1.18 - Going According to Plan

The next morning Belisama left early so that she could get home to her son.  Nielson promised to meet her later, wanting to spend his last morning at home with his family.  Besides, he needed some time away from her to gather his thoughts.

So he absentmindedly went into one of the boxes he'd put his stuff in to pull out his graduation robes since that was this morning.  Unfortunately, he quickly realized that he couldn't find his cap and it was getting late. He wondered if Erika had done something with it when she packed up his stuff to evict him from his room.  Well, her room now.  But he didn't have time to look all over for it, so he just pulled a random hat out of the box and hurried out.  "I'm going to City Hall first!" he called over his shoulder, since he needed to be there before his family did.

"All right, dear.  We'll be there soon!" Danisha called after him, watching him head into the elevator before turning her attention back to the bathroom.  "Erika, are you done yet?" she prompted, trying not to be impatient with her daughter.

"Just a few more minutes," Erika replied as she admired herself in the mirror, looking for any flaw that might need covering up with make-up.  She didn't really care that much about her brother graduating, but she wasn't about to turn down an opportunity to dress up and show off.

Just when Danisha was about to lose her patience with her daughter, Erika emerged.  "All right, let's go," she urged with a smile, pretending she hadn't been the one making them wait as she headed out of the apartment.

Danisha stared after her daughter, speechless, for a long moment before sighing and following after her.  She was already having such a mix of emotions today, she really couldn't deal with her daughter's eccentricities on top of everything else.

Fortunately, despite Erika's dallying they still got to City Hall in time to see Nielson walk across the stage.  When the ceremony was over, Nielson walked out of the building with diploma in hand and really felt like he was ready to start his new life.  Last night, being home made him still feel like a kid even though he'd become an adult.  Now, though, he was ready to move on with his life.

Although there were some things he did feel sad to be letting go of.  "Hey, Danisha," he greeted as his family came out to meet him.

"I'm so proud of you.  Your father would be too," Danisha commented, trying hard not to cry as she met her son eye-to-eye now.  She could now see the features in his face that resembled his father, without seeing him as a clone of his father.  It was a refreshing feeling and she realized that even though the murder was still a mystery she had finally accepted Nielson's death.

"Thanks," Nielson replied.  It did mean a lot to him knowing that.  "I..." he began only to have his mother throw her arms around him.  He was going to keep talking, but decided against it and just returned the hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Danisha whispered, not immediately pulling away.

"You'll be fine.  Just try to keep Erika from getting into too much trouble," Nielson replied with a soft laugh.  Finally the two of them pulled away from each other and just stared for a moment.

"Oh, yes... I got you something.  Congratulations on graduating.  Hopefully it will help you get started," Danisha offered, holding the present out to her son.

"Thanks, Danisha," he replied, happily accepting the gift.

"Now, you'll be sure to call, right?  And if you need anything, just let me know," Danisha urged.  She was about to go on a long list when Erika interrupted.

"Danisha, I think he knows all that.  The ceremony is over now so I think it's time for us to go," she urged, before turning her attention to her brother.  "Congrats on graduating and all that.  Still not sure how a guy like you graduated with Honors and what not but... I guess I'm proud.  Later," Erika announced before turning and rushing off.

Nielson smiled wryly at his sister's less-than-affectionate goodbye.  Although he probably would have gotten creeped out if she'd gotten all sappy on him so this was probably better.

Danisha gushed over him a bit more before he finally convinced her to go by mentioning that he had business to take care of.  She promised to send his things along to his new place later that afternoon and finally reluctantly left.  Once she was gone he changed out of his graduation clothes and headed back inside to register for a job as a ballot counter.  It might not be much, but it was one step closer to his goal.  After seeing the Mayor making a speech at graduation it finally clicked with him what he wanted to do.  After all, despite his nervousness around crowds he'd still thoroughly enjoyed being president of the Debate Club.  Having intellectual discussions in front of those crowds wasn't intimidating at all.  In fact, it was thrilling.  And he hoped that was what he would get the opportunity to do for a career one day.

