Many times in life we come across decisions. There are many decisions that are important. But when you are a teenage girl... one stands out in front of the rest. All the others -- college, grades, career -- those are all lapped by the number one, marriage.
Some girls have one boyfriend during high school, others have many. Then there are still other girls who don't even date. But then there is a handful of girls who want to have a boyfriend, but don't.
Eaven White fell into this last category.
While a freshman, she had many views on steady dating, and not many of them made much sense. As she grew older she held true to some of these ideas, but most were modified to something she could accept now that she was older.
What surprised her most about her change of standards was not that she felt fine holding hands, or that kissing was not as big a sin as she thought. It was her desire to break her cardinal rule. She wanted a boyfriend.
As stated before, many girls feel this way. But for
Eaven, this was a problem. For her entire high school career she had been against steady dating before graduation. Never once had she agreed with it. When her friends had given in and fallen into the trend of steady dating, she let them know her opinion on the subject time after time. And now she wanted the very thing she had fought against for four years.
This conflict raged inside of her, day in and day out.
Eaven thought about it constantly. Not quite obsessing, yet not letting it rest. She wanted this more than she had ever wanted anything. Yet it was the one thing she had forbidden herself to have.
Because of the example she set for other girls, she decided to follow her standards and wait until after graduation. That was, after all, the goal she had set for herself her freshman year, and one of the few views that had not yet been changed by the passage of time.
At this point in
Eaven's story, a difficulty arose: a new family moved in down the street.
A new family? What is difficult about that? There was nothing scary, abnormal, or even weird about them. Just a regular family with a mom and a dad and three kids. Yep, just a normal family... who happened to have an 18-year old boy, only half a year older than
Eaven.
He was very handsome. Standing at about 6'2'', he had short dark hair styled into a
fohawk where a part would normally be. His eyes were dark green, almost brown, and they complimented his slightly tanned skin.
Eaven's family was outside having some "quality time" (AKA yard work) when the moving truck pulled up four houses down. Everything was unloaded into the house. The new family waved the truck good bye as it drove away, then turned to gaze at their new house. Two small figures with pigtails ran away from the bunch and started running around the tree in the yard. A taller masculine figure ran out and picked up the two girls, one in either arm, and spun them around in circles. The couple left standing wrapped their arms around each other as they watched the children playing. The girls laughed hysterically as the boy suddenly dropped to the ground. They fell on top of him laughing even harder, then he let out a deeper laugh that could be heard even from where
Eaven stood watching. She was about to walk down there and introduce herself, but just at that moment her mother decided it was time to go inside and eat dinner. As a result,
Eaven did not really get to meet him until one afternoon when she was walking home from the bus stop after school....
Eaven stepped off of the warm bus and into the chill of the wintry air. Her golden brown hair blew lose of the scarf that was holding it in place next to her neck. Quickly she proceeded to walk home when a warm hand suddenly grabbed her gloved one, causing her to turn around and knock into a tall, very warm, male.
"Oh, sorry, Lady, but you dropped this." he apologized holding out a purple wallet.
Eaven gasped and slid away from him taking her hand out of his and accepting the wallet from his outstretched hand.
"Thank you!" she sand, as she check to make sure everything was in it's place.
"You are very welcome," He answered quietly. Then he asked, " where are you headed too?"
"I was just going home," she replied looking up at his face, which was very nice. The boy's -- he was not a man yet, thought he was as tall as one -- dark Green eyes looked down at her.
"May I walk you home, Lady?"
Eaven smiled and nodded to him as she started walking in the direction of her house. He fell into step next to her.
"So do you live far from here?" He questioned her smoothly.
"No," she answered, "Just around the corner and up the street, less then a five minute walk."
"Really? I live right here on the corner!" He pointed out his house as they passed, the same one that had been moved into yesterday. That meant... He was the boy that lived there!
"You live here? I live just four houses away!" She sounded ecstatic.
"Why, yes I do, Lady... you don't mind that I call you lady, do you?" He turned his forest green eyes turned to gaze at her expression.
She smiled saying, "I think it is chivalrous and romantic, I don't' mind at all."
His expression turned from concerned to terrified, " I am not meaning to come on strong," he explained, "I am sorry if it seems that way."
Touched at his concern, she smiled again.
"I understand, and I think it is very appropriate, seeing as you don't even know my name." She wondered if he would even ask for her name.
"Well I am glad." He said relieved. "Some girls I talk to never talk to me again because they think I am to forward, or to dull, take you pick."
"Oh no, never dull,"
Eaven laughed. He was joking with her, this was a good thing.
They reached her door, and she turned to look at him smiling.
"Will you be going to school soon?"
"Yeah, I am starting tomorrow. I would have gone today but seeing as I was not quite registered yet, I would have been pretty bored."
"Well, I guess I should go in now, can walk home with you again tomorrow?"
The boy
grinned, a big crooked grin, "I look forward to it, Lady."
Eaven smiled back, and
pretended to curtsy, "thank you for walking me home, fine sir."
He retaliated by sweeping a deep bow," Twas my pleasure, Lady." He took her hand and kissed it, then turned and walked away.
Eaven felt the euphoria grow with in her chest as she opened the door to her home.
"By the way," He said suddenly, making her turn around, "my name is Lance."
