I just stood there somewhat shell-shocked as the girls ran off to continue their shopping. Mom had just said it was okay for me to go to a party as a girl with a date. I’m not even sure if I want to go with a date. Especially when I’m going to be the girl.

“Mom,” I said flatly. “Are you sure about what you just said?”

Mom glared at me for a moment. “Of course I’m sure. I know you want to be with your friends and that’s very understandable.”

Glaring right back, I said, “You’ve said you don’t like me seeing boys and yet you just said it was okay. Color me confused, Mom.”

Mom shrugged. “When I told your sister I didn’t want her to see a particular boy any longer, she’d go behind my back and do it anyway. If I tell you not to see Jeff anymore, you’ll just go behind my back and see him anyway mainly because you have so little resistance to what boys tell you. It was the same with Janet. So I want everything up front so you can come to me when there’s a problem. Do I approve? No. But I want it all in the open.”

Feeling weighed down, I said, “You’d like Jeff if you’d just meet him.”

Mom let out a grunt. “I’m sure I would. That’s not the issue. The issue is that he thinks you’re a girl.”

I finished off my look with a rose pink lipstick. It’s a casual party, but Mom suggested I wear a skirt since a boy will be picking me up. Despite not really approving, she said I should always try to look nice. Before leaving the mall, she had us stop at an earring boutique where I got my ears pierced.

I stood up from Janet’s vanity. Maybe I should move it to my room? I struck a few poses in front of the mirror. The girl in the mirror smiled back at me. I admit it. I’m liking the girl more and more. I walked out into the living room where Mom was sitting on the couch and reading.

“What do you think, Mom?” I asked as I pirouetted on my tennis shoes, my skirt flaring.

Mom looked up and smiled at me. “You look beautiful, honey. Don’t tell her this, but I think you’re prettier than Janet.”

I held my skirt out and asked, “Do you think Jeff will like it?”

Mom frowned slightly. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Remember. When Jeff gets here, give me a few minutes to chat with him before you come out of your room.”

I sighed. “Okay. Please be gentle with him.”

Mom grinned. “I promise.”

I walked back to my room to wait. I sat on the edge of my bed. Jeff will be here any minute and I was both excited and scared out of my mind. This is a date. A real date. With a boy. Have I lost my mind?

I was surprised when Mom walked back into my room carrying a little bottle. She held it out for me.

“What’s this?” I asked as I reached for the bottle.

“It’s perfume. Just a little behind each ear.” She waited until I had completed the task before taking the bottle from me and then setting it on my dresser. “You can keep it as long as you don’t bathe in it.”

I smiled at Mom. “Thanks, Mom. I like it.”

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. My heart leapt to my throat. I ran over to the mirror to check my make-up and of course it was the same as it was a few minutes before. Why am I so nervous?

I heard the front door open and Mom said, “Well, hello. You must be Jeff. Come on in.”

Jeff said, “Thank you ma’am. Is Ronnie ready to go?”

“Have a seat,” Mom invited. “You know how girls are. She should be ready in a few minutes.”

I strained my hearing as best I could but I couldn’t follow the conversation. I walked over in front of the mirror again to check my appearance. I sighed and starting getting cold feet. I suddenly felt silly dressed as a girl. I should just be wearing jeans and a t-shirt. That’s how Jeff usually sees me. I should just change real quick. It’d only take a minute.

Mom suddenly opened the door. “Honey? Jeff is here. Are you ready?” Damn! So much for that idea.

I smoothed the front of my skirt and took one last look in the mirror to check my make-up. I said, “Yeah, I… I’m ready.” I followed Mom back out my door and down the hall. I was suddenly so nervous!

Jeff stood up when I entered the room. He had a mile-wide smile. “Hey Ronnie. You look beautiful!” I still feel weird being told I’m beautiful.

I smiled demurely and said, “Thank. You look really nice too.” Actually he looked gorgeous. He was dressed casually in a light jacket over his t-shirt along with a pair of jeans.

