Saturday, November 17, 2012

Ashamed


"So Eric, are we going to be seeing your girlfriend any time soon?" my dad, Greg Dawson, asks me. I look up to see every one of my family members staring at me. We're currently finishing our family dinner. Hmmm, how should I answer this?
"What?" I ask, stalling for time.
"Do you need to have your ears checked? Dad, asked when we we're going to see your girlfriend" my little sister Andrea says with attitude. I glare at her, and then shrug my shoulders.
"I don't know...." I say, because honestly, I really have no idea when they'll be seeing Cori.
"What do you mean you don't know? You still have a girlfriend, right? She didn't dump your ass and you’re lying about having one, are you?” My older brother Chris asks with mock suspicion on his face. I roll my eyes.
“Yes, I still have a girlfriend, you freakin’ idiot!!” I tell him now glaring at him. God, my siblings are so annoying and these are only two of them.
“Christopher!” my mom, Demi, says scolding him while giving him a look.
“What?! I’m just being honest. I haven’t seen his girlfriend since Eric’s graduation day and that was two years ago!!” he says. Has it really been that long since he last seen Cori? Damn, that is a really long time.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen her in forever either. I hear all about her from Janey though. She sounds awesome” Andrea says. Of course, Janey would. She idolizes Cori.
“She is pretty awesome” I say. Yeah, when she isn’t getting into trouble.
“Well why don’t you bring her over and we can see for ourselves if she is ‘awesome’.” Chris says. I groan and rub my eyes. Chris is really starting to piss me off; although why am I not surprised? He thinks it’s his duty as an older brother to be annoying. Lucky me.
“Christopher, enough talk from you” dad says giving Chris a be-quit-or-else look. Chris shuts up fast. He may be annoying but he isn’t stupid. He knows when to stop when he sees dad’s or else look.
“Thanks a lot for bringing this up dad” I tell him sarcastically and with a glare. Did my family plan on annoying me tonight?
“Well, I was just wondering is all? We never see her and I just talked to my mom and heard how she was saved by Cori” my dad says. Hmmm. More like she was almost killed by Cori.
“What?!” Andrea asks looking between dad and me.
“Yeah, what’s this all about?” Chris asks also looking at us.
“Ask dad later. Anyway, I’m going to get out of here” is say while standing up and grabbing my plate. Everybody else starts to get up and clear the table too.
“Eric, you didn’t answer dad’s question. When will we see Cori?” mom asks me. Ugh! I thought I got passed this.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know when I’ll be seeing you next” I tell her.
“Why don’t you bring her to the big family gathering in two weeks? You’ll be seeing us then. You did remember about that, right Eric……..and Chris?” Andrea asks us innocently, but with an evil grin noticeable on her face. Oh yeah, my family’s coming to my basket ball game. I did kind of forget about that. But I’m not going to let Andrea know that.
“Yes, I remember, you brat” Chris says to her with a glare. She sticks her tongue out at him.
“That’s a great idea, Andy. That way, your aunts, uncles, and cousins can meet her. Oh and grandma and grandpa too” mom says giving me a tight hug. Wait…. When did this decision become final? I haven’t even asked Cori yet.
“Fine, I’ll ask Cori if she wants to go, but don’t get your hopes up. She may not be able to make it” I warn them slowly. I pretty much know what Cori’s going to say.
“We understand Eric, we’re not stupid” Andrea huffs. I smirk.
“I don’t know Andy. Sometimes I wonder about you” I say to mess with her by using her hated nick name. She glares and tries to push me, but I notice a small grin on her face.
“I hope she can come. On your way out, make sure you tell Devon bye” mom reminds me. I make my way to my sister in the living room. She has her Barbie dolls lined out neatly on the floor in front of her. She is touching all of their noses. I sit next to her on the floor Indian style. She looks up at me and smiles. She touches my nose. My littlest sister has some disabilities and she is super shy. She is OCD about almost everything. Hence, the lined up Barbie dolls.
“E-Eric!” she says happily.
“Hey baby doll, what are you up too?” I ask her giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“P-playing w-with my d-dolls” she says quietly.
“Awesome! Listen girlie, I gotta go back to school now, but I’ll see you in two weeks” I tell her. She frowns and nods her head.
“W-will y-you b-bring C-Cori w-with y-you?” she asks me. I raise my eyebrows. I guess she heard us in the kitchen.
“Maybe baby. Maybe” I say and give her head a kiss.
“Beautiful shot, Cori. That was the last shot. We’re all finished now” the photographer tells me. Sweet! I’m super excited to see how they will turn out. I put a robe on and walk over to the makeup station where my stuff is at.
“You looked amazing!” Lily says to me right away. Yeah, I know that. Duh!
“Thanks! You looked pretty snazzy yourself” I tell her.
“Heehee! Thanks. I gotta admit that I was a little worried about doing this when you first told me about it, but I think it actually went really well” Lily admits to me. I smirk.
“I told you so!” I tell her and stick my tongue out at her. Are my ideas really that farfetched? Jeez, she acts like they are always total failures. What? Well okay……some of my ideas are total failures. Anyway, I change into my comfy clothes and get ready to leave with Lily, but was stopped by the photographer.
“I just wanted to say that I was really impressed with your pictures. They’ll come out great. You guys are actually one of the best rookie models I have see in awhile. I was wondering if you would like to come back and do more photo shoots. I’ll even pay you this time” Jamie tells us. My eyes widen. Pay? For looking pretty? Ummm… hell yes!! I look over at Lily and see that she is thinking the same thing as me.
“Of course, we’ll come back” I tell her happily.
“And you’ll even pay us too?” Lily asks with wide eyes. Duh, Lily. She just said that. Are you deaf? Jamie nods her head.
“Yup, I’ll pay you. But only under certain agreements” she says.
“What are they?” I ask her.
“Well next time, I need you to do a swim suit and pajamas photo shoot” she says. Swim suit? Ohhh, me like.
“Deal!” I tell her and shake Jamie’s hand before Lily could reject it.
“Great! See you next weekend. Same place and time” she says. Hell yeah! I’m gonna be a model, I’m gonna be a model. Happy dance time! I grab Lily’s arm and quickly pull her toward the door, so I can do my happy dance outside.
“Bye!” I call out behind us to Jamie.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. The pictures will be put in magazines as an ad” Jamie calls out to us. I wave my hand to let her know that I heard her. Our pictures will be in magazines? I have I died and gone to heaven? As soon as the door closes, I let go of Lily and start doing the robot while chanting
“Oh yeah, uh huh, that’s how we do it. Oh yeah oh yeah” Lily rolls her eyes.
“Cori? Are you sure that was a good idea to agree with a deal like that?” Lily asks me worriedly. I stop my crazy victory dancing and look at her. Is she high?
“Of course, I think it was a good idea. Lily, we’re going to get money for looking pretty. That is the easiest job ever; well at least for me. Quit worrying and be happy” I tell her. Just be thankful for it. Doesn’t she know that a ton of girls would kill for this job?
“Well I guess it is pretty cool” she says finally liking the idea. Finally!
“I have a good feeling about this” I tell her. I feel it all the way down my legs…… or is it toes? Hmmmm. Well whatever it is, I feel it. Lily doesn’t look so sure about my good feeling.
“Come on, let’s go. It’s cold out here” I say quickly making my way to my car.
“Are you going to tell Eric about this?” Lily asks me. Crap! I didn’t think about that. Should I? It’s not like the pictures were bad or anything, but you never know with Eric. Hold on a minute. I didn’t tell you what this is all about, did I? My bad. Okay, so I saw this add in a magazine about getting to model in a photo shoot from a professional photographer for free. If you were good at taking pictures, you may be asked to do more photo shoots and become famous and rich. Well maybe not famous and rich, but definitely popular. And you never know, I could become famous and rich from this. What? I can dream, can’t I? As you can see, this is what happened to us. Yay! Heehee. Lily was a little weary about calling up a random stranger and getting our pictures taken. But once she got there and started ‘modeling’, she really enjoyed it. So now I have to decide if I should tell Eric about this or not. Since I know he is overprotective of me, I don’t think he would like this; not one bit.
“I think I’ll keep this on the down low for awhile” I tell Lily. How about I keep it on the DL forever?
