"Alex!" I hissed. "This is supposed to be a date, not April's Fools!"
"Shh!" Alex put his finger to his lips and gestured me to come over.
He crept over to the house and knocked on the door.
I watched from a distance. Greg, another jock from school, opened the door. As soon as he did, Alex smashed snow into his face. There was a yelp and Alex ran off, laughing.
I rolled my eyes. Alex was being so immature. He grabbed my arm and pulled me along when he reached me. Greg was angrily shaking his fists and yelling a string of profanities at us while we ran away.
We got in his car and I was panting like a dog.
"Some date this is!" I said, irritated. "Playing pranks on your school friends is not supposed to be done on a date!"
"Then would you rather go to a hotel and have a hot night out?"
"Ew, no!" I scrunched my nose. "Never."
He grinned. "Alright. Then, why don't we go on our real date?"
He drove off and didn't answer when I asked him what his plans were. All that was on the notebook was it's a secret. ;)
I stayed quiet when I realized that he wouldn't answer my questions.
We arrived at his house. I warily followed him out, not sure what he was up to.
I followed him into the house and into his room.
"Alex, what are we doing here?"
He smiled innocently and said, "movie night."
"That's your brilliant plan? Movie night at your house?"
"My parents aren't coming home today," he said slyly.
"Goodbye, Alex," I turned to leave.
"No," he said. "You're staying. Don't worry. Nothing naughty is going to happen."
"You promise?" I asked.
"I promise."
"Cross your heart."
"Cross my heart," he traced an "x" on his chest and raised his hand as if he was taking an oath. "And hope to die."
"Fine," I crossed my arms. "I'll stay. What are we gonna watch?"
"Let's binge watch The Walking Dead," he suggested.
"No, I don't do horror," I shook my head.
"It's not that bad," he tried to convince me.
"Uh huh."
"Promise. You'll love it."
I didn't know if I should. Trey did recommend it to me, but I never really liked zombie films. Maybe I should give it a go.
"Fine, but only the first season."
****
We ended up watching up to season two. Oh my goodness. The gore. It was worse than Game of Thrones. I couldn't watch it and was constantly under the covers while Alex ate popcorn. How could he eat while watching something like this?
We stopped in the middle of episode four of seasom two and watched Nickelodeon instead. Thank goodness.
"I'm never watching that again," I shuddered. I won't be able to sleep when I think of that.
"It wasn't that bad," Alex said playfully.
"To you, maybe, but to me, that was horrible. There's a reason I hate horror and gore and it's because it makes me feel sick."
"I guess the date's ruined then," he stated.
Being the people pleaser I was, I smiled and said, "No! Not at all. It was actually quite fun. I'd much rather watch TV in the house than go out in the freezing snow."
Alex smiled. "That's good."
We watched some adorable kid shows for a while and talked about the times when we were kids. By the time it was time to go, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was gone.
"Thanks, Alex," I said when we reached our house. "Today was fun."
"Yeah," he grinned. "Sweet dreams."
I laughed. "I hope so. Oh, yeah. Just a second. I'll be right out."
I ran inside and found the bunny in the living room. I put a blanket over the cage and brought it out.
"I don't know if you'll like her, but here," I handed him the cage.
He took it, looking confused.
"Merry Christmas, Alex," I said.
He looked under the blanket and smiled when he saw the bunny.
"She's adorable," he said. "Thanks."
I blushed. "It's nothing. Take good care of her, alright?"
"I will," he smiled. "Come with me to the car. You should say goodbye to her." He pointed at the cage.
I nodded. Once she was safely in the front seat, I pulled the blanket over so that one side was exposed. I gently opened the door and put my hand in.
"Goodbye, little guy," I said. "I'll miss you." She licked my hand and I laughed. She was so cute. I closed the small door and replaced the blanket.
I closed the car door and when I turned around, Alex was standing right in front of me. I felt my heart skip a beat. Ugh. Watching The Walking Dead was really getting to me.
"Alex!" I said. "Didn't see you there." I laughed.
"Hey, Nicole?" He said.
"Uh, y-yeah?" Idiot! Why was I stuttering?
He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and caressed my cheek. I felt my heart beat faster. What was happening? This felt like one of those cheesy rom com movies I watched with Maggie and Emma.
I gulped. Was I about to get my first kiss? Was I ready for it? Do I push him away?
He adjusted my hat and left his hands on either side of my head, covering my ears. I felt my mouth go dry. This was worse than a horror movie! Holy cheesecakes! Was I going to do this?
"A-Alex?" I stammered.
"Shh," he hushed me gently. His eyes briefly flickered to my lips before they met mine. He leaned in. I gulped. What do I do? Do I lean in as well or do I just stay still? My hands. What do I do with my hands? Oh, why was this so complicated? The movies always made kissing look so romantic and easy. The gap was getting smaller. I didn't know what to do.
