Escaping the Entryway Meeting

The siblings finally stopped their shenanigans with Nova falling onto her bed and them both exploding into laughter. When the room quietened, Carter headed to the door but paused before opening it and looked back at her, "This guy... Do you like him?"

Nova sat up and looked at her brother who was looking at her intently. A part of her was surprised with how serious he seemed to be, but it warmed her heart none the less. And after a moment of thought, she nodded and admitted as a blush crept onto her face, "Yeah, I do like him."

Carter nodded before asking, "Will he hurt you?"

The question surprised Nova, especially when his jaw seemed to clench while he spoke. Again she took a minute to think of everything that had happened over the past two days. The look in Jay's eyes as he told her about mates and even talked about his parent's relationship gave her her answer, "No, I don't believe he will."

He watched her for a bit longer before nodding and declaring, "Good. If he ever does though, I will kill him." Nova's mouth dropped open when Carter just turned and left the room. She had been closer to Carter before he went into high school four years ago but Nova didn't realize he still cared so much.

The rest of that night, Nova thought over her conversation with her brother but was never able to wrap her mind around the fact that he had been having her watched. But no matter how shocking that revelation had been, nothing could keep the nerves about meeting the Alpha at bay for long. Between the nerves and her excitement to see Jay again, Nova was a mess all Sunday morning. 3:30 seemed to take far too long to arrive, but at the same time was approaching way too fast.

'Dawn, how can you look forward to and dread something so much?' Nova finally asked her wolf as she put the final touches on her natural colored smokey eye. She still had 30 minutes and she was pretty much finished her look. It had taken her an hour to just settle on her short white and black plaid skirt with a simple black blouse, and quite a while to finish her makeup. Luckily, she felt semi-happy with how she looked.

'I honestly don't know. I would say you should take a breath or something, but... it's the alpha!' Dawn responded

Nova rolled her eyes before continuing onto the wings, 'You know, that really doesn't help.'

'Ya... sorry. But, hey Jay said it'll be fine. So it'll be fine,' Dawn tried to reassure Nova. With a nod of her head, Nova tried to push the butterflies away but they just continued doing backflips and somersaults.

She finally pulled away from the mirror and scanned herself over, looking for anything that wasn't perfect. Although, it wasn't long before the doorbell interrupted her analysis. "Well, this has to be good enough. I guess..." Nova whispered before taking a deep breath and straightening her back to get the door for Jay.

As she walked down the stairs, she could hear voices speaking and the butterflies suddenly froze and dropped through the hole that formed in her belly. Jay was talking to her father and Carter. Nova tried to take deep breathes as she continued down the stairs while praying her family wasn't going to embarrass her.

Of course, her wishing had all been in vain as the second her father saw her, he asked, "So Nova, is this the boy you went on date with yesterday?"

Nova's face instantly turned red as she said, "I told you it wasn't a date."

She could see Jay smirk from the corner of her eye as he said, "It wasn't?"

Her mouth dropped open as he put his hand to his heart as if her words had hurt him. Nova's father's eyebrow raised and watched Nova expectantly as her face turned even redder than before. "I-i-it wasn't... in the... uh... but it... uh..." Nova tried to explain but gave up when her brain and mouth refused to cooperate.

Jay chuckled before turning to her father, "What Nova is trying to say is that when she left the house yesterday it wasn't a date. We were just hanging out and then I invited her to lunch and it sort of became a date." Nova let out a breath and nodded her head frantically.

Carter laughed and said, "Yeah when yall came up the walk you two sure seemed cozy."

This time Jay's face turned red while Nova instantly, "What do you mean?! We weren't even holding hands!"

Carter shrugged and commented, "Sure, but I have never seen you talk with a guy for long periods of time, let alone laugh at anything he said. Plus, it took you two 10 minutes to finally say bye once you were at the door... I timed it."

Jay and Nova meet each other's eyes as both of them blushed, they hadn't even realized that it had taken that long. Her father chuckled and saved them both from trying to respond by saying, "Well, where are you two off today and could I assume this is a second date?"

"My family is having a get together with another family and I invited Nova to come along. It is ok with you if she comes right?" Jay quickly answered.

Nova's father nodded with a grin and said, "Oh, a gentleman. Yes, that sounds like it would be fine."

Carter, of course, quickly jumped in and said, "Wow, meeting the family? I didn't realize you two were at that stage yet." Just as Nova's blush had started to fade, her brother just had to open his mouth and bring it back in full force.

"Oh leave the two alone Carter," Nova's father said with a slight chuckle as he observed our red faces. Turning back to Nova and Jay he said, "Well, get on your way. The day is a-wasting." They didn't need any more encouragement to leave the house and rush into Jay's nice dark blue Audi. After buckling they looked at each other's red faces and just broke down laughing for a minute before Jay finally put the car in reverse and pulled out of her driveway.