23

I looove

Physical affection.

Like cuddling, holding

Hands, having my hair

Played with, hold

My leg while you

Drive... all of it,

Love it.

"LILY" yells Lexi and Kim as they storm into my room and tackle me on the floor. 'I was shocked when I was called by an unknown number and the person on the other end of the line turned out to be The Alex Martin,' says Lexi with big eyes. Behind her, Britte steps into the room and waves at me as she sits quietly on the bed. Lexi shouts again: "You've had your first kiss". My cheeks glow when I nod. Kim looks at me grinning and takes her make-up bag out of her pocket. With big eyes I look at it in horror.

"No, no, no, no," I say shaking my head. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she imitates me. Luckily, that moment Finn walks into the room. "Hey Lily, you wanna..." he starts his sentence but stops when he looks up from his cell phone. "Hey babe" says Kim laughing. "Hey?" he asks confused. "Was there a meeting I didn't know about?" He asks raising his eyebrows.

"No, we're here to help Lily get ready for her date," says Lexi nonchalantly. "DATE?" calls Finn. Kim looks at him confused. "Yeah, date, you know, with your brother, who kissed Lily yesterday and came to ask us for help to get Lily ready," she says on a duh tone. Finn's head is turning bright red, though I don't think it's from the embarrassment. He comes to me and puts a kiss on my forehead and then one on Kim's mouth. Then he rushes out of my room and opens Alex's.

I look at the girls frightened when they do the same thing. We hear Finn shouting at Alex while Alex reacts as calmly as possible, which made the whole thing funny. It went a little like this.

"YOU KISSED LILY, MY LITTLE LILY?'

"Yeah, man, don't yell like that.'

"THAT IS MY LITTLE SISTER" Finn is still shouting angrily.

"Calm down.'

"IF YOU BREAK HER HEART, I'LL COME AND BREAK YOU, UNDERSTAND? I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE MY BROTHER.'

"First of all, I'm NEVER going to break her heart, second of all, why does everyone think I'm so mean AND threaten to break me?" Alex grumbles.

I look at the girls and together we start laughing. "Okay, let's get started, we only have three hours left," says Britte. Everyone nods and I'm pushed into the bathroom. I wash my hair with my usual shampoo that smells like coconut. Then I wash my body and bring out the shaving foam. My legs and armpits are well treated so they are as soft as a baby's ass. Then I dry off and smear myself with lotion, which also smells like coconut.

Coming out of the bathroom, Lexi, Kim, and Britte are each ready in their own section. First, I have to go to Lexi who does my hair. She first takes a brush and I drop my desk chair while Lexi combs my hair. I have always loved it when someone combs my hair. Lexi then dries my hair and braids from my neck to the middle of my head a braid that ends in a dot. She curls the two strands of hair with curling irons.

Then, I am led to my bed where Kim is already waiting for me with a grin. "Not too much makeup, please" I beg her. "I'll keep it natural" she promises when she orders me to close my eyes. I feel several brushes touching my face, which tickles and made Kim often angry because I moved too much. Once in a while, I have to open my eyes or keep my face at a different angle. After half an hour she is ready and I am sent to Britte.

Britte is waiting for me in my walk-in closet. She helps me to change into my new clothes so I don't ruin my make-up or haircut. She has seen my white dress hanging in the closet that I bought with them at the beginning of August. I also see that she has found the shoes I bought with them and has already prepared them.

Britte goes out of the closet before me. Nervously, I follow her when I hear Kim and Lexi gasping for breath. "Oh no, is it that ugly?" I panic as I rush into the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. In the mirror, there is a lovely girl staring back at me. Kim has made my brown eyes stand out by giving me shimmering brown eye shadow. She applied the mascara and eyeliner professionally. The dress seems to be handmade, perfect for me. It shows my curves well.

"You look beautiful," says Lexi when she comes to stand next to me. I still look at the mirror with my mouth open when someone knocks on the door. Kim opens the door and I hear Finn say something in the sense of coming to pick me up to lead me to the front door. I get out of the bathroom and Finn stops chatting in the middle of his sentence. His eyes grow big and all he does is stare. Kim rolls her eyes and hits Finn against his arm.

