Michael and I are going to have our first date – at Aunt
Grace and Mark’s wedding!
Stop laughing, Rowen – you’re not surprised to see that for
the headline news on my report today.
Yes, our camping adventure has been great so far too, but it doesn’t top
the roller-coaster-scary thrill of asking Michael to be my date for the
wedding; having him say ‘yes’; or the rather enthusiastic hug and kiss I
thanked him with. Since that didn’t
happen until after school, though, I should back up and keep the entire story
in order.
We had some rain roll through early this morning, so Tai Chi
was indoors today; but it mostly cleared out before school started; and we’ve
had a very hot, humid day. Rowen wants
me to add that it was hotter for some of us than others. I can go sit on the dock to finish this if
you’d like, Rowen. Haven’t you already
gotten enough entertainment from all of this already?
Silly question – forget I asked.
Our last day of school started out tweeird and that trend
continued through until our early release after the class parties. While I was mostly only on the receiving end
of some glares and muttered comments that were never too quiet for me not to
hear; Michael was the main target of Vanessa’s and Nora’s tween games. By now, Tim knew what they were doing, but
was caught between a girlfriend and a cold, hard doghouse; and had no idea how
to get out of his predicament. I don’t
really want to comment on what I think about pressuring someone into making a
no-win choice like that; but it sucks as much for Tim as it does for Michael.
One thing that is funny about the whole tweeird mess is that
the only results that Vanessa and Nora are getting from their divide and
conquer plan is to push Michael, Rowen, and I closer together; and getting both
Michael and Tim upset with them in a bad way.
Okay, Rowen – it’s pushing Michael and me closer together; though he’s
doing more now with you too. I’m sure that
you’ll agree with me that all three of us were past-ready to get away from all
of that by the time we were set free for the summer – even if it was only
temporarily.
As I mentioned, it got really hot out today, and though the
river is still on the chilly side; we decided to go for a swim to cool off. Contrary to what Rowen’s teasing me about
right now, I did not suggest that just so she’d need to go home to get changed
into a swimsuit and give me the alone time with Michael to ask him to be my
date for the wedding – that was just an added bonus. I would have found another opportunity to ask
him eventually, but that did work out really well to keep you and Aunt Leanne
entertained for the rest of the day; so you should be happy.
We’re at that part of the recap, though, so let’s move
along. Rowen went home to get a
swimsuit, and I walked Michael home so I’d have enough time to ask him. I’m sure you’ve all guessed that was what I
thought would be a good idea for a next step for Michael and me last night, and
I still thought that it was this morning; but it was the continuing tweeirdness
today that made the decision to go ahead with the invitation so easy. That didn’t make it any less scary; and I
definitely get what Mom felt like the first time she asked Dad out on a date.
That’s funny, Rowen, but I seriously doubt that roses would
have had the same impact on Michael this afternoon as they did back then for
Dad. He definitely wouldn’t thank me for
having a story like that come back to haunt him for the rest of his life either
– which you know it would in our little town.
No, Dad doesn’t seem to mind it when the guys still razz him sometimes;
but he wasn’t twelve when Mom sent him his flowers.
So I managed to ask Michael the big question by the time we
reached his front porch without any major stuttering or goof-ups; he immediately
agreed; and then I gave him that hug and kiss before leaving him standing there
with a big grin on his face while I floated home so I could get changed into a
swimsuit too. Yes, I’m sure that kiss
was witnessed by one or more people, but I temporarily didn’t care.
I might not still think so by tomorrow, but the wedding date
and moonlight, riverside goodnight kiss stories will be out by then too; so I
guess one more news flash on the grapevine won’t matter much.
Rowen is now singing “Cassie has a boyfriend.”
I don’t think that’s true quite yet – let’s wait and see how
that first date goes before we change the ‘single’ status on my town intranet
chat profile.
Funny you should bring that up, Rowen, because I wasn’t the
only girl getting noticed by boys in my swimsuit this afternoon. Don’t pretend that you didn’t see ‘Tommy’s’
eyes practically fall into the water when he saw you at the park – and he
wasn’t the only one. That’s what you get
for shattering their bookworm image of you.
While we’re at it, go ahead and keep teasing me about it being hotter
for some of us than others, but don’t forget that you’re personally responsible
for increasing the temperature for some of those guys too.
Yes, they do all have girlfriends, including ‘Tommy’, but
you do eventually want to convince him that you’re the perfect girl for him, so
you need to get his attention; and I’d say that you definitely accomplished
that mission today. At least you were
able to do that without ending up in the tweeird zone with his girlfriend. I can’t say the same for Vanessa’s reaction
to seeing me in my swimsuit – or Michael’s proximity and obvious appreciation.
