"I was a little surprised when you called me," Sean said, steering his car smoothly. "It's only nine thirty. Surely the party just started?"

"Yes, but I've decided it's not very fun going to a party," I said, sneaking a peek at his chiseled jawline, "when I can be sitting in your car instead."

"Oh. Now I'm under the pressure of being more fun than a college beach party."

I laughed. "Don't worry. You already are." My dear god, this was the first time I sat in Sean Foster's car alone! I loved watching him drive.

"Shall I just take you back to your house?" he asked. "Or...maybe you want to do something together?"

"Well, I called early, so I think I earned some more time with you. Plus I want to be rewarded for not having a single drop of liquor tonight."

"Fair enough. Where would you like to go?"

I racked my brain for second date ideas.

Maybe we could go somewhere for food. No. I'm too jittery to eat.

See a movie? But we already did that and we won't be able to talk.

Wander the bookstore? Visit a gallery? Who am I kidding? Let's not pretend to be someone else. I wasn't even sure how late these places stayed open since it was unfamiliar territory.

"Do you want to come to my place?" I took the bold way out. "My parents are still away."

I was aware of how that sounded the moment the words were out. He hesitated, obviously deciphering if this was an invitation for sex.

"I'm not suggesting this to seduce you," I quickly added. "I just think it'd be nice to have someone in the house with me. Most of the time it's really empty." It was the truth, and the thought of going back alone on a Saturday night was a little depressing. "We can just flip through the TV channel together or listen to some music."

"Sure," he agreed.

Two dates in one day. I was too lucky. I needed to donate some money to charity to keep my good karma flowing.

***

Some time later, after showing him my very grand house, we had settled down in my room. It was in its usual state of messiness, but I thought he'd know sooner or later and I assumed he would be cool with it. On any given day, my room looked as if the storage room of Vogue had erupted like a volcano. Clothes, shoes, cosmetics, beauty products were scattered everywhere.

"Meet my assets." I gestured, waving my arm around in a flourish.

"Wow. It's like a whole new world in here," he said, his tone more amused than sarcastic. "What interior design style is this?"

"Minimalism. Can't you tell?" I eyed him with my chin up and he smiled just like I hoped.

I put on a CD recorded by Fishnets, which was our mutual friend Janet's band. They were talking about items they would never wear and fishnets popped up in the conversation, which later turned into band name as a joke. Janet sometimes wore a fishnet glove on her left forearm all the way up to the elbow, which kind of rocked.

As Janet sang "go away before I do something horrible to your cat" with all the teenage angst she could muster, I pulled out a photo album from my book shelf. I didn't really believe in digital photos, therefore I always printed out the photos I took on vacations.

"This is my family vacation in Fiji," I explained, cracking it open. Sean made all the appropriate noises of interest and fascination, until I flipped to a new page and saw one of me lying in the sand next to Alex, a random guy I met there. To be fair, throughout the vacation all we did was maybe rub sunscreen on each other, but it seemed to suggest more on film. I quickly flipped to the next page where more Alexes grinned at me. I could feel all the blood rushing to my face as I snapped it shut.

"It's okay. I didn't see that," Sean said calmly beside me.

I stood up. "This really isn't interesting to see. I mean, Fiji is just an island...with...lots of water surrounding it."

Sean nodded. "Yes, I believe that's the definition of an island." I could see the teasing glint in his eyes, which were the exact shade of blue as the lagoons in Fiji.

"I should show you the one where I went to cheerleading camp."

"That's something I've got to see," he said, being the cooperative gentleman he was.

My fingers paused over the album. Cheerleading camp...I didn't make any male friends there, did I? I didn't think so.

Wait. Sandra's then-boyfriend visited and brought a friend, and we hit it off right away. We were strictly platonic, of course, but maybe it didn't look so innocent in the photos. Maybe I could show him the ones I took with Sarah and Jess, back in the days of St. Margaret's, my private girls' school life.

Oh no we had dances with St. John's.

I sighed without even knowing.

"Not safe, either?" Sean asked. I couldn't tell if he was more turned off or entertained by my embarrassment. I was usually really good at dating, but in front of him I was super uncool.