“Same here, but what are you going to tell him?” Lily asks me next.
“That I was with Lily taking pictures for her computer final” I say. Lily thinks about my answer.
“Okay, I’ll tell Felipe the same thing. Phew! All that so called ‘modeling’ wore me out. Do you mind if I take a drag?” she asks me. What did she just say?!? I look over at her. The only thing I know that has to do with taking a drag is…… Then I saw what was in her hand.
“Lily!! Since when do you smoke???” Lily looks up at me as if a deer caught in headlights with a cigarette in her hand. Wow! I mean really. I expect to do something like this, but not Lily. WOW!!
“Well…I mean….. Um….uh” she stumbles as she nervously tries to think of something to say.
“Well what? Answer the question!!” I say. You can’t do something this big and not have a good explanation for it. It’s like if I burn a house down and not have a good excuse of why I did it to tell Eric.  Duh!!
“Okay, I smoke now. Just don’t tell anyone; especially Eric. I’m just doing it now to relieve my stress before finals. I’ll stop as soon as finals are over with; which is in two weeks” she tells me quickly. A way to relieve stress, huh?
“Well don’t just sit there. Pass me one, moron” I tell her and put my hand out. Lily looks really surprised and really slowly puts a cigarette into my hand and a lighter. My grandma can move faster than her. I light it up and take a smoke. I look over at her and she is still staring at me.
“What?” I ask her.
“You’re going to start smoking now too?” she asks me. What does it look like I’m doing? Is she blind?
“Sure. So how long have you been doing it?” I ask. She probably just started.
“A little over a month” she tells me proudly. Over a month!!!! Well you could have knocked my socks off.
“Over a month?!?! How are you getting passed Felipe” I ask next. I’m shocked she has done it this long and she hasn’t even got caught by Felipe! What is the world coming to??
“Well, I put on a lot of perfume and brush my teeth. If he smells smoke on me, I just say that a lot of people in our dorms smoke” she tells me. Dang! I’m impressed. I never expected this from Lily. She’s being really clever. Where has she been hiding it all this time?
“Hmmm. Well I’m gonna smoke now too, but ill quite after finals are over” I say. The way I look at it is if Lily is getting away with smoking, then I can definitely get away with it too.
“Sweet! Now we can do it together. It’s a great stress reliever” she tells me happily, now lighting up one of hers. As we continue to drive back to campus, we talk about our pictures and the upcoming modeling shoot and smoke our cigs.
Four days later:
OMG!! My head is about to explode. I don’t know how much longer I can take all of this. For the last four days, I have been getting ready for the finals in all of my classes. Ugh! It’s pure torture for me. It’s like my mom made me sit in with her for our mother and daughter counseling sessions (which didn’t help at all). Pure torture I tell you. Anyway, I think I’ve done enough studying for today. I’m gonna do absolutely nothing now. Hmmm, I think I need a smoke too. Oh by the way, this whole smoking thing is actually going pretty well. I haven’t been caught yet. I know, it’s a shocker isn’t? You probably thought I would’ve been caught now huh? I guess I proved you wrong. Heehee. Lily was right; it is a great stress reliever. I start to put my books away so I can head out of the dining hall, when I feel someone kiss my cheek. I look up to see. I smile at him as he sits down at my table. It feels like it’s been ages since I last saw him. Just as I’m thinking that Eric says
“Baby, it feels like I haven’t seen you in ages” Whoa! Okay, that was weird. Do we have empathy or something? You know what they say, great minds think alike......well in our case, great minds think somewhat alike.
“I know!! I couldn’t handle it any longer. I was missing you” I tell him.
“Same here. My days were just incomplete without you. Finals suck, huh?” he asks me while taking my hands in his. There goes that empathy thing again. I should seriously Google empathy with couples and see if it’s a common thing. I quickly nod my head.
“Most definitely. I’ll be glad when it’s all over next week, then Christmas break can start” I say with a sigh. Why can’t it be next week all ready? I want to go shopping. I haven’t all week. I’m in a total withdraw right now and I’m NOT exaggerating. Eric grins at me.
“Yeah, so you can get your fill of shopping again, right? I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is for you not to be able to do any shopping. It must be terrible” he says while shaking his head. I know!! Okay this is getting too freaky.
“It’s heartbreaking. Eric, my body doesn’t know what to do with itself since I haven’t been off of campus for the last FOUR DAYS!! Let alone to any stores” I tell him, as if I found out my favorite designer had just died. My body just might die.
“At this rate, you just might die” he tells me with a playful grin. My eyes widen.
“I know!!!” I say. Okay, it’s time to start asking some questions.
“Eric! The last four things you’ve said is what I have been thinking. Do you think we have some kind of couple empathy?” I ask him.
“Cori, you know I was being sarcastic right?” he asks me. What does that have to do with anything?
“So? You still said them” I tell him. Eric rolls his eyes.
“It may be the fact that I pretty much know you inside and out. Not because we have some kind of empathy ability” he tells me with a laugh. How does he know that and what is so funny?
“Eric, I’m being serious” I tell him. He laughs again.
“I know. That’s what scares me” he says. I narrow my eyes and playfully push him.
“Well I’m gonna prove you wrong” I tell him and stick my tongue out at him. He smirks.
“Go ahead. Id liked to see you try” he says.
“Don’t worry, I will” I say with a smirk back at him. As you can see, where both competitive. (Sigh) I’ve really missed being with Eric. Grrrrr! Stupid finals. Eric kisses my hands in his.
“Hey angel, there’s something I want to talk to you about” he says. My eyes widen. Oh shit!! This better not be about what I think it is.
“About what?” I ask him slightly nervous now. Calm down, Cori. He won’t figure it out. Deep breathes…… oh who am I kidding?!?! This is Eric we’re talking about here.
“Well you know how I went back to my parent’s house last Sunday right?” he asks me. I nod my head. I can’t trust my voice right now.
“Well the subject about you was brought up. Long story short, they want to see you. Soon” he tells me. Oh. His family wants to see me. That’s what he wants to talk about. Not about finding out that I smoke now. Phew!! That was a close call. But I better make sure.
“That’s what you want to talk to me about? Nothing else?” I ask him. He might talk about something else first, but then BAM! Suddenly bring up my smoking habit when I’m completely off guard.
“Ummm, yeah. That’s all. Why?” he asks me slowly starting to get his suspicious look on his face. Yes! He didn’t find out about my bad habit. Or he might if I don’t change the direction it’s going to go fast.
“No reason” I say quickly with a smile.
“Anyway, you said that your family wants to see me” I add to divert his attention.
“Yeah, they do. Big time” he says with a sigh. Wait his family!! Ugh! Now his news hits me hard.
“Oh” is all I say as I look down at the table to avoid Eric’s eyes. I knew this day would come up sooner or later. Except, I wished it was later rather than sooner.
“Baby, look at me” Eric says softly. I slowly raise my brown eyes to his green ones. He smiles at me.
“I know that you don’t want to go and I never force you to go and I’m not going to start either. Just tell me you don’t want to see them, and I’ll say you can’t go” he tells me gently. I drop eyes again and simply shrug. Okay, here’s the 101 on everything. I don’t like to spend any time with his family, not because I don’t like them but because I don’t want them looking down on me. You see, his family is awesome and super nice. I just don’t want them to think that Eric deserves someone better than me. I’m a troublemaker, a misfit, oh and let’s not forget that I’m about 50 shades darker than they are (I know for a fact that they don’t care about that, but I just need some good excuses to make the list longer. Shhhh. Heehee). I don’t want them to get a bad opinion on me, so I never go see them. I haven’t told Eric any of this because I know he wouldn’t agree with me, but I just can’t help thinking it. He’s perfect, his family’s perfect, and I’m not. I just tell Eric that it make me feel sad that I’m reminded of how sad a childhood I had when I’m with his family, so I rather not be there. Eric understands and never pushes me to go see them. Okay, so I know I can’t hide from them forever, but I was hoping for maybe a couple more years; five tops. I guess his family doesn’t want to wait that long. Geez, maybe they should work on their patience.
