SURPRISES

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Mackenzie looked at her reflection in her bedroom mirror as she put down the black tube of mascara. She smiled to herself before biting her bottom lip and fixing her hair once more. Mackenzie was the type to hook up with guys, not go on dates with them. She had been on the occasional date but they normally ended in awkward silences and boredom. But something about going on a date with Oliver made her think that it would end differently. He had promised her a surprise, and she still had absolutely no idea where they were going or what they were doing. She looked around her room to make sure it was empty and jumped up and down with excitement. Mackenzie loved a good surprise.

She sighed calming herself down and smoothed out the various components of her outfit. Since she had no idea what they were even doing she decided to dress nice, but not like she was going on the red carpet. Mackenzie had on her favorite pair of black peep toe pumps, a short white high-waisted skirt with a black belt, and a black v-neck t-shirt underneath. She was afraid that if she added jewelry she would be trying too hard so she stuck with tiny diamond studs in her ears and left it at that.

The fact that she hadn’t seen Oliver all day worried her a bit. He came in late at night and she had ditched school. Taking friendship shots with Alyssa and having a day to paint their nails and toes black trumped going to history class any day. Mackenzie smiled at herself in the mirror once more fixing her loose curls for the last time. She turned on her heel grabbing her clutch and poked her head out the door. “Oliver?” she called out into the hallway.

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Oliver had never really intended to ask Kenzie out. It just kind of happened. He wasn’t really sure how, but he didn’t regret it. Oliver was not the type that dated. Well, only if he thought it would lead to a good hook up afterward, and even then he wasn’t very fond of it because he didn’t like the idea of girls thinking he wanted a relationship when he really didn’t, not to mention there were lots of girls he could get without having to spend his money and bring them out.

Pretty much as soon as he had asked Kenzie out he had been planning their date together. He had figured it out early on what he was going to do with her. He wasn’t sure if she’d be all that impressed with his simple dinner and a movie date, but his version had a little bit of an unexpected twist. He had actually planned on bringing her to an arcade before he found out she had the holy grail of all game rooms. Instead, he was taking her to a restaurant he couldn’t afford, even with the money he had gotten from selling pot to a few of the younger students at school. But he had a way to get out of that.

Oliver had spent even longer in the bathroom than usual perfecting his hair. He hated how curly his hair was and did everything in his power to hide it, which usually meant a lot of brushing, blowdrying, and hairspray. He liked looking neat. What was wrong with that? He had decided to dress up a little for his date in an attempt to impress the lovely girl he was taking out. His dark vest and tie stood out against his white collared shirt. Black pants and shoes completed his outfit. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he had to admit he looked pretty good. He wandered out of the bathroom and sat down on the couch, spinning his keys around his finger. He hadn’t seen Kenzie all day, so finally getting the chance to take her out would be a treat.

He could hear her moving around behind her closed bedroom door. It took a little while, but she finally called down the hall for him. “I’m in the den,”

[/color] he called back. “Ready when you are.”[/color] He stood up and waited for her to come out.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Mackenzie mentally kicked herself for not just walking out of her room before. Coming out of her room she didn’t bother to close the door. In all honesty, she found closing any of her doors pointless. At one point she was going to have to go through them again. As she walked towards the den she couldn’t help but feel like she should’ve been walking down a set of stairs like in one of those cheesy movies, but at the same time she was happy she wasn’t. It had taken a while for Mack to find a good set up to her house, she had tried moving furniture and rooms around but now she was completely content.

Entering the den she almost had the urge to take a second look at Oliver. As he stood in front of her she couldn’t remember a time he had looked so….dressy. For a moment she felt like running back into her room to at least put on a necklace in an attempt to avoid being under dressed. However, she knew she was stuck now and that what she was wearing was good enough. She smiled looking at him still in a bit of amazement.

“Your looking good Olive,” she said pausing, “I didn’t mean to take a long time…” she added with her voice trailing off softly. Mackenzie’s fingers played with the bottom of her skirt nervously. She really had no idea what she was walking into. Plus, she felt bad that she hadn’t really talked to him since Kona’s accident. She didn’t mean to avoid him or anything, she had just had a lot on her mind. But Mack felt as though their date would make up for the lost time. She could feel her face starting to burn as her brown eyes took a good look at him. Mack stuck out her free hand for him to grab “Lead the way.”

