In Uncharted Waters

Chapter Two

Those who rush stumble and fall

I woke up to my brother opening up the door to the bedroom. I looked around and realized I was on the boat and that JJ was asleep next to me. He didn't wake up when Jasper came up, but he stirred a little bit. I slipped out of his arms and walked upstairs with Jasp.

"Dad is on his way down here!" he said. My eyes went wide and I told him to stay down here and guard the door. I ran up the steps and out to the deck. I saw my dad walking down the dock and ran up to meet him.

"Jasper said you finally wanted to talk," I said, trying not to sound guilty. He kept walking towards the boat and I kept trying to stop him. It was no use though. He walked right up to the boat, went into the cabin and stopped. Right next the door was JJ's boats. I watched as my dad stopped and stared. "Those are Jasp-"

"No they aren't," he said. I could tell he was angry, but he was unusually calm. "If you're going to sneak guys in, I would prefer it if it was under our roof, in different rooms, with your mom's and I's knowledge."

"What?" I asked.

"If that Maybank kid is staying over, sleep in different beds," he said and walked away. I stood there, mouth agape and confused. What just happened?

"You're so lucky," Jasper said, coming up the steps. "Dad must really feel bad and you know he'll never admit it."

"Shut up," I said. I let out a deep breath and tried to ease my nerves.

"Don't forget that we have dinner with the Thornton's tonight and there is no way you're getting out of it," he said.

I let out a groan of frustration and went back down to the bedroom. I laid down and felt JJ pull me into his arms.

"Where'd you go?" he muttered in a raspy voice. I smiled and pushed his long blonde hair out of his face.

"To talk to my dad," I said. "Good news is that you can stay at my house whenever you want. Bad news is that I have to go to dinner with the family tonight, so I won't see you until later."

I listened to him say he had plans with Pope anyways and prayed that he wouldn't ask who dinner was with.

"You coming back over tonight?" he nodded and let out a big yawn. "Okay. We should be back by 8 or 9 and you can come to the front door."

"Like of your house?" he asked. He was now wide awake. I nodded. I explained to him what my dad had said about coming over. He was just as confused as I was, but that didn't change the fact that we had basically got my dad's blessing to keep dating. We both got ready for the day. He kissed my cheek before leaving and told me he would be back around 9. Everything was perfect for a second.

The rest of the day was spent baking with my mother. She was going crazy trying to think of things to impress the Thorntons. I didn't really care about that, but if something wasn't right, we would have to hear about it forever. After an hour of unsuccessful cake frosting, my mom turned to me and told me I needed to make a pie. I sighed and got to work. Pie was my specialty. I baked up a classic apple pie and my mom hugged me tightly. I knew how much this meant to her. I went up to my room to change into a nicer outfit. I settled on this army green romper I had and some wedges my mom wanted me to wear. I heard my brother yell at me that we were heading out and ran down the steps.

I could feel the dread building in my stomach as we pulled into their driveway. After yesterday's weird encounter with Topper and the whole boat reciprocity situation, this seemed like a horrible idea to me. Still, here I was. We parked the car and I got out quickly. Topper and his parents opened the front door and welcomed us in. His mom gave all of us hugs and his dad shook our hands. I exchanged an awkward look with Topper and stepped inside. The inside of his house looked like a million bucks. It was even nicer than our house and couldn't believe the detail.