“Come sit on my lap, sweets” Eric tells me while pulling me around the table to sit on his lap. I snuggle into his warmth and breathe into his familiar smell. He kisses my head as he wraps his arms tightly around me. I feel so safe and warm. (Sigh) have I told you how much I have missed Eric? I did? Well I’m gonna tell you again. I MISSED ERIC SOOOOO MUCH!!!!
“Well……I guess I can’t hide from them forever. When do they want to meet me, anyway?” I ask Eric.
“Well thanks to my sister, they want you to come to our big family gathering in a week in a half” he tells me. Big? How big?
“Sooooo, who’s gonna be there?” I ask him.
“Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and obviously my family” he says. Dang! That is big. If I’m going to see his family, I kinda wanted to start small then go up. Not start straight away by meeting ALL of his family. That might be a little too much for Cori to handle.
“Hmmm, that might be too much to handle babe. You don’t have to go. You can meet them another time, when it’s just my family” Eric says while giving my head another kiss. Empathy #5. I want to agree with him right then and there, but my stupid conscience doesn’t agree. Of all the times my conscience decides to kick in and work, now has to be the time. I mean really, come on. How unfair is that. Dumb conscience.
“Well, I’ll think about it. Just say I don’t know for sure if I can go or not” I tell him.
“You’re even considering it?” Eric asks me surprised. I know, I’m surprised too.
“Yeah, I guess I can’t hide from them forever” I tell him. He laughs slightly.
“Nah, I guess not. But I bet you were hoping for a few more years” he says with a grin. Empathy #6!! I’m definitely going to Google this empathy business because it’s getting scary now.
“Maybe. How long are all of you r family planning on staying?” I ask.
“Almost all of Christmas break” he says.
“Oh” I say. Great. Now I won’t be able to spend any time with Eric.
“Which means you and I will be spending a lot of time together because I’m going to need an excuse to get away from them. They’ll eventually drive me crazy” he tells me. Yes!! More time with Eric.
“So they’ll be here next week?” I ask him. I’ll have that much to decide on my answer. Hopefully I’ll when, if my conscience lets me.
“Yeah, they’re coming to my basketball game too” he says. Oh really? Great, now I’ll have to think of an answer AND some good escape routes of trying to avoid them at the game. I’m going to be doing a lot of thinking and a lot of arguing. Stupid conscience.
“Don’t these shots look great, Lily?” I ask her while looking at all of the photos on my laptop in our dorm room. Okay, I don’t usually like how I look in pictures, but I look hot in these. So does Lily.
“Yeah, we do look pretty good in them” she says looking at them over my shoulder. Really good. We went back today to that photographer, Jamie, to take more picture and we DID get paid. Isn’t that awesome? It was a lot of fun too because we got to wear really cute swim suits and fluffy pajamas. The only problem was that-
“If Felipe sees these pictures, he is going to flip. And that won’t be a pretty sight” Lily says with a groan. Yeah, that’s the only problem. The swim suits were bikinis and the fluffy pajamas were kinda see through and sort of like lingerie; BUT not completely. So if Eric or Felipe saw these pictures……. Well Lily’s right; it definitely won’t be a pretty sight. But don’t worry; I have it all taken care of.
“Relax Lily. Jamie said that our pictures would not be in major magazines or newspapers. So chill” I tell her as I continue to admire myself in the pictures. I look amazing; surprisingly.
The Night before the Game:
I’m sooooooooooooooo glad finals are over. I don’t know how I could have done anymore. Bye-bye books. Hello shopping – Cori
Are you gonna shop till you drop? – Eric
There goes that empathy. I will most definitely annnnnd I’m gonna buy a really cute outfit to wear to your game tomorrow, so get excited – Cori
Oh yeah? Can’t wait to see it and make sure it isn’t too showing please – Eric
Oh please Eric I have nothing to show. You have nothing to worry about – Cori
Quit downing yourself baby. I hope you have fun shopping tonight. Seeya tomorrow – Eric
Oh, I’m not sure about meeting your family yet. I’m leaning toward yes but I’m not sure yet – Cori
Take your time, Angel. I want you to be comfortable, okay? – Eric
Kay. Thanks. Txt me tomorrow – Cori
I will, Lovie – Eric
“Who have you been texting?” Chris asks me as he sits next to me in our game room and hands me an Xbox controller. He can be really nosy sometimes. I’m about to answer him when Andrea bursts out excitedly
“You were texting Cori, right?” I’m tempted to say no, but knowing my sister she’ll probably try to steal my phone. I nod my head. She squeals loudly and makes me and Chris wince.
“So is she coming?” she asks me with a big grin. She’s acting as if she just got asked out by a guy she’s had a crush on. Trust me; I know how that can be.
“Probably, but it’s still not a definite answer” I tell Andrea. She squeals even louder this time and claps her hands. She jumps up and shouts
“MOM, GUESS WHAT I JUST FOUND OUT.” Andrea practically runs to the kitchen. I quickly hear loud chatter pick up and then hear my mom say
“ERIC!” I groan and rub my face with my hands.
“I think you should have told her no” Chris says to me. I glare at him. Is he really that stupid?
“Well, no duh, Einstein.” I say as I stand up and head toward the kitchen. (Sigh) Let the craziness begin.
I walk into to kitchen and instantly am greeted with about 20 stares all asking me questions at once. Talk about madness.
“Eric, since when do you have a girlfriend?”
“Do we get to meet her?”
“How long have you been with her?”
“Is she pretty?”
“Is she older than you?”
“What color is her hair?”
“Wow guys. Too many questions at once” I tell my family. I head over to the kitchen table to where my mom, Aunt Stacey, and Grandma are sitting.
“Eric, why didn’t you tell me that Cori was coming?” My mom asks me looking worried now. I can tell this is going to get out of hand.
“I said probably. It’s not for sure yet though” I tell my mom and glare at Andrea. She never gets her facts straight. She only hears what she wants to hear.
“Well that’s the closest thing to a yes to me. It’s not a no” she tells me. Yeah, and it’s not a yes either. I was about to tell her this when my mom asks me
“Andy’s right. Probably’s usually turn into yes’s. So we got to act as if she said yes” my mom says. What?!? Probably’s usually turn into yes’s? Where did she get THAT from? My probably's usually turn into no’s…. wait, never mind; that’s maybes. Ha! Go figure.
“So what is Cori like?” my aunt Stacy asks me curiously. Hmmmmm, there are so many words to describe my baby. Funny, sweet, beautiful, fun, random, adorable, loves to push my limits, awesome fashion sense, feisty, oh and let’s not forget troublesome; extremely troublesome.
“There are a lot of ways to describe Cori” I tell them.
“Well start somewhere” my aunt tells me. Just as I open my mouth, Janey comes to the table and sits down.
“I’ll start, Cori is amazing” she says.
“That’s not a very good description. Tell us more” My mom says. My aunt nods her head in agreement. I roll my eyes. They are acting as if Cori is a sale at one of their favorite stores.
“Well, she is super fun to be with, loves to shop, really funny, isn’t afraid to voice her opinions, and……” she trails off while she thinks some more. My mom and aunt are hanging on her every word. Really guys?
“What else?” my mom asks again.
“Cori has an awesome fashion sense. She loves it when you comment on what she is wearing. Flattering works best on her” Janey tells them. Damn! Janey’s acting as if she is dating Cori. But she is pretty much giving the main points of Cori, so I’ll give her that. Plus I don’t even have to say anything.
“Flattering works best” my mom writes down in a small notebook. WTH?
“Mom! Are you taking notes?!?” I asked her. She looks up at me.
“Yeah” she says. I think my mom is officially crazy.
“Why?” I ask her.
“Because I need to know what she is like. I got to remember everything. I don’t want to mess anything up and scare her away” My mom says looking extremely worried. My heart went out to her. I don’t think she is going to scare Cori. Some other family members might, but not my mom.
“Mom, chill. You’re not going to scare her away. Just be you” I tell her. She takes a deep breath then gives me a smile.
“Eric’s right, Demi. You won’t scare Cori away. She is a sweetheart. She also saved my life” my grandma tells my mom. Grandma loves to tell people how Cori was her life saver. If only they knew the truth.
“What’s going on in here?” a new voice says coming to the kitchen table. My oldest brother Zach.
“We’re getting the 101 on Eric’s girlfriend” Andrea tells him. Zach raises his eyebrows at me.
