𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 ➸𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕 ꟾ𝟏ꟾ

The Cool Guy

I

I straighten out my dad's navy suit as I stare at myself in the mirror, trying to tie my tie. Keyword trying. I let out a groan of frustration as Sarah walks in.

"Whoa, be careful there." She chuckles, her eyes following me as I sit onto my bed and start bouncing my left leg furiously. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this."

"Hey, it's just a tie."

I sigh before standing up again. "It's not just about the tie, okay? It's Allison."

Sarah shakes her head at me. "No, you are not gonna do this tonight. I'm not going to let you."

I furrow my eyebrows as she walks over to help me with my tie. "You're not gonna let me do what?"

She only glances up at me occasionally as her hands tug at my collar. "I'm not going to let you talk yourself down from this, okay? You've been in love with this girl ever since she came here, don't deny it."

She looks up at me. "I mean come on, you're literally taking her to this dance and you still doubt yourself."

I scoff. "Yeah, but it's just as friends, Sarah. Besides, it's just too complicated."

"Well, have you told her how you feel?" She asks after tying my tie, making me look down at her.

"Uh, not exactly." The moment the words leave my mouth, Sarah hits me in the back of my head.

"Really, Wesley?"

"Yes?"

Sarah just sighs, uncrossing her arms. "Then tell her. And tell her again and again until you've said everything and anything you feel. Just, please, don't wait and let yourself drown in fear when you could already be happy."

I can feel a lopsided smile grow on my face.

"What?"

"It's just... you sound like Mom."

She doesn't say anything, only smiles. "Let's take a look at you."

She guides me back to my full-length mirror that stands beside my dresser and places her hands on my shoulders as we both gaze into the reflective glass. It was weird seeing myself like this. My hair was neatly laid and my dad's suit actually fitted me nicely.

"You can do this. I believe in you, and you can too."

II

"You can do this, Wes. Just breathe." I tell myself as I sit in my car, parked in front of the Argent residence.

I glance at the rearview mirror and quickly fix my hair before getting out of the car and knocking on the door. After a few seconds, it opens, revealing Mr. Argent.

"Wesley, come in." He gives me a quick smile before stepping aside to let me in. "Allison's still getting ready but you can wait in the living room."

I give him a tight-lipped smile in return before walking into the living room. I stand there awkwardly as Mr. Argent leaves the room and walks into the kitchen. He returns with two bottles of beer, making me very nervous.

"Would you like a beer?" He asks, giving me a slightly challenging look.

I gulp hard. "Uh, no, no. I'm too young to drink and-and I'm the driver."

He nods, sits the second beer on the coffee table, and walks over to the fireplace, leaning against its white frame. He opens one of the beers and takes a sip.

"Sit." He motions couch.

"Look, I like you, Wesley. I really do, but I just wanted to say a few things before you take Allison to the dance, alright?" He asks, making me nod quickly.

He gives me a polite smile, though I could tell he was still trying to intimidate me. "Good."

It was working and I don't know if it was because I was aware of his supernatural hobby or if it was simply because he's the very overprotective father of the girl I like.

Probably both.

His smile is suddenly replaced with a serious look. "For the past seventeen years, Allison's safety and protection have been in my hands and tonight it's going to be in yours. As you can probably tell, that's not something that happens very often if I can help it. I don't know if anyone told you about what I did to the mountain lion during the parent/teacher conference, but let's just say I know how to handle a situation that goes wrong, got it?"

"Got it."

His smile returns. "Perfect. Have a great time at the dance." I don't have time to respond, though I'm not sure I'm capable of speaking due to fear anyways.

"She's ready." Mrs. Argent says, making me get up and walk over to the stairs, Chris following very closely behind.

After a few seconds, Allison appears, making my jaw drop. She was so beautiful. She was always beautiful. Her hair was braided up and laid to the side and her dress was silver. I started to grow very nervous again and there was nothing else to blame it on this time. It was her. She made me nervous like no one else, which is hard to do since practically everyone did, though it was a different kind of nervousness. A good kind of nervous.

"Hi." Allison greets as she makes it to the bottom of the stairs.

"You look beautiful."

Allison mumbles a quiet thank you and gives me a small smile as I hold out my arm for her to take, trying to mimic the scenes from movies where the cool guy takes the girl of his dreams to the dance.

As cliche as it seems, she was the girl of my dreams. When I'm around her, I feel like me again. The me that I thought died but also a me that I didn't ever think I could be. She's the only one that's ever made me feel like I could be the person I've always wanted to be. Well, apart from 1st grade when Lydia told me that if I let a spider bite me on the hand I could live out my dream of being Spiderman. That was a lie. A very, very painful lie.

"Ready?" Allison asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I nod as she turns to her parents, saying goodbye before we make our way to my car.

I open the car door for her, making her chuckle. "What a gentleman."

I just shake my head and get into the driver's seat.

"My dad didn't give you too much trouble, did he? He can really be overprotective sometimes." Sometimes? I think he likes me and he still nearly took my head off.

"No, no. Not at all." Allison gives me a look of disbelief.

"Okay, maybe a little," I say, nearly strangling the steering wheel. "Maybe a lot."

Allison starts laughing at me. "What, I was scared, okay?"

She covers her mouth to keep from laughing anymore, though she can barely contain it as she tries to agree. "No, no. I totally understand. He's very scary."

"Yeah, yeah," I say with an annoyed tone, though I can't take the smile off my face.

-edited