The end of the school day finally arrived and Ephram walked with Bright and Amy to the school parking lot, "guys, you two live together, why don't you take the same vehicle?" Ephram asked with a smile. Bright, Amy's older brother, replied "dog, shut up, you already know the answer to that, besides, Amy's too cool now since she got a car for her birthday…I keep telling her she needs to drive it….away" and with that he chuckled. Amy glared at him, pushing her hair out of her face, saying nothing. "Well guys, I should get going" Ephram said, tossing his bag into the backseat of his car, "see you two later!"
"Wait, dog! Going to the party Saturday night, right?? Bring a date, seriously, we'll have fun. Plus you two haven't been out in public together since…uh, forever!"
Ephram thinks for a moment, "Well…Well, we'll see, Bright, ok?" Bright then does a corny 'thumbs up' and gets into his vehicle and tells Amy he'll see her at home.
When Ephram gets home he realizes nobody is there and there is a note on the fridge "Delia missed the bus and Nina wasn't home so I went to get her, we'll be home soon….signed Madison" He picks up his bag and heads to his bedroom. Instead of doing homework he grabs for one of the newest comic books he recently purchased and then placed his headphones on to listen to Good Charlotte.
About 10 minutes later Delia and Madison come gamboling into the house laughing and giggling. "Ok Sweetie, have any homework?" Delia shakes her head "no. Can we make cookies? Or do you want to wait for the weekend when we are out of school?" Madison thinks for a moment, "actually, I think we can make 'em now." She smiles as Delia's faces beams with glee. Delia puts on some Christmas music as Madison gets everything ready. "Where is Ephram, he should help us." Delia went to the bottom of the stairs and yelled, "EPHRAM!!! GET DOWN HERE, WE'RE MAKING COOKIIIIIIEEEEEEES!!!!" Madison laughed, Delia had a very high pitched voice. A few seconds later she could hear footsteps coming from upstairs and Ephram then yelled back, "You're lucky I don't have much homework, squirt!" Delia jumped around "YEAH!! Can we put sprinkles on them, or frosting?!?!" giggling, Madison answered, smiling at Ephram as he came into view, "calm down there sweetie, we'll have plenty of time to figure out what we want on these cookies. Lets get started". With that, everybody got to work and when the cookies were put in the oven, Delia said "Lets go watch TV, we have about 12 or so minutes, right?" "Ok sweetie, we'll be right there" replied Madison as she looked at Ephram leaning against the fridge who was staring after his little sister as she disappeared into the living room. Before he could look at Madison she pinned him against the fridge and kissed him deeply, passionately. When she pulled away, she smiled and said, "hi" as he brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face. He smiled back, "I'm glad you're here" then they passionately kissed again. Ephram pulled away, "come to a party with my Saturday night?" Madison frowned and sighed, but then Ephram spoke again, "please? How about this…We meet each other at the party then we'll see what happens from there." She thought for a second then replied, "alright, we'll do that." Ephram smiled and they started making out again. Ephram knew Madison had reservations about the two of them going out in public together. Its not that she's ashamed, its just that she's worried what other people would think. Not many people are keen on the idea of a 20 year old college student dating a 16 year old high school student. Dr. Brown first hired her as Delia's babysitter and the rest is history.
Before they knew it the fire alarm went off and smoke was seen coming from the oven! "THE COOKIES!!!!" Screamed Madison as she raced to turn off the oven. Delia came running in and saw Madison at the oven and her brother frantically waving a towel at the fire alarm. She laughed as she opened the windows and back door to let in some fresh air. "NOT FUNNY!" Screamed Madison over the piercing pitch of the alarm as she was speeding to get the cookies out of the oven. "Ephram's laughing! It IS pretty funny!" Delia replied in between laughing fits. Finally Ephram got the alarm to stop screeching and the trio looked over the cookies; black as coal and hard as rocks. Madison wasn't too happy and Delia asked "Madison, what's wrong, they're only cookies??" she tried not to laugh. Ephram put his arms around her waist and looked into her eyes, smiling. She replied, "its just that Delia was looking so forward to these cookies." Delia then said "Madison, at least we didn't burn the house down. Lets just say it was the highlight of my day" and she started laughing again as she went back to the living room while the other two cleaned up the mess.
The next day Andy helped Madison make dinner for everybody while Delia put on some Christmas music and turned it up loud to get everybody in the holiday spirit. Delia asked, "Madison, what are you doing for the holiday break? You're going to the New Years eve party with us, right, since the whole town will be there? If you aren't doing anything then you should celebrate with us!" Andy looked from Delia to Madison with an approving look on his face and since her family wasn't in the picture then it would be a good idea for her to spend the holiday with this family. "Of course Madison, mi casa es su casa, and I'm sure Ephram wouldn't mind either" Andy replied. Madison thought for a moment, nodding her head with a smile she replied "I would love to spend the holidays with you! Thank you!" After Madison wiped her hands she went into the other room to get something from her jacket. She spotted Ephram getting off the phone but didn't think much of it. He walked over to her, playfully raised his eyebrows then said, "I'll see you at this place around 9pm tomorrow" and he smiled, handing her directions to where the party was to be held. He walked away as she half-smiled, looking after him.
