His Name Was Tate

cherry blossoms

My heart almost exploded.

We walked down the path of red carpet in the middle of the Mancini's parking lot with little lights lighting our way to the doors. When we arrived at the doors, there stood my dad, Mrs. Robinson,Tyler, Mike, and Tate in there Sunday's.

I eyes filled when I realized that we were matching. Tate matched my red, Mike matched Becks blue, and even Tyler matched Tim's green. My dad wore all black of course and Mrs. Robinson had all purple. Everyone looked dress to impress.

"What all this?" I asked trying not to cry and ruin my make up.

"It was Tates idea. He wanted you to have your own personal prom so we spent all day turning the Mancini's Mansion into a ballroom." Mike said with a hint of annoyance.

Tate stepped up and began waving towards me with a box in hand. When he was in front of me he bent down and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "You look beautiful, little owl." he beat my ear.

"You don't look too bad your self." I said returning the kiss on the cheek. "What's that?" I said posing at the box in his hand.

He smiled and stepped back slightly. He opened the box and to my surprise there was this beautiful rose corsage.

"Oh Tate it's beautiful." I said with a smile.

"I'm happy you like it. Me and the guys didn't really know what to get. So I just prayed you liked roses." He said as he took it out of the box and slid it on my wrist.

"You know you didn't have to do this right?" I said to him.

He laid his forehead on mine and held my hands in his. "I have a lot to make up for with you. So let's see it as me making amends and also an opportunity for us to get a little closer. I want to a be guy that deserves you." He said as he brought his hand to my cheek.

I smiled so hard that it almost brought a tear to my eyes. The sound of my dad clearing his throat mad us pull apart.

"Hello, my nemo. You look beautiful, my baby." He said while incasing me in a hug. "I want you to have fun tonight, okay? Worry about nothing ok? Tonight, your normal teen." He said.

I kissed his cheek and squeezed him tightly. "I love you, papa." I said into his shoulder.

When we pulled apart my eyes went to the crowns of friends next to me. "I knew there as something fishy going on. You two are really terrible liars." I said with a smile.

Tim and Becks laughed. "Yeah, I was gonna crumble if you kept asking questions. Hell especially when it was time to pay." Tim said.

"So who actually paid for everything?" I asked

"I did." Said Mike.

The amount of shock I had almost threw me off balance. "Really?" I asked.

He nodded.

"But why? I me-" he cut me off with a wave of the hand.

"Let's just get inside and do whatever the hell we do at these things, cool?" He said with lazy smirk. I rolled my eyes.

Tate offered me his arm and happily accepted it. He lead me through the corridor. And there once extravagant living room, looked like a ball room from out of a movie.
"Oh my gawd." It was beautiful. They had fake little cherry blossom trees around the corners of the room and below each one were little piles of pedals on the ground. The ballroom floor was also covered in the pink pedals. I began to look up and noticed the floating clouds with lights in them, and then little lights that scattered across the ceiling making them look like stars.

"You guys! This.....I.....who even thought of this?" I said struggling to find the right words.

"It was Tate, Doc T, and your dads idea." Said Tim. Tyler nudged him while smiling.

I looked between the three man and god I realized how much I loved them.

......loved?

My eyes landed on Tate.

Girl!? You can't love him you barely know him! Revaluate you life choices. "What?" He asked nervously.

"Huh?" I said

"Nemo, you were staring again." Dad said under his breath.

"Oh sorry." I said to Tate, and just shrugged his shoulders. He looked like he wanted to say something smart, but with my dad and Tyler present, it was a wise choice for him to keep it to himself.

"How'd you come up with the cherry blossom theme?" I asked.

"Well we were looking good ideas on google. But everything just seemed so basic." Said Tyler.

"So we thought maybe we should make the theme personal. Something that's personal to you or something personal we share with you." Dad said.

"But how are cherry blossoms personal to me? I've never even seen one in real life?" I asked and he gestured to Tate. "Why don't we set up the music and stuff while they talk a bit?" Dad said. And everyone left the two of us at the entrance of the ballroom.

I looked up at Tate. "How is it personal?"

"Jada would always tell me about how my mom's favorite animal was an owl. It was to the point that my mom had it tattooed on her. When I was younger I thought that if i did some research and understood the animal, in a way it would connect me to her or something. It was stupid but it was all I really had. One day I came across this picture of this beautiful brown owl sitting in a cherry blossom tree. And I kept that picture, hell I even painted a few time myself. But no matter how many times I painted it. It never matched the beauty of the original picture. So I always ended up throwing it away and then starting another til I get it right. " He said. His attention stayed on the view in front of us.

"Is that what you were painting last time I came over? You said you had a whole other project you were doing?" I asked. He nodded. "I also remember that you already had an unfinished one in the pile of paintings you had my first time over, did you throw that away too?" He nodded.

"Owls have these beautiful eyes. Dark. Big. Filled with curiosity and wisdom. However, they are also playful, skittish, and vicious. They also have a terrible staring problem." A small smile appeared on his face.  "The day I met you. When I was standing in front of the class, it was your eyes that caught my attention. Filled with curiosity and innocence. Then the more we talked and hung out, the more I got to know you. Wise beyond your years. Vicious and protective of your loved ones. Charming and nervous. You reminded of an owl. And the more I looked into those beautiful dark eyes," his eyes moved back to me. ",the harder I fell, even if I didn't realize it."

"And since I could never paint the picture. I thought that there was another way to bring it to life. Bring MY little owl to the cherry blossoms." He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me to him.

I was left speechless. At this very moment, I can finally say that I absolutely LOVE my pet name.

"Tate?" I called. He leaned his head down and laid his forehead on mine.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you." Was all I could say.

"Your welcome, my little owl."