Dear Diary, I Think I'm In Love

Everyone Loves Good Suprises

We all try to figure out what my mom’s words were about. Leslie and I are sneaking towards the window that looks on the back of the house, only to realize that mom covered it from the outside.

We exchange a look just as the boys come up behind us. “I can’t believe her,” Aiden comments on the scene, shaking his head in disbelief. But he seems more amused than anything, while I feel more and more frustrated.

I want to know what’s going on. “She’s lost it,” I murmur in response, trying not to turn my head. If I look at Hunter, I’m afraid I’ll give away that something’s off. And I really don’t want my brother to sniff that out.

Aiden laughs, then shrugs as he checks his smartwatch. “I guess we’ll have to wait until seven to find out,” he remarks, making me sigh. I’m already pulling Leslie behind me, when my brother speaks up again. “Are you girls down for some gaming?” he offers.

Huh. He never offers that when it’s just me and the two of them. “Maybe later. Bye losers,” I turn him down, just to stay in character. We’re already rushing into our room, before either of them can say a single word.

Once I lean on the closed door, my best friend sighs. “I thought I was getting away from drama for the weekend … But I guess it just follows me, wherever I go,” she mumbles as she plops herself down on the bed.

I stare at her for a moment, soon realizing what she’s talking about. And how selfish I’ve been, making this whole weekend about myself with my crying outbursts and all that. Damn it, I’m such a lousy friend!

I don’t say anything. I simply sit down next to her and pull her into a hug. “You can talk to me about anything, you do realize that?” I say, hoping that she’ll even say anything. I can feel her shaking her head into my shoulder.

In the next moment, my sweater gets unusually warm … and damp. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she tells me in a quiet, broken voice. She seems so small all of a sudden. I squeeze her against me, feeling really bad about what she has to endure.

Leslie doesn’t have any siblings. Which makes things all the worse. She has literally no escape from her parents, whenever they start arguing. It’s why she appears as this tough shell on the outside. Because on the inside, she’s so vulnerable, that she can’t afford to let anyone in.

I’m honored to be an exception to that rule. She’s truly good. And she doesn’t deserve what’s happening in her family. I can’t imagine if my parents were fighting like that every day. I rarely even hear them fight.

But when they do, they never raise their voices at each other. Leslie’s parents have screaming sessions. I’ve overheard quite a few of them over the phone, so I know what I’m talking about.

It suddenly hits me, like I’ve been blind all this time. It’s me. I’m my best friend’s escape from that reality. I can’t let her down. I can’t ruin this for her. Okay. Time to start cheering her up. Or at least try to.

I let her cry for as long as she needs to, then make her play a silly game with me. I don’t know when was the last time I did that. It was probably back when Aiden and I were kids. Well, we still are, but we’re a little older now.

We stare at each other in complete silence. We can’t talk, but we’re allowed to make silly faces. Whoever laughs first, loses. I think this is the time for me to admit that I’ve always sucked at this game. But Aiden didn’t. Maybe he should be the one playing with Leslie. Ugh, he should’ve been dating her instead of Cassie. Whoops, I can’t believe I just thought of that.

As expected, Leslie beats me. A few times in a row. It might also have something to do with the fact that she’s been crying a few minutes ago, but still. It’s good to know that I’m still a total loser.

At least Leslie seems to feel better now. We decide to try our luck with figuring out what my mom is up to again, but the window is still covered from the outside and we can’t see anything. I can’t wait until it’s seven.

It’s only an hour away, but as the two of us have nothing better to do with our time, we decide to get ready for whatever my mom has in store. After getting dressed, we end up having so much spare time, that we decide to do each other’s hair. Then makeup. We steal it from my mom, because I didn’t think to bring any. I didn’t know I’d need it. Or want it, to be honest.

Once it’s a few minutes to seven, we head downstairs only to realize we’re locked into the house. I literally try to break out, but it’s pointless. “I can’t believe this,” I breathe out in shock, before suddenly hearing a familiar chuckle, coming from the kitchen.

I peek into it, seeing my grandma, preparing some snacks. She has a full table of them. “Grandma, what is the meaning of this? Why do you have so much food and why are we locked in?” I ask. She’s in on this. I know she is.

She offers me a mischievous smile, and I swear I can see a twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, sorry, honey. I’m not allowed to let you out before seven sharp. Those are my orders,” she explains in a mysterious way, making my face fall. “You girls look beautiful, by the way,” she then adds as Leslie joins me.

We share a look not knowing what to say. Leslie thanks her sooner than I do, because this is starting to get on my nerves. Seven is only a few minutes away, what does it matter if we get out a little earlier?

In that moment, I feel whistles coming from the stairs. I turn around with a murderous expression on my face, while Leslie chuckles. I hate it when my brother does that. He’s been messing with me like that ever since I was able to attend my first high school dance.

But he seems a little taken aback as he sees my face. “Whoa, sis. Outdone ourselves today, have we?” he remarks, making me cross my arms against my chest and roll my eyes.

“Those are my skills you’re looking at,” Leslie plays along, but I don’t let my brother respond before I get to open my mouth.

“You can stop making fun of me now,” I tell him, barely resisting the urge to show him off. I have to mind my manners in front of grandma, at least.

He sighs, shakes his head, then turns to my best friend. “Sis has some skills in store, too,” he remarks, before sending her a wink. As I glance at her, I realize that she’s suddenly at loss of words. Oh. What was that now?

