PINKY PROMISE ; CLEARWATER

VI.

"'HEY SETH, ARE  you free tomorrow afternoon?' Does that sound okay? It kind of makes me sound desperate, doesn't it?" Nicole asked as she was pacing across her room, her phone in hand. "Come on Cecelia, help me."

Cecelia sat on her bed, Nastya, the family dog laying with her there and Vivian, Nicole's six year old sister, was petting her. "I don't get why you're so nervous. It's not like you're texting the president, just send this message, even if you would spell his name wrong, he wouldn't notice because he's gonna be too happy at the prospect of meeting up with you outside of school."

Nicole threw herself on her desk chair, "I don't even know it myself, maybe I don't want to make a fool out of myself."

"Come on, give me your phone," Cecelia said as she stood up and leaned on the desk. When she got the phone, she started typing, "Okay, we'll just write, 'Hi, are you free tomorrow?' and then we'll think of what to do next. How does that sound?"

"Good," Nicole and Vivian responded at the same time. The older one of the two looked at her younger sister, "What are you even doing here? Go outside and play with Maya."

Huffing, Vivan crossed her arms over her chest, "No, I don't want to. I want to know more about your boyfriend."

Giving up, Nicole laid her head on her desk, why has her life become so stressful? "He's not my boyfriend, Vivi."

Vivian just looked at her older sister in disbelief and continued petting Nastya, still listening in on the conversation.

"He responded," Cecelia said, "Damn, that was quick."

"What did he write?" Nicole asked, her head shooting up, looking at her best friend and Vivian petted her dog slower, concentrating on Cecelia's words.

Cecelia read over the response in silence and furrowed her brows. "'I have a game at three but other than that I have nothing to do.' That's good right?"

Nicole nodded her head, "Yes that's good. Now what should we write next?"

"How about you just ask him to do whatever you wanted to do with him," Cecelia suggested, giving the phone back to Nicole.

There was a silence as the tall girl looked at her phone. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about what you two could do?"

"Uhm, I just wanted to meet up with him. I have no idea where or what we could do. What do you do when you meet up with a boy?" Nicole asked, her eyes wide as she looked at her best friend and then over to her sister, for whatever reason.

Suddenly the door opened and Nicole's twin sisters entered the room. "We heard everything. Let us help, Nikki."

Maya, the older one went over and snatched the phone out of Nicole's hand. Meanwhile Olivia sat down on the carpet, crossing her legs over.

"What? No! Get out, you two are thirteen. What do you know about dates?" Nicole asked, being a bit fed up with her younger sisters who always found a way to meddle in her life.

Olivia looked at her sister with a dead expression, "I had more boyfriends up until now than you'll ever have in your life, so I'd say I know a few things."

Cecelia and Nicole exchanged a look, not entirely sure if that should be considered a good thing.

"Maya, give me the phone please," Olivia instructed her twin. "Okay, good. You want to meet up tomorrow and he has a game. We can work with that."

The twins began whispering among each other, ignoring everyone else in the room. Cecelia leaned over to Nicole, "Are you sure we should let them have your phone?"