Chapter goal: 15 votes and 5 comments.
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"Should I wear something fancy!"
"No! Nothing fancy! We want to keep it casual!" Mom yells from downstairs.
"Nothing fancy? Great! The one time I actually want to be fancy, she wants to be casual," I whine and play with the zipper of the dress I was holding.
Tonight was the night. The night I get to meet mom's boyfriend. To say I was a little shy and worried was an understatement.
"Stop fidgeting," Carmen snaps and slaps my hands away from the zipper I was playing with.
"But that's what I do best," I whine.
"Please stop worrying. Everything will be fine."
Meeting someone new isn't always bad. I mean, the first time I met Ashton's parents went smoothly and I wasn't nearly as nervous. But this was the man that my mom was in love with. The man that put that happy smile back on her face after everything bad that had happened to this family. The man that was the father to my little brother or sister.
I didn't want to do anything that would negatively affect the way he saw mom and I. Especially since he would be in my life from now on.
"Wear this," Carmen said holding a black dress in front of me.
As I reached out to grab the dress, she pulled it back and shook her head.
"Nah. It looks like you're attending a funeral. Sadly this dress is the only appealing piece of clothing you have in this closet," she muttered.
I shook my head at my friend disrespecting my closet full of bright clothing like that.
"Pink is still better than black," I muttered.
She turned around and put a hand on her hip, glaring at me.
"Do you want a repeat of 8th grade?" she asked.
I shook my head with wide eyes, remembering how back in 8th grade, we debated on which color was better; a debate I won by the way. It ended up with Carmen breaking into my locker and spray painting everything from pencils to textbooks black. Even the locker door!
Even after all that, I still won considering she got suspended for two weeks for defacing school property.
"Alright how about this? Not too fancy yet not too casual," she said holding up a simple pink skater dress.
"Perfect," I chirped while taking the dress.
Suddenly, the loud beeping from the smoke detector went off.
"Oh no! No, no, no!" I heard mom yelling from downstairs.
Carmen and I raced down the stairs and were immediately engulfed in smoke as we hit the bottom step.
I ran to the kitchen and saw mom opening the oven, which only added more smoke to the room.
"Mom! Get out! The smoke isn't good for you and the baby!" I shouted and pulled her away from the oven.
She groaned and headed for the living room, one hand on her stomach and the other over her nose and mouth.
Carmen came running over with the fire extinguisher, quickly putting out the small fire in the oven.
"Thanks," I said and batted away the smoke.
"Start opening the windows!" I heard mom call from the other room.
I jogged over to the windows above the sink, opening them to let the smoke out.
Carmen put on the oven mitts and reached in the oven, taking out the burnt lasagna.
I sighed and scratched my head, wondering how mom could've messed up store bought lasagna.
"I'm sorry girls," mom said coming into the kitchen sounding defeated. "I made the oven too hot," she muttered and threw the empty box into the trash.
"It's okay, mom. There are alternatives."
"Like pizza," Carmen says cheerfully.
"You know what? That sounds like the best option. Calvin and I wanted to keep it simple anyway," she said referring to her boyfriend.
I could tell she was stressed and nervous about tonight too.
Carmen opens the drawer containing our silverware and grabs a fork. I watch as she inspects the lasagna and pokes it with the fork. Then, she digs in and pulls a huge chunk of the lasagna out, stuffing it into her mouth.
"Carmen! That's burnt!"
"So. Once you get past the black, burnt parts, it tastes pretty good," she says around a mouth full of food.
"Ugh!" Mom says, disgusted. "I'll go call the order in."
---
15 minutes and the doorbell rings.
"I got it!" I call and rush towards the door, grabbing the money off the table.
I open the door and my smile immediately drops as I see Ashton.
"Hey! You're not pizza," I pout as Ashton stands outside looking as handsome as ever.
"No, I'm much better," Ashton smiles. He steps inside and kisses me on the cheek, earning a huge grin from me.
"Lies!" Carmen shouts from the kitchen.