“Your still with the same girlfriend?” he asks me. Okay so here's the thing, Zach is like the golden child in the family; except he deserves the title. He is like the perfect brother. Zach is even a lawyer like our dad. He is also engaged to his longtime girlfriend too. He and I are super close. He hasn’t even met Cori.
“Yeah. I’ve seen her Facebook profile and she looks so awesome” Andrea tells him. Ugh! Does she ever shut up?
“Then I can’t wait to meet her then” Zach tells me. Yeah, join the club.
"And the Bulldogs score again. They are on a roll tonight" the announcer says. Why am I not surprised? I'm not even watching the game and I already know who is going to win; Eric's team. Duh! Anyway, what I am doing is sitting next to Lily on the bleachers. She's telling me about her Christmas plans.
"So my dad wants me to spend Christmas with him, but my mom wants me to spend it with her. Remember she has a new boyfriend she wants to show off. I haven't given either one of them an answer yet. Oh and then Felipe wants me to spend the week after Christmas with his family. They're taking a trip to the Bahamas for a family reunion and want me to go with them. But this whole thing with my parents is giving me a headache" she tells me while rubbing her head. Bahamas? Ohhh, me like. I'll trade my snow boots for a bikini any day.
"If I were you, I'd spend Christmas with my dad. Even though your mom has been doing better the last year, she's going to be all wrapped up with her new boyfriend. And plus, your dad always gives better presents" I tell her. Actually if you think about it, it's really a no brainer. Dad equals better presents. Mom equals no presents. Hmmm, which one would you choose?
"Yeah, I guess your right" she says after thinking about what I said. Aren't I always?
"Hey, let's go get some snacks" I say. I want some of those nachos. For some reason, they always taste better at a sports game. We get up and head down to the concession stand.
"So what are you doing for Christmas?" Lily asks me as we are waiting in line. I roll my eyes.
"Spending it with my dad and his new wife obviously, but this year it may be different" I say. Really different.
"What? Your new step mom told your dad to spend half of what he spent last year or she is going to buy your presents this year?" Lily asks me with a smile. I playfully glare at her.
"No to both" I say. And thank god too. I wouldn't care if my dad spent less this year on me but I would care if he let my stepmom, Angie, buy my Christmas presents. She has NO fashion sense at all. For my birthday, she gave me this really ugly grandma shirt with about a million ruffles and it was army color green. EW! She isn't even old either.
"Then what?" Lily asks me. I sigh.
"Mariah wants to spend Christmas with us" I say with an annoyed look. (Cue in the horror music)
"Mariah?!?" Lily asks me shocked and then she bursts out laughing. I really don't see what's so funny about what I just said. I fold my arms together and glare at her.
"Are you through yet?" I ask her. She finally stops laugh but still has an amused smile on her face.
"I'm sorry. It's funny. You know she used to be really snotty but after that whole dean incident, she really has turned around. I think hanging out with Janey has helped her too" Lily tells me. I shudder. Don't remind me about that Meanie dean. Good thing he is gone now. Lily does have a point though; she has turned around. Big time. She's turned all nice and bubbly. She's is even nice to nerds. I know. A shocker isn't? I think it's because Janey is her BFF and I guess that is who he actually is. She was just living as a fake her entire life.
"Yeah, you’re right about that. I just don't want her coming in on MY Christmas; even if she is nice now. I way a Mariah free zone" I tell Lily. Lily nods her head with understanding. We finally get to the counter and we order our food. Once I get my nachos, I breath I'm their delicious scent. Oh how I love you mouth watering nachos. Me and Lily then head outside to where there are tables and stuff outside so you can eat or chill out here if it's too loud in the gym. It's really packed tonight for tonight's game. We find a table and sit down and start eating. I should really start going to more games so I can eat these more often.
"Anyway, my dad likes Mariah now since she is so nice and everything and he is all like 'it would be good for her to have a good Christmas experience for once'. I told him I was the one who had bad Christmas experiences; not her. And my dad said ' it is the time of giving." I say to Lily. Grrrrr. My dad got me there.
"So I guess Mariah is spending Christmas with you" Lily says in a playful song kind of voice. Does she have to rub it in? I glare at her and was about to tell her to shut up when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Janey. I smile at her.
"Hey Janey" I say to her. Lily waves to her.
"Hey guys, I finally found you. Phew! It's exhausting work looking for someone" she says as she sites down in one of the chairs at the table. She is sooo right about that. Especially when you’re stalking someone and you lose them. Ugh! It's torture.
"Why were you looking for us?" Lily asks Janey.
"I was actually looking for Cori but since I know you guys are always together, I was looking for you too" she answers Lily. She was looking for me? The only time someone is looking for me is when I'm in trouble. Hmmmmm....
"Why were you looking for me?" I ask her suspiciously. I have to be extra careful now.
"Oh! Because I want you to come sit with me and Eric's family. They really, really want to see you and I know you haven't met a lot of our family yet either" she tells me. Oh shit! I was NOT expecting that answer. Not at all. I pretty much have made up my mind about going to see Eric's family, which is a yes. BUT I was planning on meeting them WITH Eric; NOT by myself. Now what am I going to do? I can't say no. That would be kind of mean and they would ask questions about it later. But if I said yes then I'll have to go sit with them.....alone. Eek! This is terrible. Think fast, Cori. I'll just tell Janey that I don't want to leave Lily alone since this is probably the last night I'll get to hang out with her before Christmas break. Yeah, I'll just say that.
"Sure, Janey. I'll sit with you guys" I tell her. What just happened there? Ugh! My stupid conscious messed me up. I wanted to say what was in my head, but my conscious wouldn't let me. Of all the times my conscious actually works, it's now. I mean it doesn't stop me from starting a food fight or pushing nerds or doing prank calls, but its stops me from making an excuse to not sit with Eric's family. I mean come on.
"Has that half time thingy happened yet?" I ask Janey. I told you I wasn't watching the game.
"No but it will in about 15 minutes" she tells me. Perfect!
"Sweet! How about I'll just come find you guys at half time?" I say to her.
"Sure" she says happily. She tells me where they are sitting at and that they can't wait to see me. I watch her leave. As soon as she is out of hearing range I bang my head on the table.
"Lily, this is terrible" I groan to her. What am I going to do? I need an escape plan. Hmmmm. How about I fake sick since this isn't a school day? Nah, this is the family Eric comes from. They're probably as smart as he is.
"What? Are you really going to sit with them?" she asks me. She knows why I don't want to be around Eric's family just as much as Eric does; I haven't told her the truth either. Shhhh.
"I guess I have to now" I say and groan again.
"Oh! I have an idea. I'll come get you fifteen minutes after half time. I'll say I really need to talk to you about something privately and I'll look all depressed. It ends up taking the rest of the game and the next time you see them will be at the end of the game with Eric" Lily says to me. I think about her plan. Hey, that might actually work. I'm surprised. This is Lily we're talking about here.
"Okay. You do that" I tell her. Suddenly I hear a loud buzzer coming from the gym. Damn! It's half time already? I take a deep breath and stand up. Lily stands up with me. She is looking at me as if she is afraid that I'm going to barf; I just might. We throw away our trash and head toward the doors.
"Lily, I don't think I can do this" I say to her. This is horrible. Did you ever imagine ME being nervous like this? I sure didn't.
"Cori, you can do this. Just believe in yourself and in the plan" Lily tells me with her hands on my shoulders. Deep breathe in and deep breathe out. Okay, believe in myself and this plan that better work.
"Okay, I'm feeling a little better. Thanks!" I tell her.
"What are friends for?" she says to me. I take another deep breath.
"You better come in fifteen minutes" I warn her. Or I'm gonna kill her with my juicy purse.
"I will. Don't worry" she says. I'm still worried, but what can I do? I say bye to Lily and start to head over to Eric's family.