This seems to get him out of his stare when he painfully rubs his arm. Apologetically, Kim looks at him and plants a kiss on his cheek. Finn gets a big smile on his face and turns back to me. He offers his arm and I stick mine through it. "You look beautiful" he whispers in my ear, "wait till Alex sees you" he laughs. I try to laugh with him but it comes out more like a nervous beep. I hear that the girls are following us and look over my shoulder at them. Lexi has her mobile phone ready to take pictures and I roll my eyes in response.

At the bottom of the stairs, Alex is waiting for me. By clicking my heels on the ground, he knows I am there and turns around. His mouth falls open and his eyes grow as big as soccer balls. He blinks his eyes and rubs them again, thinking this is a dream. He opens his mouth to say something when he closes it and repeats it a few times. He looks like a fish and that makes me laugh. This seems to get him partly back on earth and he gives me a cute smile.

He grabs my hands and pulls me towards him. He kisses me tenderly and looks at me from top to bottom. "You look beautiful," he says with a hoarse voice that makes me blush. "You too" I mumble shyly. He has a white shirt with black trousers on. He has combed his hair back but there is still a tuft in front of his eyes. I grab the tuft and put it back in the right place. This action makes Alex's eyes twinkle even brighter as he gives me a kiss on my jaw. "Ready?" he mumbles in my ear. I nod from yes and turn to my friends to say bye.

Lexi is still pulling pictures of us when I feel Alex standing next to me to give me a kiss on my forehead while I close my eyes, "Do you think she has enough pictures now?" he mumbles into my ear. I feel my heart beating faster when I realize that he gave me a special kiss so that we would have a nice picture.

"Are we almost there?" I'm asking for the fifth time. Instead of answering, which he hasn't done the last four times, he squeezes my leg. I put my hand on his and entwine our fingers, still not just that someone touches me like that and I touch someone like that. After a few minutes, Alex stops the car, 'We're there' he announces when we get out. Alex walks to a small house and a minute later the surroundings are illuminated by lights. There is a picnic blanket in front of a large lake with a picnic basket on it. Several candles are lit by Alex.

I sit down on the blanket and look at him. "What is this place?" I ask in amazement. "This is our clubhouse. As little children, we found this place and built the house a few years ago. Since then, this became our place," he explains. "It's beautiful," I say sincerely.

Alex takes the food from the picnic basket and spreads it over the blanket. He has strawberries dipped in chocolate, nuts, chips, and Ben and Jerry. My eyes grow big when I see the ice cream and I hear Alex laughing. "I knew I had to take it with me," he says as he gives me a spoon. After two hours, the food is almost gone and the sun is setting. I lie with my head on Alex's chest while he plays with my hair. He straightens himself so I also sit up and he takes something out of the basket.

I can't control my smile when I see him taking out a popcorn bag and looking at me with a grin. "I got to know you as the girl who made popcorn fly" starts Alex. "My first impression was that the girl was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. When you looked up at me, as if you hadn't seen me at first, I swear I felt my heart stop beating for a moment. But because of the stress, my brain didn't work anymore and I was a real asshole. I've thought a lot about our meeting and I've been angry with myself a few times that I didn't even ask your name. But a few months later, all of a sudden, you were standing there, panting in the kitchen doorway. At first, I thought I was dreaming and I was an asshole to you again. But the next day, you were there again and I knew it was real, I knew the popcorn girl was standing in front of me and living in my house. I don't want to make the mistake of letting you go again.

So Lily, princess, would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asks in one breath. I can feel the tears stinging in my eyes as I nod yes and jump on him. We fall back together and I hang over him with my head above his. I lower my head and kiss him briefly on his lips, 'Yes' I say again for the sake of clarity as Alex kisses me happily back. I smile at his lips and straighten up again.

That night we watched the stars together and ate popcorn. That night I got my first boyfriend, and not just any first boyfriend, but Alex. Alex, who broke up part of the American dream because he's not a jerk quarterback. He's my quarterback who's anything but an asshole. And I'm happy about that.