Come on, come on. Seriously? Where is he? We are so screwed if he doesn't show up. Hilary's at practice so it's all up to me to do this. I did not just call into work for nothing. Where are you!?
"So... you and my daughter seem pretty close." Hilary's dad says.
I cringe.
"I'm assuming you two are official?"
"Er, yeah. We are." I avoid his gaze.
"Leave her alone Derik." Her mom says.
He grunts in annoyance.
"Where do you work?" he asks.
"Derik."
"It's okay, I work at royalty subs," I say.
"I've always been a hoagie guy myself."
Her mom sighs.
"Was it your idea for Hilary to get glasses? You don't like her contacts or what?" he challenges.
"What? She never even told me she was doing that." I say surprised.
"Derik." Her mom chastise.
He grunts again.
Finally, I see LaShawn pull around the corner. Took him long enough! Good stepdads are so hard to find these days. Georgia is in the passenger seat. Just great. As if I didn't have enough to worry about.
"Come on, hurry!" I say as he pulls in.
"Hurry daddy hurry!" Georgia cheers.
"Okay, okay, sorry. I got held up at work. But I came straight here."
"We only have until five! It's already about to be four!" I say.
"Okay, okay, let's load it up." He gets out of the truck.
Georgia tries to follow but I shut her back in.
"No, stay," I say.
She pouts.
With the help of Hilary's dad and Lashawn, we load up the piece into the back of the truck very carefully. They almost don't fit, but luckily Derik is a great organizer.
"Okay, let's go!" I quickly jump in the truck, pushing Georgia to the side.
"We'll meet you there." Hilary's mom says.
"Okay." Lashawn starts the truck.
We have to have it in the room, put it together, and sign off on it before five. Or we don't get entered in.
We still haven't painted it. But that's okay. It doesn't have to be done, but it does have to be there and mostly finished by today. Next week is the deadline to have it completely finished. But now we can only work on it during school hours. So finishing it will be a lot harder.
When we get to the school, Zoey, Wes, and Hailey are waiting for us to help. We unload it and rush it into the room where I instruct Derik how to put it together and what goes where. It's a chain of people bringing in the pieces one by one.
Hilary runs over during a break from practice, still all sweaty and in her softball clothes.
"Is it done?" she asks, out of breath.
"Almost," I say as I help her dad put it together.
"Poppy! We have like ten minutes left!"
"And counting," our art teacher says as she watches.
"I'm going, I'm going." I screw harder.
Hilary gets on her knees and starts helping.
Soon we have all the pieces in the room and now we are just working on putting it together.
"Go sign the papers and stuff, go! I got this." I say to Hilary.
She runs over and starts signing all the forms and stuff.
"What are we calling it?" she asks.
"I don't know, make something up." I move to attach the claw.
Lashawn moves to help put it together.
"Dragons fury?"
"Lame." Zoey comments.
"Dragon's revenge?"
"Isn't that a water slide?" Wes says.
"Dragon's uh... Dragon's castle?"
"Five minutes." Hailey pipes up.
"I don't know!"
"Here comes the Dragon! Ah!" Georgia pretends to duck from the claw I attract.
Hilary and I share a look.
"That will work." We say in unison.
She quickly goes back to signing all the forms while I attach the side pieces. We are in the zone now. Everyone is quiet as we race the clock to finish. With only seconds to spare we finish putting it together and slide it into our spot perfectly.
"Yes! We did it!" Hilary cheers, handing me the papers to sign.
I scribble my signature and hand them to our art teacher.
"Cutting it close girls, cutting it close." She shakes her head at us.
Hilary and I high five.
"How about we go for ice cream to celebrate?" Hilary's mom suggest.
"I want ice cream!" Georgia gives Lashawn the puppy dog eyes.
He sighs.
"I have to finish practice." Hilary pouts.
"We can go later when you get off," I peck her on the lips.
She smiles.
Everyone parts ways agreeing to meet up at the ice cream shop later. Lashawn gives me a ride home.
"So you really like Hilary huh?" he asks.
