Chapter 19: First Date

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Phoebe POV

"Wakey wakey Seattle. It's Saturday morning and it's a very bright and beautiful July day, even though it's still only 9am! Come on get out of bed and dance around you room to this happy song that happens to be a favourite of mine..."

The radio wakes me up and starts playing an upbeat Olly Murs song to get me out of bed. Not that in actually needed to set the alarm last night, I couldn't sleep due to excitement! It's finally Saturday and tonight I am going on my very first date with Kenny. I don't really know what he has planned but I do know he wants me to wear something nice but not too fancy. Maybe a nice dress or jeans and one of my prettiest shirts?

Dad knows what Kenny has planned, of course he had to make sure it was appropriate for me to do and make sure it's safe. I still can't believe he let me actually go out with Kenny, just the two of us. Ok, so security will be there but he'll be sitting away from us so it will feel like it's just me and Kenny. However, dad has been so over protective of me ever since I came home from the hospital. I guess I can understand why, but I need to go out again or I'll always be too afraid to leave the house.

Unfortunately, as part of the deal Kenny made with dad I don't get to see him until tonight. This means I get to spend some time getting ready and think about what could be planned. I hope it's not going to the movies as there's nothing out that I really want to see and the idea of sitting and not talking to Kenny doesn't sound like my idea of a good time. Though the snuggling might be fun. Or maybe he's planning on a nice meal? Sitting in a restaurant with a single candle to light the room. Maybe a few more so we could see our plates but it sounds wonderfully romantic.

I slip into one of my dresses to wear for the day before I head downstairs to join my parents for breakfast. I know I have a big fat grin on my face but I don't care. Nothing is going to ruin my mood today.

"Someone looks happy this morning," mum says.

"I know. I can't begin to imagine why our daughter has such a big smile on her face," dad answers smiling.

"I don't know either." She pretended to think. "Maybe she got a good grade in an exam?"

"No that can't be it. There's been no school. Maybe she's spending the day with Ava?"

"But she spends every day with Ava so surely that can't be it. I wonder what it could be?"

"Oh, hahaha you two," I say laughing with them as I sit next to mum. "I think you know why I'm so happy today."

"Of course we do, sweetie. You looking forward to tonight?"

"Of course I am. It's my very first date with the nicest boy ever! That reminds, which one of your goons, I mean security, are you sending with me dad?" I smile.

"I'll tell Taylor you said that as I was thinking him. He's become very protective since you've been home these last few months."

"Ok. I'd prefer Taylor anyway as I trust him. As long as he doesn't sit too close to whatever we're doing. Can't you tell me where Kenny's taking me so I know what to wear?" I ask, pleading him to tell me. He just shakes his head and tells me to wear a new dress. I sigh and wonder what to do with myself for the day. Kenny said he'd be here at six to take me out but I have the whole day to keep busy. I'm pulled from my thoughts by my mum talking to me.

"Phoebe, how would you like to come to the salon with me today and we can get your hair done nicely and nails painted ready for your date?" she suggested. That sounds like fun and I used to love being pampered, especially with my mum but I'm scared in case the touch me somewhere I don't like it. However, seeing the look on my mum's face, I couldn't help but agree.

"Take my credit card and treat yourselves. Go shopping if you want, it's all on me," dad says and I smile giving him a hug.

"Thank you daddy."

... ... ...

Mum and I left for the salon about one in the afternoon which gave me some time to decide what to wear tonight and spend some time with my brothers. We all played monopoly and as usual, I was the first to be bankrupt. It's actually incredible how I want to work in my dad's company, am good at accounting and business studies and yet on this game I am always the first to go bankrupt. Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't take the business route. If I can lose so much fake money on a game who knows how much real money I could lose in a real life, successful business.

When we arrive at the salon, I agree to have my hair done nicely, nails manicured and feet massaged and pedicured. The massage felt so good and my nails looked pretty amazing. I kept my hair simple, half up, half down and curled a little so it looks like a casual every day look as well as hair suitable for a date. I hope Kenny likes it.

Mum and I make small talk as we get pampered and I realise I have been so distant from her ever since that incident back in May. I make a mental note to try and be closer and more considerate to her feelings but its hard sometimes, trying to get over myself.

We leave the salon at five o'clock and go to get a cup of tea before heading home. It's been really nice just spending the day with mum but now I want Kenny. As we left the salon later than planned, I'm not left with a lot of time to get ready.

