A/N: I want to say thank you very much for the wonderful reviews. I'm glad that I was able to keep the essence of Steff smartass nature. That was the reason why he was my favorite character in the movie. I do not own Pretty in Pink that honor goes to the late-great John Hughes. "How Soon Is Now," is only by the all-time great The Smiths.

. . . .

I am the son, and the heir. Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. I am the son and heir of nothing in particular.

There's a club if you'd like to go, you could meet somebody who really loves you. So you go, and you stand on your own, and leave on your own. And you go home, and you cry and you want to die.

When you say its gonna happen now well, when exactly do you mean? See I've already waited too long and all my hope is gone…You shut your mouth, how can you say. I go about things the wrong way I am human and I need to be loved just like everybody else does

~The Smith

. . . . .

How Soon Is Now (1)

For the first time in his life he had woken up with a sense of purpose. Steff was always cynical about everything and anybody; but now he felt as though he could draw an idealistic life where Kaia played a major contributor in it.

For the pass four years even during the time when he was infatuated with Andy she couldn't supersede the presence of Kaia.

As he thought about the only two girls that had caught his actual attention Steff could honestly say he had made a grieve mistake when it came to Andy.

Infatuated wasn't the right word when concerning Andy if anything she was his personal challenged.

None of the girls at school ever tried to challenge him by brushing him off. He had thought that it was endearing making him rise to the challenge.

She had bruised his ego and had further insulted it when she had chosen Blaine over him. The annoyance that seem to rear its ugly head whenever he thought about them didn't appear. He didn't really give a fuck anymore.

Kaia was not a challenge— she was a player to this complex game that was between them. They both were equals—each wanting to outmatch the other.

Both always looking forward for the next match to commerce. Thinking it over, Kaia had always challenged him to be—in the most cliché of ways—a better person.

She saw him even when the image was diluted to himself. She was able to see something within.

She had faith in him—something he didn't have in his own self.

He didn't know the correct expression, but knowing that person thought and felt such away about him…he felt light.

He had dreamed about this phenomenal creature for years and even the sweetest dreams he still felt this dissatisfaction in the morning.

Because they were simply dreams not made for the reality that was called life. Until today, those dreams were proven that they could turn into something so real.

. . . . . .

She had always prided herself to be a levelheaded individual. Never breaking from any type of pressure that was placed on her. It was one of the traits that Mr. Lewis (the chief editor of Washington Heights News and her boss) admired about her. She could always defuse any stressful situation that was placed on her; however, there was only one person that could shake her up.

You guessed it—Steff Alexander McKee.

Like always he was making her indecisive and going against any type of any preconceive notions about everything and anything.

If she were new to the whole notion of dates then her sense of lost would make absolute sense. This wasn't her first date—Kaia wasn't unattractive and the boys population despite the caste system at Cassidy knew she wasn't either.

To the Geeks, she was the subject of fantasy—their favorite was Star Trek where Kaia was a younger version of Nyota Uhura.

To the New Wavers, she was appealing to the eyes, but their attraction came more for their respect from her sense of musical taste. Many followed her column she wrote for Washington Heights News and the Cassidy News Letter.

To the Richies, she was attractive, but since her status being both poor and black they really didn't waste their time - and that Steff McKee held some interest in her. Kaia didn't know this, but Steff did.

She had only truly dated two guys at the school—both being from the small population of black students that attended the school. It was never anything serious. Harmless flirting and few make out sessions, but never reaching that next level.

Maybe in some silent way the only guy she wanted to have her first serious relationship with was Steff.

Something she would deny despite the evidence being right in front of her face. She looked over herself once more. The black high-waist cut out jeans showed off her tone legs and ample derriere.

White baggy sleeveless shirt tucked within her shorts leaving a pouched in the front that showed the lining of her black bra in the front, while making it visible to be seen on the side of her. Her hair was down with her black fedora on top—her signature look.

She ran over herself still feeling this sense of dissatisfaction with her outfit.

This was the one out of many that at the time felt right, but now looking at it, she wasn't totally feeling it.

Kaia simply refused to change out of anything else after all she had wasted several hours already trying on and discarding clothes.

