Private Affection

Chapter 3

"You look so beautiful," my mom gushed. I was standing in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom. She'd just finished pining my hair up elegantly. The dress I'd chosen was the green one Alicia had sent me. It was a dark, forest green that complimented my complexion and eye color. It also flattered my fuller figure. The cinched waist made me feel beautiful and the slit in the leg made me look like I had long legs instead of the little tree stumps my mother had blessed me with.

She'd taken me shopping and to my surprise it wasn't a horrible experience. There had been a plethora of plus sized dresses to try on. But I'd only tried on this one.

I had gotten ready alone. Mikey and his friends had gotten ready at Reggie's and since all of my friends were going with those guys, it didn't make sense to get ready together. But that was fine. I had a great time getting ready with my mom. She did my hair and my makeup and we laughed.

She was a great mom. Her only flaw was how she let my dad treat Mikey and how she subsequently let Mikey treat me.

Tonight was officially my third date with Keegan. The first had been the day after he'd asked me out. I'd gone and watched him play soccer. None of my friends were there so I'd sat next to Naomi from my history class. She was sweet and was dating one of the other soccer players, Randy.

Keegan had scored two goals, including the winning one with less than two minutes left on the clock. The soccer team won just as many titles and championships as the football team, but nobody seemed to care about them. After the game he'd run to the sidelines and hung onto the fence and waved me down. "Meet me at my car?"

"Sure," I smiled. His messy brown hair had been clinging to his face adorably from his sweat.

"I'm just gonna shower," he kissed my cheek quickly catching me off guard but I still found myself smiling stupidly.

I walked around the field towards the student parking lot and waited for him. When I finally saw him walking towards me, he was freshly showered. His brown curls were styled back neatly and he looked cute in his Henley t-shirt and a leather jacket. His entire outfit was something Reggie would never wear.

I'd shaken my head, ridding myself of all the thoughts of Reggie. I was on a date with a perfectly nice, cute, sweet guy. I didn't need to think about him. "Great game," I said.

"Thanks for coming."

He opened the car door for me like a gentleman and smiled at me when I slipped in past him. He jogged around the hood and slid into the driver seat. "So the diner is usually full around this time. Post game on a Friday night. How about we go to that new sushi place instead?"

"I love sushi," I said. I loved the diner as much as the next townie but it would be be nice to have some privacy on our date.

Keegan pulled out of the parking lot and turned on an eighties station. I sang along and drummed my knees with my fingers as we drove.

When he parked the car he hopped out quickly and opened my door again. "Two," he said the hostess when we were inside.

She showed us to our seats. "Your server will be right with you."

I flipped through the menu nervously. It was my first date.

"So where are you applying to school?" He asked.

"UVA, Georgetown, Tech, maybe Vanderbilt."

"All so close to home?"

"Yeah. Are you applying far away?"

"Not all of them. JMU, old dominion, VCU are all in state, but I'm also applying to UC Santa Barbara, Syracuse, Miami."

"All the way in California?"