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Oliver waited patiently, and when Kenzie entered the room, she didn’t disappoint. The girl was always sexy, but Oliver found her outfit a different kind of appetizing. She looked sexy, as always, but she looked dressy, too. Something about the outfit made her look older than she was, but he wasn’t complaining. In the back of his mind, Oliver complimented himself for finding such a fine specimen to take out. He still definitely wanted to tap that after the date, but he could wait. He wanted to make sure that everything went according to plan first.

Oliver couldn’t help but smirk as the girl checked him out. Even though they had been living together for a few days, this was one of the few outfits they had not seen each other in. He knew he looked good. He wondered if he should dress like this more often. He might get a whole different set of girls coming after him.

“Thanks. You’re looking fine yourself, Kenzie.”

[/color] Always pay the girl a compliment to start off the night. Girls liked compliments. You had to throw some backhanded ones in there to keep them interested and on edge, but the point was to keep them coming at all costs. It could only help your cause at the end of the night. He shook his head. “It’s fine. Definitely worth it,”[/color] he assured her. There was still enough time for them to make it to the restaurant before their reservation. Especially since Oliver took speed limits as more of a suggestion than a law.

Oliver took her hand and walked her out of the door, holding it open for her. Apparently there was still a small part of him that knew something of gentlemanly ways. He lead the way to the garage and opened the door to the passenger side of his car for her. Once she got in, he closed it and made his way to the driver’s side. His car wasn’t nearly as impressive as any of the others in the garage, but it wasn’t like he was going to be able to upgrade that for the night. He pulled out of the garage, changed gears, and they were on their way to the restaurant.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Outside of the car the city streets of Miami were flying by, and Mackenzie couldn’t help but look out the window and smile. She really did love Miami and how it looked as it rushed by her from inside Oliver’s car. Plus she liked how Oliver's car wasn't completely loaded with all the bells and whistles like the rest of the cars at her house. However, she was not a fan of silence. “So Olive, where’ve you been?” she asked still looking out the window. Mackenzie would hate to admit it, but she almost missed Oliver when he wasn’t scaring the daylights out of her in her own house or messing around in the gameroom. In fact for the last few days, things had been going really well. Oliver was just fun to be around because a part of Mackenzie knew that they were cut from the same cloth.

“I’d hate to think you’ve been wasting your time on other dates in your free time” she said with a smirk looking over at him from the passenger seat. She wrapped a curl around her finger and then let it go. Her brown eyes were searching the outside trying to figure out where in the world they were going but she was left blank. There were plenty of ideas whirling through her mind as to where they could go, but Miami was big and had more than enough places in it.

As her mind raced she wondered to herself how she ended up on a date with Oliver. She couldn’t even remember how the topic had come up. One minute he was in her house eating cake, the next they were on a date. The idea confused her because she knew neither one of them was known for dating. Mackenzie’s usual routine was school, some homework, party, hook up, party. Nowhere in there was there date, or have your friend move in. She wasn’t complaining though, it was nice for once to be in less of a competition with Oliver and to see him not be such an asshole. It was weird thinking they were on the same page for once.

[/center]

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Sunsets in Miami were pretty awesome. Especially if you got to watch them from the beach, or a house on the beach, or one of the little cafes with outdoor patios that overlooked the beach. It just made the sunsets look like paintings, perfectly reflected on the turquoise water. Even when you weren’t at the beach, sunsets in Miami were much more spectacular than anywhere else Oliver had been. They colored the sky orange, pink, purple, and sometimes a very deep red. It was like someone had spilled watercolors on the sky. So driving around Miami dusk was always fun to do, because behind the buildings were bursts of colors, and it made the city even more unreal than it already seemed to be.

He glanced over at the beautiful girl sitting next to him. She still seemed fascinated by everything that they passed. It was really very cute. He sat in the silence for a few moments, not really minding, but knowing by now that Kenzie wasn’t going to let it continue. He thought for a moment. Most of his time had been spend either checking up on Kona or trying to find some last minute ways to make some cash to finance this little outing. “Well I went to school today, unlike someone in this car.”