I walk over to where Eric's family is sitting. The bleachers are pretty empty now that it's half time. Good thing I got my food before or else I would be waiting in a really long line. And I HATE waiting; but I'm sure you knew that already. Anyways, I start to walk up the bleachers. I spot Janey sitting at the waaaay top of the bleachers. She smiles and waves at me excitedly. I smile and wave back. Ugh! Now I have to walk all the way up there. Good thing I'm wearing my comfortable heels or else this would be torture. Once I finally get to the top I sit next to Janey in a hurry.
"Phew! I'd thought I'd never make it" I say to her as I catch my breath. Okay I seriously need to work out more. I was huffing and puffing.
"I know! I said the same thing. My cousins made fun of me for it" she says with a pout. Good! I'm not the only one.
"Maybe that's because you acted like you just ran a mile even though it was only a couple of steps" a blonde girl says beside Janey. She looks familiar.
"Easy for you to say, Ms. Cross country runner. To you it was only a couple of steps" Janey says to her. A couple of steps? It felt like I just went on a 2 day nonstop shopping spree. (I haven't done that yet but it will be something I conquer one day. If only I can get it past Eric) The blonde sticks her tongue out at Janey.
"Oh my gosh! I've been sooo excited to see you!" the blonde then gushed at me.
"So have you been enjoying the game?" Janey asks me. I smirk to myself then quickly smile at the them.
"Sure I have. Duh! That's why I'm here isn't it?" I say. Actually I'm mostly here for Eric and to get those delicious nachos.
"Well some people come to the game and don't even watch it. They're just taking up space in the bleachers. It drives my family crazy” the
blonde says while glaring at all the people sitting in the bleachers. Oh snap! It's a good thing I didn't say that I thought the game was boring. Phew! Close call there Cori. I have to watch what I say now. And in case you didn’t know this, that's going to be very hard for me. Ugh! I actually have to think before I say something. This is going to be a looooong 15 minutes.
45 Minutes Later:
Wow! I'm having such an awesome time; surprisingly. It turns out that the blonde is Eric's younger sister. She thinks I'm amazing. Duh! Because I am. Anyway, as you can see Lily didn't come in 15 minutes. Even the simplest plan doesn't work with her. Ugh! And she says it's usually my fault. Yeah right.
"So you always wear high heels?" Andrea asks me in amazement. See! I told you. I nod me head.
"Yeah, I usually do. It's like second nature to me now" I tell her. It also makes me feel taller since I'm so freakin' short. Hmph!
"you should see the heels she wears. One time she wore ones that flashed different colored lights. It was awesome" Janey tells Andrea. (Sigh) Those were pretty cool....... Except it was raining that day and when I walked outside, I stepped in this HUGE puddle and I practically got electrocuted. Yeah.... That part wasn't so cool. And let me tell you, I never heard the end of it from Eric. I was about to tell them about how I had to fight for a pair of Gucci heels from a vicious old lady when I see Lily walking up to us.
"Hey" she says. That's all you can say? I wanted to say 'it’s about time you got here' or 'what took you so long?', but I think I'd blow my cover if I did that.
"Hi Lily, what's up?" Janey asks her.
"Sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk to Cori. It's urgent stuff" Lily tells Janey with a worried look on her face. Hey, she is actually doing a pretty good acting job. I'm impressed. Now it's my turn.
"Oh my gosh Lily! What is it?" I asked her in that overly dramatic and overly caring voice. I stand up and looked concerned. Oh I could sooooo win an Oscar. Heehee!
"I need to talk to you in private. Come on" Lily says grabbing my arm and starts pulling me down the bleachers. I wave behind me to Janey and Andrea. Geeze, Lily is sure in a hurry. We get down to the bottom of the bleachers fast. Damn! It takes half the time to go down the bleachers than it does going up. What is up with that? Not fair!!
"Good Job Lily. You actually looked like you were actually worried about something. Use those acting skills more often during our plans" I say to her as we are walking toward the doors of the gym. Seriously, with her acting skills we can be soooo much better. Like the unstoppable duo who can act. Once we are outside of the gym, Lily turns to me and says
"that's because I wasn't acting. Cori, we've been caught"
The first thought that ran through my head was 'damn! Lily wasn't acting. Now we can't use her great acting skills for our plans.'
"what! What do you mean we've been caught? I haven't done anything wrong recently" I say to Lily. I actually haven't. I'm really surprised. I usually do something to make Eric mad, but I haven't recently. I know. It's a shocker, isn't it?
"Felipe knows we've been smoking" Lily tells me. Okay, I take back what I just said. I HAVE done something wrong recently, BUT I haven't done anything to make Eric mad in a long time. Now I have a feeling that the streak is going to end once he hears about this. Ugh!
"How did he find out?" I ask her next. Lily groans.
"Okay so I was watching the game waiting for 15 minutes to go by; BTW I didn't forget about our plan. When it was almost time to get you I decided to go out for a quick smoke. So I go outside and light a cigarette. Well as I'm smoking, I hear a guy say
'hey Felipe, isn't that your girlfriend over there?' and so-" she says but I finish her sentence for her already knowing the rest.
"Felipe saw you smoking" I say with a sigh. Can we just once hide something from our boyfriends and keep it hidden? What? You don't think that's going to happen? Hmph! It could one day.
"Yeah he did. Ugh! I wanted to shrink to a size of an ant and be crushed on a by a foot. Felipe is super ticked off" Lily says with a worried look. Did she really just say that? Why can’t he be normal like everybody else and say she wanted to crawl into a hole and die? Unbelievable! Just then a thought ran through my head again.
"Wait! How did Felipe know I smoke too?" I ask through narrowed eyes. I already have a feeling I know the answer to my question. Lily looks guilty now. Oh yes. I know the answer for sure now.
"Well I kinda....um.....mentioned that you were.....um... Smoking too" she says with a please forgive me look. She kinda mentioned it? No I don’t think so. You kinda mention that you failed a test that you said you studied on. You kinda mention that you broke a window because you’re a really, really bad thrower and the ball was supposed to go left instead of right. No, you don't kind mention to your boyfriend who has your best friend's boyfriend's number on speed dial (don't ask me how I know this) that your best friend is smoking too. That is just totally NOT fair and not very best friend like at all! What happened to BFF? Grrrrr. I need a nerd to push over. Lily can't tell that I'm not very happy at all.
"Please Cori. Please don’t be mad at me. I'm so sorry" she pleads to me.
"Well you should be" I tell her. Hmph. Great, now I'm going to have a really sore ass tomorrow. I hope his family doesn't notice...... That is if I'll see his family tomorrow.
"I am really sorry and to make it worse, Felipe says you can tell Eric or he can" Lily tells me. Hmmmm, should I tell Eric or let Felipe tell Eric? Or should I ask myself this, which one is going to make my butt less sore? Ugh! They both sound terrible to me. I don't know what to do.
"if I were you, I would tell Eric myself. It would be a less of a blow and you don't want Felipe giving Eric any ideas" Lily warns me. Okay, I'm definitely telling Eric myself because first of all, maybe I can tell it to him nice and slow and sweet talk my way out of a terrible painful spanking. And second of all, the last thing I want is for Felipe to give Eric ideas. Remember the time I got spanked everyday for a whole week with Mr. Meanie Belt? Guess who's idea that was? I don't even want to think about what kinds of painful ideas Felipe will tell Eric. Eric can do that just fine on his own; trust me, I know.
"good idea. I'll tell Eric myself" I tell Lily. Now how am I gonna bring the news to Eric? I'm about to ask Lily how I should tell Eric when I see a huge crowd of people walking outside. Oh, the game must be over.
"I am sooooo not looking forward tonight. Felipe is not happy; especially when he found out how long I've been smoking for" Lilt says. You know, now that she mentions that. It was a long time before either one of us to got caught. I wonder why? Are the guys slacking off or are we getting better at hiding stuff? But they never slack off sooooo...... We must be getting better. Yes!! Suddenly my cell phone beeps. Oh, a txt. I wonder who it’s from.
Hey, is everything okay? - Janey
Well it depends on how you look at it. Is anybody dead? Nope. Is anybody going to be dead? YEAH! My poor ass.
Yeah. It was important friend stuff. You know, the usual - Cori
Phew! That's good. So are you coming back?- Janey