And once he'd been approved for the job he pulled out his phone.  "Hey, Belisama?  I got the job.  I'm heading to your place now.  See you soon," he informed her, heading off to his new life.

Meanwhile, back at home Erika had changed back into her regular clothes and was getting dinner ready for herself.  It was already late since graduation had taken up most of the day and she wanted to make sure she got plenty of sleep before school started the next day so she'd look her best.

She pulled the ingredients for her salad out of the fridge and smiled to herself.  She liked the idea of cooking.  This way she could control the exact nutrition and calories she would be getting out of her meal.

As she worked on her salad her mother entered the kitchen to get herself dinner.  "You know, I could have made you more salad if you wanted it," Danisha offered, planning on eating leftovers herself.

"That's all right, Danisha.  I want to learn how to cook anyway.  It's an important skill," Erika responded as she mixed the vegetables together.

"Well, all right," Danisha replied, feeling torn between pride in her daughter's independence and sadness that there was yet another thing she didn't need her for.

At the very least they were able to eat together.  Although, Erika had to fight hard not to comment on her mother's meal.  She sort-of understood not wanting to waste the rest of the birthday cake... But still, for a woman of Danisha's age that amount of calories was bound to result in a less-than-flattering physique.  Especially now that she spent most of her job in a lab rather than out in the field.

But Erika didn't say that and kept her gaze on her own meal while dutifully making small talk with her mother.

After dinner, Erika cleaned the dishes and the kitchen until it looked perfect and then headed into her room.  Although she wanted to get to bed early, there was still one thing she needed to do first.  So she stepped in front of her full-length mirror (her favorite birthday present) and took a deep-breath before practicing a charming smile.

"Hey, Collin, how was your weekend?" she asked the mirror, trying to find the right mix of friendliness and flirty for her first encounter with teenage Collin.

Once she'd properly scripted their meeting and accounted for nearly every possible outcome so that she could handle it with grace and dignity she finally let herself go to bed.

The next morning she'd set her alarm early to make sure she had plenty of time to make herself look perfect before heading to school.  Unfortunately, being perfect already meant that her morning prep didn't take her nearly as long as she had expected it would and she needed to kill time before the bus would come to get her.  So she settled in front of the TV to try to relax  a bit.

Although, the news might not have been the best choice for relaxing.  More news about crime, and horrible traffic, and in general all of the imperfections of the city they lived in, making Erika frown.

"You're up awfully early, dear," Danisha commented as she walk into the kitchen.  "Nerves?" she asked with a smile.

"No, I just went to bed early so I woke up early," Erika replied calmly.  As if she would admit to feeling something as imperfect as nerves.  She already knew today would be perfect so there was no need to worry.

Finally the bus honked outside and Erika hurried out, eager to make her way to school solely so that she could see if Collin had had his birthday.  She repeated to herself that she wasn't nervous the entire ride to school and as soon as she got off she subtly started looking around for him.

Fortunately it didn't take long to find him.  Erika took a moment to just admire him from afar.  Much like herself, his perfection was only enhanced with age.

Now, Erika just needed to time her entrance perfectly.  She waited until Collin lost interest in what he'd been watching and sauntered over to him.  Just as she'd expected, his gaze was immediately pulled to her.  She knew he'd already seen her as a teen, but she was pleased to see the interest in his eyes regardless.

"Hey!" Collin greeted her with a smile.

"Hey.  I see you had your birthday," she commented with a smile.  "You look good," she confessed, hoping she wasn't coming on too strong.

"Thanks," Collin replied with a laugh, taking her words easily just as she'd hoped he would.

"You look good too," Collin added, looking Erika up and down.

"But you already knew how I look," she couldn't help pointing out, even though she was enjoying the flattery.

"That's true.  But I don't think I really appreciated it as a kid," Collin admitted and Erika made sure to look coy as she flushed with pleasure.

This was playing out just like Erika wanted it to and she was just preparing her return flirt when the school bell rang.  "Ah..." the both started at the same time.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," Collin commented before heading into the building.  Erika sighed before following after him.  Fortunately they had a couple of classes and lunch together which was nice, including their last class of the day so Erika was able to catch him before he left.

