Kat picked me up.

That Friday night, I applied my Midnight Merlot, a darker shade of lipstick I hoped would play well with my skin tone. I then finished off applying the rest of my makeup and I took a step back and checked over my work. It wasn't bad, my eyelashes were nice and full, and my light brown eyes popped as much as I could get them too with the eye shadow Gwen pick out. Satisfied with my makeup, I checked to make sure my hijab was in place. I was wearing the satin blue one with silver embroidery. It was one of my favorites. Not quite as sexy as the red one with black lace, but not as timid and safe as my tan, or white hijabs. Besides, my dress was already black, so the neither of my black hijabs would work. No, blue was a good pick for tonight.

I finished up, slipped into my shoes, and grabbed my purse. Taking one final moment to relax with a deep breath, I stepped out into the world, locking the door behind me. I lived on the second floor of a small apartment at the time. It wasn't large, with only four families who lived there. Yes I had to go down the street to wash my clothes but it was a nice place and felt like home.

As I walked down the stairs towards the main door, I came across one of the other tenants. Mrs. Cunningham, an older woman who lived with her husband in the apartment below me. She was always nice to me, more so than her husband. Her husband was nice, don't get me wrong, but he always glared at me. I liked to think that it was just his resting face, not necessarily a grudge against me.

Mrs. Cunningham smiled at me. "Oh, Sarah. How good to see you?" Why can't American's just use my name? "Oh look at you today, do you have a date or something?"

I could feel myself blushing "I, actually do."

"OOOH How wonderful!" She squealed. "What kind of guy is he? I've always wondered what type of guy would catch your eye."

Why would she wonder that? "What makes you think they caught my eye?"

She smiled "Look at you, you must get a lot of requests for dates." That was clearly NOT true. "I'll give you some advice though, show a little ankle if you really want to keep them around. Trust me."

A quick change of dresses later I was walking out into the cool night air of a Midwestern fall. The street lights hadn't turned on yet, but the sun was setting. The smell of the changing leaves was wonderful. I stood there taking it in, confident that my date for the night wouldn't be there for a little bit. An assumption shattered when I heard "Fariha, you're here," Oh I love hearing her say my name.

I turned to see Kat, wearing dress slacks, some very nice flats, and a white button down sleeveless dress shirt with red tie. Where did she even get that shirt? "Kat. You look, lovely tonight."

Kat grinned as she slipped on a fedora I didn't even notice her holding. "Well, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black." she walked up to me and caressed my face. "You're looking great Fariha."

I grinned at her, and took the time to straiten her tie. "Mmm, I love when you say my name." Done with her tie, I checked her shoulders "I've never seen you dressed up before. You should do it more often." THIS time, no bra straps. Was I actually disappointed?

She giggled a moment "Keep letting me take you out, and I'll dress like this more." I blushed a bit at this. She just giggled then nodded at the bench she was just sitting on. "I got you some things." She pulled up a bouquet of flowers, and...

"Is that a plush snake?"

"But look at how cute she is!" she defended. The plushy was cute, but she'd called me 'Hooded Sand Viper' for almost a year.

"Um..." I sighed and kissed the snake on the head "I guess welcome to the family."

"I can wait for you to put these inside, or we can keep them in the car if you'd like. It's entirely up to you."

Feeling a little nervous about Mrs. Cunningham seeing Kat, I figured the car was probably better. As we walked to the car, Kat nervously placed a hand on my hip. "I... I love your shoes tonight." I leaned in closer to her, and took the compliment. These were the same shoes I wore the night we first made love. I'm sure she didn't even notice them last time with how long my skirt was.

Kat's car was some sort of 4 door car, but very tiny considering that. It was also, not super clean, with a couple bras in the back seat, and I would accidentally find a box of condoms in the glove box later on, minor spoiler warning... As Kat drove she explained to me "I thought we'd start with something I've always wanted to try."

"What's that?"

She rolled up to a parking lot for a small park in town. "A walk in the park with someone nice."