Chapter 3

The next evening…

Niles is at home getting himself ready for Daphne's arrival. He has never been so excited for anything in his life, except for maybe seeing an opera for the first time, but this was a girl, a special girl at that! This was Daphne, a beautiful, perfect, amazing, breathtaking goddess. He just can't seem to find the right suit to wear, none of them seem appropriate, he wants to look perfect for Daphne. Nothing is too good for her. When he saw Daphne at school, he made sure she knew how to get to his house. He didn't want her getting lost. Of course he made every excuse in the book to see her, every chance he got. There is just something about her that he can't get enough of. He has been dreaming about her at night, what it would be like to hold her hand, what it would be like to kiss her and yes what it would be like to make love to her. Yes, he is only 16 but just because he is only 16 doesn't mean he's not having those thoughts and feelings. If he had a choice he would hold Daphne in his arms forever.

"Niles, its 5:00 aren't you dressed yet? Your friend will be here soon." Hester Crane hollers to her son.

The sound of his mother's voice breaks him from his daydream as he finishes getting dressed. He decides on dark blue suit with a light blue tie, he hopes Daphne likes blue. He finally finishes dressing as he goes downstairs and greets his mother in the kitchen. He walks up to her and kisses her cheek.

"Here I am mother."

"Well, it's about time, Niles."

Niles straightens his tie as his mother looks him over.

"You look very handsome; your friend won't be able to take her eyes off you."

Niles cheeks turn red from embarrassment.

"Mother, you're embarrassing me."

"I'm sorry son." Hester says as she gives her son a hug.

"Is dinner ready?" Niles asks as he tries to pull out of the hug. He hates it when his mother hugs him like a child.

"Almost, just waiting for the bread to get done."

"Will dad be joining us?" Niles asks with a bit of skepticism in his voice.

"He said he would be here as soon as he could, he really wants to meet this lady friend of yours."

Niles starts to say something but is interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

He gets a smile on his face. It's Daphne. He tries to hide his excitement from his mother.

"Niles are you going to answer the door or just stand there with a goofy expression on your face?"

"Yes, I will answer the door." He says as he composes himself. He straightens his tie one more time and gives his suit a once over and then goes to answer the door.

He opens the door and sees the most beautiful girl in the world. He smiles.

"Hello Niles."

"Hello, Daphne. Please come in."

Niles opens the door to allow Daphne to come inside. She looks amazing. She is wearing a light blue floral skirt with a light blue blouse that ties in the middle. She is wearing white sandals and just as Niles predicted, her toes are beautiful too. And of course he was intoxicated by the smell of cherry bark and almonds.

"Thank you, Niles."

"You look exquisite, Daphne."

Daphne gives Niles a shy smile.

"Thank you and you look dashing."

Niles smiles at Daphne.

"Thank you."

He places his hand on Daphne's shoulder and leads her towards the kitchen.

"Daphne, I would like you to meet my mother, Hester Crane."

Hester turns around to face her son and Daphne, as soon as she sees Daphne she smiles.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Crane."

Daphne holds out her hand to Hester and Hester takes it.

"It's very nice to meet you, Daphne. I don't want any of that formality; you can call me Hester okay?"

Daphne nods.

"Yes ma'am."

There is a moment of awkward silence until Niles speaks up.

"My father is still at work, Daphne, but you will get to meet him soon enough. Please have a seat."

Niles pulls out Daphne's chair for her as she sits down.

Hester begins placing the food and things on the table as Niles helps her. Daphne starts to get up to help but Niles stops her.

"No, you stay seated. You are our guest, we will serve you. Just make yourself comfortable."

Daphne nods as she sits back down.

Once the table is finally set, Hester sits down at her chair. Niles pulls out his chair, but before he sits down he pulls a handkerchief out of the inside pocket of his suit and starts wiping his chair down. Once he is finished, he puts the handkerchief back in his pocket and sits down. Daphne just looks at him with a confused look on her face.

