Part 25 - For context, see my profile.
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Then he let me get in my car, he closed the door, and stood by my car until I drove off.
What a turn of events for the night…

That kiss really sent me flying, being surprised and just pulled by my waist, I made sure I recorded that into my memory because it was going to come in handy later that night… if you know what I mean.

The whole ride home, I was just entranced with the kiss. There were other things just crying to get my attention, but I wanted to keep that last event present in my mind and I held on to it for dear life. I even turned off the radio and rolled down the window so I could just let it linger more.

I was hoping I could just waltz through the living room and straight into my room so I could let off some steam.

Parked my car, got off with my keys in hand, opened the door and I ran into mom in the living room. I said “Hi, mom” hoping that would be the end of the interaction, but no luck. Mom wanted to talk, but the urge to get out of there quickly was powerful! I told her I was just going to take a quick shower and come right back. No such luck, she said she did not want to wait and to just please sit down… for the love of Christ mom, a girl has needs!

So, I sat down and said “what’s up mom?” and she asked what was going on. She had noticed that I had been coming home later than usual and wanted to know if everything was OK with work and school.

She was used to me going to school, going to work and coming straight home, into my room, jump on my computer and the casual tv watching session in the living room.

Giving her credit, she was right, that was my routine and had been for a very long time. I seldom went out or anything; As I mentioned before, I was socially awkward, shy and pretty much a lost cause. Other than the random nail or hair appointment, you could set your clock by my schedule, or lack of it.

I decided to be a grown up, this whole honesty thing had been working for me as of late, so I said “I know what you mean, mom. I’ve just been spending some time with a guy, you know, just getting to know one another.” She scoffed and said “I knew this was about a boy”, in my mind I said “a boy? He is older than you, Mom!” but of course I did not say that, I just stayed quiet and let her speak. She asked “is this anyone I know?” and again, in my mind I said “Yeah, from high school! He graduated your sophomore year!” Ha! I was on a roll, but I had to contain my laughter cause c’mon, I could only get away with so much, but inside I was cracking up. I just said “I don’t think so mom, he did not grow up around here.”

She went on to tell me to be careful and watch out cause men are all the same… you know, the usual.

I really did not have the energy, or desire to explain everything, I did not even understand all of it myself! So I just let her speak her piece so I could go do what I needed to do, which by the way, the moment was gone and now I was worried about how this whole thing was going to play out.

After mom was done with her long-winded speech about men wanting to take advantage of me, it was time to head to my room, but the moment was gone, such a shame. It was bound to be good. But I knew I was going to be able to somewhat recapture it later on.

Though, I was a little proud of myself for handling my mom the way I did. This would usually turn into a yelling match which she would’ve ended and win by doing the whole “my house, my rules” routine. I thought to myself “look at you, Red, all mature and shit”.

Once I made it to my room, I decided to take a shower for real and when I took off my pants and panties, soaked again. I am surprised I did not slide off the couch while mom was giving me her speech. Gabriel was causing me to do more laundry than I normally would, I am sure mom would notice that too; but I would rather sit through another sermon than have her find my panties like that, and my jeans, my JEANS for Christ’s sake!

After my shower I sat there and thought about everything that had happened, from me compulsively telling Gabriel that I wanted to be with him, the intense moment when he said that he expected my honesty and how I am his MAIN RELATIONSHIP, YESSSSSSS!!!

The talk about the schedule and the vision he has for his life and even meeting Christine, or whatever her name is. All those things were major, but they all paled compared to me being the main girlfriend, the big cheese, the big kahuna, the head honcho… move back bitches, main girlfriend coming through! you get the gist.

All of that topped with that swift move, pulling me from my waist and planting a big kiss on me… You could say I was having one really good night.

As I was getting comfortable with myself and my new Top Dog title and starting to warm myself up to a well-deserved home-COMING, if you know what I mean, it dawned on me; OH-EMMM-GEEEEEEEE I HAVE TO WEAR A DRESS TOMORROW!!!

Where the hell am I going to find a nice dress at this time? I jumped up and ran to my closet to see if the dress fairy had accidentally left a dress in there for me… nope nothing, jeans, sweaters and blouses as far as the eye could see.

The only thing in there that could pass as a dress was my prom dress, and c’mon that was a prom dress. I mean, I guess I could, Gabriel wouldn’t know.

The last time I’d wore the dress was, you guessed it, prom night when I went with Eric, my ex-best friend.

The dress was a deep red, strapless gown that felt a bit too grown-up for me back then. It was simple, with a sweetheart neckline and a high-low skirt that was shorter in the front and longer in the back. I remember feeling both excited and shy wearing it, like I was trying to be more mature than I actually felt. Looking at it now, I wasn’t sure if I could pull off that same excitement again.

Well, it was better than nothing and I was not about to cancel my first date with Gabriel, so it was time to try it on and hope it fits.

It fit! A little bit tighter than I remembered around the boob area, and thought “Holy shit, I am fat!” how did this happen? When? I ran to the bathroom to weigh myself and nope, same weight as I had been for ages. It was just my boobs, are these things ever going to stop growing??? Geeze!

Anyway, the dress fit so that’s something, the shoes should not be a problem, unless my feet grew, which wouldn’t surprise me.

The shoes were a pair of shiny heels that felt a little too high for me at the time. They had straps and an open toe, which made me feel elegant but also a bit unsteady.

I remember thinking they were the kind of shoes that grown-up women wore, and I was both excited and nervous about pulling them off. Looking at them now, I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d still feel as glamorous as they did back then.

It is funny, I was feeling the same nervousness and uncertainty I felt when I first got the dress. I felt like anyone who saw me would know instantly that I was an impostor and did not belong in that outfit; but no time for that right now.

I took a few pictures, and uploaded them to flickr and asked for advice. It wasn’t long before I started getting replies, most of them were good, some of them a bit unsavory, but overall my outfit had good reviews. Honestly, I did believe them but still felt a little unsure and felt like this should’ve been my plan B outfit, just in case I was unable to find something else at the store in the morning; but that changed when I got a message from the girl that had a crush on me from flickr.

She kept it short and just said “You look absolutely beautiful! He is a lucky guy. Good luck Red!”

As I’ve said in the past, me and her had a friendship that had been going on for a few years and I trusted her. Not knowing what to say or how to reply, I just said, “Thank you” and that was that. The decision had been made, I was going to have Prom 2.0 and hoped it was going to be better than the first one!

Now it was time to go back to bed, I tried going back to my “use me” session I was about to get into before I was so rudely interrupted by my own thoughts, but it just didn’t happen. I thought to myself “it’ll definitely get done in the morning” and I just laid there.

I couldn’t go to sleep, so I decided to play with my phone for a little bit and when I looked, there was a message from Gabriel. In the midst of my dress crisis, I completely missed it.

It said “Red, thank you for such a terrific night, I really did not expect for any of this to happen, but I am extremely pleased with your decision. I am committed to doing everything I can to earn your trust and for you to be happy about your decision. Sweet dreams, good girl.

PS: I can’t wait to take my girl out on our first real date.”

And what was dry as the Sahara 5 minutes before, was now overflowing and it was “Gabriel use me” time!

to be continued...