Meant to Be Yours

Chapter 7

Neal's P.O.V.

Finally. Those have probably been the longest two days of my life. Those two days were filled with anticipation and anxiety. It's Finally Friday. It's finally the first day of the rest of my our lives. I pull up to the school with the biggest grin on my face. I try my best to stop it, but at the same time, I can't and don't want to hide it. I don't care that the whole world knows about us. Why shouldn't they? We will be the couple everyone is envious of.

I make my way into the school and find my friends in our sketchy corner. They must have taken note of my stupid smile because they gave me weird looks.

"The hell is up with you?" Asked James.

"It's just a great day."

"Oh, wait," Chad starts, realizing it. "You have that little date tonight with Dylan's sister, right?"

"Her name is Joana, and yes, I do."

"I'm guessing there is no way to talk you out of it, then?" I just shake my head at Kevin. "Well, good luck tonight dude. Where are you taking her, anyway?"

"This nice little restaurant a little less than an hour outside of D.C. It's not very fancy, which is nice."

We talk for a little while more until I see Joana and Dylan enter the school. Dylan looked over at me. If looks could kill I would be dead a couple of times. He is so dead set against this date, which is another bonus. I love showing him that I'm winning and he's losing. He leaves Joana at her locker, but not before giving me one last look and leaving to class.

I part with my friends and make my way to my beautiful princess. I lean there against a locker next to her and she acts like she doesn't know I'm there. I love that she plays hard to get. "Excited for tonight?" I ask her with a little excitement in my voice, but keeping it cool at the same time.

She doesn't jump at my voice. Like I said, she knew I was there, but she just didn't acknowledge me. "There's no way out of it?"

"No."

"Then not really."

I take a hold of her hand and stop her from putting things in her bag. She looks up at me with dead eyes. I pull her away from her locker and bring her close to me. She doesn't fight me. Good, I think. she's learning. I look deep into her eyes. We don't break eye contact. "I promise, this will be great. You'll love it."

"We'll see." Her attempt to intimate me made me giggle. 

"I do need your address, though."

Joana gets her hand out of my and takes out a piece of scrap paper and writes what I assume is her address on it. She hands it to me and I take it. I already know where she lives, but she won't suspect anything if I just ask her for her address. 

"I'll pick you up at six-thirty." Instead of responding to me, she just walks away. I love that she is a good girl, but she is stubborn and can be a bad ass when she wants to be. 

With that, the warning bell rang. Chad and James caught up with me and we made our way to first period.

Just a few more hours.

~*~

Joana's P.O.V.

Just a few more hours. I thought to myself all day. A few more hours for a lot of things. A few more hours for the date from hell. A few more hours till Neal Bryan is out of my life for good. A few more hours before people start talking about it. I don't know how to feel about it. Should I be excited because this whole thing will be over, or should I be nervous because I have to go on this date with Neal of all people. There are too many emotions to just focus on one. Then again, it is just one date. What's the worst that could happen?

~*~

A few hours later, school ended Clara and I met up with Dylan at his car. Today is Friday, so Dylan and I don't have work today. Clara is coming over because she is a little too excited about this date and wants to help me get ready. Our dads were out at a party for their friend tonight. They wished me the best of luck on my first date and gave me the whole 'our little girl is growing up' speech and left.

Neal said that it didn't have to be fancy, so I didn't really plan on going all out. I wanted something simple, Clara wanted something out there, and Dylan didn't want me to go out at all. 

I finally convinced Clara that simple was the way to go, but I did let her dress me up a bit. I was all done and I had about ten minutes to kill. I gave myself one last look in the mirror before sighing. I still can't believe I'm doing this. I know that there is no backing out of this. It kind of scared me. What if I did like it? I know I wouldn't, but what if? What if it was a complete disaster? There were too many 'what if's'.

Clara and I were sitting on my bed talking when Dylan walked into my room. He looked at me like a dad looking at his daughter realizing she isn't that little anymore.It made me sad to see him like this. He is more than my brother. He is like my third dad by how over protective he is over me.

"Wow." Was all he said. He was trying to find the words, but couldn't.

"I know what you mean." Clara said with a giggle. 

"I may not like Neal, but he is too lucky to go out with you." I had to smile at him and give him a hug. I love my brother.

The bell rang and I knew it was Neal. Clara jumped off of my bed with a squeal and went to the intercom. 

"Who is it?" She asked like a girl at a slumber party.

"It's Neal. Is Joana there, Clara?"

Clara hit the buzzer to let him in. "Come up." Words don't describe Clara. She is something. After a minute or so, there was a knock on the door and Clara opened the door with too much enthusiasm.

Neal walked in the door with a small bouquet of baby’s breath, my favorite. Lucky guess, I guess. He was wearing washed out jeans, nice shoes, and a button-up off white shirt with some of the buttons on top undone. He turned his attention to me in 'awe'. I thought drool was going to come out of his mouth. I really didn't think I looked that good.

Dylan made his way to Neal and told him stuff like 'treat her right' and other stuff like that. It was cute. 

"You ready to go, Joana?" He asked handing me the bouquet of flowers.

I give a small nod and hand the flowers to Dylan to be put in some water.

With that, we were walking out of the apartment. Here goes just a few more hours.