Let Me Explain

T W E N T Y T H R E E

"TEN. No later than." I held the phone up to my ear while I nodded my head. "I know."

"I'm serious," My dad continued, clarifying himself as much as possible to make sure I understood him. "Go to the game and come back. Straight home."

"Okay."

"Enjoy yourself." He finally concluded, ending the conversation. "Don't stay out late or make the wrong choice."

"I won't." I took the phone off my ear and used my thumb to hang up. I put my phone in the pocket of the sweatpants I wore.

Easton stood in front of me. His hands were in the pockets of his gray sweatpants. He wore his college hoodie and his black hair was ruffled from the breeze that passed through.

His brown eyes found mine while he waited for a response. "What did he say?"

"I have to be back before ten."

Ten wasn't late compared to other people's curfews around my age, but it was three hours later than my usual one, so I was in fact grateful for it.

Easton opened the back door to the white Tahoe and waited for me to get in. "We'll make that happen."

I climbed inside the car and slid over to the middle. Easton moved in after and closed the door behind me. He sat next to me, right behind the passenger side. Blankets and bags were on the other side of me.

The softball game against Cypress was today and our school had decided to allow students to attend the game. It was about two hours away in Palmdale.

The buses were lined up outside the school and anyone was allowed to go. You just had to have ten dollars to get into the game and a permission slip.

I was supposed to ride the bus there, but Easton and his parents offered to take me. It shouldn't have made a difference since it was the same distance and the same place, but I let my parents know just in case they were to find out somehow.

"I'm so glad you can ride with us," Mrs Caroline smiled as she looked back. Her straight, black hair was resting over the crew neck she was wearing. It had our school colors on it. "You haven't been in the car with us in forever."

I put on my seatbelt. "I think the last time was when we went to the lake."

The car started to move, leaving out of the school parking lot before the buses. I assumed that they wanted to get there before the players would show up. It would be easier to get seats since most of the other cars here were trailing behind the buses.

Mr Ruben had one hand on the wheel while his other was resting against the armrest. He looked exactly like Easton when he drove, just an older version. "You need to come back. We got a new boat."

"It's a Tige z3" Mrs Caroline held a plastic bag in the tips of her fingertips, waiting for one of us to reach and grab it.

Easton leaned up and took it from her. He opened the plastic bag and looked through it.

I raised my hand up and moved all my hair over to one shoulder. "What happened to the other one?"

"We still kept it since its a 2014 model and that's still fairly new." Mrs Caroline turned one of the air vents to her side. "But the one at the boat show looked really nice, so why not."