Jeff reached out to take my hand. “We should probably go before it rains or something.” It had been clouding up all afternoon.

Mom handed me my purse. She said, “You two have fun. And remember, she needs to be home by eleven thirty.”

Giving my hand a squeeze, Jeff said, “Yes ma’am. I’ll have her back on time.”

As we stepped out onto the front porch where a breeze caught my skirt. Jeff smiled at me and said, “You really do look amazing.” He tugged on my hand and started leading me to his car. I felt small standing next to Jeff. He helped me into his car.

Jeff jumped into his car, slid the transmission into Drive and then placed his hand on my knee. I looked down at my knee. Should I move his hand from my knee or leave it? I decided to leave it as long as it didn’t move any further under my skirt.

At a stop light, Jeff looked up at the darkening skies. “Crazy weather, huh?”

I looked at the clouds. “Yeah. I hope it doesn’t rain.” Rain drops started to dot the windshield. I frowned and said, “Terrific.”

Jeff chuckled. “I don’t think you’ll melt.” I just shook my head.

We parked across the street from Nova’s house. I hope her neighbors don’t mind. As it started to sprinkle harder, we ran across the street and rang her doorbell.

Nova opened the door and exclaimed, “Hey guys! Come on in. We’re still waiting on the pizza.”

As soon as we got inside the house, Jeff’s arm found its way around my waist. A flash of lightning outside startled me and I jumped. Jeff pulled me closer to him and said, “You’re okay.” Great. Now he thinks I’m afraid of thunderstorms.

Nova took a double take at me. She said, “I see you finally got your ears pierced. It’s about time!”

I looked around the room. Maggie and Steph had made a dance floor out of Nova’s living room and were dancing with their guys. Susan and her guy were looking through Nova’s movie collection. I then noticed Tank munching off the finger food, but I didn’t see a cheerleader near him. We were still short one girl, Cindy. Tank wouldn’t show up without his girl. I had no idea who Cindy was dating, but I was sure he wasn’t on the football team.

I turned to Nova and asked, “So, who’s Tank dating? He’s not dating Cindy is he?”

Nova giggled. “He’s dating me!”

“Are you serious?” I exclaimed.

Nova shrugged. “Well, we haven’t actually been out on a date yet, but he asked me.”

Jeff let go of me to go check out the finger food.

I turned to Nova and said, “You have a nice house.”

Nova grinned. “Thanks. I promised my parents we wouldn’t wreck it. They’re hiding in their room so we can’t wreck it too much anyway.”

The doorbell rang again. It was raining hard when Nova opened the door. On the porch and looking like two drowned cats were Cindy and her boyfriend who’d I’d never met. Nova ran off to get a few towels from the bathroom.

On her return to the living room area, Nova looked out the front door. “I doubt they’ll deliver the pizza with it raining this hard.”

Tank came from behind and draped his arms on both Nova’s and my shoulders. “It never rains here very long. But we have other stuff to eat.” He started nibbling on Nova’s ear.

Jeff pulled me away and said, “No nibbling on this one.”

I pouted and said, “No nibbling?”

Jeff laughed. “Unless it’s me doing the nibbling!”

Another crack of thunder and Jeff was holding me tight and speaking softly into my ear that I was okay.

Nova said, “Let’s go ahead and start a movie. Susan, did you find anything good?”

Susan held up a Blu-Ray box. “Here’s a Tommy Kincaid movie I’ve never seen. Mind if we watch it?”

Nova looked closely at the box and said, “Oh. That’s one of my favorites. Put it in.”

A few minutes into the movie, the doorbell rang again. The rain had finally stopped and it was the pizza guy. Tank carried the boxes to the table and set them down.

Nova called out, “Pizza’s here!” Nova handed out paper plates. We grabbed a slice or two along with a soda. I sat on the floor and since I had on a skirt, I folded my legs under me. Jeff sat behind me as close as he could. Every so often, he’d kiss the back of my neck.

