I was staring at my mother in shock as she giggled and danced around the living room, hugging a pillow.

Why?

I had walked in, already feeling her rage and wincing as she called out my full name. "Claire Roselyn Cross. Where in the world have you been? Don't you know I've been worried sick!?"

"Sorry mom. I went out with Nathan and the time flew by. It won't happen again," I whispered while looking down. A couple of minutes passed and she still hadn't said anything. When I finally looked up, her mouth was popped open and her eyes were wide.

"You went on a date with Nathan!" She shrieked and that's when she began to dance around, singing about marriage and babies and a bunch of other nonsense.

"MOM!" I screamed, making her stop. "IT WAS NOT A DATE! AND THERE IS NO WEDDING OR BABIES! IM SORRY IF I RUINED YOUR MOOD BUT COME ON!?! IM ONLY 17 FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!"

"Not for long. Remember your birthday is next week," she sang and I blinked rapidly. She was right. My birthday was next week and I had completely forgotten about it.

"Well whatever. I'm sorry again. I'll be in my room if you want to ground me or something." She never came by and I fell asleep, thinking about the events of the day.

When the sun came up the next day, I received a message from Nathan as soon as I hoped off the shower.

You up?

No. I'm still sleeping. Go away.

Ha ha. Have you had breakfast?

No..... why?

IHOP???

Ooooh. Oh I don't know. I was kind of hoping of enjoying my granola bar for breakfast. I joked.

No. You. Me. IHOP. Thirty minutes. Be there or I'll come for you.

Oh man!

*

*

"Just in time. I was about to go after you," Nathan laughed as soon as I stepped out the car. I glared at him and ran my fingers through my still wet hair. He followed my hand as it went up and down, but when he noticed me staring at him, he shook his head and smiled. "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. I still need to do my hair," I laughed and he mumbled something under his breath. I ignored him, clutched my wallet even tighter and walked into the house of pancakes.

*

I mentally slapped myself as I caught myself staring at Nathan while he changed his shirt outside IHOP. His six pack was in view, and his biceps flexed as he pulled his shirt up and over his head. I swear I think I was drooling.

Why is he changing his shirt? Well his original shirt was white, and he spilled coffee all over it. How? Well I told him what my mom was singing about yesterday and he missed his mouth, the coffee spilling all over. Luckily, he had the silverware cloth on his lap so he got saved there, but shirt wise, that was another story.

"Ready to go?" his voice snapped me out of my dream faze and I blushed. I nodded, got in my car and drove off as he stood there, confused.

Once we got to school twenty minutes later, we walked inside and waited a couple of minutes until the bell rang.

"So.... umm I want to ask you something." he spoke softly as he played with his hands. "I know it's not until another three months from now, but I just want to be the first to say something." I raised my eyebrows up at him and he took a deep breath before he rushed everything out. "Willyougotopromwithme?"

"Huh?"

He scratched his neck, blushed and stuttered out his words. "Umm..... Well I was going to ask you during breakfast, but I chickened out. And I'm asking now just in case some other douche bag decides to ask you too."

"Ask me what?" I asked him softly as I looked at him. He gulped, looked in my eyes for a few seconds and then took a deep breath before he spoke very slowly.

"Will. You. Go. To. Prom. With. Me?"

The bell rang for us to go to class and I was still frozen in spot as he stared at me. Did I just imagine that or did he really ask me to prom. Me? Prom?

"What??" I finally gasped and he sighed.

"Let's get to class. We can talk about this later," he mumbled and walked away. His head was down and he walked with a drag, as if he was sulking or waiting for me to catch up.

I ran after him and managed to catch up once I reached the door. He went straight to our table and I slowly sat down next to him, still keeping my eyes on him.

"Why?" I finally breathed. "Why me?"

He shrugged and sighed heavily as if he was having an inner struggle with himself. He didn't say anything as the bell rang and Ms. Hoff started her lesson.

Why was he mentioning prom? Why did he want to go with me? Did I want to go with him? Was I even going? I looked up from my notebook and paused my pen as I stared at him. He was too busy frowning and scribbling as fast as he could as Ms. Hoff was about to change the slide.

Did I want to go? Part of me wanted to go, since prom was one of the most memorable events a teenager goes through in high school, but the other part of me didn't want to go. Not because Nathan was asking me or because I wanted to go with another guy. It just wasn't.... me and I would never see myself going and having a good time. Just the though of dancing made me shudder and focus on the slide only to give up when it disappeared.

I looked down at my messy handwriting and closed my eyes as I took a deep breath. I ripped a page out of my notebook, wrote down one small word and folded it. With my pen, I slid it over to him and I watched as he eyed it from the corner of his eye. I waited patiently for a few seconds before he grabbed the note and slowly opened it. He quickly looked up with wide eyes and I gave him a small smile. He quickly smiled back and from the way he folded the note back and put it in his pocket, I knew I had made his day.

*

*

"Mom..... mom.... mom breathe," I whispered as she sat there, shocked. Her lips moved like if she was having a hard time breathing and then she finally let out a loud shriek.

"Are you serious!? He asked you to prom and you said yes! I FREAKING KNEW YOU TWO WERE GOING OUT!! OH MY GOODNEEEEESSSSSS! I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU BABY!!" she squealed and I flinched as my ears popped from the sudden noise.

"Ow!? I'm not tell you things anymore if you are going to keep on screaming," I cried and she sent me a glare. She quickly covered it and then started talking rapidly.

"Do you know the theme? Do you know what you're going to wear? OH! You don't have a dress! Or shoes! We have to go shopping like yesterday for this. Why didn't you tell me sooner!? All the good dresses are gone now! Oh and look at your hair! We have to-"

"MOM!" I screamed and she got quiet. "Prom isn't until three months from now. Gabbys dad is paying for all of it because it's also her early birthday party. So relax and don't worry about it. Everything-"

"Relax! Relax and don't worry about it?" she laughed and patted my head. "Oh honey. You have no idea how prom works don't you. Just leave it all to me and I'll help you out. I just need the small details and we will be good. Now-"

The doorbell interrupted her and we both snapped our heads over, wondering who it was. I slowly stood up, made my way over there and was shocked to see who it was.

Nathan....... and his mom a few feet behind....

Huh?

Nathan sighed, turned his head to face his mom and whined, "Mom, please. Don't make me do this. She already said yes....."

He trailed off as she sent him a death glare and only pointed to me. "That is not the way I raised you. Now ask the young lady right so we can get home and feed your father. You know how cranky he gets if he doesn't get his food."

I blinked rapidly as this small exchange happened in front of me. I could feel my moms rapid breath behind me and I took a quick glance at her before turning back around.

Nathan sighed, grumbled, "I can't believe I'm doing this again," and then produced a bouquet of daisies, and a small bear from behind his back. I tore my gaze from the items and looked up at him as he stared at me with an "I'm sorry," look.

"Come on boy! Grow some balls and ask the girl right!?" his mom snapped behind him and I smiled a little.

He groaned and looked back down to me. He looked into my eyes and as my blush spread across my face, he softly murmured, "Will you go to prom with me?"

I slowly raised my hands after a few moments to grab the items from his outstretched hand and nodded. He sighed in relief, turned around to face his mom and said, "There. You happy mom?"

I heard sniffles from both moms but his mom was the one who spoke. "Not really. That wasn't romantic at all but we will work on it."

"Good. Because if that's the way you are going to propose to my baby then I'm going to slam the door on your face," my mom huffed.

"Mom!?" I groaned and sighed. When will this lady get it through her mind that we were not going out or ever getting married!!!