After dinner Ephram decided to go outside and sit on the porch swing. Madison came out not too long after and sat beside him, not saying anything. Ephram was sitting with his back against the arm of the swing and Madison was leaning against him. They were listening to the patter of the rain, holding hands for the longest time. "We don't have to go, if you don't want to?" Ephram said after a while. Madison then replied, holding his hand, "Well…I think it will be a good experience, we'll see what happens."
Delia came out and asked if they would like to come in and watch a movie. "Lets do that" replied Madison as she stood up and helped Ephram up. The two walked into the house together hand in hand and sat down on the sofa. "We're watching "The Night Before Christmas" responded Delia, "I figured it's an appropriate movie" She smiled as the movie started.
Ephram cared so much about Madison and it rocked his world that somebody would actually have the same feelings for him. He remembered that even though she sort of knew it was wrong on many levels she finally followed her heart. He knew she felt the same way so he pushed her into doing the right thing. Madison's had boyfriends before, always older though, but none of them had ever made her feel the way Ephram has. She realized that she was Ephram's first real girlfriend and she wanted to make it special.
Saturday night finally arrived and Ephram told his father that he would be home rather late because he was studying at his friend Wendell's house. His father had a date himself so didn't really pay attention all that well to what his son said. Delia was over at Nina's, she was probably going to be spending the night. Ephram arrived at the party with Bright just a little after 9:15pm and when they entered the kitchen to get some beer, both of their jaws dropped because Madison was standing around, talking to a few people she seemed to know. She was wearing tight pants and a semi see-through black tank top. About 10 minutes later she met Ephram at the keg and smiled. He could tell she was comfortable and he smiled back and mouthed, "glad you came".
"Beer Man! Pour Skippy here a beer, would you please, thanks!" yelled Madison over the loud music, the beer man then handed her the cup of beer and she handed it to Ephram. She made her way on to the dance floor in the living room and started dancing to the music. Her body moved with the music, every once in a while glancing at Ephram. Bright slapped Ephram's shoulder, "get out there, dip-shit!" and he pushed him forcefully toward Madison who smiled. She still had a beer in her hand but started dancing with him. The music was playing loudly, sending the bass beat vibrating through the house. Once Madison finished her beer she handed the cup to one of the onlookers then grabbed Ephram and started bumping and grinding with him. Not too long afterwards they were dancing as if nobody else was there, they had lost themselves in each other. All the other couples seemed to be doing the exact same thing. Sweat could be seen glistening off everybody's hot bodies, but nobody cared, they were all having a good time and for once, Madison didn't feel worried about what others thought of her relationship with Ephram. Their bodies moving together, not missing a beat. Their bodies pressed against each other, Ephram's hands sliding up and down Madison's body.
Hours passed but they were still in each other's arms, dancing. At one point Ephram was dancing behind Madison and gently kissed her neck, then her collarbone. He then whispered, "I've wanted to kiss you all night!" And with that, Madison turned around, her hair flinging behind her as she smiled, teasingly. She grabbed his shirt and slowly pulled him closer to her, still dancing. She leaned towards him and whispered, "what took you so long?" then she kissed him, slipping her tongue into his mouth. Ephram followed suit and kissed her back, passionately.
Finally they decided to get some fresh air and go outside. She led him to the living room to get their coats then, they went to the back yard. "Wow, that was so much fun!" replied Ephram as they sat together on the cold, hard grass. They were talking and joking when an older guy came up to them and asked Madison, "hey, wanna dance, I got some moves you ain't never seen" and he gave her a suggestive look. She looked at Ephram, smiled biting her bottom lip, then, without looking at the guy said, "no thanks, I'm here with Ephram." Ephram's jaw dropped, he was floored, didn't know what to say. She saw this look and laughed, making her way over to him. She pushed him on the ground and started kissing him, moving their beers so they wouldn't spill. "I don't know if it's the booze or what, but, I don't care what people think of us. People can kiss my ass if they don't approve" she whispered. "Well, damn. That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me" replied Ephram, jokingly. He pushed some strands of her hair out of her face, "thanks for coming tonight, it was fun!" and they kissed passionately, not caring who saw. A few minutes later, Bright came up to them, completely wasted, "dude, we gutta get. I's almost 3am and I gutta be home before den. You's mu' ride, man" and he fell over, which made a few of his football buddies come over and help him up. They helped him into Ephram's car then went back to the party. "You gonna make it home, alright?" Ephram asked Madison as he kissed her goodnight. She smiled and nodded, she was just a bit tipsy, but nothing major.