Niles sees her expression.

"Germs, you can never be too careful."

Hester speaks up.

"Niles has done that ever since he was a boy. One of his babysitters used to tease him and tell him that there were earwigs on chairs and that they would crawl inside his ears and eat his brain."

Niles gets embarrassed.

"Mother, why did you have to tell her that?"

Hester shrugs her shoulders.

"I thought she might like to know. She has probably never seen anyone do that before."

Daphne looks at Hester and then at Niles.

"No, I haven't actually but there's nothing wrong with it. You can never be too careful."

Niles smiles at Daphne, and then Hester starts dishing out the food and passing it around.

When the food is finally served and they begin eating Hester begins to ask Daphne questions about her life and home.

"So Daphne, Niles tells me you're from England, and from that accent, I can tell he was right."

"Yes I am."

"Whereabouts in England are you from?"

"Manchester."

"Manchester. I haven't been there. But I have been to England; I spent some time in London. I went to college there for a time. England is a beautiful country."

"Yes it is, I love living there but it has been me dream to come to America. I have heard so many wonderful things about America and I couldn't wait to come for a visit."

"How long have you been here?"

"For a month, I am here through the foreign exchange program. I am staying with a host family, they are wonderful people."

"I'm glad you found such nice people to stay with. So what do you think of America so far? Is it everything you thought it would be?"

Daphne nods.

"Yes I just love it here. So far everyone I have met has been so nice to me and Niles here is a very nice bloke, he's a real gentleman."

Niles almost spits out his food after hearing the compliment Daphne gave him. He's not used to hearing compliments.

Daphne becomes concerned as Niles begins to choke. But he reassures Daphne he's okay as he takes a sip of water.

"Sorry about that, you just took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting that."

Daphne laughs.

"I didn't mean to scare you like that, Niles."

"It's okay Daphne, I'm fine."

Suddenly they are interrupted by the banging of the front door. Martin is home from work. He enters the kitchen after tossing his things in his chair in the living room.

"Honey, I'm home." Martin says as he leans over and kisses Hester on the cheek.

Niles clears his throat. Martin looks up at his son who is nodding his head in Daphne's direction. He's trying to tell his father that they have company.

Martin finally figures it out and introduces himself to Daphne.

"Oh I'm sorry where are my manners? I'm Marty Crane, Niles' dad. You must be Daphne."

Daphne nods and stands up as she extends her hand.

"Yes I am, nice to meet you Mr. Crane."

"Mr. Crane? Do you see an old man standing here? Call me Marty, okay?"

Daphne nods as Martin shakes her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Daphne. Niles was right, you are quite a looker."

Daphne gets a look of shock on her face as she sits back down in her chair.

"Dad!"

"What? She is!"

Niles buries his head in his hands; he's never been so embarrassed.

Martin sits down in his chair as Hester helps him dish out the food for his plate.

"Niles has done nothing but talk about you for days. He never talks about girls so I knew you had to be somebody pretty special."

Hester places her hand on Martin's arm.

"Marty stop it, you are embarrassing her and our poor son!"

"Sorry, sometimes I just don't know when to shut up."

Daphne just smiles.

"It's quite all right. I'm used to it. I have 8 older brothers and they can be a bit loud and annoying at times."

Martin looks at Daphne.

"You have 8 brothers?"

"Yes."

"No wonder you needed to get away for awhile. That seems like a lot for a young girl to handle."

"It can be but I have learned to live with it. That's the price I pay for being the youngest and being a girl."

Niles lifts his head up and looks at his dad and Daphne. They are getting along, they are actually getting along. He was sure his dad had blown it, but now he wasn't so sure.

Martin and Daphne continue to eat and talk as Niles just eats as he watches and listens. Hester watches with a smile on her face.