"Hey, do you want to go to the festival across the street?" she asked hopefully.  They hadn't made nearly as much progress as she wanted today.

"Sure," Collin agreed with a smile.

"So, what do you want to do?" Erika asked, deciding to let Collin take the lead first.  She watched as he looked around the lot before he grinned and grabbed Erika's hand.

"This way," he urged, pulling Erika over to a giant tub filled with water and apples.  Erika eyed the water uneasily knowing it couldn't possibly be sanitary.

"What do we do?" she asked uncertainly.

"You put your hands behind your back and then try to grab the apples with you mouth.  It's fun," Collin explained with a grin.

Fun was not a word that Erika would use to describe that.  It sounded disgusting.  The water was definitely not sanitary if other people had been sticking their faces into it and who knows how many people had touched the apples... but Collin looked excited so she steeled herself and took her position.

And even though she was disturbed the entire time, Erika still demanded perfection of herself and was determined to come out on top.

She wasn't sure if it was Collin letting her win or her own determination but she ended up with a bigger pile of apples than he did.  She did plan on sanitizing them before she ate any of her prizes, though.

"All right, now it's your turn to pick," Collin announced, looking expectantly at her.  Erika considered her options as she looked around and then a plan immediately formed in her mind.

"Let's try the Haunted House," she announced, this time being the one to take the lead.

Erika wasn't feeling afraid as she approached the fake-creepy looking building, but she did put on a show of being nervous.  Mainly so that Collin would take her hand and utter the predicted words "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"I'm counting on you," she replied, making sure to put a tremor in her voice before following him into the building.

Just as she had hoped, the cheap thrills left her with plenty of opportunities to cling to Collin.  And by the time they got outside Erika had really gotten into her performance of fear.

"Oh gosh, Collin, that was really scary!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

"I told you I'd protect you, didn't I?" Collin replied, blushing as he hugged her back.

"Yeah, you're right.  You were really brave in there," Erika murmured, pulling back so that she could look Collin in the eye and smile at him.

"Well, knowing I had to protect you made me brave," Collin replied.  It was awfully sappy, but to Erika the words were just perfect.  Everything was progressing exactly the way she wanted it to.

"I'm glad you came with me today," Erika confessed, still gazing into Collin's eyes.

"I'm glad you invited me," Collin replied with a soft chuckle that sent thrills through Erika.  "You know, I've always enjoyed spending time with you more than any of the other girls," he admitted.

"So, you like me more than the other girls in school?" Erika prompted.

"Yeah."

"Do you... like me, like me?" she prompted, hoping she wasn't pushing things too quickly.  She knew there was an order to courtship, but she also wanted to get this established before any of the other girls in school turned their eyes to him.  And she knew they would.

"Yeah," he answered again, and Erika saw how cutely he was blushing.

"I'm glad.  Because I like you too," Erika replied leaning closer to him.  Collin looked surprised, and Erika took the opportunity to close the remaining distance between them and press her lips against his.  It was a romantic location for a first kiss, she thought.  The sun was just starting to go down, and although the shrieks from the Haunted House weren't ideal background music, the dark atmosphere just emphasized the innocence of this shared moment.

Darkness always seems to emphasize perfection...


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Okay, I know I said I was going to focus on Nielson and Belisama this chapter... but I decided I wanted to postpone the next big event that was going to happen with them.  So I already have all of the pictures for the next chapter and just need to type it up which hopefully won't take too long.  But in the meantime to get some passage of time I decided to give some attention to Erika and Collin.  I'm quite pleased with how Collin is turning out.  I haven't needed to make any cosmetic changes to him yet aside from clothing and hairstyle which is nice.  And I think he and Erika are making a very cute couple.  Of course, we'll have to see if it lasts, won't we?

...And sorry about Nielson's graduation outfit.  I don't know why it decided to give him that hairstyle and I couldn't figure out how to change it, unfortunately... *sigh*