I roll my eyes and hug my boyfriend. He sniffs the air and looks at me curiously.
"What was burning?"
"Dinner," I answer and close the door. I grab his hand and lead him into the kitchen.
"Nice dress by the way," he says while inspecting the skater dress. I blush under his gaze which causes him to smirk.
Mom said it was okay to invite Ashton and Carmen over. Only people I was closest with though.
"What is she eating?" Ashton asked as we got closer to Carmen munching on the burnt lasagna.
"That would be our dinner. Mom burnt the lasagna."
"How do you burn lasagna?" he asked and then quickly scoots away from me as I gave him a glare.
"Shh! Mom is nervous," I said just as she walks in.
"Hey, Ms. McAllen! How are you feeling?" Ashton asks.
"Tired, irritable, fat, and the baby won't stop kicking!" she screamed as she grabbed her stomach causing us all to wince.
"Oh, cool," Ashton says nervously.
The doorbell rings again and I gasp. Finally!
I run to the door and grab the money once more before swinging it wide open.
On the other side stood a man. He was dressed in a casual pair of jeans and a black leather jacket. I couldn't see his face yet since he was grabbing the pizza from the delivery man. But I could see his waist length hair twisted into dreadlocks.
"I see your mom is still into dudes with long hair," Carmen whispers from besides me, making me jump.
"Thank you," he tells the pizza man and turns to face us. "I'm guessing Melissa burned the lasagna," he smiles and holds up the box.
"You would be right. I'm Peyton and this is my best friend, Carmen. Nice to meet you Calvin," I smile and take the box from him and hand it to Carmen.
He nods to us and she waves before going into the kitchen.
"Thanks for the pizza. Here you go," I say and hand him the 15 dollars.
"No, no you keep it," he smiles and I gesture him inside.
"Calvin! It's about time," mom comes from behind me and pulls him inside, giving him a bone crushing hug. "Where were you?"
"I said I would be here at 7," he says and pulls up his sleeve to check his watch.
"Yeah and its 7:06. You had me worried sick!" Mom pulls him in for another hug and he laughs.
"Mood swings," I whisper and he laughs even harder.
"Heard that."
"Now," I clap my hands and turn back to the kitchen. "Time to eat."
---
"So, one day at work, my boss came into my office and told me he was assigning a partner for my next project. I had no problem with it. I was like, 'Okay, cool.' The day started out pretty normal. You know, coffee, ringing phones, headaches...normal day at the office. A couple hours later and I'm reading something off my computer when I hear a knock at my door. I tell them to come in. And then, I look up to see the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," Calvin says and looks over to mom who was blushing like crazy.
"A couple weeks of working together and I had messed up on some paperwork. Melissa comes storming into my office, red face and all with the paper work in her hand. Mad that she would have to go back and fix everything. So, I do the unexpected."
"What'd you do?" I ask.
"I ask her out on a date."
"And she said yes," Carmen concludes.
"I said no," mom corrects. We stare at her in confusion and they both laugh. "What?! I was angry. It was clouding my judgement at the moment."
"I didn't stop though," Calvin finishes. "I was very persistent and asked her out until she said yes. And finally, she did." He looks at mom and grabs her hand. The way they looked at each other was so magical.
"Oh, wait! Should we tell them?" mom asked.
"About the..."
Mom nods her head vigorously with a wide smile.
"I think we should," he says.
I look at her curiously and wait to hear the news. By the way she smiles and puts a protective hand on her stomach, I can tell it involves the baby.
"I went to the doctor for a little checkup on how the baby is doing."
"Everything's okay, right?" I ask.
"Yes," she says reassuringly. "Everything's okay. She's perfectly healthy."
A moment of silence passes before I register what she just said. I gasp and clasp my hands together, my eyes tearing up at the news.
"She, as in a girl! Oh my gosh I'm gonna have a little sister!" I scream and turn to Ashton and Carmen. They have the biggest smiles on their faces. I could tell they were happy for us.
"There's one more thing," Calvin says.
"Huh. What is it?" mom asks.