On my bed, I find a really pretty dark pink dress that I've never seen before that's got a cream sash that goes around the waist and a few light pink flowers decorating the skirt. There are no straps on it so there is also a cream cardigan next to it. I smile knowing dad put it there and slip into it, the skirt stopping at my knees. Although it is beautiful, I become unsure when I see that one of my scars is exposed and quickly slip the cardigan over the top, covering the scar. After putting on my diamond studs and a simple silver necklace with a diamond heart, I apply a bit of make-up. I go for a little black eyeliner and pink eye shadow, finishing with some sparkly lip-gloss. Once I've done that, there's a knock at my door. It's my brothers.

"Mum and dad told us to tell you that Kenny's here," James says, looking at me. Nick's mouth drops open and Ted and Ashley are smiling at me.

"What? Is something wrong?" I ask looking down my dress.

"No nothing's wrong. You just look really beautiful sis," Ted says. I can't help but smile at his words.

"You look like an angel," Ashley smiles. I hug him, then Ted, Nick and James. Nick still hasn't closed his mouth so I put my hand on his chin and gently close it.

"You alright Nick?" I ask. He nods.

"Yeah. Though I wish I was older than you so when I threaten Kenny not to hurt you, it won't appear cute." We laugh and head downstairs, Nick and James go first and Ted and Ashley walk arm-in-arm with me, since I slipped my small heels on. Kenny is talking to mum and dad and they all seem at ease with each other. They turn as my brothers and I make it to the bottom of the stairs. Mum is smiling at me and dad looks so proud. Kenny looks unsure of what to do and his mouth slowly drops open. Dad meets me at the bottom of the stairs.

"You look beautiful Cupcake. That dress really suits you. A good choice I think," dad says kissing my forehead and taking my hand, pulling me away from Ted and Ashley.

"Thanks dad. It's really pretty, though you know you shouldn't have. I have hundreds of dresses upstairs."

"I know but I wanted to spoil you." He leans in. "It is your first date after all," he whispers so Kenny can't hear. When we reach Kenny he still hasn't closed his mouth but this time dad puts his hand under the chin to close it. Kenny snaps out of whatever trance he was in and walks over to me, holding out his hand.

"You look beautiful Phoebe. I'm going to look like a disgrace next to you," Kenny says smiling. He looks quite good in his dress pants and a button up light blue shirt. He smells good too. I give him a hug and thank him for his compliment though disagreeing with him looking like a disgrace. He looks so good to me.

"Right, you know the rules, Kenny?" dad asks. Rules? "Good, make sure Phoebe is back by ten. But most importantly, have a good time." I smile and hug dad before going off with Kenny, Taylor following closely behind us.

Since Kenny doesn't own a car, we get in the back of the SUV and Taylor drives us to our destination. I sit quietly and listen to the music on dad's iPod that is still in the car. I like dad's music, it's so relaxing to just sit and listen to the soft melodies and tunes. I remember I used to fall asleep as a young child whenever this music was being played in the car.

"So are you finally going to tell me where we're going?" I ask. He just smiles, shakes his head and taps his nose. "Kenny!"

"It's a surprise. We'll be there in a minute, so you'll just have to wait." He laughs at my reaction.

"You are so frustrating sometimes," I huff crossing my arms across my chest. He reaches over and gently takes my hand.

"I know, but I want to see your reaction when we get there. " I cannot stay mad at him.

Five minutes later, we arrive at a very nice looking restaurant by the ocean. I smile and take his offered hand to help me out of the car. Taylor goes to park the car but tells us to head inside and he will find us as it will be safer to wait inside rather than outside.

We are seated at a quiet table outside, overlooking the water. It's a calm night and the water is still. I love watching the water, it always relaxes me. If only it was darker, then we could see it all lit up with the beautiful lights of the boats passing by and the moonlight. I look at Kenny and realise he's been looking at me he whole time.

"Something wrong?" I tease. He smiles and shakes his head.

"No. Just admiring your beauty." He takes my hand. "I think you truly are the most beautiful creature on this earth." I smile shyly, wanting to change the conversation. A thought suddenly comes to me.

"Kenny, how much is this restaurant going to cost?" he shrugs. "Kenny?"

"Don't worry about it. I can afford it."

"You didn't pick somewhere expensive because you think that's what I would like because of who my family are did you?" he shakes his head.

"Honestly? I chose this place because I know you love the water and thought it would be nice to sit by it. Also, because it's one of the nicest, cheapest restaurants I could find. I want to spoil you tonight Phoebe so don't worry about money. My dad helped me out a bit for tonight so I want tonight to be about you."

