Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 46

Hey guess what! There's just the epilogue left for this story and then it's all officially over. The epilogue is going to be like a page long, maybe a little longer than that, and it's just going to explain some things breifly about how everything turned out for all the characters.

It's going to be in third person, maybe- it depends on what mood I'm in- and....sha. It's all going to be over after that. Anyway, the epilogue is coming out tomorrow. And then it's done. No sequel. No prequel. I don't see this as a sequel story. Not unless Jake escapes from prison and comes back to terrorize Hayley and Damon. And honestly, I don't LIKE Jake. I actually wanted to shoot him in the face for most of the story. And I'M the one who made him! That's just sad.

Anywho, this story is at it's end. The epilogue needs to come out and then....SHA! I'm done. IF you read Secrets and are so impatiently waiting for the sequel, then the countdown starts today because the first part of the sequel comes out.....*drum roll*.........SATURDAY! I'll also send out a message, so yeah. Okay, I'll stop talking now and let you read. Enjoy and thanks for sticking around this long!

<3 Nikky~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Daddy," I whispered, tears rimming my eyes. Twelve years just burst out of me like that. Suddenly it didn't matter to me that I thought he broke his promise to me and I wasn't so nervous to talk to him anymore. He looked at me with such relief and happiness that I burst out in tears. I rushed toward him just as he opened his arms to embrace me. I threw my arms around his neck, ignoring the searing pain in my shoulder, and cried on his shoulder as he stroked my hair.

"Daddy's here now," he whispered to me. I remember him telling me that every time he came to me after I had a nightmare, every time he came to save me from the monsters in my closet or under my bed, and even when I lost him and Mom in the store. I haven't heard him say that in twelve years. I haven't heard his VOICE in twelve years. And let me just say that it felt good to hear it again.

"I can't believe you're really here," I whispered after a while.

"I can't believe I'm here either," he said. "Now let me look at you." I pulled away and he wiped away most of my tears as he gazed at me. "You look JUST like her. But what happened to your lip? And you've got a couple scratches and a little bruise there. What happened?" he asked.

"It's a long story," I said. "I'll explain it later."

"Okay," he said. "You look a lot like her."

"Like mom?" I laughed. "I've been told."

"I can't believe how much you've grown," he said. "The last time I saw you, you were this tall." He held his hand so that it was just below his knee and I smiled.

"I wasn't THAT short, was I?"

"Indeed you were, shortie," he teased. I smiled and hugged him again. I never realized how much I really missed my father until now. "And I'm assuming you're Joyce?"

"That would be me," Joyce said, a bit flirtily. They WERE around the same age and to be honest, I really wouldn't mind having these two date each other. Whoa, relax Hayley. They just met each other, no need to go into all of that now. No, I'll wait until next week. They shook hands, making goo-goo eyes the whole time, and then Dad noticed Damon standing awkwardly behind me.

"And, who is this?" he asked a bit stiffly. I looked back at Damon, who was giving me a 'help me' look, and then looked back at my dad.

"Dad," I said, pulling Damon up by me. "This is Damon. My boyfriend."

"Boyfriend, huh?" Dad said, watching Damon with careful eyes. Damon gulped and stiffened under my father's eyes. Something told me he wasn't used to meeting the fathers of girls like this. I found it entertaining, actually. Damon nervous, just the idea made me laugh.

"It's very nice to finally meet you, sir," Damon forced out. "I've heard a lot of nice things about you."

"Probably the only things she can remember about me," Dad mumbled. "How long have you been dating my daughter?"

"A week or so now," Damon said, unable to remember. I'll admit, I didn't even remember how long ago we decided to become boyfriend and girlfriend. That's sort of what happens when you're stalked by a psycho leader of a gang. Dad nodded his head slowly, still eyeing Damon with the same fatherly eyes.

"I see," he said. "Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions later?"

"Of course not," Damon said politely.

"Let's take this to the kitchen," Joyce said. We followed her to the kitchen where everyone else had gone. Jordan looked up from his banana to me and my dad.

"Hey," he said with his mouth full. He swallowed quickly and stepped in front of us.

"Dad," I said. "This is my best friend in the whole world, Jordan."

"Nice to meet you Jordan," Dad said, shaking his hand.

"It's very nice to meet you too, Mr. Davidson," Jordan said. "I can't believe I'm finally meeting you."

"I'm very happy to be meeting one of Hayley's friends," Dad said, looking out of the corner of his eye at Damon. Jordan snickered, but stopped when I gave him a look.

"Don't forget us," Seth said, coming up behind Jordan with Aliyah.

"Right," I smiled. "Dad, this is Seth and Aliyah, my other best friends."

"It's nice to meet you both," Dad said to them.

"It's SO great to meet you," Aliyah said.

"It really is," Seth agreed. I introduced Dad to everyone in there, including Damon's father which was kind of awkward considering I had only just met the man myself today. I guess it was kind of funny how we met each other's fathers today. Joyce got some hot chocolate for everyone and we all went into the living room to sit by the fire place. I sat on the floor next to the chair Dad was sitting in with Damon on my other side. We were sipping at our hot chocolate and talking, when my dad remembered the question he had asked Damon earlier.

