Changing With Autumn

Chapter 14

Time had gone by too quickly and 7 o’clock was rapidly approaching. After the game I spent my drive home rehearsing what story I was going to tell my parents and preparing answers to any questions I thought they would have. This was new terrain for me. I hadn’t brought home any friends other than Erika and until recently, there had never been a boy in my life to bring home. The fact that there even was a boy in my life was very much to my dad’s displeasure so I was anxious tonight. No way worse than being anxious, I was in complete panic mode. 

The talk didn’t go over well either and my preparation had gone out the window when the fight ensued between me and my dad. I was thankful when my mom had stepped in to defend me and basically gave me the go ahead. This resulted in my dad planted in his recliner with his arms crossed staring at the door and looking like a very upset toddler that had just dropped his ice cream. Several dirty looks later I had retreated to my room to panic without the constant glances being thrown my way.

 I had started pacing back and forth in my room trying to steady my nerves, but it was doing very little. Looking at my phone for the millionth time, the screen lit up displaying 6:50 and my breathing had begun to speed up. I could hear the muffled sounds of my parents bickering at each other in the living room, but the moment the doorbell rang everything had gone silent. Or maybe that was just the reaction to the lack of oxygen in my brain from all the hyperventilating I had been doing.

I raced down the stairs taking two at a time hoping to get to it first so I could quickly and easily make my escape, but I wasn’t that lucky. I had made it to the bottom step just as my mom had answered the door and greeted a very confident looking Jake. He was in mid hello when he noticed me and smiled. 

“Hey” he said.

I smiled and just as I was about to respond came a “Hey yourself pretty boy” from my dad looking very much annoyed as he barged into the room and caught me very much off guard.

“DAD!” “Richard!” Me and my mother screamed at him at the same time. She had begun to give him a knock it off or else look and I could see the defiance in his eyes. 

Knowing my dad this was now a game to see how far he could push this to make the most people in the room uncomfortable. He definitely beat me and my mom looked like she was right there with me, but Jake didn’t seem fazed at all. Instead he pushed out his hand and offered it to my dad which my dad took rather gruffly.

“Hello sir.” Jake said with a smile.

“No need for that. Bring her home safe by 11 on the dot or you won’t be so pretty anymore, you hear me?” My dad responded, dropping his voice to sound more intimidating.

“Dad!” “Richard!” My mom and I simultaneously protested again.

“Yes sir.” Jake replied, sounding not at all bothered and very confident in himself.

He looked at me with a smile and before anything could get any more awkward I grabbed Jake by the arm and made a dash for the door. I turned back to give my dad a quick glare and yanked it shut behind me, but not quick enough to cut off him screaming behind me, “and no funny business pretty boy.”

Kill me now. Just kill me now I thought as my head fell back against my front door and my eyes firmly closed. I was ready to die from embarrassment when Jake chuckled next to me.  

“See parents love me.” He said to me and I could hear the humor in his voice.

I looked over at him and rolled my eyes, unable to hide the smile that tugged at the corners of my lips. 

“Let’s just go pretty boy.” I said, shaking my head. 

He laughed beside me and began leading the way to his car pausing to open the door for me. After he closed me in I watched him as he walked around towards the driver’s side and slid in beside me.

“You ready for the best night of your life?” He asked me jokingly.

“Best night huh? Those are some pretty big promises there.” I teased.

He laughed and started up the car.

“So where are we going?” I asked as he started to drive.

“It’s a surprise.” He grinned at me.

Ugh, I mentally groaned. Not again with the surprises. I really, really hate surprises. I couldn’t help the little touch of deja vu that hit me reminding me of the almost exact same situation that happened a couple weeks ago with Erika. Look how bad that night turned out to be, I thought to myself hoping that tonight wouldn’t turn out to be just as bad.

“Not even a hint?” I asked him hoping for some tiny piece of information so that I could start to pick through it.

“Nope.” He said, popping the “P” sound at the end and smiling his cocky grin. 

I sucked my teeth at him and turned to look out the window while watching my surroundings to see what clues I could gather from the directions we were going. When we pulled up to the town pizza parlor I had mixed reactions of both a sigh of relief that he didn’t take me to some uncomfortable situation and also a twinge of humored confusion.

“Tada!” He said putting the car in park.

“Addie’s Pizza?” I smirked at him.

“Heck yes! It’s got an arcade. Best. Night. Ever!” He laughed as he was getting out of the car. I shook my head following him. 

I had to admit that the night did actually turn out to be really fun. We ate pizza, played arcade games and joked around until it was time for him to take me back home. Most of the joking being the fact that he ordered the most disgusting pizza combination ever- olives and pineapples with white sauce instead of marinara. When he placed his pizza order I had initially thought he was joking. Then when they brought it out to him and he asked me if I wanted to try a piece with his mouth full of a half chewed bite of ew I almost died from laughter. By the time we had made it back to my house my stomach ached from all the laughing and my cheeks hurt, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“I had fun tonight.” He said as he pulled up next to the curb and put the car in park.

“Me too. Thank you for taking me.” I said.

“Do you want me to walk you up to the door?” He asked

“No it’s ok. Honestly, my dad is probably standing behind it ready to attack you if you do.” I joked.

“Ok. Well, I really had fun. We should do this again.” He said.

“Ok. So I’ll see you then?” I asked, grabbing onto the door handle.

“Yeah, I’ll text you tomorrow. We can make plans before I leave on Sunday.” 

“Ok.” I moved to open the door.

“Willow, wait” He said, grabbing my arm.

Just as I turned to ask him what was the matter I was met with a pair of lips smashing into mine. It was a quick and sweet kiss and by the time the shock had cleared it was already over and I didn’t have time to fully register what had happened.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t let you go without doing that first.” He said, giving me his cocky grin. 

I smiled back at him and got out of the car, leaning down to tell him a quick goodnight before I turned to walk towards my house. I could hear him yell goodnight back at me as he drove off. When I got to the door I leaned my head against it and came to the realization that I knew three things for sure:

-That was my first kiss.

-It was completely unexpected and very sweet.

-I felt absolutely nothing.

Well, damn. I thought as I opened the front door and let myself in.