He simply couldn’t believe it.

He didn’t. It had been days since the last time he called Penelope, but it still didn’t feel real to him. It had taken him so much time to gather up the courage to even call her and it was only after the pressure he received from Mikey that he had even called her. Granted, it was all a ploy from his brother to make a fool of him, and yet, it backfired, but in a good kind of backfired. As in, it worked in Scott’s favor that Mikey did that as it turned out to be the most interesting kind of icebreaker on the topic.

Scott Erlea could almost relive the entire conversation in his head if he wanted to, but there was simply no time for that. Not when he had his overly excited father dragging him from one thrift store to the other like a giddy school girl whose best friend’s been invited to the prom. It was nice that his father was helping him out right now and it wasn’t often that he had all of this alone time with his old man, but he had to admit that it was the slightest bit embarrassing that he was all but gushing over him, but it certainly beat having to try and do all of this stuff on his own.

Even as they hit their third thrift store, Scott was eternally grateful that his dad was so onboard with the idea of his son going out on a date and wasn’t quick to joke or tease him about it, at least not on purpose, anyway. No, his father took jabs at him throughout the process, but he couldn’t tell it wasn’t in earnest nor intentional, even when at times he did go a little too far.

Without warning, more clothes was thrusted into his hands and with such force that his father almost toppled him over, but somehow, Scott managed to keep his balance, for once saving himself from what would have been a completely embarrassing situation. Or, rather, a slightly more embarrassing situation as he could hear his dad clapping his hands together with glee from behind the mountain of clothes. Finally, he raised his voice in objection, though he did his best not to take away from his father’s fun. “You sure this is necessary? It’s a lot of clothes, and it’s only going to be one date…”

“NONSENSE, Scottie. I want you to look your best for your first date ever, and even if we can’t afford to get you a fancy tuxedo, you’re going to wow her -so- much that she’ll want more dates, and you can’t wear the same outfit on every date, right?” His father ushered him into the fitting room, not caring if his voice carried or if they earned the undivided attention of other patrons in the store, much to Scott’s dismay. “Now go try those one! I’d give you the suit I wore on my first date if you weren’t a beanstalk of a kid… not sure where you get the height from!”

What else could Scott do? He had hoped that he could absorb at least a fraction of his father’s confidence and enthusiasm for this date… he wanted to go on this date with Penelope, more than he wanted to do many things in his life right now, but it was just in the teen’s mind to expect the worst in a situation. He waited until he was locked away in the dressing room before he let out a soft sigh, looking at the pathetic form of himself at the window and quickly throwing an oversized coat over it, to make it feel less awkward in there. “Yeah, tall and still as pathetic as ever… she’s only doing this to be nice to me. Who could possibly be desperate enough to like me?”

((Word count: 652))