Far

seventeen

I pull on a baby pink dress that stops mid-thigh, it's tight at the top and flares out, with an open back. I decide to curl my hair and keep it down, to not expose too much of my back.

Applying light makeup, Lili hands me my flats with a bright smile.

"Are you excited? Nervous?" She asks.

"Both?" I laugh, "I have never been on a date before, what if I do something wrong?"

She makes a face, "You are going to be perfectly fine. It's not as bad as you think it is."

"Were you nervous for your first date with Cole?" I ask.

She nods her head, "Of course! But I think he was more nervous, he has this thing of playing with a strand of his hair when he's anxious. The whole night, from start to finish, his fingers were playing with that strand."

I laugh, and her story somehow eases a bit of my nerves.

I look at myself one last time in the mirror, I look nice, and I feel my confidence level rises. It doesn't ease the rest of my nerves, but I feel better about myself, at least.

My phone vibrates, and there's a text from Colton saying he's walking into our dorm building.

I grab my purse, and look at Lili for one final check.

"He's gonna drool over how good you look. Text me if you need anything, okay? We'll come to you," she says as there's a knock on the door.

I open it and I'm greeted with roses and pearly white smile from Colton. His smile is a bit lopsided, in the cutest way, and his short hair is pushed back, showing the waves of his hair.

"Hi," I smile as I take the flowers from his hands and place them on the bed.

"I will need to find a vase for those, thank you." I blush.

"You l-look stunning," He stutters, "Are you ready?"

I nod my head and wave goodbye to Lili. He opens the door for me when we reach the car and I silently pray I don't slip getting into his car.

He gets into the drivers side and pull out of the parking lot. There's music playing quietly through the speakers, a song I never heard of but my found myself tapping along to on my legs.

I look out the window and see that the sky is turning the slightest shades of pink and orange, the sun saying goodbye and the moon making her arrival.

He eventually pulls into a parking lot, I can hear music coming from the inside.

"Where are we?" I ask, looking over at him.

He gives me a grin, "Do you know how to line dance?"

My mouth hangs open, and he laughs, taking two fingers and pushing my jaw up.

"Darlin', it's not that bad. I promise," he gets out.

I meet him and we walk towards the wooden door, he pushes it open. The inside looks nothing like the out, the inside resembles what would be a barn. There's a bar in the back, and there's tables placed throughout. In the middle, there's a giant open space, for what I am assuming to be, line dancing.

"What is this?" I ask as he leads me to a table.

"Something new," he shrugs and smiles.

I laugh and roll my eyes. This is new for me, all of it is. I've never been on a date and my nerves are through the roof. Adding on the fact that we're at some barn? But it's not a barn?

I'm taken out of my thoughts when Colton asks me if I want a drink.

"I don't drink alcohol," I say.

"They have soft drinks," he informs me.

"Mountain Dew?"

Good job, Ari, the worst soft drink you can have is what you go with? Idiot.

He nods his head and leaves to go get them. I observe all the little details of the place, the stage lights lighting up most of the room.

He comes back not long after, handing me my drink, and sitting back down.

"When does all of the line dancing start?" I ask.

He looks at his watch, "Five minutes. Are you ready to dance?"

I widen my eyes, "What?"

"Did you think I just brought you here to watch? You're doing it, girl."

"I can't dance!"

"I'll teach you, I'll be right there with you," he reassures me.

And he was right, five minutes later everyone started to gather in the center, and the music started playing to a song I didn't know. Colton grabbed my hand as he started to move his feet to the left. Laughing, I tried to follow him.

After the first song I started to get the hang of it, and it wasn't as hard the first time. We moved in sync with everyone else, in circles and to the side. Everyone was smiling and it was hard to not as well.

Sweat forms at the top and I'm quick to put my hair up in a ponytail to keep up with everyone else. Colton stops and looks at me, his pearly white smile on display. He grabs my waist and lifts me up, doing a quick spin before putting me down and continuing on.

We sit down after awhile, and leave shortly after that.

"You weren't too bad out there," Colton laughs as we get in the car.

"That was defiantly new," I smile.

"You really do look beautiful tonight."

I blush, "Thank you."

He leans over and places a kiss on my forehead before driving off.

We're on the road for a few minutes before I spot something, a bar. It's not just a bar, there's karaoke and I hear the bad singing.

"Can we go there?" I ask.

He looks over, "The karaoke bar?"

I nod.

He pulls into the parking lot and I don't hesitate to jump out. He's quick to come to my side and open the door for me as we walk in.

Neon lights blind me as I make my way in, green and purple being the most prominent. You can tell people are drunk, and some don't bother to look our way. Slurred words are coming from the older guy singing, and everyone's clapping.

"I want to sing," I say to Colton.

His eyes widen, "Sing?"

"Yeah."

"You sing? Why didn't I know that?"

"Not many people do. How do I sign up?"

Suddenly, everyone is starting to find you it seems.

"I'll do it, what song do you want?"

"Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift?"

Literally pulled that one from the back of my mind. I haven't listened to Taylor Swift in so long, do I even remember how the song goes?

He nods his head before making his way over to the DJ.

I can't help but feel like someone is watching me. I look around but I don't see anyone looking. Maybe I'm just paranoid, or nervous. I shake the thought away and wait for Colton to come back.

"You're a mystery, Grande," he says as he grabs my hand.

A few short minutes later, my name is called.

Colton squeezes my hand and tells me I'll do just fine. I smile back at him and take my hair out of my ponytail before making my way to the microphone.

That's when I see him.