She looked over her once pristine room now the after effects from a tornado. She inwardly groans at having to deal with this mess when she got home. To say that she wasn't in her element was an understatement—she was freaking out. Unbeknown to her, she was the source of her mother's amusement at the scene and actions of her daughter.

"You look beautiful,"

Kaia had been so stuck in her thoughts and dissatisfaction she had not noticed her mother presence for the pass few minutes.

"I don't know—I'm not really feeling it—ugh," she moved away from the floor length mirror and slump down on the bed.

With a smile pull to her lips and a slight shake of her head at her daughters display: teenage girls were so overdramatic.

She seats next to her daughter; understanding her child dissatisfaction, after all she was once a teenage girl herself.

"Okay tells mommy what's really going on."

"It's just—why me? Why would he want to go out with me?"

"The questions that you should be asking yourself—why did he take this long to date me? Why not me?"

"Ma!"

"What! You're gorgeous with a fucking fantastic personality. You're an intellectual that can hold her own against any asshole. And one of the most sophisticated teenage girls of her generation."

"Ma you have to say this."

"You'll be surprise how many parents don't say such wonderful truthful words to their children. So take my words they're true and if he can't appreciate this wonderful person beside me than his not the one."

"Thank you, mommy," she smiled.

"Your welcome, so where are you two going?"

"I don't know."

"So he's being secretive?"

"Very."

"You told him to come in so I can speak with him?"

"Of course."

"Be at the stairs when he comes in and let mommy handle the rest." Giving her daughter a look she knew all to well when she was looking for answers.

"And you wonder where I get my sense of cunning from."

"I never denied it—I simply don't acknowledged it."

. . . . .

This was completely brand new to him—introducing himself to his date's parents. Of course he knew the parents of the girls he dated in the past they all went to the same country club as his family. However, their parents were just like his—they absolutely didn't give a shit. It seemed the teenagers of his background were already living the life of an adult. They weren't treated like the children that they still were.

Most of his associates were already addicted to some heavy fucking drugs. There were girls he knew that had children who were posing as their younger sibling or cousin—and girls who been at the abortion clinic on multiply occasions.

He was honestly surprise by Kaia's request that he introduce himself to her mother. Her reasoning, her mother was very old school; she wanted to check him out before any date took place with her daughter. As Kaia had put it: he better not fuck up in front of her moms or she'll cancel the show right there.

He found it quite heartening; it was clear evidence that there were still some people on this earth that actually gave a fuck about their children and their will being.

Steff had always been curious about Kaia parents; despite Washington Heights being a small town he really didn't know the people that live here.

Pulling to the house he double-checked the paper that held her address checking to see if it matched. It did. He took the time to observe her neighborhood (which was like any other middle class area) and her home.

Her house held character—filled with a warmth and pleasantness that you'll only find in a Disney movie and a Hallmark card.

Moving towards the walkway he noticed how well kept the house truly was; the porch was swept, the banisters were freshly painted, the plants were cared for, and it seem that people actually seat in the chairs that occupy the space.

The scenes that he had imagined Kaia's life seem to expand. Confirming some of his thoughts about her.

Ringing the doorbell he stood there and waited. It was at least a few seconds when the sound of the door unlocking.

The woman before him was tall, petite with curves, and beautiful. If he didn't know better he could honestly mistaken the woman for her sister; however, he knew Kaia was an only child.

He had heard that black woman aged gracefully—well damn, her mother was the walking proof of it.

Diana swept Steff up and down; he was written with the words beautiful heartbreaker in bold bright red cursive letters.

A trigger warning saying this wasn't going to end well. Yet, there was this sense of misguidance and want that surrounded him, which simply pulled at her heartstrings.

Her late husband Antony had always said she was a sucker for lost causes a trait that she had given their daughter.

She couldn't help the maternal feelings to rise up ready to champion for this lost boy on her pouch, but first he'll have to prove himself.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Davis, I'm Steff McKee, I'm here to ask permission to take your daughter out tonight."

He had summoned all the charm and good breeding that he chooses to use when it was convent for him.