Hmmmm, should I? I can go back to Eric's family or stay here and risk the chance of seeing an angry looking Felipe? Pshh! Well that's a hard question.
Yeah, I'm coming back. See you in 15 minutes - Cori
Yay! See you then - Janey
I turn to Lily.
"so when are you leaving to go home again?" I ask her. This is like the 100th time I've asked her this question. I always seem to forget it. I can be sooooo forgetful sometimes.
"later tomorrow morning" she tells me. That’s when everybody's leaving. It's going to be a huge traffic jam in the morning with everybody wanting to get the hell away from here. Bye-bye books, hello Christmas break. Me and Lily talk a little bit more before I got to head back to Eric's family.
"so if I don't see you tomorrow, we'll make plans to see each other during the break" I tell Lily. She nods her head and we how each other a quick hug. I say bye and quickly walk away because I think I see an angry Felipe walking this way. I feel bad for Lily. I walk through the crowds of people in the gym. Geeze, do they have to stand around and talk? They're blocking my way. Especially the nerds. And what are they even doing at the game anyway? Aren't they supposed to be at the library or something? I was about to tell a group of nerds talking as if they have all day to chit chat to move it when a pair of hands grab me and cover my eyes.  I panic. What if this person is a killer or worse? This person might be a shoe stealer! OMG!!! My beautiful babies would be all gone! This is terrible.
"Don’t hurt me or my babies. They didn't do anything to deserve this!" I cry out to whoever had me captured. I then hear a familiar laugh. Wait a minute......
"relax baby. It’s just me" the voice says behind me. The hands drop and I'm let loose and can see again. Phew! That was a close one. My shoes are safe. I quickly turn around and push Eric.
"Eric!! You scared the shit out of me. Ugh! I thought someone wanted to steal my shoes" I tell him as place my hand on my beating heart. I think I almost had a heart attack. Eric laughs again.
"Sorry angel, I couldn't resist when I saw you" he says with a smile still on his face. We’ll try to resist yourself next time. Hmph! I cross my arms and turn away from Eric while pouting.
Eric comes up behind me and puts his arm around me. He kisses my cheek.
"Awww baby. I'm sorry I scared you. You know I was just playing right?" he asks me softly into my ear. It's hard to stay mad at Eric. I wonder how Eric doesn't stay mad at ME forever. It must take a miracle.
"I know" I say with a sigh. He gives me an extra squeeze before he lets me go. I turn around and put my arms around his stomach and look up at him. Eric gives me a smile and places his hands on my butt. You see, I like when he places his hands on my butt like this but not when he places his hands repeatedly on it. (If you can catch my drift) Hmmmm, which reminds me. I wonder if I should tell Eric about me smoking now. He's in a good mood, but that can quickly change; very quickly. Nah, I'll just wait till later. I am a full time procrastinator after all. Heehee.
"So you forgive me?" Eric asks me.
“I forgive you, since you always forgive me" I tell him hoping he'll forgive me right away tonight and skip the spanking.
"Yeah, after I spank your ass" he tells me while kissing my forehead. Damn it!!!
"So where were you headed anyway?" Eric asks me. Oh yeah, I didn't tell him yet.
"To where your family is. Janey wanted me to come back" I tell Eric. He looks confused.
"Come back?" he asks me.
"Yeah, I sat by Janey and your sister Andrea during the second half of the game" I say. And I actually had a good time, but shhhhh. I'm not saying that out loud yet.
"Really? Where you okay?" Eric asks me with concern in his eyes. I shrug.
"Yeah, it actually wasn't that bad" I tell him. I push closer to him in his arms. I love his scent after he has just taken a shower. Mmmm.
"Wait until you meet the rest of my family" he says. What is that supposed to mean? Is his family crazy or something? I'm about to ask him when Eric pulls away from me and slips his left arm around the back of me and puts his hand in my back pant pocket. He starts to walk in the direction I was headed.
"But it shouldn't be that bad. Plus I'll be with you" Eric tells me.
"You’ll always be with me?" I ask him because I don't want to be left hanging by myself with his family. That would be too scary for Cori.
"Always" he tells me while kissing my forehead again. For some weird reason my body just shivered; freaky. I then know that it is going to be okay as long as I have Eric. We continue to walk to where his family is. When we get closer to the bleachers, Eric stops and turns me to face him.
"So are you sure you want to meet my family? You could always do it another time" Eric says to me. Well I would take you up on that offer, but my stupid, bad timing conscience won't let me. Ugh!
"Yeah, I'm sure" I tell him with a smile. He smiles back at me proudly. We then start to kiss, (sigh, I love our kisses) but are interrupted by a voice saying
"Eric!! Can you stop making out with your girlfriend and come show her to the rest of the family?" We're standing right next to the top of the bleachers. We look up to see Andrea standing on the top of the bleachers with her arms folded looking down on us. Eric rolls his eyes while pulling away from me and taking my hand.
"Do you take classes on how to be annoying or are you just naturally annoying?" Eric asks his sister as we start to walk to the end of the bleachers.
"Well I like to think of myself as gifted" she says as she walks down the steps of the bleachers and meets us down at the bottom. Eric rolls his eyes again. Between looking at them, I can totally see a resemblance. Their green eyes are exactly the same.
"Come on! Let's go! I'm hungry" Andrea tells us. OMG! So am I. Dang! I wish I had gotten more nachos.
"We’re coming" Eric says as we continue to walk toward his family. Okay, maybe I can't do this. I'm scared now. What if his family doesn't like me? No Cori, you can do this. Wait, is that my conscience talking to me because it sure as hell isn't my brain. Just as I'm about run, Andrea asks me a question.
"So your coming to eat with us right?" she asks me. Oh yeah, Eric did mention about going to eat with his family.
"Sure" I tell her. Her whole face lights up.
"Yay! Your sitting by me" she says excitedly and hurries toward a lady with blonde hair.
"My sister really, really likes you" Eric tells me. I know who doesn't it? Wait......actually no don't answer that. I can name quite a few people who don't.
"Good thing I'm not bi because then you might be in trouble" I tell Eric with a grin. Eric laughs and pulls me closer to him.
"Mom! Cori's coming to dinner with us" Andrea tells the lady with blonde hair. Ohhhhh, she's their mom. Now I remember her. Their mom quickly turns around and sees us. She looks like she is seeing a celebrity. If all of his family acts like this, I can get really get used to this kind of treatment. Heehee.
"Cori, it's so good to see you" she says and gives me a hug. She steps back and looks at me.
"I love your outfit. Everything is matched perfectly. Your purse is amazing and your heels are fantastic. I just lov-" she starts to before Eric says
"okay mom, she gets the picture" He rolls his eyes and shake his head.
"Oh Eric, I'm commenting on her outfit. And good game honey" his mom says to Eric and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Awwww, a Kodak moment.
"Yeah, a good job bro. I'm not surprised you one though, the other team sucked" a new voice says. Wow! The new voice belongs to a guy with black hair and brown eyes. Hmmm, he looks a lot like Eric. Seriously, he is hot. But not as hot as Eric. Eric will always be the hottest person ever; at least in my book anyway.
"Thanks Chris" Eric says sarcastically. Chris shrugs his shoulder.
"Hey! At least I said good job. Anyway, I'm Chris" he says to me. I smile at him.
"Cori" I say back. I can instantly tell that he is the kind of guy that knows he is good looking and uses it to his advantage; which if you think about it, is pretty smart. I know that a bunch of nerd girls would take a bullet for a hot guy. Anyway, after that, their mom pulls me away to meet the rest of the family, but as I go I hear Chris say to Eric
"she's really hot dude" He has a TON of family. They're all really nice though; especially the guy cousins for some reason. I'm back with Eric now, talking to his mom.
"So you'll meet us at the restaurant?" she asks Eric. I'm excited because we're going to a pizza place and I was spool craving pizza. Eric nods his head to his mom.
"Good! So see you in 15 minutes?" she asks.
"Yeah, mom" Eric says and takes my hand and leads me to the doors. Phew! Okay so I got the meeting everyone part done. Now I just can't do anything stupid or say anything dumb. Yeah, that's going to be real easy (I'm being sarcastic). And I still have to find a way to tell Eric about me smoking. Ugh! I have a lot to do tonight. It'll either end well or terribly bad.

