Old Me

37 - Official

"Oh, I forgot to mention that Michael invited you all next Sunday to meet his friends. Please tell me you're off?" I said to Siena.

"Yeah, I think I'm off, I'll have to double-check my schedule though," she said hopefully.

"Did you find out if any of them are single?" Ale asked half-jokingly.

"Uh, yeah. I believe they all are. But I'm not sure if any of them are into guys, Ale," I said trying to let him down easy.

"We'll see," he said with some sass.

"What are their names again?" Matteo asked looking up from his seat on the floor.

"Calum, Luke, Ashton, and of course Michael," I reminded him.

"Okay. Cool."

"Hey Gio, did you ever hear about a job?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean at Hideout? Yeah, I had an interview last week and he called me today to tell me I got the job--"

"That's awesome Gio. Congrats," I said excitedly as Ale gave him a high five.

"Yeah, it's gonna be sick. I'm only working like 12 hours a week but it's perfect because he's willing to work around my schedule, plus it's literally like three blocks from my school. I didn't realize that he owned the place, but I'd actually been there before and a lot of my friends from school go there to study."

"That's awesome, Gio," Lucia said hugging her brother.

The doorbell rang and I jumped up hoping it was Michael since he had texted a while ago that he was on his way. My uncle teased me as I raced towards the door in excitement and I took a breath before calmly opening the front door.

"Hi," I smiled taking in his form as he stood on the doormat with his hands behind his back.

I looked at him quizzically and he bit his lip smiling.

"Hello," he said, his eyes lighting up as he revealed a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.

I gasped and smiled widely as he handed them to me. I pulled them to my face to smell them and take in the beautiful arrangement of wildflowers.

"I know this might be odd timing, but Bea, I wanted to ask you a question," he paused and I nodded to encourage him to continue.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked looking directly into my eyes.

I nodded vigorously and jumped into his arms careful not to crush the flowers as I hugged him tightly. I pulled back just enough to meet my lips with his. He was smiling and chuckling as I kissed him and I pulled back in total euphoria.

"Okay, okay, let's go inside," he said getting embarrassed and guiding my waist into the house.

He closed the door behind him and slipped off his Converse. I interlaced our fingers and guided him into the kitchen where the sound of my family laughing could be heard. When we entered the kitchen all eyes turned on us.

"Congrats!" my cousins shouted from the living room.

My face grew hot with embarrassment, realizing they must have been eavesdropping on our conversation at the front door.

"Give 'em here, I'll put them in water," my mom said reached for the flowers in my hand.

"Thanks," I smiled at her, "Okay, everyone, the show is over. Let's eat!" I announced as I pulled Mikey to the kitchen counter to serve some food.

I couldn't quit smiling as we sat across from each other at the kitchen table, and Ale wouldn't let it go when he noticed, making gagging noises whenever he caught us smiling at each other.