Y'all are awesome, that's all.

My mother decided she was going to take me to get my nails done on Saturday morning. She really wanted to know about the "mysterious" guy I was going to homecoming with and why I'd kept him a secret from her and dad. I loved my mother, I really did, but she had a flare for the dramatic –and my love life was no exception.

I got up and dressed with her looking over my shoulder the entire time I did my makeup. She made clucking noises when I made my eyeshadow darker than she thought it should be and don't even get me started on how much she sighed when I winged my eyeliner. By the time we got into the car, my nerves were fried and I was a jumpy mess.

"Ivy, tell me all about this boy you're going to homecoming with. I want to know everything," she gushed as she drove to town. "Do I know his parents?"

"Yeah, they're pretty well known in town," I told her, trying to avoid telling her any details even though I knew it was futile.

"Well, suspense isn't a very flattering state to be in, Ivy dear," she told me, an edge of annoyance coloring her voice.

I let out a breath before answering her unasked question, "They're Ben and Penelope O'Connor. I'm going with their son Enoch, who I've been seeing for the past week or so."

The car went silent as my answer set in and told me she wasn't pleased with my answer. She wouldn't have been upset if he was from a rich family or one that was prevalent in society. My mother wasn't a bad person, she was just very societal minded –meaning she cared very much what others thought of her.

"Oh."

She didn't say another word until we were at the salon and I was getting my nails done. I talked with the man doing them more than I did with her. Do you see why I was okay with her and my dad being gone so much?

"Make sure you tag me in your Instagram pictures so I can see what you look like all dolled up," he told me as he put the finishing touches on my left hand. "You're beautiful, I'm sure your dress is gorgeous and the person you're going with is going to be so lucky."

His complement almost made me forget about the awkwardness between me and my mother. Then we got back in the car together and she tried to apologize, and just succeeded in making things weirder between us.

"I didn't mean to upset you earlier, Ivy. I just didn't envision my daughter dating the son of the town undertakers," she tried to explain. "If he treats you well, then I'm happy for you. As long as I get to meet him tonight because he's obviously picking you up."

"Of course, the turgid gender roles are still in place," I sighed, pulling my knees up into the seat with me. "He treats me very well, I'm very happy."

"Don't pull any of that feminist bullshit, I just want to meet the boy," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she turned in to the country club where we were going to have lunch. "I don't care about anything other than how he treats you."

That was one of the nicest things she'd ever said to me, she was a professional at giving backhanded compliments. We ate together and finally fell into a good place, we talked about Eli and how well he was doing in school. We also talked about how he was making friends and seemed to be happier –a pattern she noticed between her kids recently.

By the time we got home, I locked myself upstairs in the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. Mostly because I wanted to be alone, I also kind of wanted to look perfect, but that wasn't the point. Alyssa called me a couple hours later and we FaceTimed as we got ready. We would have actually been together if she didn't have to go to the dance three hours before me. She was doing the finishing touches on hers whereas I'd just started legitimately getting ready instead of just messing around to waste time.

"So, your mother basically already hates Enoch and she hasn't even met him yet?" she asked, her jaw dropping a bit as she processed what I said.

I finished winging my eyeliner out on my left eye before I responded. "She doesn't like that he isn't a member of her stupid country club or someone super high up in society. My mother can be very shallow."

"Just wait until she sees the two of you together," Alyssa promised. "She's got to understand it whenever she does. You guys just make sense."

I hoped she was right, I really cared about Enoch and wanted my mom to as well. Alyssa ran through the list of things she had to make perfect as I finished my eyeliner on my right eye. Then I went on to pinning my hair up and curling the pieces that fell out of the twist to frame my face. Eventually, she hung up because she had to leave and I heard someone knock on the door downstairs. Thankfully, I heard Eli answer it along with Horace instead of my mother or father.

I took my dress off the hanger from the back of my closet door and laid it on my bed. Then I shed the flannel I'd been wearing before along with the compression shorts. I stepped into the dress and pulled it on, zipping it into place and putting on my heels before looking in the mirror. I looked really good, this was going to be a good night.

A knock on my door drew my attention away from the full length mirror. Eli was standing in the hallway, and his eyebrows nearly touched his hairline when he saw me.

"Is that a good surprised or a bad surprised?" I asked, nervously running my hands over the fabric of the skirt.

"You look so pretty," he told me, his eyes big as he looked at me. "Enoch's downstairs, by the way."

I hugged him and heard him laugh awkwardly as a blush covered his face. "Okay, we'd better get down there before mom and dad scare him off."

"He's okay, he's talking with Horace. Apparently, they know each other," he told me as we headed to the staircase. "Dad's not here, he's still at work. Mom said he was finishing up some last minute stuff or something."

Okay, so I have this theory about my father that I've never told anyone. He worked a lot of late nights at the bank and went on trips with work as his excuse. To me that just didn't sounded like he was cheating on mom. To be totally honest, they were probably cheating on each other and staying together because divorces looked bad.