I’ve skipped some details, so I’d better add that there were
actually six of us at the park. Rebecca
came swimming with us in the river behind my house, and then we canoed to the
park with Ethan and Ehlana so we could play with them there and give Mom a
break for an hour or two. There were a
lot of kids and teens enjoying the extra afternoon time at the park; and I
wasn’t surprised to see Vanessa, Nora, and the rest of the friends they’d
invited to hang out together after school there – or that they were all hanging
out by the river or swimming in it when we tied our canoes up to the dock.
Rebecca, Rowen, and I had put shorts and tops on over our
swimsuits before getting Ethan and Ehlana ready to go, and Michael had put a
t-shirt on, but Tim started razzing him while we were getting out onto the
docks; and that’s why we ended up going for another swim. Michael answered Tim’s taunts with an
up-close-and-personal cannonball, and then Ethan needed to go swimming too; so
we all did – and that was also when ‘Tommy’ nearly had his eyeballs fall out
into the river when Rowen pulled her top and shorts off.
Don’t give me that, Rowen – you know it was a big deal. We were with Rebecca, and last year there
wouldn’t have been a single guy our age even notice we were there anytime she
or Jenny were wearing swimsuits. You
should also be glad that I’ve crossed over now too – a week ago I would have
just found all of that attention and subsequent goofiness annoying and dumb –
now I think it’s annoying and funny.
Our entry into the water play meant that Vanessa and Nora
felt the need to get out of the water and start a slow process of getting the
rest of their gang to get out too while they also sat on the dock and did what
can only be called posing to achieve optimum swimsuit effect.
Give me a break!
Rebecca, Rowen, Michael, and I were having too much fun with
Ethan and Ehlana to care about the tweeird the two girls were orchestrating,
and at least two of us were glad when it was the siren call of Emporium ice
cream cones that worked for them to get the whole gang moving on without
us. I’m sure our timing for getting out
of the river then was taken the wrong way by Vanessa and Nora; but that’s just
when Ethan and Ehlana were getting cold and it was time to get them out and
dried off. It would have been nice if
that had been the end of the tweeird, but we were still playing with Ethan and
Ehlana at the playground when they all returned – most of them still working on
eating their cones, drinks, or other treats.
Packing up, getting in our canoes, and paddling home was
probably another little victory for Vanessa and Nora, but I’d only needed to
overhear a handful of comments before wanting to get Ethan and Ehlana away from
it – especially since their senses are at least as acute as mine; and possibly
stronger whenever they’re together. When
we got back home, Rowen and I needed to get our tent and campsite set up; so we
did that while Rebecca and Michael mostly played with Ethan and Ehlana while we
spent a half hour or so getting the work done.
Rebecca turned down our offer to join us for the camping
tonight, but she and Michael accepted Mom’s invitation to have dinner with us,
so once our tent was set up; we had a chance to toss a baseball around and have
a little game of Frisbee before Mom recruited us to get tables set up for
dinner. We had the usual dinner and a
movie night gang coming over with a few baseball team friends too – including
Philip and Naomi. We put two tables
together for ‘the kids’, and two sets of two tables for the adults. Grandpa had come over to fire up the grills
before we started doing that, and he and Dad were both working on cooking
dinner by the time we were finished; and had helped get the buffet set up on
the back porch patio table.
I would humbly like to acknowledge that getting to tell Aunt
Leanne that she’d need to add Michael as my ‘plus one’ for the wedding was the
top dinnertime news flash, and Rowen has already admitted to herself that
finding out that way was more fun that if I’d told her sooner; even though
she’s still teasing me about not immediately telling my best friend in the
whole world about the most important news in my life today.
It certainly left Aunt Leanne speechless for a few very
entertaining moments; and all of the teasing that followed was worth going
through. Dad was surprised too, but Mom
wasn’t. I’ll guess that would be because
of what she sensed from me earlier this afternoon.
Mom, Grandma, Aunt Leanne, and Aunt Deborah were combining
dinner with a wedding plans update meeting; and I was able to tell Aunt Leanne
about having a date shortly after we’d all sat down to eat. While I knew that Aunt Leanne would have
something to say about my announcement, they also had a limited amount of time
to get through their wedding update too before we’d need to clean up from
dinner and get over to the park for the Fix-it Uppers’ game; so I thought that
my timing worked out pretty well – at least until it became one of Aunt
Leanne’s favorite chat topics with the other spectators during the game. It’s not as if I didn’t know the news would
get around fast, but I was hoping that Miranda might at least hear the news
from Michael or Rebecca first instead of through the grapevine; and that
probably didn’t happen.