"So, Damon," he began. "How did you meet my daughter?"

"In school," Damon answered. "We're Chemistry partners."

"I see," Dad nodded. "How long ago did you meet?"

"Toward the end of last month," Damon said. "We were friends for a while before we started going out."

"Actually, I didn't like him all that much when we first met," I said.

"No, she practically hated me," Damon admitted. "But I grew on her and we became friends. Then we started dating."

"So you were friends before you started dating?"

"Yes."

"So have you known her long enough to say that you love her?"

"I do love her," Damon said, looking at me with loving eyes. Aliyah, Joyce, Becca, Mrs. Parker, and Mrs. James all 'awed' at Damon's statement while I turned a shade of red.

"Do you intend to marry her?" Dad asked.

"I would love to marry her someday," Damon said. The girls in the room 'awed' again, but louder this time while the guys just sat back and smiled. "That is, of course, if she would like the same thing."

"I'd love to marry you someday," I smiled. There were more 'aws!'

"Have you and my daughter engaged in sexual intercourse yet?" Dad asked. I spit out and choked on the sip of hot chocolate I had taken while Damon stiffened and started looking nervous while everyone else looked awkwardly to the ceiling or suddenly became interested in the floor.

"Uh...er, n-no," Damon stuttered. "I mean, not that I don't want to! I mean she's VERY attractive and everything, but she's not ready- I- WE'RE not ready! I'm not pressuring her into it or anything like that! It's kind of early in our relationship to talk about that kind of stuff. I would wait until after marriage and everything, if that's what she wants. And even if she DIDN'T want to wait until after marriage, I would talk to you about it first and...I'm going to stop talking now." I gave him a look telling him that that was a good idea after I stopped coughing on my hot chocolate.

"You're saying that you WANT to have sex with her?"

"Eventually......" Damon trailed off quietly. I gave a pleading look to my father.

"Dad, any other questions you have that don't involve that certain topic?"

"Alright, alright," Dad said, leaning back in his chair. "What kind of grades do you get?"

"I'm a straight A student," he said.

"That's....probably good," Dad said. "What about my daughter attracts you?"

"Her smile, her eyes, her laugh, her personality," Damon listed. Dad nodded the whole time.

"Good. It's good to know that you're paying attention to other things other than her chest."

"Dad!" I exclaimed, arms flying up to cover my chest. I felt like every male in the room except Dad was staring at my chest now.

"Okay," Dad said. "Do you find me intimidating Damon?"

"You want honesty, sir?"

"One hundred percent."

"I find you extremely intimidating."

"How intimidating is that?"

"Like I would piss my pants just by hearing the sound of your voice." Jordan and Seth burst out into hysterics while Dad looked at him. After Jordan and Seth stopped laughing, Dad spoke.

"I like you, Damon," he said. "I think my daughter is making a good choice by dating you."

"Thank you sir," Damon nodded. "I'm very happy that she chose to date me."

"And I'm happy you're done interrogating," I said to Dad who smiled sheepishly.

"I didn't mean to go that far," he said. "Especially not in front of everyone."

"No, please don't be sorry," Jordan said. "I found that very amusing to watch."

"As did I," Seth said.

"Me too," Aliyah chirped in.

"Alright, all the interrogations are over now," Joyce said. "Who wants some pizza?" I hadn't even noticed how much time had passed by until she mentioned ordering pizza. I was really hungry. My growling stomach proved it.

"I do!" Jordan raised his hand like an excited elementary school student.

"Same here!" Seth and Larry said in unison.

"Boys," Aliyah and Becca muttered.

"Girls," Seth, Larry, and Jordan retorted.

"Children," all of the adults sighed. Joyce stood up and walked to the phone.

"I'll order the pizza," she said. "Pepperoni, sasuage, cheese, and taco, right?"

"Yep!"

"What would you like, Will?" she asked Dad.

"I'm fine with taco, actually," he said. She smiled and walked into the kitchen to call. Exactly half an hour after she called, the pizza came and we all ate in the living room and chatted with each other. It was a really fun day.

"So," Damon said to me at the front door. Everyone had already left and he was the only one still here. Dad was going to stay in the guest bedroom until he found a new place here. He said he wanted to move here so he was closer to me and that he had already found a good job here. Something told me that he now had another reason to want to live here other than just me. I was kind of thinking Joyce was the other reason. The time came now where Damon said it was time for him to leave and I told Joyce and Dad that I would walk him to the door.

"So," I said back. "Awkward conversation earlier?"

"Eh, I didn't mind it all that much," he said. "It just goes to show how much he cares about you."

"Yeah," I smiled. "I guess it does."

"Are you happy you finally got to see him now?"

"I'll admit, at first I was a little nervous about all of this but....I'm really happy he came."

"And I'm happy you're happy," he said adoringly. I smiled again and kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I really never thought that things could be so perfect. If you had told me a year ago that I would have the best boyfriend ever and that I was going to see my dad again and that he was going to move here for me, I would have been concerned about your mental health. But that's exactly the way things turned out. And I couldn't love life more.