"Look. I have to be honest with you." I sat down next to him on the bed and met his eyes. "I have a lot of friends, and at least half of them are guys. Most of the time they really are just friends."

"You don't need to explain, Flora."

"Do you really not care or are you just being passive-aggressive?"

I really should stop being so blunt. Sean blinked, then after a short pause he smiled. "I really don't care. And that's before you met me, right?"

"Yes. Yes." I breathed a sigh of relief. "All of that is BS to me. Before Sean," I explained.

He grinned, now apparently entertained.

"Aha! There's a really safe one." I knew what to show him. I had a bunch of photos of me in my tutus as I learned ballet very briefly in elementary school, and those were adorable.

"Seems like you've been beautiful all your life," he commented.

"Yeah, that's my one and only talent," I joked, but it was at least partially true. I really wasn't sure what I was good at aside from shopping and applying nail polish with my left hand. In front of smart people I always felt inadequate. "I bet you're beautiful all your life too," I said quickly to direct the attention away from myself.

"Not really. I had braces in middle school, so you probably wouldn't have thought so," he said. I refrained from telling him that even if he still had them, I'd still totally kiss him.

I turned the music up and basically we just chatted for a long time, until he said, "Why do I have a feeling of déjà vu? Did I really spend two consecutive nights sitting in a bedroom alone with you?"

Finally, Sean, now we're talking. I summoned my sultry spirit and ran my eyes slowly over his face. "Well, I hope you've changed your mind about being just friends."

"Let's just see how it goes," he said, but I didn't miss the faint trace of suggestiveness in his tone. "Although..." He paused, looking around and frowning with feigned disgust. "Seeing the state of this room really pushed things in the wrong direction."

I laughed. "I just want you to see the real me, and see how imaginative and carefree I am."

"Yes." He nodded. "This room really leaves a lot to the imagination. Nothing seems to be in its usual location."

"Yeah, it's a real battle everyday, trying to emerge as this." I gestured to myself.

"You've done a pretty good job." He looked at me, and his gaze had turned more intense. It was like a switch was flicked on, and his eyes went from a calm lagoon to a bubbling jacuzzi. We stared at each other and the kiss just fell into place.

It felt right. Destined. I had imagined kissing Sean Foster for many times in my head, but now I knew I had been imagining wrong. He was much better in reality. Sexier, warmer, firmer, tastier, and the pleasant boy scent from him pulled me in for more.

I kissed him hungrily, and as I got more daring, I pushed him down to the bed and pressed on top of him. I could feel his chest muscles underneath my body and it was so erotic. Part of me was getting lost in his kisses, and part of my brain was running a news report about the fact that it happened. Sean Foster was really kissing me, and boy, did he know how this worked!

Just when I was getting carried away, I felt him pushing me away.

"Wait."

"What? What's wrong?" I panicked instantly.

He reached behind him and pulled out a high heel. The Charlotte Olympia I just received and tried on before the beach party. "I really can't concentrate with this digging into my back."

I giggled, snatching it away and tossing it on the floor. I shoved him back on the bed playfully, and he had started to laugh. I felt his body shaking beneath me and I joined in. I laid my face against his chest, half out of mortification and half out of giddy excitement. It somehow didn't ruin the moment but instead brought us closer.

When he stopped laughing, he brushed a strand of my hair away from my face and lifted his head to kiss me again. We got back to our passionate lip-lock, and this time without the distraction of my high heel, it was even better. Sean may look a little reserved on the outside but his kisses were not. We continued for a very long time, and when we stopped we were both breathing heavily.

"Wow," I gasped. "You are hands-down the best kisser I've ever met."

"I'll try not to think about how many people I have to beat to earn that title."

"Ouch. Not that many," I complained with a pout.

He looked at me silently for a second before he smiled. My heart just about stopped. He had the most mesmerizing blue eyes and the sort of smile that could melt anyone, especially since he looked so serious at first glance. The contrast was amazing. It was like cracking open a door made of ice to find a garden of blooming hydrangeas.

I walked him to the front door. He cupped my chin and kissed me again, this time a light peck. "Good night."

