Rick

Rick honks his car horn for a good five seconds when he pulls up to Charlotte's house to signal he's there to pick them up for tonight's date. He wasn't going to go knock on the door, talk to her dad, wait patiently for them like a good boyfriend would. No, not a good boyfriend. Not the bring-home-to-Dad kind, the hold-the-doors-for-his-partner kind. That wasn't him. Not a horrible boyfriend, but not that great, either. But Charlotte hadn't dumped him...yet. At least that was something.

Rick had somehow kept their relationship alive for Charlotte for a full year. It wasn't perfect by any means. They'd broken up and gotten back together countless times, argued all the time, and Rick treated them like shit. But he genuinely liked Charlotte, and didn't want to lose Charlotte, even though he made little effort to keep them close. Charlotte was all he had in this shitty, goddamn town. His father was constantly involved with his stepmother and stepdaughter, leaving no room for Rick. So he'd do whatever it took to keep Charlotte.

Last week, he and Charlotte had gotten into a horrible argument, which left them both breaking up once again, but of course, as always, Rick came crawling back, begging for forgiveness like the pathetic worm he was, and Charlotte took him back like they always did. This little date was Charlotte's shitty way of making it up to him.

Rick perks up when he sees Charlotte coming out of her house, heading toward Rick's incredible corvette. She smoothed her hair and turned down the radio before they entered, giving them a forced smile.

“Hey,” he said, leaning in to kiss them after they settled into the passenger seat next to him. God, it was awkward as hell, and he was sure Charlotte was still mad at him.