Boom! Both Alex and I jumped back. I peeked over from Alex's car and saw our front door slam against the wall. Trey came stomping out. What was he doing here?
"Trey?" I said when he reached the car.
"Nicole Amelia Peterson!" He shouted. "What do you think you're doing out here at this time of night?"
I blushed when I thought of what was about to happen.
"N-nothing," I said.
"Nothing? Nothing?!" He exclaimed. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you? It's almost midnight!"
"Trey, you're not my dad," I said, crossing my arms. "You have no right to give me a curfew!"
"Have you been with that boy until now? I am so going to tell Mom!"
"You're not a kid, Trey, and neither am I. Besides, Mom already knows."
Trey's overprotective nature kicked in. "You are banned from going on dates, you got that!"
"Why?" I dragged out the "y". "You aren't the boss of me!"
"Don't you remember...." He hesitated and glanced at Alex before lowering his voice. "Don't you remember Paul?"
"Why would you bring him up? Alex isn't like that!" I hissed.
"I'm going to let you off the hook this time. If you ever come home late at night with a boy again, I'm telling Mom to never let you out at night again! I'm not going to risk you being raped again!"
Before I could point out that I was never raped, he turned and went back into the house.
I turned back to Alex and grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry about that," I said. "My brother can be a bit...."
"Protective?" Alex chuckled. "You have an interesting family."
"I guess so," I grinned.
"So, where were we?" Alex stepped closer. My back was on the car. This was really happening. My first kiss. The one with Eric didn't count, right? Yeah, it didn't since I never knew.
He put his fingers under my chin and leaned in. This time, there was no interruption. I had no idea what was happening. My stomach was doing heaps of roller coasters, churning over and fluttering like crazy.
It happened. I got my first kiss. It wasn't even from my boyfriend, so why didn't it feel wrong?
His lips felt soft on mine. I closed my eyes and leaned in to the kiss. Maggie was going to have a field day with this. My first kiss was with Alex Northwood--the handsome jock with a quirky attitude.
We stayed like that for a moment, then he pulled back. I was almost tempted to follow him. He grinned.
"Merry Christmas, sugar bunny," he whispered in my ear before getting into his car.
Well, he killed the mood by using Caleb's pet name for me, but oh well. I guess that was his Christmas present?
I sighed while watching him leave, seeing my breath in the cold air, and went into the house, having to explain everything to Trey.
****
The next Saturday, Sam came to pick me up around dinner time. I think out of the five, he was the most romantic. He reserved a whole restaurant for us.
Candlelight danced around the tables, and we had a huge plate of spaghetti. Joey must have told him about my love of Lady and the Tramp.
The spaghetti was awesome and Sam was being extra cheesy today.
"You look so beautiful today," he said.
I blushed. "I look like myself any other day."
"Yeah, but you really seem to be glowing. Maybe it's the magic of love that's playing tricks on my eyes."
"Oh, shut up," I blushed even harder. Today was just a day made for me to blush.
"But how can I when such a beautiful person is right in front of me?"
"You can stop that now," I said. "You really like embarrassing me."
"No, I just like stating the facts."
Great. I chewed on the meatball. Candles, white table cloth, a suit, a dress....a typical romantic date. Only it was winter, so it was freezing. There was a fireplace near us, and it really warmed me up.
"You've got some on your face," Sam laughed. He leaned over and wiped it with a napkin. This guy really knew what he was doing.
"Thanks," I mumbled.
We went on, talking about what we liked and whatnot. I was actually kind of graceful today. Tripping on my heels didn't count because that wasn't the start of the date. It was at my house before Sam came to pick me up.
But let me tell you, he looked dashing in a suit. It really made me feel like I was dreaming.
Once we were done, Sam paid for our meal and we went out to a hill and watched the snow fall. We stayed in the car, where the heater was on, but it was beautiful.
"Sam, give me your phone," I said, stretching out my hand."
"Anything for you, beautiful," he smiled.
And, you guessed it, blushing Nicole was back in business! Hooray! Not.
He handed me his phone and I pulled out the case from my bag. It fit perfectly, and it actually looked really cool. I handed it back to him and he studied the case.
"You have good taste," he remarked.
"It's your Christmas present," I said, blushing.
"Oh, right. I got you one too." He searched his pockets and pulled out a small black case. He opened it and there was a beautiful bracelet inside.
"Merry Christmas, Nicole," he said, grinning.
He gently held it up and clasped it onto my wrist. It twinkled in the car light.
"It's beautiful," I said. "Thank you so much!"
Afterwards, he dropped me off at my house. I got an earful from Trey for going out with five guys. Hey, it wasn't my fault. They forced me to....kind of.
In any case, we were supposed to go to Aunt Josephine's the next day. Back to those little handfuls of cuteness. An addition to the family too. Little Agnes was born about a week ago. I couldn't wait to see her.
Happy holidays, I guess.