"Okay," I whispered lamely.

"I'm really glad you called me."

"Me too."

It was funny how I didn't drink any alcohol tonight, but I felt so completely drunk. When he left I collapsed onto my bed and replayed the kiss a hundred times.

I was smitten. I group messaged the girls Carmen, Janet and Sandra and reported the latest event with the title we kissed, and they had to ask me who I was referring to. They were unbelievable!

***

The next morning I debated over waiting for him to call me or calling him, but I was never the kind of girl to wait for a phone call so I decided to text him.

"Last night was fun. When can we do it again?" No. I sound like a one-night stand.

"I had a really great time. Next time I'll make sure no weapons are lying around the bed." Too suggestive? Too clingy?

After much contemplating finally I decided on just saying "Good morning, handsome".

He called me right after I sent him the message.

"That was awfully polite of you, texting me just to say good morning."

"Yes, and to tell you you're handsome."

"Yes, that too. Thanks. What are you doing?'

"Nothing much, I just got up."

He told me he couldn't meet me, but then he gave me a very detailed schedule of what he had to do, including a family lunch with grandparents, workout, and studying. I liked how he told me everything instead of just saying he was busy. "But I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

In the afternoon I hung out with my girlfriends, and they were half envious and half surprised that I got my way with a guy again.

***

The following two weeks I didn't manage to arrange any date with Sean, but we tried catching each other between classes and after school. If we didn't talk much during the day, he would call at night. It was very predictable with him and I really liked that. After school we each had cheerleading and basketball practices so we barely had time to go out for a sundae.

During this period of time, I went out twice with my friend Charles. We had dated a few times in the past and were still friends, and whenever he visited from out of town I felt like being hospitable. I also went for a quick bite with Raymond Corbett after practice one day when we bumped into each other. Those hangouts were spontaneous and there was honestly nothing remotely romantic about them. Aside from that, my parents were finally home and my brothers were back for the weekend so we spent lots of time together.

Feeling like I needed to make it more solid with Sean, I stayed after school to watch him at basketball practice one afternoon. I didn't want to look too sappy of course, so I begged Carmen to stay with me. Carmen was reading Emily Brontë, but it was out of interest instead of obligation for class, which was just so her. She was probably looking for a guy who would write her love letters with a quill.

Sean came straight to me after the practice was over.

"Great, my shift is finally over." Carmen bolted right up after they exchanged hellos.

He smiled at me. "It's nice of you to come watch me play. I don't think I've had a girl sitting on the bleachers waiting for me in a long time."

"What? I'm waiting for Jake," I joked. "Come on, half of the girls are here to watch you. I had to buy my tickets at double the price from face value."

"I hope the performance didn't disappoint then."

I tilted my head, pretending to be critical. "Maybe if you wore less clothes..."

He laughed. "Listen, I've been meaning to ask you...do you want to go to the homecoming dance with me?"

I breathed a mental sigh of relief. I thought I had to bring it up myself. A few months ago I had summoned up enough courage to ask him to the spring dance, of which he replied with some lame excuses along the lines of not being interested in dances. "I thought dances aren't really your thing?"

"Well, it's true. But I get the impression that you might want to go. Plus now I have someone in mind that I'd like to dance with."

"Hmm...me too." My lips curled up.

"There're two catches though. One is that I'm a pretty bad dancer." He paused. "Unless we're slow-dancing. Then maybe it won't be that obvious."

I smiled flirtatiously. "That's not a problem."

"Okay, the second one is my car is at the repair shop so I won't be able to pick you up. Do you mind just meeting me at school?"

"No! We have to go together!" It was crucial to appear together. People needed to know that Sean was my date. "Don't worry. I'll pick you up."

We agreed on meeting at his place. On the night of the dance I was once again thirty minutes late, but since he was waiting at home I decided that it didn't count. As I drove toward him, I had a really hard time keeping the smile off my face. It was always nice to wait for my date to show up at my door, but somehow the idea of me picking up my Prince Charming from his natural habitat was as delicious as a pumpkin pie.

I went up to the door and pressed the doorbell.

***

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