Underage

[2] Finally Out

Underage

[2] Finally Out

Being seventeen is an entire three-hundred-and-sixty-five days of being too old to be considered a child but too young to be considered an adult. I can't vote yet, I can't get into a club, and I can't even buy a scratch-off ticket at a gas station. Let alone do anything with alcohol. And, since it's twenty minutes to the city where the college—and just about everything else—is located, we pretty much stick to our small town.

So, it's no surprise that Grace and I find ourselves in the circular corner booth of Taco Bell every day after school. The first day of the rest of our lives is no exception. It's the biggest table in the restaurant, and the only one where we can both sit on our respective sides and still charge our phones. It where Grace and I do our homework during happy hour, when drinks are only a dollar and the cute boy behind the counter gives us free tacos. There's nothing better. Except when Grace brings along her new boyfriend, who would rather focus on his girlfriend's lips than on food or conversation.

And then, because Cooper Daniels is so thoughtful, he brings along his only friend to keep me from third wheeling.

Ethan sends me a smile, sliding into the booth beside me. He places his arm behind my head, his free hand on my thigh, and his lips briefly on my neck. The cute boy, Trevor, who works here brings over our food. The blonde boy sends me a shy smile and I return it.

"Eyes off my girl, Green."

Trevor immediately looks away from me with his cheeks flushing, muttering a soft sorry and going back to work. "I am not your girl."

"Do we always have to fight about this?" Ethan asks, fishing out his favorite silver flash from an inside pocket of his leather jacket. He noisily unscrews the top, takes a gulping drink, and returns it to his jacket.

"If you would just stop scaring away guys, that would be great."

"You would really go on a date with Trevor Green?"

I look towards the worker, who's ringing up a customer. His attention is focused solely on the cash register in front of him. He takes the money from the older woman ordering and the drawer pops out, knocking him in the stomach. Ethan laughs, his sound filling the room.

Trevor ducks his head, no doubt blushing. Cooper and Grace separate, with both their lips red and swollen. Ethan's best friend rolls his eyes before letting a small laugh escape.

I punch Ethan's arm. He turns to me with his eyebrow raised.

"You know what I think?"

"I don't care."

He ignores the words coming out of my mouth. "I think that if Trevor Green asked you out on a date, you would say yes, because you would feel sorry for him. He—this being his first date—wouldn't know what to do with you. He wouldn't know where to take you, so he'd settle for the cliché dinner and a movie. He'd listen to you talk all night, never wanting to talk about himself because he wouldn't know when to stop. He does get flustered around pretty girls. Then, he wouldn't know if he should choose a girly romantic movie for you or a scary one. He's debating whether it's worse to look like a pathetic little girl if he chooses the romantic one, or a pathetic little girl when he's crawling into your lap over a scary movie. So he'll choose the romantic one, because at least then he can play it off like he was doing this for you. But you'll sit through the entire movie distracting yourself with the popcorn so he doesn't try to kiss you in the back row, because that's what he's seen in the movies and that's all he can think about. The feeling of his lips on yours. Then the movie's over, his clammy hand is in yours as he leads you back to his piece of shit car so he can drive you home. When he gets there, you sit in an awkward silence until you tell him that you had a great night. He leans in to kiss you, but you turn your head so he only kisses your cheek. He's now feeling rejected, and starts to blush, and you get the hell out of there. How did I do?"