If That's Your Excuse

Hey guys sorry for the wait, this part was just a little hard to iron out. Hope you enjoy and I swear the next chapter is already on its way!

I smiled and waved as Ben pulled out of my driveway two hours later. We'd had breakfast, laughed, and smiled. But I knew eventually I'd have to get home and explain myself. My parents hadn't even known I was missing, but I'm sure there would be a few friends I owed an explanation. I felt guilty for last night, but it wasn't really something I could have prevented. I turned on my cell phone as I walked into the house. It quickly buzzed with 7 new texts and 9 voicemails. I listened to them all. Basically, Maggie had been calling me every hour since I'd told her last night that I wouldn't be driving home with them. Knowing Maggie, she was probably assuming I'd gone home with some guy. Which technically was true, just not like she imagined it. I called her back after I cleared my message box. She picked up on the first ring.

"Where are you? HOW are you? Was it amazing? What happened? And who was the guy?"

I smiled before I quickly tried to quiet her down.

"Maggie take a breath, will you? I'm fine and there was no guy, I swear."

I heard her snort through the phone. Attractive isn't it?

"Come on Lexi I've been your best friend since forever. I know a lie when I hear one. Plus you can't just up and disappear. How'd you even get home?"

I paused for a second trying to come up with a good alibi.

"Well I was feeling like crap last night. So I just decided to catch a cab and go home. I would have called you guys, but I lost you, so I figured I'd just call you later but I forgot to. Sorry Mags."

She digested this before answering.

"It's fine Lex you just had me worried sick! And you know how much I hate grown up feelings like worrying. I felt like your second mom last night. The wrinkles are unbecoming."

It was just a total Maggie response.

"Sorry MOM. Won't happen again I swear. I'm fine now I promise."

"I should think so. So what are you up to tonight? I figured we could go catch a movie or something? On me. I feel bad about the drag and ditch last night."

"Uh.. sorry can't my parents are making me stay in tonight. They are going to be home for a change, so they want some bonding time. You know the drill."

"Don't I ever. Alright well I guess I'll see you Monday then?"

"Yeah definetly. Maybe I'll even actually go to lunch for a change."

I heard her fake gasp on the other end.

"Well I'll believe that when I see it. Later lex."

I clicked off the phone with her and immediately started looking at my closet. I felt guilty for lying to Maggie, but if there was ever something I couldn't trust her with, it would be this. She just wasn't great with secrets, and when it was something this important, there was no way I could leave the possibilities to chance. I tried to push that to the back of my head as I surveyed what I had. Of course nothing in my closet seemed appealing at first glance. Maybe Maggie was right, I didn't really seem to have much in the nice clothes area. Sure I had outfits that could impress parents and teachers (well not this one, but normally), but nothing that was date worthy. Even my parents called me a nun sometimes. And when a father wants his teenage daughter to dress less like an old lady, that's really saying something. That reminded me of the stuff my mom bought me a few weeks ago. She'd been shopping on one of her three days off and had seen a bunch of stuff that was just "so me." I'd put it in the back of my closet, figuring I'd just wear it around the house to make her happy. Usually my mom's version of "so me" involved a lot more girly frilly then I cared to wear. I pulled out the shopping bag from my closet. I found a few sweaters that I quickly pushed into a donation pile, and a pair of Bermuda shorts that made me laugh. But the last thing in the bag was perfect. It surprised me; I didn't know my mom was capable of finding things I actually liked. After trying and making sure it fit, I checked the clock and saw I had an hour to shower and get ready. I headed into the bathroom with a towel hoping to wash off the jitters that were starting to come on.

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I came out in a towel flipping through my shirts in my closet. I'd been trying to decide what to do tonight. I knew the date part meant dinner, but I was trying to keep it casual at the same time. So I figured maybe we could do a movie or something too. Which meant more casual stuff. But I was a teacher, which meant casual clothes really weren't something I had a lot of. I pulled some jeans and a sweater out, hoping that it wasn't too much. Look at myself I thought. I don't think I've put this much time into an outfit.... Ever. It was just important that things went well tonight. I pulled on the clothes, and added a little cologne as I checked the clock. Just about time to leave. I grabbed the flowers that I'd picked up on the way home a little bit ago when I'd dropped off Mike's car. He had a lot of questions when I got over there, and I'd tried to answer him without too much information. I said I'd picked up a girl, and we'd gotten together that night. It was just easier then having to go into details about everything. He'd seemed to shrug it off, he must have gotten lucky as well last night. I turned on my radio as I headed off to Lexi's house. This morning had been great. We'd talked for a bit and ate. She had a good appetite for a smaller girl. It made me laugh. I really wanted to try and make this work. Well I didn't even know what this was, but whatever the reason, I wanted to try. I pulled up in Lexi's driveway and walked up to the front door. I knocked twice and waited a minute. I heard a muffled door's open. I turned the knob and stepped inside looking around.

