Luna had been in a lot of embarrassing situations in her life. There was the time at the petting zoo in first grade where she had fallen into the sheep pin and had to spend the rest of the afternoon with smudges of mud and dug on her arms, and that time in fourth where her period started before the school had given "the talk" and she thought she was dying. There had been a lot more, but those had been the highlights. Now it was time to add a new one.

Luna was standing in a strapless bra and a pair of boyshort panties, her hair still in curlers as she ironed her dress, when Nick walked into her room. "Sorry," he said quickly, throwing a hand over his eyes. The act of chivalry was lost when he peeked through his fingers. "I know I am early, but the door was open, so I let myself in."

Barely managing to keep the color from her cheeks, Luna grabbed a robe and wrapped it around herself. She had kept the door and windows open because she liked to hear the sounds from outside. No one had ever just walked in. Then again, she could count on one hand the number of times any of her classmates had even come over to her house.

"It's okay," she told him, trying to keep the anxiety from her voice, "you can wait in the living room, if you'd like." As he nodded and walked away, Luna let herself take him in. Nick Kim was of Asian descent, and if his light accent was anything to account for, English was a second language. He had dark brown hair, golden eyes, and a smile that could melt even the hardest of hearts. Not only was he good at sports, but he was top notch in class. In short, he was too good to be true.

When he had first asked her to Homecoming, Luna had almost laughed in his face. She had been convinced it was some kind of joke set up by the cheer squad, but in the weeks that followed, he had taken the time to say hi to her in the halls and make small talk in class. She still wasn't completely convinced it wasn't all a joke on Nick's part, but her mom had made her promise to try and make things work.

It wasn't that Luna wanted things to go badly, she just had that kind of luck. Girls didn't like her, guys were intimidated by her, and just the smell of her would scare most animals away. She had learned not to get her hopes up.

After dressing in a midnight blue gown that ended just above her knees and a pair silver heels, Luna let her curlers out of her hair and went out to meet her date. She found Nick leafing through the photo album on the couch. He looked up when she entered and grinned.

"You look great," he told her, "That is, you always look good, but you hide your body too much." That was another thing about Nick, he spoke his mind. "Also, I do not think I have seen you in a color other than green or brown."

"I wore black last week," she countered, moving to the connected kitchen and pouring them each a glass of water.

"Ah, yes, I remember." He grinned at her again, successfully making her melt. "Are you always home alone?"

"Mostly," she told him, handing over a glass, "Chloe's job keeps her pretty busy. Plus she travels a lot."

"And you do not?"

The question was light curiosity, but it made Luna's grip tighten on her glass. How do you explain to your Homecoming date that you looked so much like your dead father it broke your mother's hear just to look at you? She had, though out the years, realized ho much of a spitting image she was for the man who they never spoke of. Her deep green eyes, black hair, and height were all characteristics pass on to her from a man she'd never met. They didn't even have a photo of him.

"No," she clipped, a bit hard, "I don't."

Nick nodded, like that was enough of an answer. And, maybe, for him it was. He set his water down and crooked his arm towards her. "Ready to go, then?"

Taking a deep breath, she nodded and took is arm, "Yeah, I am."

A/N this is a revised plot for a story I wrote years ago under the same name. There are some slight spoilers in the other story, but you are welcome to read it. As evident from this first chapter, things are not quite the same as the other story. Thanks for checking this out! (Luna and Nick are mine)