Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

chest. My heart flittered in elation. Nicholas and I were actually going to spend time together alone. I flung myself on my bed and began to plan what I was going to wear.

15 - COMPLETE
    M y first order of business for the day was figuring out how to manipulate my dad into un-grounding me. Missing a dance was one thing, a date with Nicholas was entirely another. After playing every possibly scenario in my head, I discovered my safest bet was to ask if I could go and hope he was in a good mood.
    My next big problem was figuring out what to wear. Too embarrassed to text for fear I was making a bigger deal of this get-together than I should, I ended up putting on jeans and a tee-shirt—after eighteen outfit changes of course.
    Nervous about the outcome, I waited until the last possible minute to go downstairs—the plan being, the least amount of questions from Dad, the better.
    “You’re up early,” he said in surprise over the top of his morning newspaper.
    “I am,” I said sheepishly, happy he was in another great mood. I helped myself to a cup of coffee, but put it in a travel mug.
    “Do you have plans today?”
    “That depends,” I said while adding cream and sugar.
    “On?” he asked and put his paper down on the kitchen table.
    “Aren’t I still grounded?”
    I turned toward him and kept my face as straight as possible. Dad hated doe-eyes or begging in any sort of way. If I could get a flicker of amusement, I knew he’d let me off the hook, but I couldn’t smile. I needed to keep looking remorseful.
    “Where are you going?” he said, keeping a gruff exterior.
    “I don’t know, it’s a surprise, but I can let you know when I get there,” I said quickly, not wanting to cause any alarm.
    “And who are you going with?”
    “Nicholas, the boy who helped me home the other day,” I said with a smile I couldn’t help.
    “He finally called, huh?”
    For some reason, even though they’d never met, I felt approval from my dad when Nicholas’ name was mentioned. I think he trusted him since he’d already saved me once. But I didn’t want a big interrogation because Nicholas had asked me not say anything.
    “Please, Dad. Don’t say you want to talk to him. That would be really embarrassing. We are just going as friends.”
    He took a long drink of his coffee and acted like he was mulling it over. I held still to keep from fidgeting.
    “You can go.”
    “Thank you,” I said in a gush, grabbed a banana, kissed his head and ran out the front door.
    I heard a faint “You’re welcome” resonate from inside. When I turned after shutting the door, I spotted Nicholas’ beautiful black car parked out front and savored the moment. When he saw me, he got out of the car and walked up the path just like I’d imagined he would weeks ago—taking long, deep strides full of confidence, the bronze highlights of his hair glinting in the sunlight. I just needed to be patient.
    “Hi,” he said with an impish grin.
    His green eyes danced, and everything inside me wanted to run and hug him, but I stayed calm and walked casually towards him instead. “Hey.”
    “You ready?”
    I nodded and we walked to his car.
    “Where are you taking me?” I asked, looking up at his adorable face.
    “You’ll see,” he said with a smile and opened the door to let me in.
    We drove down the highway in silence and took the freeway up the coast, flanked with beautiful oceans cliffs on one side and grassy farmland on the other. The day was clear and warm. I tried to keep from fidgeting as I waited in anticipation of our future destination.
    Soon he parked in the same gravel parking lot that overlooked the virgin stretch of beach Sam and I always visited. My excitement dwindled.
    Why was he taking me here?
    I tried to hide my disappointment. Granted, his main concern was privacy, but that could be accomplished with his heavily tinted car windows. I had assumed that he had somewhere more secluded in mind. Somewhere new. Some place I could hold as special. Our place. I felt annoyed he wanted to use the same place I enjoyed with my best friend. I pursed my lips.
    Nicholas ignored my expression, wordlessly getting out of the car. I crossed my arms, rooted in my spot. I wasn’t going anywhere without an explanation. But his dark hair shimmered in the sunlight as he rounded the front of the car and suddenly my anger melted. I couldn’t stand to be away from him another second and eagerly stepped out when he opened the car door