Sad Goodbye, Long Goodbye, Final Goodbye

First Date

When I got in the house Mom was cooking dinner. It was her day off and one of the few times we could actually spend time together. I dropped my stuff in my room and noticed that Misti wasn't in the house. It would be the perfect time to broach the subject of my date Friday night. I'd been putting it off because I wasn't sure how she would deal with Hamilton. My mother understood about so many things, but this was kind of huge.

"Hey, Mom," I said joining her in the kitchen. "Can I help?"

"You can set the table; I don't know if Misti will be joining us," she replied.

"Well, I kind of needed to talk to you about something. It might be better if she is not here anyway," I said while reaching for the plates.

"Ok, is it bad?" she asked.

"No! It is actually very good and exciting and a little scary," I smiled.

"Wow, this is serious," she said.

"A guy asked me to go out Friday night," I began.

"How fun? Who is it?" She smiled.

"Before I get to that part, how do you feel about age differences?" I asked.

"I guess it depends on how big the difference is."

"Four years," I answered softly.

"Four years? Four years older than you? But that would mean..."

"He is 20, Mom," I finished. "But he's so nice and he really likes me and I said no for weeks, but I finally decided why not just have one date? What's the worst that could happen?"

"Do not ask that question?" she warned.

"Fine, but you know what I mean. It's just one date. And I'm practically 17, so really its only three years.  I'm not stupid and I'll be careful and he's very nice and responsible and seems to really care about me, at least enough to want to see if we could have fun together," I reasoned.

"Who is he? Where did you meet him?" she asked.

"That is the thing, I have known of him for years. His sister actually is a year younger than me in school. His name is Hamilton," I said.

"Hamilton what?" she prodded.

"Hamilton Curry.

"Wait...isn't that Misti's boyfriend's friend?"

"Yes, they are friends," I answered.

"And how does Misti feel about all of this?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" I asked.

"Bryonna Denyse!" she scolded.

"Why does every decision I make have to be weighed against Misti's feelings? Do you think she thinks twice about me when she meets someone or does anything?"

"You have a point. But you know Misti is a little more sensitive than you. I just want you two to get along. Why would you want to do anything to risk otherwise?"

"She told me she didn't care." It was a small lie but not technically.

"So, she does know?"

"She knows he's been asking me out and at first I didn't think she would approve so I kept saying no. Then she told me last week Hamilton talked to her and she was fine with it. She doesn't know that I actually said yes but she said she would be fine," I stated.

"Why does he want to date a 16-year-old anyway? I worry what his intentions might be," Mom began.

"Believe me, I've thought of that but he's not like that and he knows he's walking on thin ice with me. He asked me for weeks, Mom. Now that I have said yes, I know he will be on his best behavior. But if you are truly against it, then I will tell him," I offered.