I am sooooooo full. Why do I always do this? I always eat and eat until I feel like in going to barf. It's just that pizza is sooo good and I love to eat it, but I can never stop myself. I sound like such a pig. Ugh! Anyways, the guys are all staring at the TV’s watching sports. Typical. So I'm going to take this time to talk to Andrea. Since I'm apparently her new role model. Heehee. 

"So, what grade are you in?" I ask her. She is sitting to the left of me. 

"I'm a freshman" she tells me. Ah, a freshman. I remember what that felt like. 

"Awww! You’re a fishy" I playfully tell her while poking her in the arm. I loved to call freshman that; especially nerds. They took it so personally. 

"Don’t remind me" she says with an eye roll. I snicker. 

"So where do you go?" I ask her while taking a sip of my drink. 

"North west high" Andrea tells me. North West high?!? I almost spit out my drink, but instead I started to cough. Nice, Cori. Great job. 

"Are you okay?" she asks me worriedly. 

"Oh yeah I'm fine. I just drank a little too much at one time. So you were saying you went North West high" I ask Andrea. Get the attention away from me.

"Yeah, so did all of my brothers" she says a little sadly. Hmmmm, I wonder what's up?

"I went there for three years. That's where I met Eric" I say. So I guess it was a good thing I changes schools, but I'm not going to let my dad know that. Shhhhh. 

"yeah, my brothers are pretty legendary there. Big sport stars" she says with a sigh. Okay, something is majorly up. You know I don't usually care about other people's feelings but for some reason I actually want to see what's wrong. 

"Is that a bad thing?" I ask her quietly. I wouldn't mind having hot legendary brothers. She shrugs. 

"I'm always being compared with my brothers. People look down on me a lot since I'm not into sports" she says sadly. Yeah, I know the feeling. 

"I thought you do cross country?" I ask her. 

"Only because I need to do a sport to make my parents, especially my dad, happy. I only like to run to stay in shape and I'm not a big star" she says. Wow! This is getting deep. Too deep for Cori; that's for sure. I gotta change the direction of this fast. 

"Who cares what other people think? Do what makes you happy. I'm sure your parents won't mind. I mean, they have other kids who are sports stars, why do you have to be one to? Just be you" I tell her with a smile. She doesn't say anything, but then she smile really big. 

"Thanks, Cori" she says and gives me a tight hug. Awww. I am such a miracle worker. Suddenly a voice says in my head 

"why don't you take your advice and use it" What the?

"Don’t be a hypocrite, Cori" what is that supposed to mean, conscience? Of course I don't get an answer. Ugh!

"You know, after hearing about you and all. You don't seem like the person I thought you were" Chris says to me. Trust me; you don't want to know the true me. 

"Oh yeah? What did you hear?" I asked him. I can't wait to hear this. 

"Well according to these notes" he starts to say. Notes?

"He took notes?" I ask Eric. Eric rolls his eye and shakes his head. 

"No they're my mom's" he says. 

"She took notes about me? I'm flattered" I say with a smile. 

"Who described me?" I ask next. 

"Janey" Eric and Chris say at the same time. Ah crap! Never mind, I don’t think I want to hear the list now. 

"Ugh! Let's hear it" I say kinda afraid now. Eric laughs. 