The storm was getting worse. Bright flashes of lightning and crashing thunder. I normally enjoy a good thunderstorm, but this was finally starting to get to me. I felt safe in Jeff’s strong arms. Several times the lights would flicker.

And then came the brightest lightning flash of all and a huge boom. It must have been directly overhead. The house was suddenly dark. The was a general groan from the guests. Tank said, “I want my money back.” That cause several people to chuckle.

Sounding exasperated, Nova said, “Hey, I didn’t plan the weather.” The house was lit with a strobe effect from the lightning.

In my ear, Jeff said, “I like it dark.” He rolled me onto my back and suddenly his lips were pressed against mine. In the flash of lightning, I could see Jeff over me, his hands pressing on my wrists preventing me from wriggling away. Not that I wanted to. He kissed my neck. He nibbled my ears. He slid his tongue in my mouth as we kissed. Feeling around my top, while there weren’t any boobs for him to feel, he did find my fully erect nipples. He squeezed and rubbed them. While it felt great, I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about a boy’s hands and fingers touching me there.

From the sounds around me, we weren’t the only ones enjoying the power outage.

I was looking from an odd angle since I was laying on my back on the floor being kissed, but it looked like someone was in the hallway with a flashlight. From the hall, I heard a man’s voice say, “Looks like it tripped the breaker.” There was a loud click and the room was suddenly filled with light.

Everyone was caught in embarrassing positions in the unexpected bright light. Everyone complained about having to deal with the bright light. In a whiny voice, Nova said, “Daaaad! You should have left it off.” Jeff sat up so I could sit as well.

Nova’s dad chuckled. “My bad. Sorry.” He didn’t sound particularly sorry.

A phone alarm went off and I saw Nova pick her phone off the floor. She turned the alarm off and announced, “Hey guys! It’s eleven! I know most of you have curfews, so this party is officially over. Girls get first dibs on the bathroom since they need to fix their faces. Thanks everyone for coming!”

Tank asked, “Do I have to go?”

Nova laughed. “You especially.”

When it was my turn in the bathroom, I just wiped my lipstick off rather than trying to fix it and used my compact to smooth out my foundation. When I stepped out of the bathroom, Jeff kissed me so I made the right choice about the lipstick.

Before we could leave, Nova gave us both a big hug. “Thanks so much for coming, you guys.”

I laughed. “I don’t know about Jeff, but I had fun.”

Jeff held me close and leaned in and kissed me. “I think I had fun,” grinned Jeff. Jeff made a quick look at his phone. “We need to go. I have ten minutes to get this girl home.”

We waved and hurried out the door and across the street to Jeff’s car. Everything was still dripping, but the clouds were already clearing off. Jeff ran a red light to try to hurry home. I told him not to do that again.

Jeff’s car rolled up to the curb at my house. Grinning, Jeff said, “A minute and a half to spare!” I giggled, which I’m doing a lot more of lately. Jeff said, “I’ll walk you to your door.” Holding my hand, Jeff led me up the walkway to my front door.

Looking into my eyes and holding both my hands, Jeff said, “I had a great time tonight Ronnie. Maybe we do something again.”

Trying to breathe, looking up at his eyes, I said, “Oh, I’d love to, Jeff. I had a great time.”

Jeff hesitated a moment, still holding my hands, he leaned in towards me, closing his eyes. I closed my eyes and parted my lips in anticipation. If I had to bet, I knew Mom was watching us.

Jeff wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him as I put my arms around his neck. His soft warm lips pressed into mine as I moaned softly in his kiss. A voice in the back of my head was saying, “Don’t kiss him! No no no!” I thought “fuck it” as I pulled him closer for a kiss. Feeling his lips against mine was pure heaven.

He pulled back and smiled. He said, “Hey. I uh, know it’s still a couple of weeks away, but …” He paused for several heart beats. “Would you go to the homecoming dance with me?”

Well shit…

To be continued…