[/color] He was still trying to pull his grades up. College was his only chance of getting out of his house. “After that went over to a buddy’s house, did a little homework, had a beer, checked on Kona. I get the feeling that’s going to be happening a lot over the next few weeks. How about you? What did you do today?”[/color] He slowed to a stop at a red light and turned to look at her with a gentle smirk on his face. “Good girls don’t skip,”[/color] he told her playfully.

The light turned and he pressed on the gas, continuing on their journey. He laughed at her suggestion. “No worries there, Kenzie. You’re the only girl I’ve been on a date with in longer than I can remember.”[/color] He knew that they were both aware neither of them actually dated. Even before they knew each other, they both had reputations. “You’re the only girl I find good enough to ask out.”[/color] He grinned at her and began looking at the street signs, counting the blocks until they reached the turn that brought them to their destination. Four…three…two…one. He turned and went about a mile down the street before parking outside of a small, but very upscale café looking place. They served some delicious, fancy versions of American comfort food. They were close enough to the beach to smell the water.

He got out of the car and opened the door for Kenzie, offering her his hand to help her out of the car. Soft breezes were blowing as the sun finally disappeared fully. “Have you ever been here before?”[/color] Oliver questioned, motioning to the restaurant behind him.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Mackenzie couldn’t help but laugh as Oliver pointed out her lack of attendance at school that day. “Sounds like you had some adventure” she teased as she thought about her day. Mack had actually woken up early, gotten dressed for school, and was just about to unlock her car to leave when she received a last minute text. Then of course, she went right back inside and got ready for a better day at home. She knew she probably should have gone because she missed out on the math review, and she was horribly pathetic at math, but once Alyssa came over broke out the nail polish and friendship shots there was no going back. Plus, she had tried to call Kona to see how she was doing and if she needed anything. “Me? I took friendship shots of vodka, painted my nails, and finished an essay. You know, nothing too exciting” she said easily.

Mackenzie caught his gaze at the red light and smiled. “It’s a good thing I’ve never been much of a good girl ” she said lightly back. However, Mack knew that it was partially true. She had her shining moments of being a “good girl”, but good girls didn’t do half of the things that she did. Good girls usually went to school, avoided getting smashed at a party, and didn’t hook up with guys for the hell of it. But Mackenzie liked to think that she was a good mix of both, she knew when enough was enough…most of the time.

Mack looked around once again as the light turned and they were in motion once more. She loved the way cars felt, the way you could feel everything that was going on. You could feel the change of gears and when the car accelerated you could feel it in the pit of your stomach. Mackenzie was a sucker for a fast car; she found the speed and power completely exhilarating. It didn’t even have to be some luxurious European car that was crazy expensive, it was amazing what you could do with an aftermarket Honda or VW. But her knowledge of cars was something she tended to keep to herself.

She listened as he commented on dating, and even though he pulled her heartstrings with his little grin, there were thousands of snide remarks that popped into her head. It was really the “good enough” part that made her jaw tense slightly. But as the car stopped and Oliver opened the door and offered his hand to her, Mackenzie’s face softened. As she took his hand to get out and closed the car door, things in her mind instantly clicked because Mackenzie knew exactly where she was.

The soft breeze that made its way over from the beach made her hair rustle a bit. The smell of salt water was everywhere and the sun had finally disappeared leaving the sky a beautiful shade of blue. An excited smile crossed Mackenzie’s face because she was extremely surprised. She almost felt like taking her phone out of her clutch and taking a picture, it was practically a Kodak moment. Mackenzie looked at Oliver in disbelief. “Olive, you’re joking! You can’t be serious!” she exclaimed looking from the little restaurant back to him. “But no…I’ve never been here before.” Mackenzie said, her brown eyes looking into his hazel ones.

