First Kiss—Chapter 3
By Margaret (tvrox) and Lauren (sweetangel251)
I was getting ready to leave for the party. I had called Nikki back. The plan was for Paulo to drive me to her house, where we would arrive about 7:30. At 7:45, Nikki's boyfriend, Pete, a junior with a driver's license, would pick us up and drive us to Tiger Paw for the party.
I had to leave in 15 minutes, and I had no idea what to wear. Ordinarily, it would have been easy. But this was a special case—I needed to leave the house in something my mother would find acceptable, but be able to easily change into something for the party.
Finally, I decided. My outfits weren't the greatest, but at least they worked. I put on a pair of blue jeans, my nicest pair. They weren't Mom's favorite, but they would do. Then I put on a tank top, and over that, a very plain and conservative red long sleeved sweater. In my bag, along with my wallet, gum, and lip gloss, I put one of my "cool" sweaters—something I'd bought on my own that my mother never would have approved of.
I looked in the mirror. I was fine. I quickly put on a little make up and headed downstairs. Paulo was waiting for me.
"Miss Gilmore," he said in an Italian accent, "are you ready?"
"Yes, thank you, Paulo," I replied. We walked out the front door, and the car was waiting. He held open the back seat door for me, then got in himself.
At exactly 7:30, we arrived at Nikki's. She was waiting for me on her porch. "Hey, Lorelai! What's up?" she called. "I'm glad you could come!" She looked at me strangely. "You look….great," she said.
"Don't worry," I mouthed, then turned back to Paulo.
"I will pick you up?" he asked.
"No, thank you, Paulo, one of Nicole's parents will drive me home," I said, knowing it wouldn't be Nikki's mother or father—but Pete. I said what I had to say, he never would have accepted, 'Nicole's boyfriend will bring me home,' and I knew it darn well.
"All right, Miss Gilmore, but remember, your mother wants you no later than 10:30."
"Okay, Paulo, thanks!" Paulo left.
"So," said Nikki when he was fully out of sight, "what's with the outfit?"
"Don't worry," I replied again. "I'm prepared." I quickly changed sweaters. I also took some little colorful clips I'd thrown in my bag and put them in my hair.
Nikki smiled. "Much better," she replied. "Gosh, you sure have gotten used to dealing with your mother."
"Yeah, well, it's forced on me."
We sat down and talked for a few more minutes about, surprisingly enough for a Friday evening, that History homework we didn't get. Soon, Pete arrived.
We got in his car, and struck up an entirely new conversation, as Pete had different History homework.
"So," began Pete, "did you hear there's going to be a new kid at the party? I don't know how he got invited to a college party, but we're supposed to like be nice to him and stuff, cause there are only going to be a few high school kids there."
"Hey, Lorelai, maybe we could hook you up with him," said Nikki with a mischievous look in her eyes. "You need someone. All our other friends have boyfriends, except you."
"I don't know," I replied. "What's his name?"
"Something Danes," replied Pete, "like maybe Lucas. Yeah, I think that's it."
"Like I said," I continued, "I don't know."
We arrived at the club very shortly. Sarah, Derek, Emily, and Taylor were waiting outside with forlorn looks on their faces. When we asked them what was wrong, they announced that another high school kid had just had his fake ID rejected, and that we probably shouldn't risk it.
Just then, another guy walked up. He looked like a bit of a geek. He was really thin and even taller. But, like Pete had said, I tried to be nice.
"Hey," I said to him. "You must be Lucas."
"Please, Luke," he replied. "So, what's up?"
"I'm here for the party," I replied. "You are too, right?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to get in."
"Agreed," I said with a nod of my head.
"Hey!" said Derek. "My folks are out of town. "Let's head to my house and have our own party, just the eight of us."
We all agreed. We piled into the different cars we'd come in, and we set off for Pete's house.