I feel my cheeks flush as I look away from him and out the window.
Georgia laughs before saying, "She loves Hilary."
"Shut it you brat," I glare at her.
"I'm glad you found someone that makes you happy." He said.
"Whatever," I ignore him.
"I'm very proud of you Poppy. You've really matured these last few months. You're a very independent girl. That's a good thing in today's world." He goes on.
"Gotta do what you gotta do," I say.
"I hope you win your art contest, but even if you don't I'm glad you got some experience out of this, and have memories that will last you a lifetime."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I grumble.
"What I am saying is, you know what's really important. It's not a contest or having the most popular girlfriend. You know people are the most important. You take care of your friends and that's hard to come by these days. I'm proud of you."
I turn and eye him.
"And because we are so proud of you, we decided it was time." He turns to me and smirks.
"We? Time for what?"
I hear Georgia squeak in the backseat.
"You're mom and I." he says as we pull up to the house.
I see mom standing in the driveway next to some car I don't recognize.
"Who is that?" I ask.
"Who?"
"That car, who's car is that?" I ask.
"It's your car!" Georgia spoils the surprise.
"What!? For real!?"
"Surprise!" he pulls in next to it.
"Oh my god," I quickly jump out to go investigate.
"Surprise!" Mom laughs.
"Mom!? W-why? I told you I was saving up to buy my own." I say.
"We figured it's better if you save your money for school. Besides I'm your mom, I don't need a reason."
"Oh my god! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I tackle her in a hug.
"Don't thank me, it wasn't my idea." She says.
I turn to Lashawn who is standing sheepishly to the side.
"Thank you!" I engulf him in a hug.
"You're welcome." He smiles and pats my back.
"You're the best stepdad ever," I say.
"Yeah, daddy is the best!" Georgia declares.
"I do try," he plays it up causing us all to laugh.
"Well let's go for a ride," mom toss me the keys.
"I want to sit up front!" Georgia runs to the passenger seat.
We drive around the block a few times before I go back home to get ready for ice cream. I leave early on my own because I want to surprise Hilary and pick her up from practice. I park right next to her car and wait.
When she walks up I roll down my window and say, "Need a ride?"
She stares at me in surprise for a moment before a smile spreads across her lips.
"What do you think? Does my hot cred go up because I got a car?" I ask.
"What!? Oh my god, it looks awesome." She shoves her stuff in her car before running over and getting into mine.
"My bike days are over," I say.
"You bought this?"
"My parents got it for me, so cool right?"
"Heck yeah. It even has a sunroof."
"I know!" I say in excitement.
We go and get ice cream before I drive her back to school to get her car. We sit in silence for a moment, just enjoying the ambiance.
"I'm happy," Hilary says.
I turn to her and smile. "Me too," I say.
"I guess it's time I go home." She sighs.
I get out of the car and walk over to open the door for her. She steps out and hugs me. I hug her back.
"Come spend the night again." She pouts.
"I promise my mom I'd do a family movie night tonight."
Hilary sighs.
"After work tomorrow I'll meet you here so we can sneak in and work on our project. You'll have to stay after practice so you can open the door for me."
"Okay, bring me a sandwich?"
"The usual?"
"Yeah."
"Only if you bring me some candy." I tease.
"I don't have a problem."
"Have you been to the dentist? I think they would disagree."
"I take care of my teeth thank you very much."
"I know," I giggle.
I walk her to her car and she slowly gets in.
"See you tomorrow." I take a step back.
"Wait," she grabs her purse. "Butterscotch?" she offers it to me.
I hold out my hands and catch it as she tosses it to me.
She grabs one for herself and we unwrap it and pop it in our mouth.
"Love you, bye," I walk to my car.
"What did you say?" she asks.
"What?" I turn back to her.
"Did you say the l word?"
Did I? oh crap. I feel my face heat up.
"No! Bye!" I run to my car.
"I heard you!" she calls after me.
"La la la, I can't hear you." I jump in my car.
She laughs as I drive away, nearly choking on the butterscotch candy in my mouth.