"Lexi?"

"Yeah I'll be down, just give me one second."

I grabbed a seat on the couch in the living room. It seemed pretty nice for the neighborhood, looking like her parents had some money. I heard the stairs squeak so I came around the corner, looking up. I stopped after a second, kind of surprised. Lexi came down the stairs in a pale blue sundress, with sandals. Her normally straight hair and had been curled and waved and she had on just enough makeup to make her look even more beautiful then usual. I must have been staring because she stopped after a few steps looking back at me.

"What? Is something wrong?"

I smiled.

"No.. you look... beautiful."

She smiled back, relieved as she took the last few steps meeting me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh good. I thought you were going to faint or something,' she said with a laugh.

"I thought I might,' I answered teasing.

Looking down at my hands, I handed her the flowers.

"Oh, these are for you."

She seemed surprised.

"Oh... thank you."

We just kind of looked at each other and smiled for a minute.

"So.. ready to go?" I asked to end the silence.

"Yeah, lets."

I held the door open and we walked out. I helped her climb into the car.

"So where are we going? She asked as I climbed in and started the car.

"Well I figured we could go get some dinner and see a movie. Normal date stuff?"

She smiled.

"Alright sounds great."

We headed over to my favorite Italian restaurant. I'd made a reservation just in case a few hours ago, because it tended to get crowed on Saturdays. We walked in, getting a table near the back of the busy restaurant. I held out her chair as she sat down and grabbed the seat across from her. As we sat down, we exchanged a look, and at first I felt embarrassed. But I realized after a second that it was ok now. We weren't at school, or anywhere near people we knew. I didn't have to feel embarrassed. As I thought about all this I reached my hand across the table and took hers, rubbing my thumb on the back of her hand softly. She looked up, kind of surprised, but after a second she smiled and squeezed back, biting her lip as she looked down at her menu. I smiled and tried to keep my eyes down, even though I kept looking up at her

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Dinner went amazing. We spent most of it just talking, about everything, from random stuff to even school topics. Even though it wasn't a normal thing for us, we were still able to talk about school easily, like we were separated from it at the time. Ben had been a gentleman the entire night, coming no closer to me then touching my hand. As he paid the check, I ran to the bathroom to check my makeup. When I looked in the mirror, I saw something different then normal. It took me a few seconds to figure out the difference: I was happy. I'd been happy before, I was happy, but this was that crazy different kind of boy happy that made your head spin. Even though I'd really never experienced it before, I could almost instantly see it. The best part was that I really didn't care who else noticed it. I zipped my purse and headed out to the front where Ben was waiting. We headed out, driving over to the theatre, in quiet, but not bad quiet. Like.. peace I suppose. But as we sat I started to think about.. everything, which is probably what caused me to blurt out what I was about to say.

"So.. what happens on Monday?'

He looked over at me, momentarily silent at the question. I tried to talk quickly, hoping to get out what I wanted to say.

"I mean.. I know what happens Monday-school. But I just want to know, I mean all this could get you into a lot of trouble. I don't know much about the whole specific school rules, but I figure no students is kind of a basic one."

I blushed furiously, keeping my eyes on the window as I got through all this. Sometime while I was talking, we pulled into the parking lot of the theatre. Ben shut off the car, turning to face me.

"Look Lexi, I appreciate the worry-I really do. But I'm a big boy.. and I know what I'm getting into here. Yes, you're right if we got caught doing anything outside of school, I could get in trouble, a lot of trouble actually. But I've spent the last few weeks trying to avoid you, and justifying every thought. And I don't think I could go back to that, even if I wanted to. So right now, I don't want to worry about school. Because it's only Saturday. And we'll deal with Monday when we come to it, alright?"

I smiled at him.

"Alright. That sounds good to me."

"But since you brought up our.. situation there is something I wanted to say before anything happens or doesn't happen."

He paused trying to phrase his words.

"I don't really know how much dating experience you've had, but whatever it is I don't want to push you.. and I don't mean just the physical pushing. I mean, if we do decide to get serious, and it's too much for you, all you have to do is tell me. If you want out, I'm not going to be dramatic about it. And I'm not telling you this because I want you to leave, I just don't want you to ever feel like your trapped here. Am I making sense?"

I looked up at him and squeezed his hand.

"Ben I appreciate your worry, but I'm a big girl too. And if I wanted out, I definitely wouldn't feel like I had an obligation. I promise."

"Good" He answered with a squeeze.

"But now that all this—complicated talk is over for a while, how about we go for that movie?'

I nodded and He smiled and got out to go open my door.