The New Kid (Book 1)

Epilogue

*This used to be the prologue of The New Separation, but I switched it up a bit because of that sequel.*

Colton

I took one more look at myself in the mirror before smoothing out my hair for the thousandth time in the past five minutes. I don't know why I was nervous. Elliot doesn't care if I look like a mess or not. But all the other times weren't this important. It wasn't my senior prom.

My dad appeared in the doorway. "You ready to go?"

I took a deep breath. "Why am I nervous? It's just Elliot. It's just a dance."

He gave me a small smile. "It's still a big night for you. Speaking of-" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few condoms. "I know we got you two a hotel room for the night. Obviously I know what's going to happen, and when it does, I want you boys to be safe, because these things don't just protect against getting pregnant, but also diseases that you could still catch. Do you need me to explain how it goes on?"

My jaw dropped. "Please don't give me the sex talk," I managed to get out after a few seconds of staring at him. "I don't think I need it."

He hesitated slightly before answering me. "You're not planning on having sex tonight? Then why did you even ask for the room? If you just wanted to spend the night together - without doing anything - you know I did say he could spend the night here."

I sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this conversation other than admitting to my apparently clueless dad that I'm not a virgin anymore. I just didn't know how to say it, so I just opened my mouth and let the words fall out. "Oh we're totally having sex tonight. It just won't be our first time." That was one way to say it.

Instead of being shocked or confused like I kinda expected him to be, he nodded. "You know, I thought so. But with the way you were acting for the past couple of days and the fact that you never came to me about it, I started second guessing myself. I guess I was hoping that you were still my little boy, but at some point you grew up without me noticing."

I scoffed at his attempt to be sentimental, not wanting to show the guilt he was making me feel. "Dad... It's just prom."

"Yeah, but next week you turn eighteen. A couple weeks after that you graduate high school. Next thing you know, you'll be out of college and making a life for yourself and will never look back at your dear old dad."

Why was this turning into a sappy conversation? I didn't need this! "Dad, that'll that never happen, okay? Now can we go? I don't want to be late."

And by that, I meant not wanting to be late to getting to Elliot's house to one, pick him up, and two, have his moms take a thousand pictures of us. I wasn't exactly looking forward to that second thing.

When we got to the Reynolds', I noticed that we were, in fact, the last ones to get there. Henry and Lindsey were walking up to the front door, so we weren't really late. They stopped walking when Dad pulled into the driveway and Lindsey waved when I got out of the car. Before we even caught up to them, Elliot's mom opened the door, but Elliot was still nowhere in sight.

I didn't see him until after we were inside. It was almost that cliche moment in movies where the girl appears at the top of the stairs in a gorgeous dress. Except he was by no means a girl and he was definitely not wearing a dress. Although he still looked absolutely incredible in his suit that I couldn't take my eyes off him as he walked down the steps and stopped right in front of me.

"Hi," he whispered with a grin. "You might want to stop drooling. As adorable as it is, there's other people here."

I didn't say anything to that, only leaned forward to kiss him. He looked too good to resist, so what if I drooled over him - which I totally wasn't doing - who wouldn't?