A first win of the season didn’t happen for the Fix-it
Uppers tonight either, and while the sixteen to thirteen score didn’t look all
that bad in the end; the only lead of the game we had was thanks to our only
run in the top of the first; and we progressively fell farther behind except
for a four-run seventh that was too little too late when we’d gone into the
final inning down seven. Rowen, Rebecca,
Ehlana, Naomi and I still had fun with our cheerleading; Aunt Leanne provided a
lot of entertainment even if she wasn’t jumping around and cheering with us; and
the game was at least interesting and fun too – even if the actual baseball
play wasn’t anything to write about.
Violet got home after the game had started, and she dropped
her bags off at home first before walking over to the park to hang out with us
for a little while before going on to the Inn to meet up with Dillon, Jake, and
Stephanie. She promised me that we’ll be
having a ‘little chat’ later about the news I didn’t pass on to her this week
too, but she’s still hanging out with Dillon now; has the party tomorrow; and a
busy day on Sunday, so I probably won’t have to worry about that until next
week – maybe even until after her birthday on Tuesday.
Though some of the players from both teams were heading for
Sheldon’s after the game, Mom and Dad decided not to go along; and they invited
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne back to the house to do the bedtime snack with
us. We dropped Rebecca off at her house
on the way home, but Michael, Rowen, and I decided to go for another cool-off
swim.
Yes, Rowen, I did skip mentioning that Michael and I were
holding hands during the walk home – and a few other times tonight when we were
sitting together during the game; but I’d have thought you’d rather have me
write about your conveniently-timed and transparent decision to go inside after
we’d only been in the water for about five minutes. No, that moonlight kiss probably wouldn’t
have happened if you’d stayed, but then that is the kind of thing you had in
mind while giving us that opportunity.
While we’re on this subject, to all of those witnesses that
night who are now reading this; Michael and I knew you were watching. Some of you need to be faster with turning
out the lights if you’re hoping for a better view without being seen flipping
the switch.
Michael and I haven’t suddenly become experts, and it’s not
like our goodnight kiss lasted longer than a few moments; but the combination
of wet, swimsuits, and close proximity had me getting that fireworks feeling
again. I could get used to that fairly
easily, so with apologies; it’s time for Vanessa to come up with a new summer boyfriend
plan – the one she currently has for Michael just is not going to work for me
anymore. :^)
Moving along, after sharing that kiss, Michael walked home
through the back yards; and I went inside and spent some time getting teased
about it by the handful of witnesses who had been watching us from the kitchen
windows.
I’m so glad that we didn’t disappoint them.
Aunt Leanne is very inconsistent with her jokes and
comments, and I don’t know why she actually seems a little surprised;
considering that we’re so much alike in a lot of ways. I was a bit distracted while that was going
on, but I’ll have to get Dad and Grandma to tell me some stories about her
first boyfriends sometime. I’d ask
Grandpa too, but he may have been in denial about his little girl and boys
until she got married – just kidding, Grandpa.
I should add that Dad got teased nearly as much as I did; and another of
Aunt Leanne’s inconsistencies was teasing me about kissing Michael while giving
Rowen some ‘that’s my girl’ praise for setting us up for the alone time.
Fine, Rowen – thank-you.
Why don’t I just get Mom to make a mental picture of the kiss for you;
and we can make a billboard for it that you can put up on one of the school or
park scoreboards – “This moment brought to you by Carrington-Emerson-Proctor
Matchmakers.”
I’m joking – don’t you dare!
This seems like a very good time to quit while I’m behind
and get on with the rest of our camping adventure. Rowen and I both grabbed quick showers, dried
our hair, and got changed into shorts and tees so we’d be comfortable in the
still-hot and humid night before heading back out to the river and our
tent. We’ve mostly just been listening
to music vids and chatting since then, but we have our big game against
Palmer’s Panthers at noon, and a work morning at the store or doing yard work;
so we should probably get some sleep soon too.
Michael’s working a bit more this weekend because all of the senior
students will be at the grad party tomorrow night and they have an
all-hands-on-deck Father’s Day on Sunday; so that likely means there won’t be
any more moments like we had today for at least a couple of days.
Feel free to find more excuses to leave Michael and me alone
for a few minutes now and then on Monday, Rowen! :^)
Now I really need to wrap this up, so...
...until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor;
logging out!