Her caramel complexion usually doesn’t make it easy to spot when she’s blushing. But right now, it feels like I’ve applied too much of that cherry blush to her cheeks. I can barely believe my eyes. She parts her lips slightly, like she’s about to say something, then puts them back together.

I turn back towards my brother, accidentally locking eyes with Hunter on the way. He’s watching me with a gaze I can’t and don’t really want to decipher. “Don’t you all look lovely,” my grandma suddenly says from somewhere beside me, making me flinch in surprise.

It’s a good thing she appeared at this moment, because the tension in the air was getting so thick, that it felt like I’m being suffocated. I need air. I need it so badly. “Thanks granny,” Aiden tells her, flashing his big boy smile at her.

I barely prevent myself from rolling my eyes again. That smile got him out of trouble more times than I can count on my fingers.

To be honest, grandma is right. We do all look lovely. I’m in a light blue dress that hugs my figure loosely, before falling to my knees, while Leslie is wearing a little black dress. She told me she had to borrow it from her mom. She always comes to school dances in pants. But I don’t see why. Dresses really suit her tall, lean figure.

The boys are both in button-ups. Aiden in a white one that makes his slightly tan skin stand out even more, while Hunter is wearing a shade that’s not white, grey, blue, or even green. It’s something in between and it makes his already vivid eyes pop. And they’re both in elegant black trousers. I can’t believe mom made them wear that.

I soon realize I’m watching Hunter for a little too long and force myself to look away. “Is it time already?” I ask, unable to stand the silence or the waiting any longer. My grandma looks up at me with a small smile, before checking the old clock, that’s hanging on the wall.

She winks at me, then walks towards the door and pulls a key out of her pocket. Once she unlocks the house, something inside my stomach twitches. I don’t know whether it’s from the excitement, the anticipation or from not being able to wait for even a second more.

“Have fun, kids,” she tells us, before holding the door open for us. We’re all confused, but still thank her. Then, we quickly walk around the house to see what the fuss was all about.

What we’re met with, makes me stop in my tracks. And consequentially, everyone else. “Wow,” I breathe out as I take in what my parents had spent preparing the entire afternoon.

The trees are tied together with a string of tiny lights, making it look like the stars are dancing right above our heads. There’s a few squares of hay, decorated with whatever flowers they’ve found at grandma’s garden. Grandma’s garden table is covered to the ground with a white cloth and the chairs are decorated with that white fabric that grandma uses to cover the salad with during the cold days. It’s silly, but it looks elegant.

There’s even decorations on the table. And a big speaker nearby, clearly meant for playing music. Mom and dad are standing by the table with big smiles on their faces, expecting us. I shake my head in disbelief, but before I’m able to open my mouth, my brother beats me to it.

“Have you two completely lost it?” he asks, making my mom chuckle. Yeah. My stern mom, who isn’t the most easy-going person, is chuckling at a remark my brother made. If she heard him say that under different circumstances, he would’ve already earned himself ‘the look’.

Mom shrugs and looks at my dad. “I don’t know, have we?” she asks him with an amused smile covering her face. He smiles right back at her, making my insides twitch in a funny way. I don’t know why, but I turn around, just to realize Hunter is the one standing behind me and not Aiden.

I quickly turn back around and walk towards the table, shaking my head. I can hear my best friend following suit after, then the boys. “This is amazing, but what’s the occasion?” I want to know, deciding to focus on my parents.

They send us confused looks, like they’re surprised we hadn’t figured it out by ourselves. “Well, we made you kids miss homecoming. And since it’s the last homecoming the four of you will attend together, we didn’t want to completely take that away from you,” mom explains.

My face falls as I hear her words. Oh. I can feel the heat blushing to my cheeks. So, this is going to be like true homecoming. Music, food, drinks and all that. I hope it doesn’t come to slow dancing. There’s no way I’m slow dancing with my brother. Let alone Hunter.

“That’s really considerate of you. Thank you,” I suddenly hear his voice travel to my ears. I almost flinch as I catch myself being pulled out of my thoughts by the very person that I was thinking about. Pull yourself together, Perrie. You were supposed to be dancing with your boyfriend at homecoming. You do remember you have boyfriend, don’t you, Perrie?

“It’s the least we could do for you kids. Now, we’ll go in to help grandma bring the snacks, then we’ll leave you alone. We have a playlist that should last until somewhere around midnight,” dad tells us, before sending a wink our way. He then heads towards the speaker, while mom heads into the house.

As soon as the music starts playing, I realize that I’m doomed. It’s only the first song and it’s already a slow one. He follows mom, while I turn towards Aiden and Hunter. To be honest, this would be the dream-case scenario for twelve-year-old Perrie. But I’m not that girl, who made a ‘wedding with Hunter’ scrapbook anymore.

Before I’m able to open my mouth and say something stupid to break the ice, my brother already extends his hand towards Leslie, making us both freeze. “Sorry, sis. Guests first,” he remarks in such a smooth way, that neither of us can argue against that.

I force a smile on my face, then let out a long, barely noticeable breath. As my brother takes my panicky best friend away, I find myself face to face with Hunter. I gulp without even trying to hide it. I think I’m about to faint. Or swoon. That’s the same thing, right?

Hunters offers me his hand, his green eyes reflecting the tiny lights that are strung above our heads. His face is serious as he opens his mouth, asking: “Shall we?”