SWITCHED AT PROM

Chapter 11

KAREN'S P.O.V

I saw them driving away with a bit of disappointment. Ridiculous, I was very aware of that. Now I only needed to wait for Connor with torn heart. What should I do?

The horn sound. He was outside. And quickly as I approached the front door, he was already there giving the biggest smile possible.

"Oh, so this is Connor." Mom came from behind. "I'm Karen's mom."

"Nice to meet you." Connor hugged her.

"Yeah mom, uhm, shall we?" I just cut everything before it got too awkward.

"Of course. Have fun you two." Mom waved.

Connor, being the gentleman he always was, he opened the door and all that. My heart was pounding. His lovely self made me torn over and over again.

"Looking gorgeous as usual." Connor started the talk.

"You're being alright too yourself." I joked. "No, you're more than alright sir."

"Hahaha. I'll take that." He smirked. "So, how was the family trip yesterday?"

"Cool. Mom and dad brought me to the beach. We had barbeque party. Dadda and nenna were also there along with my cousins. It was a total mess though. Sand's everywhere..."

"Sounds super cool. You got sunburn or anything?" Now Connor definitely mocked me and my obsession with skin nutrition.

"Been on preventive mode since early morning, don't you worry." I chuckled.

And this, and that, we talked regular. Connor shared his band's current updates with music and everything, also Toby and Riley were saying hi to me and wanting to meet me in person sometime soon. It felt good.

But was good enough?

"Aaand here we go." Connor turned the car to a restaurant's parking space.

"We go Italian tonight, huh?"

"Hope you're not in your diet mood, lady. Because their pizzas are the best."

"I can take one night down from the list." I winked.

"Good."

Connor offered his arm for me to hold, and we entered the room. The waitress seemed to know Connor more than I ever could. She led us to the backyard. Few more couples here and there, but I believed Connor aimed for the farthest one.

"Cool spot." I smiled.

"Only for you." Connor winked. "Hey, I need to go back to the car for charger."

"Ah, or else the boys would kill you."

"Exactly." He rolled his eyes. "A second okay."

I nodded. While Connor was leaving, I stared at his back. How lucky I was to stumble across him during a concert and now got his full attention. How lucky that he wanted to make everything right even after all of the drama.

But I couldn't lie. It was never the same anymore.

"I'm back." A tap on my shoulder shook me from long thoughts.

"Hey- Oh my goodness, what are you doing?" I jumped into his hug.

"Celebrating the night with the most beautiful girl ever." He chuckled. "Wait, that's lame."

I shed the tears of happiness. I hugged him so tightly he even sounded like a dead frog already while telling how beautiful I was. But I did not care. I squeezed even tighter. And smiled the widest I could ever possibly do.

I saw Connor from afar. Him with his best suit and biggest heart, smiling twice as widely at me for winning the scenario. I nodded and mouthed thank you. Slowly, he waved and walked away.

"So it's been about you..." I chuckled in tears.

"Some guys are just so good at playing cards of truth." AJ laughed hard. "Have you ever second guessed it?"

"No, because you and Gaby-"

"Dang, that girl is drop dead gorgeous. But you should've known. Gaby and I can't even last a conversation more than five minutes without scratching each other's faces!"

"Man... Hahaha... True that." I raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I've been liking you since the day I trapped myself with Gaby. Well, that's probably my stupid way of being around you, by goofing around her too. I'm sorry if you could ever mistaken the situation but, I like you."

"That's not good enough." I faked a pouty face.

"I know. Because since Connor kissed Gaby on the dance floor and I saw you storm out of the room, it's been different. I don't like you anymore."

And he stopped right there. I was ready to explode but all I did was bowing my head down. But AJ cupped my neck to steal a kiss. A beautiful one. I ended up wrapping his shoulders because he still kneeled in front of me. We kissed the longest, the deepest, the dearest.

"Damn, did you even take a breathe?" I laughed.

"Yeah, a deep one before we did that." AJ chuckled and touched my red lips. "I love you Karen."

"I love you too."

We finally started the dinner. Connor was right with what he promised; giant pizza with full toppings. I laughed it everytime the waitress put our meals on the table. It was like an endless course.

"Connor's goal is to make us fat."

"Yeah. He took my notes very carefully."

"And I'm exploding like right now."

"Not until you find out what's for dessert."

I smirked. Interesting. AJ called the waitress to bring us the thing. And the second it showed up, I jumped once again into AJ's hug. A peanut butter cheesecake!

"The devil's arrived!" I shouted.

"Pretty, isn't it?" AJ asked me to sit on his lap, while the waitress lighted the candles on it. "Make a wish, love."

I closed my eyes and smiled. I got everything in life, despite the roller coaster. AJ was all I ever wanted since the disaster happened. He has been here for me through night and day, and never questioned to whom my tears were falling for. He was just there for me.

"Done." I opened my eyes.

"Blow it." AJ whispered.

And it was dark again. The couples were leaving their spots, I supposed. The waitress turned off the lights that surrounded us. Now AJ and I were alone, at this farthest table from the main building, with citylights before our eyes.

"Damn, you're a romantic guy." I laughed so hard.

"It's called unleashing potentials." He pecked my lips. "Happy birthday, girlfriend."