"Thank you." I say, smiling, leaving the matter so I don't ruin the mood. I look over the menu and decide to have chicken, as I'm not a big fan of fish. Kenny orders fish pie and chips and a glass of coke for both of us. Taylor has found us and is sitting a couple of table's away, nursing a glass of orange juice. I have a feeling people are going to think him as some loner who won't have an alcoholic beverage to drown his sorrows. The thought makes me smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Kenny asks.

"Taylor. He's sitting over there on his lonesome and I'm coming up with all sorts of ideas people could think of as to why he's on his own."

"Oh yeah. Like what?" I tell him about my thought of how his girlfriend dumped him and now he's here to forget about her but won't drink. He laughs.

"Yeah, but we know the truth, don't we?" We smile at each other.

We make small talk about going back to school and what to do for the rest of the summer. Ted is finally going off to college when the summer is over and mum is getting a bit emotional at the thought. After everything that's been going on, poor Ted seems to have been forgotten but now I think it's time everyone stopped fussing over me and paid more attention to him.

The meal itself was delicious and we finish it off with ice cream. After the bills been paid we decide to take a walk along the beach. I have to take my heels off, as I can't walk on the sand in them, which Kenny finds amusing. Taylor follows behind us at a reasonable distance trying not to look like he's following a couple of teenagers when in reality that is exactly what he is doing. We have two hours before I need to be home and we don't know what to do. He nudges me slightly so I nudge him back then sprint off, running along the sand laughing at his reaction. He catches up to me and we fall on the floor, laughing and rolling around in the sand. I lay on my back and he leans up to look down on me. We're both smiling like goons and he leans down to kiss me.

"So are you enjoying our date?" he asks me.

"What do you think?" I smile, reaching up to stroke his cheek. He leans down to kiss me again. He helps me get to my feet and we walk hand-in-hand along the beach a bit further when suddenly a random stranger comes running up to us, grabbing our hands. She looked panicked and tried dragging us away but Kenny stood firmly still.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" he asked, trying to stay calm. I look around for Taylor and see him speed walking towards us, trying to look casual so no one else is startled.

"I don't want to alarm you, but you're being followed. That man walking towards you has been following you around all evening." The strange woman says. I realise she's talking about Taylor so I decide to quickly put her out of her misery.

"I know he's following us. He's my uncle and is meant to be keeping an eye on me tonight," I give her the half truth. She doesn't look convinced but luckily, Taylor catches up.

"Is there a problem here?" he asks.

"No Uncle Jason," I say to keep up appearances. She still doesn't look convinced.

"I'm worried about you following these children around," she snaps.

"Excuse me but my girlfriend just told you he's her uncle and he's keeping an eye on her," Kenny pipes up.

"Let me handle this you two. Carry on your romantic walk along the beach as I have to get Phoebe home soon," Taylor says stepping aside with the woman. I don't know what he said but when I turn around she seems more relaxed and heads off in the opposite direction. Taylor gives me a smug grin and I turn my attention back to my walk with Kenny.

After a few minutes we hear music in the distance and follow it to see what's going on. There's some sort of party at one of the hotels on the beach and there's a sign saying it's an open invitation. There are several teens dancing on the beach and Kenny drags me along to join them. I recognise a few faces from school but they're mostly kids I don't socialise with as they're on the other side of the year. However, they don't tell us to get lost so we join in.

Kenny can dance! He really is amazing at dancing and I can't help but laugh as he dances to 'Hey Mickey'. Soon a crowd gathers around him and a mini competition starts up with different people dancing in the centre of the circle that was formed. I refused to dance in front of everyone so I stayed among the people forming the circle.

An hour later, there's some slower music playing and Kenny gently holds me in his arms as we move to the soft tune. I place my head on his chest as we sway and close my eyes. This has to be the best first date ever, even though I've never been on a date so I have no comparison. I spy Taylor sitting down at a table in the pub garden of the hotel with a glass of orange juice watching us. I think I can see a smile but we're a bit far away so it's hard to tell. The song ends and Kenny puts his hand under my chin to raise my head before planting a soft kiss on my lips.

"I suppose I should take you back to Taylor as it's nearly time for you to go home," he says sadly. I check my watch. It's only 9:45 and I'm sure dad won't mind if I'm a little late, considering I'm with Taylor.

