Love In The Air | ✓

Love In The Air (9)

I see my dad's car and walk towards it, forcing myself to smile and push thoughts of Cameron from my mind. Him and Sophie get out of the car and rush over to give me a hug.

"Hey, sweet pea! Good to see you!" My dad kisses the top of my head. I turn and hug Sophie as well, I've always liked Sophie, she really loves my dad and is easy to talk to.

"Hey girl, you're so old! You look so grown up." Her accent has gotten stronger since I last saw her and I'm shocked by her southern drawl. My dad puts his hand on her shoulder and looks me up and down.

"I can't believe my little girl is 19." I laugh and go in for another hug.

"I've missed you so much."

"I missed you too. Come on, let's get your bags in the car and get home."

If I could only say one thing about Texas, I would say hot. Air conditioning is a Godsend. I don't know what I'd do without it.

I've never been to my dad's house before so this is all new to me, every time I've seen my dad since he moved out here; it's been him coming to England.

We arrive at the house and walk inside. It's beautifully decorated, so I know Sophie has done most of it. "Your room is upstairs, third door on the left, I tried to decorate it in a way you might like but what do I know." Sophie laughs and leads me toward my room.

She opens the door to a room with white walls, a double bed with plaid sheets, a wooden wardrobe and a love seat. It's bigger than any bedroom I've ever seen before but my dorm room at Uni is tiny, so maybe I'm just comparing it to that.

"I love it." Sophie smiles, pleased by my reaction.

"I'll let you settle in." She turns and walks out the door, closing it behind her. I sigh and fall back on the bed.

Later that night, I hear my dad call me down for tea. I walk down and sit at the dinner table, only to be handed a pizza box. I smile and laugh, looking up at my dad.

He shrugs, "Welcome home." I smile and my eyes almost tear up at his use of 'home'. We eat and then just sit on the couch watching movies for the rest of the night; I can't help thinking that this won't be bad at all.

The next morning, I go down for breakfast. My dad is at the stove cooking bacon and Sophie is sat at the table reading a newspaper. "Morning sweet pea."

"Morning."

Sophie smiles at me, "How did you sleep?"

"Great, travelling is so tiring."

"You can say that again. Anyway, me and your dad have been invited to one of my friend's weddings, we were wondering if you'd want to come with us?"

"Are you sure I'm not intruding?"

"Of course not, it's no problem."

"Ok then, sounds good."

"Great, we'll go shopping later." I smile at Sophie, as my dad sets plates of bacon in front of us. After breakfast I go get ready. I settle on wearing my denim shorts, a plain white vest and some flip flops.

Sophie takes me to a dress shop in the nearby town, we never run out of things to talk about and it kind of feels like I'm just hanging out with one of my friends.

We step in and are greeted by a middle aged women who hugs Sophie tightly. "Sophie!! I have that dress you ordered, you just need to try it on." She pulls back and notices me for the first time. "Oh! You must be Mae, right? Soph has told me all about you. I'm Rebecca" I nod and she hugs me.

"Mae's coming with me and Will to Jenny and James' wedding, so she needs a dress."

"No problem, I got you covered." Rebecca leads us through the shop and pulls a black and white dress off the railing. The top is black, and the skirt is white with a black floral pattern. It's gorgeous. "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful."

"What are you waiting for then, lets try this baby on." She hands me the dress and leads me to the changing rooms. I step in and put it on. When I look at myself in the mirror, I can't believe my eyes. It's most definitely the best I've ever looked and probably the best I've ever felt in an outfit too. I step out and Sophie gasps.

"My God, Mae you look stunning." She covers her mouth and looks like she's about to cry. I go over and hug her.

Pulling away I ask, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing, you just look so beautiful and grown up, I can't believe it. I've missed you, you know. You're the closest thing I have to a daughter, and to see you looking like this..." I hug her again, squeezing her tightly as my own vision starts to blur.

She pushes me away, wipes her eyes and claps herhands. "Right, back to business." She sniffles on last time and I letout a giggle at her quick transition. "Becky! We'll take it! Right, Mae,take that off and we'll get off home to your dad. Who knows what he's been upto on his own." I laugh and go take the dress off, looking forward to thenext time I get to wear