Despite how tightly my mom hugged me, I still jumped when the earring gun pierced my ear. It didn't hurt. It was like a quick pinch, but the gun was scary looking. Indy snickered from somewhere behind me. If the woman wasn't prepping my other ear, I would've turned to glare at her. The second piercing wasn't as scary, but I was glad it was done with.

"Now, remember to clean them," my mom said as we left out of Claire's. "At least twice a day. With alcohol."

"I got it, Mom." I would've been annoyed with her repeating that for the hundredth time that day, but nothing could kill my happy.

In a few hours, I was going to have my first official date with Romeo. It had been two weeks since we kissed. Two very long, very painful weeks of not being able to see him beyond the few minutes at school.

But I was no longer on punishment. My mom wanted to show that she heard me when I told her she treated me like a baby at times and offered to take me to get my ears done.

She also took this opportunity to wear the sweatshirt with my design on it. I couldn't wait until Mother's Day to give it to her. And with all the free time I had while I was on punishment, I was able to really focus on finishing it. I took Andre's advice, drawing a portrait of my mom surrounded by butterflies.

Indy only tagged along to laugh at me being a wimp, I guessed. "Where is Rome taking you tonight?" She asked once we were back in the car.

"I told him not to tell me." I wanted to be surprised. Also, less details meant less things for me to obsess about.

Nervous wasn't a big enough word. I've hung out with Romeo numerous times before, but, for obvious reasons, this time was going to be different. My stomach was a wreck with anticipation.

● ● ●

I smoothed out the skirt of my dress--purple and ruffled and paired nicely with my white tennis shoes. When the doorbell rang, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

My mom and Indy were doing their own things around the house, but came out when they heard the door. My mom looked like she was about to cry again. Indy adjusted the sleeve on my dress. They'd been fussing with me for a while. It was nice, but I also wanted them to go away.

"Shoo," I said, flicking my wrists at them. They left the entryway, going to the living room and pretending they weren't watching as I opened the door.

Butterflies filled my stomach when I saw the smile on his face. Romeo wore dark jeans and a short-sleeved button-up shirt. My cheeks were already hurting from grinning and he made it worse when he brought out a bouquet from behind his back.

"Are those Pop-Tarts?" My mom sounded deeply confused by the bouquet of white daisies and foiled wrapped pastries.

I took the flowers, holding them to my face. "Hot fudge sundae, my favorite."

Indy sighed, standing behind me now. "Why did I expect you two to go about this like normal people?"

Romeo and I shared another smile. I handed Indy the bouquet. "Put these in a vase for me. Please and thank you."

Romeo held out his hand for me to take. His touch turned my legs to jelly.

"Please bring her home at a decent hour," my mom demanded, giving Romeo a hard look.

"Bye," I said to them, closing the door behind me.

Out on the porch we were finally alone. The sun had started to set, bathing everything in an orange glow.

"You haven't said one word--"

His lips cut me off. My favorite type of interruption. I draped my arms over his shoulder. His hands were on my waist, pulling me flush against him. It was like someone set fireworks off across every inch of me he touched.

"I had to get that out," he said after breaking the kiss.

"Satisfied?" I asked, tracing his jaw with my finger.

"Very." He stepped back, taking me in from head to toe. "You look...beautiful."

My entire body blushed. "Thanks. You smell good," I said, breathing in the lavender and mint.

"You mean to say that out loud this time?"

I laughed, shoving his shoulder. "Hush. And the flowers were very creative."

His lips spread wide. "The woman at the flower shop looked at me like I was on drugs."

"So, where are you taking me?"

We continued to the car. He even opened the door for me. "You said you didn't want to know."

I waited until he slipped into the driver's seat before answering. "Well, now I want to know."

He pulled away from the curb, driving out of my neighborhood. "I was thinking about taking you to a fancy restaurant, but it felt too generic. Like somewhere you'd take someone to get to know them. But I already know you."

That made me even more excited about the date. "Okay, so I know where you're not taking me."

He chuckled. "I wanted our first date to represent us. We've been friends for years, but now we're more. I was thinking we could do something we've done before as friends, but it'd be different since you're my girlfriend now."

My insides were liquid. I was Romeo's girlfriend.

He glanced at me, a nervousness I've never seen in him as he waited for my response. "I like the idea."

After a few minutes of driving, I noticed we were in his neighborhood. He parked in his driveway, running around the car to open the door for me. The driveway was empty, which meant Mr. Hayward wasn't home, and since Rashad left for good, that meant the house was empty.

Instead of going in through the front door, we went to the side gate. The first thing I noticed were the fairy lights strung up along the fence that separated his backyard from the next. He used clothespins to hang up photos of us over the years. Our friends were cropped out of a lot of them.

I pointed to one of me from a couple months ago, after I'd accidentally ate Nia's pepper cover pizza. I was chugging milk and it was dripping down my chin. "Is this one necessary?"

"Yes." He smacked my hand when I tried to rip it down and ushered me forward.

When we rounded the house, there were even more lights strung around the backyard, along with plastic candles that flickered like actual flames. The area was decorated like it was plucked straight from someone's Pinterest board.

"This is amazing," I said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in. "You did all this?"

His lips curved into a bashful smile. "Nia helped."

I could only imagine the squealing she did when Romeo enlisted her help. She was nothing if not a hopeless romantic.

My gaze landed on the pizza oven and the table next to it, artfully decorated with the ingredients we'd need to make pizza.

"We're making pizza?" I asked, mouth already watering.

"Yeah, that's the plan," he said, standing beside me. "No boring pepperoni this time."

"No fruit," I shot back.

He smiled. "Deal."

We got to work, deciding to make a big pizza to share. It was just like before. Except it was only us two and I could lean over and kiss him whenever I wanted. Which I did often.

Romeo stood behind me, attempting to help me roll out the dough, instead being extremely distracting and kissing my neck and jaw.

He paused, gently touching my ear. "When'd this happen?"

"A few hours ago."

He grinned, hand over his heart. "Aw, for me?"

I rolled my eyes, shoving and handful of mozzarella into his mouth.

We finished the pizza, putting it in the oven to bake. While we waited, we talked and listened to music and kissed. Mostly we kissed. We had almost seven years of missed kisses to make up for.

When the pizza finished cooking, we shared a chaise by the hot tub, me sitting between his legs because I didn't feel right not touching him. Our chicken and bacon pizza was on a table beside us. He played a movie on his phone as we ate.

I watched him more than the movie. Still amazed that, after so long, we were together and it was perfect.

He caught me staring that time, his lips twitching to a smirk. "What?"

"I'm in love with you, too."

Aside from the caption I read on his phone, neither of us had ever said those words out loud.

"You made a huge mistake." He peered up at me through his lashes.

"I did?"

"Yeah, because now I'm gonna have to hear you say that to me all day, every day."

My face was going to be frozen in a moment of pure happiness if I kept hanging around him.

He kissed me and I felt down in my toes. "I'm in love with you more."