Changing the Stars

Chapter 11: Carpe Diem

I was still zoned out as Daniel and I sat on the cute, little bench. I couldn't imagine actually meeting a guy's parents. Would they like me? Was I too foreign? I snapped out of my daydream when Daniel went to stand up.

"Hey." he said as he helped me up. I started to slouch when he first moved because I wasn't paying attention.

"Hiya." I said as I slowly got up.

"It's Sunday, so I have the whole day off to spend with you. Do you have any classes?"

"Nope, it's my free day too."

He grabbed my hand and we started walking. I asked him where we were going, but he said, "it's a surprise". I sort of hated surprises, but he just looked so happy that I didn't want to ruin his plans.

I remember years ago, my family planned a secret vacation. I was so excited and hopeful. My family knew I loved to go to the beach, so they picked one and kept it a secret. I was packed weeks before our flight was scheduled. I could not wait. 

The day before the unveiling of plane tickets, my family got a call. My dad's boss wouldn't let him take time off of work. The whole vacation was crushed in a matter of minutes. Non-refundable plane tickets were thrown away, and I cried in my room for a week straight. 

I really hoped this surprise would bring back happy memories from before they were ruined for me.

After wandering around a part of campus I haven't been to before, he turned my shoulders to face him.

"Alex, you have to cover your eyes" he said smiling.

"Fine" I say reluctantly. 

I cover my eyes and I'm very nervous. What if he's in like a gang and want's to kill me. OR what if he's a murderer without a gang. Ah! All of these were just stabs in the dark. No pun intended. I was scared. 

"Ta-da!" he yells as he pulls my hands away from my eyes.

It's the shop where we first ran into each other. It was a little trinket shop.

"It's where I clumsily ran into the prettiest girl I'll ever lay eyes on."

"Wow, so you ran into two girls that day? That pretty girl must have made a better impression than I did." I played dumb just to see if he would catch on.

"She was pretty great" he said teasingly. 

We both laughed. I was glad he had a good sense of humor and played along with my stupid jokes.

"So, what are we doing here, and how did I not realize we were headed here?"

"There are like 5 different ways to get here. Since I am a nerd, I came weeks before orientation and stayed with a few other guys. I wanted to get to know the town, and know the ins' and outs'. "

I smiled. He was such a sweetheart. I wish I would have done that, but I wanted as much time as possible with my family. That reminded me, I needed to call my parents as soon as possible and see if they had heard from my brother. 

Daniel waved his hand in front of my face and I realized I zoned out.

"The reason we're here, is because I wanted to introduce you to my second mother, Liza, and Patrick. Liza and my mom knew each other from college, so she let me stay on campus with Liza's supervision, and I met this jerk when I almost took his room." he said kissing Liza on the cheek and punching Patrick in the arm.

"Shut up. You tried to push all my buttons before you knew I had any. I forgive though because you're like the sister I never had. And hey, you can call me Pat." he said, and he winked at me. Both his mom and Daniel smacked him. Liza took the back of the head, and Daniel took his shoulder.

I was already laughing quietly. I miss being like this with my family, but I didn't want to think about it anymore because it just depressed me.

"It is so nice to meet a girl of Daniel's! He is such a sweetie, so don't let him go!" Liza said smoothly.

"Don't listen to her Alex, she secretly wants to know everything about you so she can report back to my mom." Daniel quipped.

We were all laughing when Liza didn't protest. I knew any guy's parents I'd meet would love me. I'm kind, smart, and cultured. That is like the top three traits that parents swooned over. My family would love anyone I brought home. I got my kindness from my mom, and my humor from my dad.

Liza and Pat went back to running the store as Daniel and I looked around. There was the cutest magnet that said "carpe diem" (seize the day). It was so nice. It was written in cursive, but not that crappy kind that no one can read. It looked so classy and right as I was about to walk away, Daniel grabbed it.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked cautiously.

"Buying this magnet for my favorite girl."

"Nonononono, you agreed no more paying unless it was for dates. That's what I want."

"Well then I'm buying it for me."

"Fine" I huffed. He was so stubborn.

We walked out of the store after our extensive goodbyes and promises to have dinner. I was still irked that Daniel bought that magnet. I guess it was sweet because we were dating, and even in France people bought each other gifts. 

I sighed and scolded myself for being stupid. If he wanted to buy me nice things, I would just have to get over it. He was being a great boyfriend.

We made it back to his fraternity first because it was on the way. I saw his nice car past the house. He walked over to it and I followed warily. He took the magnet out of the bag and stuck it on his brand new car.

"NO!" I screamed, but he had already stuck in on the paint.

"What?" He smiled.

"You're car is so new! The paint could rip off when you take the magnet off!" I said still yelling.

"Calm down, Alex. Paint jobs cost nothing, and it'll be worth it being reminded of you everyday. You make me want to seize the day", he smiled.

(A/N: I really like where this is going. I am going to get to the "omg" parts soon! Keep reading and vote! Love you all and thanks so much for reading!)