The rest of the night proceeded without any further incident. Everyone was smiling and happy. All was becoming right in the world again. Once dinner was over everyone was getting ready to leave for the night but would be returning in the morning so we could get together for a private event my dad was throwing before he went on tour after the holidays. Tre was one of the last of the gusts to leave and instead of us being with the adults we decided to sit out in the lobby until Tony came back to take him home. We sat on the couch and as we waiting we listened to the cooing sounds of our doves hanging from the second floor.

"You're dad has real doves. So is it true that they cry?" Tre joked.

"It's funny you're the only person who's asked me that! I've lived here a short time and trust me. The cooing is the only noise they make. No crying. Sorry to disappoint." I said to him with a big girly smile.

"My mom loves Purple Rain. She said when it came out she was 13 and since she was too young to see it by herself she bought a tick for another movie that was starting early and snuck in and waited an hour and forty five minutes just to see it. My mom was pretty wild back in her day."

"That's so cool! I don't know much about my mom so I can't say the same."

Tre felt like he had overstepped by talking about his mom and he was quick to be apologetic. I didn't mean to make him think he did something wrong. I guess the fact that I was abandoned and now all of a sudden here she comes trying to stroll back into my life like nothing was wrong was a lot to deal with at my age.

"I'm sorry Carly. I didn't mean-"

"It's ok. Your mom sounds awesome. I wish I had a mom that was as cool as yours. Matter of fact. I kinda wish I had a mom."

The fact that my heart was begging for a mom in front of Tre was almost more realistic than embarrassing.

"Hey maybe your dad will find a nice woman that will love and your brother one day. You dad is pretty cool."

"Yeah but he's also pretty rich. I don't want some random coming along trying to get a cut of my dad's money and not love him for the person that he is ya know? I want to protect my dad. He's all I have now that he's in my life permanently. Him and Joey are who I need to protect."

Tre grabbed my hand and looked at me with a smile that I've never seen before. It looked a little weird but I kids liked it.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked you so much Carly." Tre said.

"Really? What's that?"

"Well you're not afraid to be who you are. You're smart and funny. You care more about your family than you do anybody else and you're quick to stand up for things when you see something wrong. I guess what I'm trying to say is......well.....you're real."

Wow! Nobody has ever said that about me before. I mean I've gotten plenty of compliments from my dad and a ton from Erin and her cousin but i wasn't expecting Tre to say so much about me the way he did. It was almost a turn on! I don't even know what that means yet! I couldn't hide the happiness that grew inside of me. I had the biggest smile on my face and it was way more teeth than I wanted to show him. Not that there was something wrong with my teeth but I looked like a crazy cartoon character you would see on one of those classic looney tunes episodes. I had to pull myself together before I end up freaking him out.

"Well! No ones ever said that about me before! Thank you!" I said still smiling hard as hell.

"You're welcome!" He said smiling back at me.

Before long the car pulled up and Tony opened the door.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys but I gotta get your friend home now Carlz." Tony said as he batted his eye lashes at me.

"Dude stop. You look like you're trying to flush out an eye lash!" I told him.

"Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful Carly!" He joked as he held the door open for Tre.

"Well I guess I better get going." Tre said as he stood up.

"Ok. Well I guess I'll see you after break? Maybe we could meet up before we have to go back and see a movie or something?"

"Sure! I'd like that. If it's ok with your dad and all."

"I'm sure he'll be fine with it. Nothing a little begging and a few tears can't fix!" I said kiddingly.

"Cool! Well I'll see ya."

"See ya."

We stood by the door and looked at each other for a minute. Tony soon snapped us out of it.

"Ummm hello? Y'all gonna kiss each other now or what?" He joked.

I on the other hand was very serious. I had the feeling Tre was too because we both had the same idea and went for the kiss. It wasn't like before where it was a non stop deal. This time since we've been doing it so much at school we pretty much knew how this worked. Ten seconds and no more. Once the ten seconds was up he walked out the door and waved to me. Tony watched him get in the car and close the door and then turned to me as if he thought he was gonna be sick.

"What I'm come back.....I'm tellin ya daddy." He sneered.

"Dude! You snitch! I thought we were cool!" I snapped.

"Oh we are! But I'll be damned if I have to lose my job because of y'all two hornballs!"

Tony laughed and went to the car and took Tre home. I stood over by the door and watched until the car was off the property. With a smile on my face I turned around and went up the steps to my room. When I got down to my bedroom door my dad had just come out of Joey's room.

"Hey mama! Have a good time tonight?" He asked.

"It was ok I guess. Thanks for having Tre over. That meant a lot tonight."

"You're welcome!"

My dad shook me gently by the shoulders and went down the hall in the other direction to his room. I went to my room and changed out of my dress and put on some pj's with one major thought on my mind that I have been dying to get answers to. Once I got done changing I left out of my room and went down the hall and knocked on my dad's bedroom door.

"Come in!" He called from what sound like his closet. I went inside and sat on the bed to wait for him.

"Hey! You alright?" He asked me.

"Yeah I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh? What about?" He asked me as he put on his pajama shirt and buttoned it quickly.

I didn't give him a whole lot and drawn out story I just gave him a simple name.

"Regan."