go see what these idiots have done, shall we?”

  I nodded, too filled with emotion to even try to speak.

  “Okay.” His hands dropped from my face. He took my hand in his again and together we entered the classroom.

  23

  Grayson

  “Oh, wow,” Mia gasped.

  “No kidding,” I agreed.

  The room had been transformed almost exactly how we’d decorated the gym, but someone had more money than we did because there had to be several hundred tea lights glowing on every surface. In the center of the room, a small table was decorated with paper plates, napkins, and cups for two. A pizza box sat between them as well as a metal bowl filled with ice and cans of soda. There was even a bouquet of fresh flowers and a speaker system playing Michael Buble.

  Other than the decorations and food, there was no trace of our friends in the room. They must have worked quickly.

  I turned to Mia, who had her hands pressed to her cheeks, and wondered what she might possibly be thinking about our friends and their matchmaking antics.

  “Are you hungry?”

  Mia laughed. “Are you ever not hungry?”

  I grinned. “Not very often if I’m being honest.”

  “It would sure be a shame to let that pizza go to waste.” Her smile was tentative and sweet and I wanted to kiss her right here and now. But regardless of the interference, I wasn’t sure Mia was ready for all that.

  “Yes, it would.” Letting go of her hand, I pulled out her chair with a flourish. “Have a seat, my lady.”

  Mia giggled. “You’re silly.” But she sat down, anyway.

  “What kind did they get us,” I asked sliding into my seat as she opened the pizza box.