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Oliver was genuinely pleased with her reaction. The he was taking her was relatively new to Miami, but he had seen ads for it almost everywhere he went. And according to the online review it was really good. Not to mention that he actually had been there before when his family celebrated his older brother’s birthday with his grandparents and his father present. 24 Spots was the name of the restaurant. Oliver couldn’t help but pat himself on the back for his selection. He got the feeling there weren’t many places in Miami that she hadn’t been.

“I must have a pretty good sense of humor,”

[/color] he teased. He walked her to the entrance and began going over the plan in his head. Oliver knew that he wasn’t going to keep getting lucky with impressing Kenzie since he already knew he wasn’t going to be able to pay for the meal. And asking Kenzie to help him out would be like the kiss of death. Still, he had a plan for that. Not a very good one, but it would get the job done. He knew how to cover his tracks.

“After you,”[/color] he said, holding the door open for her and motioning inside. The hostess smiled at them. The place was just brighter than dimly lit, but it was very small and intimate with little candles on each of the tables. It was better for a date than the pictures on their websites had showed. There was soft chatter among the people, mostly couples, already there. “Hayes. Party of two.”[/color] The hostess looked down and nodded, then grabbed two menus and asked the couple to follow her. She lead them to a table near the back window and smiled as she placed the menus down.

Oliver pulled out Kenzie’s seat for her before taking the seat across the table. He smiled at her and said, “Olive didn’t do too bad, did he?”[/color]
[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

As Mackenzie looked around, she suddenly felt skeptical. She didn’t want to say anything but there was something that made her feel like things were too good to be true. For the moment, she was going to ignore the feeling in effort not to jinx things. Mack looked around the restaurant, it was small but very cute and the candles on the tables were a nice touch. As she observed she saw a couple sitting on the same side of the table and she could feel her annoyance growing. It was an odd pet peeve to have, but she just couldn’t stand couples sitting on the same side. It was weird, and ruined any chance of a romantic vibe. Her eyes rolled slightly at his comment, “You’re doing good, so far.” she said as she crossed her legs and put her napkin on her lap.

Their waitress came over to take their drink order and returned shortly after. Mackenzie took a small sip of her water as she opened her menu. She looked it over once then twice and had no idea what she even wanted for dinner. But during her second look at the menu, her curiosity grew. She had recalled Oliver complaining about having to pay for piercings for Kona about a week ago and as she looked at the menu she could feel her eyebrow arch a bit. Looking over at him she took another sip of her water. “Well Olive, you came through and surprised me. How’d you come up with such an extravagant idea?” she inquired with a straight face. She didn’t want to let on to the fact that she was starting to think things through. For all she knew Oliver really did rob a bank.

Mackenzie was about to open her mouth to speak again when she heard a soft audible vibration coming from her clutch. She bit her bottom lip as she opened the clutch to shut up the buzzing. She quickly opened her clutch, turned her phones screen on and off to stop the notification noise, and tossed the phone back inside as she put her clutch back on the table. Mack could honestly care less about what Facebook notification or email she had gotten. As she looked back up their adorable but slightly annoying waitress had returned wanting to take their order. Mack looked at her for a moment; she had short blonde hair in a ponytail, and a tattoo around her wrist. In a weird way, their waitress looked familiar, but Mackenzie knew that tons of people looked familiar in Miami.

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Oliver wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do in a formal situation. He tried to avoid them as much as possible, but he figured that this was definitely more Kenzie’s taste, so he was going to suck it up and deal. He glanced over the menu a couple times and took in all of the options. He chuckled to himself. He loved all of the fancy names for not very fancy food. They had somehow managed to come up with a dressy name for meatloaf, chicken tenders, mac and cheese, and almost every other classic American comfort food you could think of. Oliver was a simple kind of guy, so as he glanced over the menu a few more times, he figured he wanted a simple kind of meal.

Oliver leaned back in his seat and watched Kenzie. He wondered if she was starting to get suspicious. “I’m full of surprises,”

[/color] he replied simply. He still wasn’t giving anything away. After all, this was only part one of the night. Oliver watched as Kenzie checked her phone and found himself not at all offended by it. His phone was tucked into his back pocket, on silent. He figured it would be much more polite if he didn’t check his phone during the meal. It wasn’t like he got any really interesting text messages, anyway. He wasn’t the type of teenager that needed to be on their phone twenty-four hours a day. He’d do fine without it for a couple of hours.

