When dinner was over, Charlie felt immense relief at the fact. While she thought that would be the end of this ordeal, her mother suggested that she show Alex her room. So, grudgingly, she escorted Alex to her room, wishing she could go to bed and find this whole thing had just been a very bad dream.
When they reached the door to Charlie's room, Alex stopped. "Um, do you really need to show me your room?" she asked.
Charlie turned to Alex confused. She'd been fine pretty much with all those awkward questions, so why was she hesitating now?
"What's wrong?" Charlie asked, not sure what to expect in response.
"Well, it's just that, um, I don't really need to see your room. I mean, can't we go somewhere else to just talk?" Alex asked, seemingly unable to look Charlie in the eye at the moment. Though, her face was starting to flush a little.
Charlie shrugged. "Fine by me wherever, but my mom suggested my room. Do you have anywhere else in mind?"
While Alex didn't seem to be able to look at Charlie in the eye now, she still froze when Charlie asked that question. Charlie was starting to get confused. This wasn't anything that she'd expected when her mother had suggested she show Alex her room.
When Alex didn't say anything for a few minutes, Charlie leaned against the door to her room. "If you're not going to give me anything, I'm just going to have to show you my room. I mean, what's the problem with that?"
This seemed to get Alex talking again, though she still wasn't sure what the problem was. "Do you have maybe a family room or something?"
"Yeah?" Charlie asked, not sure what exactly Alex was asking. They had a family room, but that was mostly left unused. The only time it really was used was during holidays when they had family visiting. Usually her aunt Rose visited during Thanksgiving with her daughter Ruthie and both sets of her grandparents visited during Christmas. Then during spring break, not usually when Charlie and Cherie had their spring break, they had their uncle Max with his family and their uncle Harold and his family.
"How about we go there?" Alex asked. "I mean, it'll probably be more comfortable than your room."
"It's not very private in the family room," Charlie said carefully. "I mean, anyone at the top of the stairs can hear anything we talk about," Charlie said, her mind going to what she knew about the family room, forgetting about where she was and whom she was with.
Alex laughed, more relaxed than she had been a moment ago. "I don't know about you, but I don't plan on saying anything that I'd worry about others hearing," Alex said.
Charlie sighed. Main reason she would have been fine with her room was that when Alex left, she could just remain there and not have to risk dealing with her family after that. Now, she'd have to worry about having her mother, father, or sister potentially want to talk with her if they see her as she tries to get to her room.
"Fine," Charlie relented. "I'll show you to the family room."
Charlie then starts to lead Alex to the family room. She leads Alex through the kitchen, to the entrance to the garage and down a set of stairs behind a door that could be easily overlooked given the lighting of that area and coloring of the door.
"I would have thought the stairs I noticed in your living room would have been where your family room was located," Alex comments as they descend the stairs.
"Oh, that would take us there, but this is the back way. If we went through the main way, it would draw too much attention to us going here and I'd like to avoid that," Charlie replied.
"Aren't you overthinking this?" Alex asked, amusement in her voice.
Charlie scowled at Alex, which made her laugh in full.
"The picture Beth sent me of you scowling doesn't do it justice," she said. "You're so much cuter when you do that in person."
Charlie was surprised at the remark, but couldn't stop herself from blushing furiously at Alex's reaction. She also found that her voice wasn't interested in working at that moment. So, she merely finished leading Alex to the family room, which was just past the bathroom and set of guest rooms at the base of the stairs.
As they arrived in the family room, Charlie turned a lamp on so they'd have some light to see each other in and turned to Alex.
"Okay, this is the family room," she said, still rather annoyed by Alex's last question to her about if she was overthinking things.
Alex sat down on the couch, causing a cloud of dust to rise up, making her cough. "Why is it so dusty in here?" Alex asked, as she tried to wave the cloud away.
Charlie sat next to Alex, a little more carefully so as not to create her own dust cloud. "Because we usually don't come in here unless we have family visiting," Charlie said, not sure what else to say.
Alex nodded. "Well, maybe this wasn't as good of a choice as I thought, but regardless, we're here."
"So, what would you like to talk about?" Charlie asked, wondering if she should try faking suddenly getting sick at the moment or not.
"Well, first, what do you think of the dress I'm wearing?" Alex asked, her eyes sparkling in the light of the lamp.
Charlie didn't expect this question. "Ummm, she started as she scrambled for something to say. "It really suits you. I think you really look nice in that dress." She hoped she didn't mess up with her response.
"Are you nervous?" Alex asked.
"Maybe a little," Charlie admitted, not sure what else to do about it.
Alex didn't say anything for a while, she just looked at Charlie intently. Charlie was unsure what to do about it, but after a minute she was about to say something when Alex broke the silence.
"Do you really want to go with me to the homecoming dance or did you accept just to be nice?" Alex asked, her tone indicating that this question had been bothering her for at least a while.
Charlie sighed. She hoped this is what Alex had on her mind, and maybe what had led up to some of these questions. "I didn't accept to be nice," Charlie replied. "I've never been to a school dance before, so I wouldn't know what it's like." Charlie took a deep breath before continuing. "You asked me and while I'm not jumping at the chance, I wouldn't mind going with you."
