Nicely - hs

5

"Is he picking you up, dear?" My mum asks me for the nth time as she finishes curling my hair.

"Yes," I grunt, still not over the fact that I actually agreed with Harry to be his date.

My mum scowls at me, she knows I'm not happy about prom and all.

"It'll be fine, dear. You can always ditch Harry if it gets too boring," she suggests and I laugh a bit.

"Now, that's the smile I was looking for," she says as she smiles at me through the mirror, "Now, down you go to the living room and wait for your date."

I nod and sigh again, checking my reflection for the last time. My mum has done a pretty good job with my hair and make-up, it looks great with my black halter dress.

When I reach the living room of our house, my father appears before me with his phone out.

"Pictures!" He squeals and I scowl.

"No! Not that face!"

I roll my eyes before actually directing my attention to him, smiling a little bit at his phone.

"There it is! My lovely daughter!"

Then the doorbell rings. I know it's Harry because the wallclock in our living room says 6:27.

The nerd is three minutes early.

My mum suddenly dashes through the door, muttering, "Oh, dear. That's probably your date. Smile, will you?"

I inhale, awaiting the moment as my mother opens the door.

I expect to see Harry and his too-big glasses and his super gelled quiff. But instead, I see a tall boy dressed in a black button down shirt and suit. His hair is quite long and curly but swept up away from his forehead. In his hands is a box with a transparent cover, a corsage inside.

"Hello, Mrs Barrett," He finally says and my mum steps aside to let him in.

"But..." I mutter.

"You must be Harry!" My dad booms from beside me, extending his hand. The boy takes it and shakes my dad's hand.

"Good evening, Mr Barrett." He says in a completely deep voice.

"And Carrie, you look very lovely." He addresses me and then takes one of my hands, bringing it to his lips.

"What a gentleman!" My mother gushes, "Dear, pictures!" She says to my dad and he nods his head vigorously.

After the pictures are taken, my parents finally bring Harry and I to the door and say goodbye with a lot of side comments. When the door is finally closed, Harry clears his throat.

"Oh, uhm, your corsage." He says awkwardly and I nod. He opens the box before placing the garter of the corsage on my wrist like a bracelet.

"Thanks," I say.

"We should..we should get going. Yes," He mutters as he offers his arm to me, leading me to a black Range Rover that I only noticed now parked in front of our lawn.

"Holy shit," Is all I can say.