Calvin gets up from his seat at the table and stands besides her. He looks completely nervous. Even more than I was just a couple hours ago.
He takes a deep breath and looks around at all our confused faces. But after a moment he does something to catch us all off guard.
He pulls a small box out of his jacket pocket and gets down on one knee.
We all gasp and you could tell mom was already crying with her hands over her face.
"Melissa, the day I laid eyes on you, I knew we were meant for something special. Through all the simple arguments and me not being able to complete a project the right way...we made it this far. I want to spend an infinite amount of time going on more coffee dates and having more pizza parties and you burning lasagnas. Will you-"
"Yes!" Mom doesn't even give him time to finish the proposal before she's crushing him in another hug. Although, it's a little difficult considering her 7 month baby bump is in the way.
They both stand up and Calvin takes the ring out of the box and slips it on her finger. The diamonds sparkle in the light as she observes it with tear stained cheeks.
She looks up and I heard her faintly whisper, 'I love you,' before giving him a kiss.
---
"You okay?" I asked Ashton.
He was all alone in the living room, deep in thought.
We had finished cleaning up the pizza boxes and wrapping leftovers. Now, Carmen, Calvin, and my mom were all in the kitchen talking about baby showers and due dates.
"Nothing," he says.
Lie. I could tell all night something was up. Aside from smiling after all the great news and joining in with the applause after Calvin proposed, he seemed more distant and unfocused.
He got up and headed for the kitchen.
"I gotta get home. I'll tell everyone goodbye."
Before he got a foot past me, I grabbed his arm and twisted him around.
"Something's wrong. Tell me."
"I said it was nothing," he snapped.
"You promised no more secrets," I said. I looked down as my voice cracked a little in the end. Part of me was worried he was pulling away. Maybe part of the reason he was so distant is because he's just not interested in me or this relationship anymore.
Maybe Bella was right.
"Hey, look at me." He puts a hand under my chin and I look up, staring into those bright blue eyes that held a hint of sadness in them.
"It's not you. I swear it's not you. I was going to tell you soon but not tonight. It's just going to ruin everything that happened now."
"Well now that I know something's up you just can't not tell me. That's even worse than knowing."
He took a deep breath breath and closed his eyes. Opening them once more and looking towards the kitchen making sure no one was paying attention.
"Bella kissed me the other day."
I gasped as my heart rate picked up; almost as if I could actually feel it aching. Ashton's face became blurry as my eyes filled with hot tears. However, they weren't sad tears like normal.
"You guys kissed," I said. "What else?"
His face scrunched up in confusion before he shook his head and placed his hands on my arms.
"No. Nothing else happened. The other day in the hall, she stopped me and talked all this shit about me and her being together and how I shouldn't be with you. She kissed me but I pushed her away. I'm telling the truth. Just ask Nick."
"Nick knew?"
"He walked in the same time it happened."
There was no doubt that Ashton was telling the truth. There's one thing I know for sure: Ashton Brooks is not a liar. And he certainly wouldn't lie about something like this.
I push past him and stomp over to the couch.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Don't worry. I believe you."
He seemed to have visibly relaxed as I reassured him of all this. He was out of trouble, but Bella has some explaining to do.
"Where's my phone?" I asked irritated as I searched for it on the couch.
"I don't know. Why do you need it?"
"I'm gonna call that bitch and tell her to back off. Again! I shouldn't have to keep doing this. I shouldn't have to keep telling someone to leave my boyfriend alone. I shouldn't be worried about where she is and if she's gonna come in contact with you or if she's gonna steal you away from me."
I'm out of breath after I finish my rambling. The hot tears still sting my eyes but I refuse to let them fall. Bella won't have the satisfaction of making me cry.
"You don't have to worry about her taking me away," he says and pulls me into his arms. I'm comforted by his warm embrace and bury my face into his chest; automatically wrapping my arms around him. "I would never do that to you. You know that."
"Yes. I do. I trust you, Ashton. I just don't trust her."
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Happy New Year!