"Can we go and sit on the sand for a few minutes and watch the water and the boats go by. It's beautiful watching it at night," I ask as it's darker now so we can see the lights twinkling off the water.

"Sure. But if we're late, I'm sure your dad will kill me."

"Taylor will make sure I'm not late and dad won't mind as long as it's not too late since I have Taylor with me. When he finds out how much of a good time I've had, he'll forget about any anger that may be there," I wink. He laughs and leads me to the water's edge where we sit in the dry sand so we don't get wet. I rest my head on his shoulder and allow him to put his arm around my shoulders. I am so relaxed I could fall asleep like this, but refrain not wanting to embarrass myself.

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Christian POV

"Ok Taylor, thanks for letting me know," I say hanging up the phone and re-taking my set next to my wife on the couch.

"What did Taylor want?" Ana asks, looking up from her book.

"Just to let me know that they may be a little late. Phoebe wanted to sit on the sand and watch the boats. Apparently she's had a lovely time so I figured half an hour won't hurt."

"Aw, you're going soft, Mr Grey," Ana teases me. I kiss her.

"Phoebe's been making some excellent progress. Flynn's been giving me some good reports for her sessions, obviously leaving out the details. The least I could do is allow her some time with her boyfriend. Besides, Taylor is with her so I know she's safe. That will change when we put another security guard on her." I am freaking out about the thought as I know I will worry about her every time she goes out but it's not fair to Taylor to babysit her when he is the head of my security team. He has more stressful work to do without dealing with my seventeen year-old.

"So did she have fun? What did they do?" Ana questions.

"I don't know. Taylor wouldn't tell me so we get to hear Phoebe's opinions of it all when she gets home. Anything you would like to do for half an hour while we wait for our daughter?"

"I would love a foot massage. My feet are already killing me even though I had one at the salon earlier."

"Your wish is my command, Mrs Grey." I smile and take her foot in my hand.

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Ana POV

Christian massaging my feet feels so good. I can't believe they ache so much today when I haven't really done anything.

Phoebe arrives home at ten-fifteen, earlier than we thought after Taylor's phone call. But I'm glad, I want to hear all about her date. Bless her, she looks so tired and her make-up is a little smudge and her curls have fallen out of her hair but despite all this, she looks so happy and has a giant grin on her face.

"Hi mum. Hi dad!" she says very happily and comes to sit in between us on the couch.

"Hey, Cupcake. Did you have a nice evening?" Christian asks. Her smile gets bigger and she nods enthusiastically. "What did you do?" I know he knows because he had to make sure it was safe but I know he wants her view of it.

"Dad, I know you know," she teases.

"I know, but I want your view on this evening. Taylor refused to tell me how you felt on the phone."

"You rang Taylor?" she looks surprised and slightly upset at the thought of Christian checking up on her.

"No. Taylor rang your father to let him know you might be a little late," I say and she immediately looks placated.

"Ok. Well, first we went to a restaurant for a nice meal and chatted a bit. We then went for a walk along the beach and played the nudge game," she giggles at this. I know this game as she and her brothers play it with Christian and me. One of them would nudge either Christian or me then start running along the beach until we catch up to them. On more than one occasion, we all end up rolling around in the sand, which I imagined happened with Phoebe and Kenny. I smile. She is so happy at the moment. Christian laughs too. "Yeah, so we rolled around in the sand which was surprisingly fun. A bit further along the beach there was a hotel having some sort of beach party so we kind of joined in there. Kenny's a good dancer and we did a slow, romantic dance before sitting and watching the water. That's why I'm slightly late as we had to walk back along the beach to get to the car."

"It's ok, Phoebe. We knew Taylor was with you so we knew you were safe," I say.

"I'm glad you had fun Cupcake," Christian says. "Maybe you and Kenny can go out again," he smiles and Phoebe lightly elbows him before yawning. "Why don't you go to bed? You look exhausted," Christian suggests. She nods and heads upstairs.

"We'll come and check on you in a minute," I say and she nods. "I don't think I've ever seen her smile as much as she as today."

"She had a lot to smile about today. Now Mrs Grey, I wonder if I can make you smile," he says wickedly, kissing my neck. Before I know it I'm lost to him.

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So sorry it's taken so long to upload this. The next chapter shouldn't take too long. I have it written on paper I just need to type it up. I have also just realised that later on in the story I was planning on being mean but looking at my plan I realised I've been a bit too mean so I'm trying to edit it slightly.

Thank you to all who review and stick with this story.

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