Once dinner is finally finished Daphne insists on helping clean up, so Hester lets her help. Niles sits on the couch while he waits for Daphne. Martin is sitting in his chair watching a ball game and before long Niles knows he is sleeping because he begins to snore. Niles has had his fill so he goes to the kitchen to see if he can be of any help. Before he can take a step into the kitchen he watches his mother and Daphne. Daphne is loading the dishes into the dishwasher as Hester hands them to her. Daphne is laughing at something Hester said. Hester wraps her arm around Daphne's shoulder and gives her a squeeze. Niles can't help but smile. Then suddenly as if she sensed his presence Daphne turns and looks at Niles.

"Oh hello Niles, me and your mum were just loading the dishwasher."

"I'm sorry I interrupted you two."

"No it's quite all right Niles. Why don't you and Daphne go sit out on the porch swing and enjoy the beautiful sunset."

"Okay mother."

Daphne gives Hester a smile and then smiles at Niles.

"That's a good idea. Come on, Niles."

Daphne heads to the front door and before Niles can take a step Hester stops him.

"Niles?"

"Yes mother?"

"Daphne's a wonderful girl; you do whatever you can to hold onto her. She's beautiful."

Niles smiles at his mother.

"Okay mother, I will."

Niles then turns on his heels and walks to the front door to meet Daphne. He opens the door for her as she walks out ahead of him. They walk over to the porch swing, but before Daphne can sit down, Niles stops her.

"Hang on just a moment, Daphne don't sit down yet."

Daphne stops and looks at Niles as he pulls out his handkerchief and wipes the swing down. When he finishes, he sticks the handkerchief back in his pocket.

"Okay you can sit down now, Daphne."

"Thank you."

Daphne sits as Niles joins her. It's silent for a few moments until Daphne breaks the silence.

"I really like your mum and dad. They are very nice people and your dad is so funny."

"Yes, my dad is a regular laugh riot."

Daphne looks at Niles.

"Niles, do you not like your father?"

Niles looks at Daphne.

"I like my father very much, but we have nothing in common. He likes sports and having a beer with his friends, me I would rather read a book or see an opera. We never have anything to talk about because we are so different. I would like it if we shared common interests and could spend time together but it just isn't possible." Niles explains with tears in his eyes.

"Oh Niles, I'm so sorry. I know what you are going through. I have the same problem with me mum. She and I don't get a long at all. She is always doting on me brothers and treating me like I don't exist. I'm expected to take care of me brothers and wait on them hand and foot. I would love to be close to me mum but I just don't think it will ever happen."

Niles looks at Daphne as he sees her wipe away a tear.

"I'm sorry Daphne. You deserve better than that. I guess you and I have more in common than we thought."

"Yes, I guess we do."

Daphne grabs Niles hand.

"I really fancy you, Niles Crane. I think you are the kindest, sweetest, gentlest chap I have met since I came to America. You don't know how much it has meant to me."

Niles continues to hold Daphne's hand as he looks her deep in the eyes.

"Well, there is something I need to tell you Daphne. I think you are the most beautiful girl I have ever met, and I think I'm falling in love with you. I have never met anyone like you and I want to get to know you better."

"I feel the same way Niles."

Niles takes his free hand and touches Daphne's cheek ever so gently. Her cheek feels as soft as porcelain, so soft like it would almost break.

Daphne takes her free hand and reaches up to wipe the tears from Niles' cheek.

Niles can feel Daphne's breath on his face. The smell of cherry bark and almonds is intoxicating. Her being this close to him is making him breathless and before he can catch his breath, he feels her lips on his. She is kissing him and it feels so good and so right. Her lips are so soft. Niles closes his eyes as the kiss gets deeper. He opens his mouth slightly as he feels her tongue slide inside. He has never been kissed like this before. He feels like he is flying, flying high above the clouds. Before long Daphne's arms wrap around his neck as he leans back. His arms wrap around her back as they continue to kiss. Niles never wants this moment to end…