Alex sighed, looking a little disappointed. "Well, I guess that's the best I could hope for," Alex remarks. "Though, what do you think of me in general?"
"I think you're smart, cute, and a good friend," Charlie answers. "I only wish I could tell what to expect from this."
"What do you mean?"
Charlie sighs, looking towards the lamp. "I mean that when you asked me, I couldn't be sure if that meant we were going out or what and I wasn't sure what to expect about all of it."
"So, you do still want to go with me to the dance? I mean, because you want to?" Alex asked, looking rather nervous.
"Of course," Charlie said smiling, as she was finally able to settle down her nerves enough that she could look at Alex directly. "I wouldn't mind getting to know you better, and maybe if I do, I might be as interested in you as you are in me."
Alex blushed at that as she looked away from Charlie. "Um, in that case, um, would you mind if I kissed you?" she asked quietly.
Charlie was a little surprised, but more because she found that she wouldn't mind that as much as she had thought she might. "I wouldn't mind at all," Charlie replied, just as quietly.
Alex took a deep breath before she cupped the side of Charlie's face in her hand as she leaned forward, pressing her lips gently against Charlie's.
Then as Alex pulled away, she murmured, "Thanks."
"Anytime," Charlie said, feeling a little giddy from the kiss, despite it not lasting long or having been the one to initiate it.
"Well, I think maybe I should go," Alex said, standing up.
"Before you go," Charlie blurted, standing up too. "Would you tell me what you think of my dress?"
Alex smiled softly. "Sure. You look great. The hearts really suit you and I think you look lovely in pink," she said.
Charlie couldn't help but blush again. What is wrong with me? Charlie berated herself. "Thanks, I wasn't sure what you'd think of the hearts," Charlie said out loud. "I almost didn't pick this dress."
Alex stepped closer to Charlie, so her face was in front of her by mere inches. She felt as if time stopped for a moment as it felt like her heart stopped beating. "Maybe another time you could model the other selections you were thinking of," Alex said, as Charlie felt Alex pull her into another kiss, which Charlie couldn't help but melt into, for reasons she couldn't explain. She felt Alex's hand slide around her waist as Alex kissed her a few more times, each no more than a peck. Charlie was keenly aware of her body pressed against Alex's. While she wasn't sure what to do with her hands. In the end, she just put them on Alex's hips for want of a better idea.
Whenever she'd imagined being in a situation like this, she'd always found herself incredibly uncomfortable and would push the thought out of her mind. However, at this moment, she couldn't help but follow Alex's lead, regardless of what her inhibitions had been before. She wasn't sure what she should do, if she should put a stop to this or let this go as far as Alex wanted.
So caught up in in moment, Charlie was hardly aware of their surroundings. So, when they heard Cherie's laugh come down through the stairs at the other end of the family room, Charlie lost her balance from sheer surprise, fell towards the couch, inadvertently pulling Alex with her. So, when they landed in a cloud of dust, Charlie felt Alex's entire weight on her, and Charlie realized to her embarrassment that her left hand had slid to Alex's bottom.
When the dust settled, Charlie saw Alex studying her face intently. Though, she wasn't sure if that was good or not.
"What is it?" Charlie asked, her voice a whisper.
"You're just so beautiful. I wish I could be with you like this all the time," Alex whispered back.
"What do you want to do?" Charlie heard herself ask. Why she asked that, she had no idea. Only that it was her voice that asked it.
"There's so much I want to do with you and to you, but I don't think you're ready," Alex replied, giving Charlie one last kiss, before she started to pull away from her, standing up.
As she felt Alex's weight leave her body, she was surprised at how much of a loss she suddenly felt. That she wanted Alex's weight on top of her again. However, she pushed that thought aside as she stood back up herself. However, as Charlie turned to head towards the stairs, Alex caught her hand in hers.
"Do you really think this dress suits me?" Alex asked, shyly.
"Yeah, I really like how you look in it," Charlie replied, part of her past feeling embarrassed for some reason she couldn't explain, the other part wanting to kiss Alex again.
Alex gave a soft laugh, turning towards the stairs, moving slowly. "Actually, Beth insisted I wear this one," Alex said. "Normally I think of dresses like these as a little juvenile. I prefer shopping in the juniors section."
"Oh," Charlie could only respond. Though, that statement tickled the back of her mind, in a way that she found uncomfortable, but couldn't say why. "Well, maybe when I model what other selections I had in mind for tonight, you could model the selections you would have chosen for tonight," Charlie finally said after a minute of quiet.
"Sure, we should do that after the dance," Alex said.
"Why the dance?" Charlie wondered aloud. After all, there was still a couple weeks before the homecoming dance.
"Because I want that to be our first date," Alex replied.
"What about tonight?" Charlie asked. "Couldn't this be considered a date?"
Alex shook her head. "I'm not counting tonight. You said your mom asked you to invite me, so it's not like you asked of yourself," Alex replied.
"Okay, I think I can understand that," Charlie said.
Alex then turned to Charlie as they reached the center of the family room. "Would you let me get one more kiss before I leave?" Alex asked.
Charlie smiled. "Sure, I'd like that."