The waitress came over, ready to take their order. Oliver glanced over at Kenzie and decided to place his order first. He glanced down at the menu so he could read the name exactly. “I’m going to have the fried chicken tenderloin with mashed potatoes and roasted corn.” He watched as the waitress scribbled down his order and closed his menu. He watched Kenzie patiently. Once she ordered, the waitress forced a smile and took their menus. She glanced down at the table and said, “I’ll bring some rolls out for you.” Then she disappeared back into the kitchen.

“When was the last time you were on a date?” Oliver asked, curious as to what her response was. For some reason he couldn’t imagine Kenzie going on a date. She just wasn’t the dating type. So he couldn’t help but be curious about the story.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Mackenzie found herself unsatisfied with his vague answers. Of course Oliver was full of surprises, but it was a complete dodge to her question. She pushed away the annoyance she could feel bubbling up inside though. Dates were supposed to be fun and happy, and her causing one of their classic verbal arguments would be pointless. She would just have to take his vague answer as it was.

She looked up at the waitress and listened to Oliver’s order. The whole time he was talking she still had no idea what she was getting. “I’ll just have the chicken caesar salad.” She told the waitress. She mentally kicked herself, a chicken caesar salad was the best she could come up with? She didn’t even mean to say that she wanted a chicken ceasar salad, she really wanted a cheeseburger. Of course, in the long run it would only help her stay in shape for her marathon. And the rolls, were a huge temptation, but she told herself she couldn’t do it. The carbs were something she should avoid if she wanted to win.

His next question threw her off. Out of all the things that Oliver could ask, she would’ve never expected him to ask about her last date. There was so much Oliver didn't know about her.

Her last date had been their last day of junior year with her almost-boyfriend Matt. To be honest, the idea of her almost having a legitimate boyfriend weirded her out. Matt was the only person she didn’t really talk to anyone about. Their near relationship was nearly a secret and it ended in the blink of an eye. Mack wasn’t the dating type, she was no good at relationships, she partied hard, and hooked up with random people. She honestly didn’t think she could even be in a relationship. But Matt kept pushing her, he kept telling Mackenzie that he didn’t want to be another hook up for her. He wanted to give her more. Finally, she gave him a chance. They had gone to lunch once or twice and met at the park but Mack was still on edge. On the last day of school he had taken her to the carnival that was on the boardwalk and things were actually looking promising before Matt started asking too many questions. He wanted to be serious, in a relationship, but she couldn’t do it. They got in a fight because he was tired of Mack putting her guard up, and there was no way she could fathom letting someone in. The last date she went on was pretty much a disaster.

Thinking about her last date made her head hurt. Hooking up was so much easier, there was a reason Mackenzie didn’t date. She didn’t like putting herself in situations where she was emotionally vulnerable. Eventually she looked back up at Oliver after her quick moment of spacing out. “Like. Last year or something. It’s been a long time” she said passively as she wrapped one of her long curls around her finger. “I don’t go out on a date unless it’s with someone that’s worth it.” she said casually.

Mackenzie smiled at the waitress as she dropped off their food and the minute she went away she rolled her eyes. That damn salad was huge, and she knew she’d really have to try to eat all of it. “Funny thing is, I didn’t actually want a salad.” she said thinking out loud.

[/center]

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Oliver wasn’t really good at the whole dating thing. Actually, he had been surprised that he had managed to come up with such a cute plan for their date. Although it was a little too ambitious for his budget, he was still oddly proud of himself. It reminded him that he could do pretty much whatever the hell he wanted if he really wanted to do it. It gave him a little bit of hope for getting into some college that could get him out of his house, even though he still had no idea in the slightest how he was going to pay for it.

Looking around, Oliver found himself suddenly flooded with memories of the last time he was here. As usual, he had been ignored for the most part. His father wasn’t in the greatest condition, but he had been happy to get out of the hospital. Plus, it was Wallie’s birthday. Mostly Oliver just sat there and looked at other people. He considered flirting with the waitress, but he got the feeling that his grandparents wouldn’t appreciate it, and they had been nice to him when they paid attention to him. Plus, he was still on the younger side at the time, and the waitress was probably at least twenty-two. Not that that would have stopped him most of the time.

