His daughter (Austin Carlile)

14

(I'm gonna skip the whole dress shopping thing and skip to her getting ready for homecoming.)

Erika

"Hi I'm Alyssa! I'm Alan's girlfriend." I was literally standing in front of a platinum blonde beauty queen and honestly? I felt jealous of her beauty.

"I'm Erika, it's nice to put a face to a name constantly coming out of a gingers mouth." I said. I looked over at Alan and saw his red cheeks and smirked.

"Is it ok if I help you get ready tonight? Austin called and asked for tips but understood nothing so just asked me to come over. Guys huh?" She was funny I had to give her that. And really nice I was growing to like her already.

"Of course! Of course come on my date will be here in a little while." She smiled and followed me up into my room. She laid out all of these boxes and hair products that I grew kind of scared.

"It's not as bad as it looks honey you'll be fine." She waved her hand and sat me in the chair. She ran a brush through my hair and played with it. "So how do you want your hair done." She asked.

"Anything that goes well with that purple dress hanging on the back of my door." I answered. She studied it for a minute or two and then nodded and started working on my hair.

"So you like doing hair?" I asked trying to make small conversation. She nodded enthusiastically and smiled wide. "I got my cosmetology degree 4 years ago and own my own hair salon. Pretty big and successful. Ever heard of Cut 'n' Brush?"

"Oh my gosh that's you! I love that place. I go to one every time I want my hair done." She nodded and pulled my hair half up and half down.

"So tell me more about your date!" She said. I'm not sure if she was just to excited or just.....to excited.

"He was actually my best friend. I recently started a new school. I bumped into him in the hallway and we have the same schedule so we spend the day together. I snuck out late one night to meet him at the park and he asked me to homecoming. Said he really likes me after only a week. He's just. Ugh so nice and sweet. He's considerate and caring. Knows how to give you that warm feeling in your tummy."

She was just smiling the whole time. "Girl if you ask me you like him to." She said as she bobby pinned my last piece of hair. I shrugged and tried to hide my blush. "You shrug but your cheeks say yes! Now your hairs all done." She held up a mirror behind me and I saw my hair curled at the bottom but my hair was bobby pinned into a bow and fit perfectly. "You like?" She asked. I shook my head and smiled "no I love!"

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"PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES!!" Austin yelled as I made my way down stairs. I opened the door and saw Alex standing there with roses. "Hey." He whispered. "You look so...gorgeous.." He complimented. I couldn't help but blush, but hopefully the foundation was hiding it.

"THE DATE IS HERE C'MON C'MON PICTURES!! By the way hi I'm the dad..BUT C'MON PICTURES!" Alex laughed and followed me outside.

"Perfect I'm loving this. Loving it a lot." Austin said as he kept snapping pictures. Everyone else was snapping pictures on their phones and smiling. Alan was laughing at Austin and Austin was trying to take more pictures but I'm pretty sure he ran out of memory AND film. "That's good enough dad we get it." I said.

"Alright alright i'll let you go." He said. I smiled and walked up to him and hugged him. "Love you." He whispered in my ear. "Love you to dad, see you at 10:30." I said.

I got in the car with Alex and a woman turned around in her seat. "Hello I'm Alex's mom. Mrs Jett. You can call me Olivia. It's so nice to meet you Erika. My son wouldn't stop talking about you." I blushed and slapped his arm. He just laughed and rubbed his arm while his cheeks flamed.

Olivia was talking the whole ride there but I wasn't listening and I'm pretty sure Alex wasn't either. We were just staring at each other smiling.

"And were here. Have fun you to i'll be here to pick you up at 10:30." Alex grabbed my hand and walked inside where we met Sabrina. She was talking to another girl and they both laughed at the same time. "That's her date." Alex whispered.

I smiled at her and walked towards her. "ERIKA!! Hi!!" She yelled over the pounding music. I hugged her and smiled. "So is Alex your date?" She asked. I nodded and her smile spread "I CALLED IT. I TOTALLY CALLED THAT ALIKA WOULD SAIL!!" She yelled at the girl.

"Oh I'm so sorry that was totally rude of me to not introduce you. Erika, this is my date Penney, Penney this is Erika, Alex's date." The girl smiled at me and nodded. This was gonna be a fun night.

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"And this is our last song, the slow song." Principle Daniels announced. All of Me by John Legend started to play and Alex guided me onto the dance floor. "May I have this dance m'lady?" He asked. I nodded and put my arms around him. "I had a lot of fun tonight. Thank you so much for being my date." I said as we swayed back and forth. "It was my pleasure. I loved tonight as well."

I hid my face in his neck and couldn't contain my smile. "Erika?" I looked up into his eyes and smiled. "Hmm?" I asked. He didn't answer and he gently put his finger under my chin and leaned in to kiss me.

I met him half way and closed the space and kissed him. It was my first kiss and I was glad that he was my first kiss. I think I'm really starting to feel for the dude.

He handed me a note with a heart on it. "Don't open this until you get home. And ready for bed. It's special." He said. I put the note into my clutch and continued dancing with him.

'And i'll give you all of me'

'And you'll give me all of you'

We stood there for a little while and then dismissed ourselves to leave.

"Did y'all have fun tonight?" Olivia asked as we got in the car.

"Lots thank you for asking." I said. I felt a clench in my stomach. Again with the formally polite thing.

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"I'll see you Monday?" Alex asked as we stood on my doorstep. I nodded and smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." I said. He leaned in and kissed me again before pulling away. "I don't want your dad getting the shot gun out. I'll see you Monday and text me after you read the note."

I waved and turned around to open the door. It was dark and I assumed everyone was asleep so I made my way upstairs and got ready for bed.

I sat there staring at the folded paper in my lap. I opened it and scanned his messy writing.

'My dearest Erika,

If you're reading this, which you probably are, I just have to tell you that I like you a lot. I know you, not all of you but I know most of your story and hopefully you will trust me enough to tell me your story one day. Look i don't know how many times i can say it I like you! Like a lot a lot! And I don't want you to wonder 'why me?' Or 'you could do so much better!' Because I can't! I love the way you have a jersey accent. I love the way you say "gawd" instead of god or "gawgeous" instead of gorgeous. Small things like that make my heart flutter. You. Make my heart flutter. So will you Erika Jennifer Carlile. Be my gawgeous, little pumpkin. The kellin to your Vic. Or the Alex (hehe) to your jack?'

I couldn't stop smiling at the letter. I loved it so much that I took a pin out of the drawer and nailed it to the wall next to my bed.

I grabbed my phone really quick and opened up the messages between Alex and I and typed one word. "Yes."