The Beauty Queen

The Beauty Queen - Chapter 27

Last chapter everyone! I have to say, it's been a good run :D And I want to thank every single one of you for being amazing... and voting, and commenting, and for everything you've done! Sounds corny, but your support is what got me to finish this. Believe me, writing a new chapter after finishing up a huge magazine for language arts is a chore. So this is for you, keep that in mind. :)

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Chapter 27

"Easy now," Nate said softly. He wrapped his arm gently around my waist, helping me up the stairs. Ugh, stupid porch steps. Why does an apartment building have a porch, anyways? It's a building, for Pete's sake. I sighed.

"Stupid Krista," I muttered bitterly, hopping up onto the next step. I winced, feeling pain shoot up my ankle. I took a deep breath. Two down, three to go. Nate chuckled and sent me a smirk.

"If it wasn't for her, you probably wouldn't let me this close to you," he said, following up with a quick peck on my cheek. I flushed and shot Nate a look.

"That's not true," I said, my face still red. It was true... that it wasn't true. Nate and I have confirmed our status of boyfriend and girlfriend, so it's only natural that I would allow him to be so close to me. And I have to say, I'm enjoying it more than expected.

"Thanks for admitting it," Nate whispered. He gave me another kiss, but this time on the lips. I could tell he wanted to deepen the kiss, but I pulled away. If there's anything I have a problem with, it's PDA. Nate looked like a disappointed little kid when I pulled away from him. I cracked a smile.

"We can do that later," I assured him, "but I need to see my family first."

~~~

"Danielle!" Linda shrieked, tackling me with a hug. I quickly started screaming along with her when the rest of my family joined the attack-hug. They were all screaming how they loved me and how they missed me so much, and how it wasn't the same with out me, blah, blah, blah. But I wasn't yelling from happiness--I was yelling from all the pain.

"Geez, my ankle's broken! Lay off!" I screamed over the noise. I heard Linda yell in disagreement, and she only tightened the hug. I was glad to see that my parents backed off, though. They were always so considerate of me. Honestly, Linda's very selfish when it comes to me. I gritted my teeth when I heard Nate laughing. That finally got Linda off me. But something even worse was about to happen.

Linda turned on her heel and faced Nate. My parents were watching him as well. For a second, he had on that blank expression of his, but then he cracked a sheepish grin. He waved childishly. My mom raised an eyebrow at me.

"Linda sends you to prepare for an all-girls beauty pageant, and you come back with a boyfriend. Danielle, you are incredible," she said. Albeit her tone was scolding, she was still grinning at me, giving me an expression that said, "My little girl's growing up!"

"You are incredible," my dad mumbled, glancing at me. The look he gave me was so different from my mother's, though. It said, "If this guy touches you anywhere other than your hands, knock him out."

I laughed at both of their expressions. I swear, their faces were complete opposites. Then, at exactly the same time, my mom and dad glanced at each other at exactly the same time. My mom laughed at my dad's expression, just like I had, but my dad just grunted and left the room. My eyes followed him as he left.

I noticed something I hadn't before. When my eyes followed my dad out of the room, I noticed the couch and the small TV. Further observations of the room revealed a kitchen table... and a kitchen to go with it. But that was about it. There was nothing more. But even though it wasn't a lot, I still grinned.

Then I remembered. I hobbled over to Nate as quickly as I could, pulling the heavy suitcase out of his hands. Well, he didn't actually let go, so he gave it to my mom himself. Right after my mom took the shiny case, Nate grasped my hand. We grinned at each other, probably looking like one of those couples that gets excited over everything. But I didn't care. I was happy.

What made me happier, though, was my mom's face when she saw what was inside the suitcase. Her jaw dropped, and that was Linda's cue to move closer to see what was inside.

"What's wrong with--Oh my gosh," Linda breathed, her jaw dropping even farther than my mom's. My grin widened, and Nate squeezed my hand.

The shocked silence that followed was way too long for my taste, but this was special. I was actually excited about the silence for once.

After what seemed like hours, Linda broke the silence, leaving my mom still speechless. "But I--we thought--you--ahh..." she trailed off, obviously still recovering. Linda shifted her hair to one of her shoulders and started fanning herself. "This is unreal."

I felt like my grin was about to split my face. Nate suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a hug. Out of nowhere, Linda's face went from shocked to smug. I raised my eyebrows. Oh, she's got something interesting to say. I know that face.

"And you didn't even want to go in the first place," she said. I scowled, and Nate chuckled. I felt his chest bounce when he did. I gave Linda a look. She laughed.

She knew that I was totally grateful... even though she literally had to drag my butt into that damn pageant.

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THE END! ;D