"Ivy! You didn't do a grand entrance! Turn around and do it again!" mom shouted when Eli and I walked into the room.

I was about to snap back at her when I saw how Enoch was looking at me. His jaw was a little slack and his eyes were bigger than Eli's were earlier. Warmth gathered in my stomach as I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. Then his lips turned up into the smallest, most adoration-filled grin possible, but it made one sprout on my lips.

My mom was still speaking when I made my way over to him slowly. He was still at least five inches taller than me still, but my heels made me closer to his face. If we hadn't been in front of so many people, I would've kissed him until we were both breathless.

"Hi," I finally said. Then I twisted his tie around my hand playfully, I whispered, "You're wearing a tie just for me?"

"Jesus, you look amazing," he replied, ignoring my taunts.

"I want pictures!" mom announced, finally breaking into our little world. "And before you give me lip, Ivy Caroline, I'm going to get them."

Enoch wrapped his arm around my waist and I place my hand on his chest as we posed. I'm pretty sure the two of us were in agreement that this was totally stupid, but we smiled for my mom. When she finally let us go, I winked at Eli and yanked Enoch out of the house by his hand before my mom could say anything offensive.

Once we were in his car and driving to the school, he reached over and took my hand in his. "You look so beautiful, I don't even have anything sarcastic to say."

When he stopped at a red light, I undid my seatbelt and maneuvered myself over so I could kiss his cheek. I felt it heat up under my lips as he squeezed my hand in response, too focused on the road to kiss me back. I moved my hand out of his and left it resting on my thigh as I reached up to play with Enoch's curls as we drove.

He pulled into the school parking lot in his regular spot, killing the engine and turning to look at me after he took off his seatbelt. He cupped my jaw and pulled me in for a kiss, effectively making me feel like I was spinning out of control and safely stationary at the same time. Man, this boy really had a hold over me.

"As much as I don't want to, let's go to this dance," he told me once we'd pulled away from each other. "Alyssa worked pretty hard, she probably wants you to see it."

When we got out, he came over and grabbed my hand with our fingers intertwined. I was surprised by how well I was walking in my heels, but as soon as I thought that I nearly took a nosedive. If Enoch hadn't been holding on to me, I probably would have fell face first into the pavement.

"Cinderella you are not, my dear," he grinned, kissing my temple as we walked into the auditorium. I was about to open my mouth to argue when he said, "You're far more beautiful."

"Listen, you've got to stop doing that. I don't know how to take the smooth, charming Enoch," I whined. "I miss the awkward, asshole I started dating."

"That's good because I'm out of lines and can't dance to save my life," he told me with an embarrassed grimace on his face.

"There's my boy," I grinned, standing on my tiptoes and kissing him chastely.

He rolled his eyes as we walked the rest of the way into the gym. It looked fantastic, I was so proud of Alyssa! I looked around but couldn't find her. She must've been buzzing around like a bee trying to make sure everything stayed perfect. Before the night was over, I would find her and have at least one dance. Until then, I was Enoch's.

We found Emma, Jacob, Hugh, and Fiona at a table and made our way over to them. Emma hugged me and complimented my dress, and I did the same in return before complimenting Fiona's dress, too. We all sat down and started talking about how well Alyssa did at decorating the gym, and how it barely smelled like sweat at all.

A couple songs played through before Emma tugged me out onto the dance floor with Fiona in tow behind us. We were dancing to a Taylor Swift song when Emma spun me around and I saw Enoch watching me. He winked when our eyes met, making Emma giggle and pull me into an excited hug.

"The two of you are so cute!" she squealed, allowing Fiona to make her escape back to Hugh.

She and I followed her back over to the table where she plopped down onto Jacob's lap. He kissed her chin before going back to whatever he and Hugh were doing. Instead of sitting down, I grabbed Enoch's hand and pulled him out onto the dance floor with me.

The song changed from a fast paced song to a slow one as he wrapped his arms around my middle. I draped mine over his shoulders as we moved along to the song. He was looking down at me with a smirk, making me narrow my eyes at him playfully.

"What's that look about?" I asked, twisting my fingers in the curls at the nape of his neck as we danced.

"I was just wondering why this dance was so important to you," he told me, moving us slowly around the dance floor. "I never took as the type to think stupid things like this were important."

He didn't mean that as harshly as it came out, but I still flinched. "I'm sorry, you didn't have to come with me if you didn't want to. I just thought it would be good to come to at least one dance in high school."

"Hey, don't be upset. I have a big mouth I don't know how to control," he said when he realized how torn up I was getting. "I'll go to a million dances with you if it's what you want. I just want to make you happy."

Whatever sour mood had been developing from his words evaporated. "You're kind of the sweetest guy in the world, when you're not ruining it."

He laughed mockingly before taking my face in his hands and pulling me into a kiss that left me reeling. I felt the sparks go all the way down to my toes, making me feel alight. I stayed in his arms the rest of the night, even when the songs changed to fast ones. There was nowhere else I'd rather be.

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