Her expression was one he recognized her daughter always thrown at him when she was trying to figure him out. It seems to him that Kaia and her mother held a lot of similarities in character than he expected.

The silences that stretch between them quickly evaporate.

"That was perfect form, Mr. McKee, come in," she stepped aside.

Entering the house, he was surprise how spacious it was contrast to the outside. Still it held the warmth and pleasantness that seem to put you at ease. He loved it. It was the total opposite of his house: cold and lifeless items of past generations of the McKee family that were as callous and dull like the house that held them.

Here in her home was life. Of plants and flowers around every corner. Of pictures of past generations that hard features of struggle and oppression, yet held laughing eyes of strength that seem to pass down to her. It spoke of life and family, something you saw only on sitcoms and movies.

"Have a seat," her voice was warm and authorize.

He seat down, thanking her with all the ease he thought he wouldn't be able to summon.

Mrs. Davis as beautiful as she was her aura was very motherly—putting you at ease, but knowing not to cross her.

The total opposite of his mother—-although Steff adore his mother, she held an air of authority and unapproachable. Salome McKee honestly didn't have a maternal bone in her body.

"Would you like some ice tea?" interrupting his musing.

"Yes, please," he wasn't thirsty to be honest, but he doubt her mother wouldn't have it any other way.

She moved out the living room seeing her daughter in position at the stairs she nodded her head giving her a wink.

Kaia returned with her own nod and wink. Resuming her position of staring at the boy whom fascinated and frustrated her together.

If someone was to tell her that Steff McKee would be seating in her living room to ask permission to take her out on a date. She would laugh directly in there face every time she saw them. That was how ridiculous the notion was to her—-now not so much since it was playing out right in front of her.

Steff looked around taking in the living room. The chestnut wood floors shine brightly then the ones at his home. The couch faced the fireplace with a royal blue Persian rug with a chestnut coffee table in the middle. There were chairs place to face each other making it an intimate circle for easy conversation.

Mounted on the wall was a large gold rimmed mirror on the mental place were pictures, vases, and candles. Behind him were bookcases filled with books, albums, and pictures. The only electronic in the room was the record player and on the far corner was a vintage RCA Victorla record player cabinet.

However, his attention was districted by a gleam that was next to it. Moving in fluid motions he stood before the table. The gleam that had caught his attention was simply a warm candlelight reflecting off a trumpet that lay there. In a gold picture frame stood a man tall in stature, well built frame, a trumpet in his hand, and a smile that Steff knew all too well. This was a memorial to Kaia's father.

"I see your making an introduction to my husband Antony."

He turned the feeling as though he had overstepped his boundaries. Diana understanding where his thoughts were going and instant put him to ease.

"Antony likes to say Kaia gets all her good qualities from me…some them yes, but she gets all her greater qualities from him."

"He was a musician?"

"Yes, he was a Jazz musician, he could have made it big—but he refused, he didn't want anything to tarnish his love for music."

"So that would explain the extensive record collection."

Diana gave a warm chuckle as she nodded her head, "The record collection is his and Kaia's. He gave her his love for music. I learn years ago never to interrupt them when a record is being played in here…god have mercy on the fool to interrupt them."

She smiled towards him as her eyes lingered on the picture of her husband. A twinkle of sadness and love shine through her dark orbs.

Steff felt uncomfortable.

He was never around so many emotions in such a short time frame as like now. He had never seen his parents looked at each other with any sort of love or respect. He figured if one had passed before the other they might throw a big soiree right on their grave before the casket was even buried.

The feelings that her mother was displaying about her deceased father had shown their relationship held a very deep meaning of respect and love.

"Now let us get to business," she said clearing her voice as if to shake herself from the daze.

He welcomed this interruption.

"So where are you taking my daughter?" she didn't waste anytime earning more of his respect and he didn't hesitate to reveal his plans.

"Really?" her eyebrow cocked with a smile that he couldn't help but think that he had fall into some type of trap.

Before he could reply the sound of foots coming down the stairs alerted him of the main individual he wanted to see...

He had to portray himself cool especially in the presence of her and her mother. However, the feeling of a million butterflies floating within him was making it hard.