Nine: Saturday Night

She spent the whole day trying on outfits to go to Lee's dance party. Fixed her hair in all the ways she could think of while Jan watched from the other end of their video call.

"Does this look okay?" she held a pink top over a white mini skirt she had sworn to never wear only a year ago. It was the sixth set of clothes she tried to mix and match.

Jan grunted, "That looks adorable ... if you were going out for ice cream in the daytime ... it's a dance studio, everyone's gonna be wearing black, you don't want to be the odd one out."

"Are you sure? Black? My first choice was black?"

"I know, I told you it was fine but you went through your whole closet anyway ... I think black is the way to go."

Hazel threw the pink shirt on her bed and took her black oversized sweater that she was going to wear over a white tank top and black legging. "This?" she showed it to Jan again.

"Hoootttt!!" Jan screamed into the phone. "Wear a sneaker or knee-high boots, just tie your hair in a ponytail and wear those loop earrings."

"Earrings? Really?"

"Unless you don't want to, I'm sure Lee's crazy about you even without those earrings."

"I don't think he likes me like that, I mean ... he only flirts with me when he's dancing, I thought he was flirting, it turns out he was just ... dancing."

"He's very shy ... I'm surprised he had the guts to ask you out on a date."

"It's not a date, we're just hangin' out ... do you think he'll want to go to the concert?"

"Unless there's a BTS concert on the same day, I think he won't miss it for the world."

"I hope so, it'll be weird if he says 'no' ... okay ... I gotta get ready, it's almost 5, I don't want him to have to wait and talk to my mom or something."

"'kay ... let me know how it goes, and ... if he tries to kiss you ... make him wait a while," Jan teased her.

Hazel laughed out loud, "He's not gonna do that, it's not even a date ... okay ... okay ... thanks for the tip, I gotta go ... bye," she turned off the phone and hit the shower.

**********

"Is that him?" her dad peeked from behind the curtain as Lee pulled over at the driveway.

"I guess so ..." her mom squinted to take a good look from next to her husband.

Her dad looked at his watch, "Punctual ... exactly 6 o'clock."

"Let's not get caught spying on our daughter's date, let's hang back on the couch."

"It's not a date," he protested.

"What are you guys doing?" Max came down from the stairs and startled them.

"Sshhh ... let's go to the couch, act normal," her mom pushed them away.

"Is that him?" Max was curious and tried to take a peek.

His mom pulled his hand and dragged him to the couch, "Yeah ... I think so, just sit here."

The bell rang. Her mom walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hi ... is Hazel here?" Lee greeted her at the door.

"Hi ... yes she is ... she's upstairs actually ... you must be Lee?" she extended her hand to him.

He was surprised she knew his name, "Hi, Mrs. Williams," he shook her hand.

"Claire ... please, do you want to come in?"

"Hi ... I'm Edward, are you here to pick up Hazel?" her dad showed up from behind.

"Hi ... Mr. Williams, oh that's okay ... I'll just wait outside," he smiled then looked down.

"Lee? You're here? Hi ... sorry, I was just getting ready ... let's go," Hazel zoomed from behind them and quickly stepped outside.

Lee looked up and paused for a moment, he was a bit stunned to see her in all black. He smiled. "Hi ... are you ready?"

Her parents were staring at them and studied their reactions. Max was leaning back on the sofa and tried to get a glimpse of what's going on on his porch.

"So ... you won't be having dinner at home?" Claire asked.

"No, mom, I'll see you later," Hazel pulled Lee's by his sleeve.

"We'll be having dinner outside, Mrs. Williams, ... I'll take her home by ... "

"Eleven ... the latest, please ... " Edward finished his sentence.

"Okay, nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Williams, we're gonna go now," he excused himself.

"Okay ... have fun ... you should have dinner with us next time," Claire shouted.

Hazel turned around and gave her mother a look, "Bye mom! Bye dad!"

"Bye honey!" Claire grabbed her husband's arm and squeezed it. "Aren't they cute?"

Edward tilted one side of his lips, his little girl was just picked up by a cute boy and he didn't like it. "He was wearing earrings," he protested.

"Oh ... come on ... he's a dancer, I mean, he's actually pretty handsome, and very polite, don't you think?"

Edward raised his brow, he wasn't impressed, not really. "Oh ... no ..."

"What?"

He pointed to the driveway, another car was pulling up, a vintage red convertible.

Claire grimaced. They knew all about Hazel's crush on Theo. She took her husband inside and closed the door, and continued their spying from behind the window.

"Hey, Mickey ... going somewhere?" Theo greeted them at the driveway.

"Hey ... yeah, I'm going to see a dance practice ... Theo ... this is Lee, Lee ... this is Theo," she was not expecting to see Theo at that very moment.

The two boys looked at each other and shake hands, the kind that boys did to look cool and macho. A secret handshake that all boys seemed to know how to do while the girls had never even tried to learn it.

When they both stood in front of each other, they were both of the same height, and Lee was impressively handsome in his all-black wardrobe which she hadn't had the time to admire yet because of her parents and now Theo. And Theo ... well ... he's always annoyingly gorgeous.

"See you later, Mickey ... have fun," Theo said and walked towards her front door. He glanced back one more time to look at her again, she was different, she was dressing up. And she was laughing with Lee.

"Sorry about my parents," she said to Lee.

"Why? I think they're very nice," he commented. He opened the passenger door for her, he was driving his dad's car, a silver-grey BMW M series.

"You have a really nice car," she blurted out in amazement.

"It's my dad's ... I don't really have a car ... not yet," he said.

When they were inside, she finally felt a little relaxed. She could finally see him in detail, she couldn't believe they were practically wearing the same outfit. They looked at each other for a brief moment, as if they were admiring what they see.

Then she touched his ear, "You have piercing holes?"

He felt shivers down his spine when she touched him, he blushed, "I only wear them when I'm not at school."

"Why? You look great with them ... I almost wear the same thing ... only mine were bigger," she said.

He laughed, "You look perfect, Hazel ... shall we go now?"

"Yeah ... let's go."