He chuckled as Kenzie used his own line on him. “I think you made a good choice,”

[/color] he complimented. After all, he had brought her here, somewhere she did seem excited to go, and had successfully surprised her. There were plenty of ways to screw up the night, but so far he was pulling it off.

The waitress placed the food in front of them. Oliver looked down at six crispy chicken strips, two scoops of mashed potatoes, and a large, roasted corn on the cob. He hoped the food was as good as he remembered, because he remembered it being delicious. He glanced over at Kenzie’s food, then up at her. “What did you want?”[/color] Oliver asked, curious. If he hadn’t seen Kenzie eat almost half of an entire chocolate funfetti cake, he would have thought she did eat like a rabbit.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Mackenzie poked her fork into her salad and laughed a little before answering. “A cheeseburger. They had that one that sounded a lot like a Whopper. But...a salad’s a better idea for winning my marathon” she said before taking a few bites. Even though it wasn’t a burger, it was still pretty good. Mack was almost always eating whether it was an apple or cupcakes, and it made her laugh hysterically when people thought she had some sort of eating disorder.

Looking around the restaurant Mack observed all the other people sitting and eating at a romantic candlelit dinner. They were all around their age or older and looked like they were having serious conversations. There was hand holding and smiling, and those stupid people sitting on the same side. Mackenzie couldn’t help but think they looked out of place next to all the couples around them. Mack looked back to Oliver and cracked a smile. She took another bite of her salad and picked up a piece of lettuce.

She looked from left to right quickly to see if anyone was paying attention and then threw it at him from across the table. She really didn’t know what possessed her to do so, but she couldn’t take all the quiet and she flung a second piece at him. “I’m sorry!” she choked out in between fits of laughter. She took another look around, relieved that no one had been watching them.

[/center]

[OLIVER APOLLO HAYES]

Oliver shook his head slightly as he looked across the table at her. The girl had a great body. Somehow it blew his mind that she ate actual food like cheeseburgers and cake. But then he remembered that she ran, and she ran more than any other person that he had ever known, and then it made sense how she could keep her gorgeous body and still eat like a normal person. He chuckled as he imagined her eating a cheeseburger. “Do you eat cheeseburgers the way you eat cake?”

[/color] he asked, recalling how happy she had been eating their experimental cake. “I think you could win the marathon even if you ate a cheeseburger,”[/color] Oliver assured her.

Oliver wasn’t expecting to get Kenzie’s meal thrown at him. He looked up at her, half playfully glaring as she flinged a piece of lettuce at him. What had he done to start a food fight? When she tossed the second piece at him, Oliver glanced down to see what he could throw at her, but found nothing suitable. “Sure you are, Kenzie. You’re lucky I don’t have flingable food. But if you want a war, I’ll work with what I have.”[/color] Oliver really didn’t care if anyone looked. He was glad that she seemed happy, but he had a competitive streak in him that wasn’t going to go away just because they were in a fancy restaurant.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[MACKENZIE MAY BURTON]

Mackenzie began to blush with embarrassment as he brought up the cake. “Of course I do. Who doesn’t love a good burger?” she inquired before taking another bite of her salad.
Thinking about the marathon made Mack feel uneasy. She still didn’t have her mile down to a time she was comfortable with yet and she was convinced she needed to be quicker to win.

It wasn’t that she was just competitive this time, her dire need to win the marathon went back to her family. If she won, they’d notice her. They’d notice that their daughter did something they could be proud of. It wouldn’t be, “Oh Mackenzie got suspended from school”, “Your daughter was given a ticket for speeding”, or anything like that. This time it would be “Congratulations, you must be so proud of your daughter for winning”, the thought made Mackenzie smile. If she won, she would be noticed. She wouldn’t just be the child they never meant to have.

“A war? Don’t you want me alive for the rest of our date?” she asked innocently. If it was her she would have started picking off pieces of corn.

ooc: pretty sucky, sorry!