"Read it Chris" Eric says. 

"Okay, so you have an awesome fashion sense" Chris says. 

"Well duh! Just look at me" I say to him. Okay, I can't keep my mouth shut about that. I do have a spectacular fashion sense. I agree one hundred percent. Eric snorts. 

"You sure are modest baby" he says to me. I push his shoulder. 

"Shhh. Keep going" I tell Chris. So the list said that I was fun to be with (which Andrea definitely agreed with) and that I was a shopaholic (Eric and I definitely agreed on that one). 

"So the last two are that you are really funny and aren't afraid to voice your opinion. Well?" Chris asks. 

"Well I can be funny, especially if you like sarcasm" I say. If you think what I say is sarcastic, you should hear what I say inside my head. You'd die of laughter. And speaking of dying, I just got a txt from Lily. 

Well? - Lily

Good thing were BFF's or I'd have nooooo idea what she was talking about. 

Not yet, but I will. Promise- Cori

"and I'm usually not afraid to voice my opinions" I say. And I said usually because I'm usually not unless Eric is there; but that hasn't stopped me before. Heehee. 

"Well you haven't said much, so I wouldn't know" Chris says. 

"Oh, I have my moments. Just ask Eric" I say with a smirk. I think he is about to ask Eric, but my cell buzzes indicating that I have a new txt. I look down at my phone and was just about to open it when a voice says

"hey Cha-cha, fancy meeting you here"

 I freeze. Did I just hear that voice or did my brain deceive me? God, I really hope my brain is deceiving me. No it can't be....... But it is. Ugh! I look up from my cell and see the face of Jared sitting down at our table across from me. Janey is sitting down next to him. Take a deep breath, Cori. 

"Jared!!" I say through clenched teeth. I'm trying not to glare, but I just can't help it with this guy. He nods his head at me. 

"Sup" he says. 

"Wait a minute. Hold up. Do you not like him or something?" Chris asks me with an amused. No, this guy is my best friend. Can't you tell?

"No, she hates me. She thinks I'm the king of the deebs" he tells Chris who is sitting next to him. Okay first of all, its dweebs not deeps. And second of all he is the king and then some. 

"I can answer for myself, Jared. And what he said is correct" I say and glare at Jared again before looking at my txt. Chris is laughing. 

You better do it. You don't want Felipe telling Eric -Lily 

I'm at dinner with his family. I can't tell him now. And how much time do I have left to tell him - Cori 

"what are you doing here anyway?" I ask Jared. He's breathing in my air. Ugh! 

"You didn't tell her yet?" Eric asks Janey. Janey looks nervous now. 

"Tell me what?" I ask. How come I'm always the last to know EVERYTHING?!?

"Oh......that... Um.... Were dating" Janey says. My mouth drops. I swear time stops. I then glare at Jared, BUT I don't say anything. I look at my cell and see the new txt from Lily.

Oh until tomorrow morning - Lily

Ugh! Lily!!! You made it seem like I had until midnight or else Felipe would turn into a flying pumpkin and turn me into an ugly frog with no fashion sense - Cori

"Cori?" Eric asks me. I look up and notice they're all staring at me. 

"You’re not going to say anything?" Janey asks me. If I open my mouth, they'll see the true Cori. Should I risk it?

"What do you want me to say?" I ask her. That was good, keep it simple. 

"I don't know. I'd thought you'd have a lot to say about us dating" she says. Oh honey, do I ever. 

Okay, what's wrong - Lily 

Janey and Jared are DATING - Cori

"what's done is done. I can't change it" I simply tell her. I can't change it now, but I definitely will later. 

"What? The show's over already?" Chris asks in amused disappointed voice. 

"Dude, shut up" Eric says to him. 

WHAT?!?! - Lily

Yup. Gross huh? And he's sitting right in front of me eek! -Cori

"she's in total shock mode babe. Just like everybody else was" Jared says to Janey. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I am so NOT in shock mode. Yeah I'm shocked, but not shocked enough to be speechless. I am soooo not speechless. 

"Fine. I don't think he's good enough for you. You can do soooooo much better. What do you see in this guy, anyway?" I ask her while looking at Jared and his greasy hair. Nasty!

"Well, he is really sweet, makes me laugh, I always have fun with him, and we have a lot in common" she tells me. How can he be sweet? 

"You didn't say anything about his looks?" Andrea asks her. Thank you Andrea!!!

"I think he is adorable" Janey says while looking at Jared. Ugh! A sick fest. 

"Greasy hair and all?" Eric asks her. 

"Greasy hair and a-. Ha-ha!" Janey says while glaring at Eric. So he thinks his hair is greasy too. Couples telepathy I tell you. 

"Sorry Janey, I couldn't resist" he tells her with a smile. Thank you so much for not resisting yourself!

Call me ASAP - Lily

"just give him a chance" Janey says to me. Yeah right!

"Do you want to know what he said to me when I first met him? I ask Janey. 

"I sure do" Chris says still laughing. He is really enjoying this, isn't he?

"Okay I was leaving my dorm and then I bump into him. I say I didn't mean to and he says its okay hot stuff. And then he told me I had a scrumptious body and started calling me cha-cha. A scrumptious body!!!" I tell her. Chris laughs even harder. Eric rolls his eyes and tries to hide a grin. 

"Eew! You shouldn't say that to girls" Andrea says to Jared while scooting farther

"I was just saying the truth" Jared says with a shrug. Geeze, nice boyfriend. 

"Oh please" I say and roll my eyes. 

"It’s true. Go ask any guy in here if you do and see what they say" he tells me. 

"Fine. I will" I say. 

"Like hell you will" Eric tells me. (Sigh) Well it was worth a try. Anyway, I got to end this and go call Lily

"okay listen, even though I don't and never will like your new boyfriend I'm happy that you’re happy. Kay?" I say to Janey. She smiles at me. 

"Thanks Cori" she says. I shrug. That's what I do. But I still hate her boyfriend. Ugh!!

"Dudes, come to the arcade with me and Chris! What are you finding so funny?" a guy says coming up to the table.  Another good looking brother, I can tell. Damn! Good genes must run in this family. 

"Zach! I love Eric's girlfriend. You just missed the best conversation ever....." Chris says getting up from the table and telling his brother about the awesome conversation he just missed while they head toward the arcade. 

"You gonna be okay?" Eric asks me while getting up from the table. 

"Yeah, I'll be fine" I tell him. He kisses my cheek before leaving. I look back to Janey and Jared who are rubbing their noses together. I roll my eyes. 

"Hey, I'm going to the bathroom. You'll be okay with the lovebirds, right?" I ask her. She nods her head but looks kinda sick from looking at them. She's not the only one. I quickly head over to the bathroom with my cell. I have a very important call to make. 

 "I still can't believe Janey and Jared are dating. Unbelievable!" Lily tells me. 

"I know! It's terrible. Ugh! Let's talk about something else. I feel like I wanna barf after talking about it" I tell her. Good thing I'm in the bathroom. 

"So what did Felipe do to you?" I ask Lily. I'm surprised she isn't dead. 

"Ugh! It was terrible. He was really, really mad. He spanked me with my hairbrush and then he spanked me with his belt. I'll never be able to sit down again" Lily says to me. OMG!!! It makes my butt feel weird knowing I probably won't be able to sit forever either. 

"That does sound terrible. Is he still mad as you?" I ask Lily. 

"No, he isn't. He usually doesn't stay mad at me after a spanking" she says. 

"Yeah, the same thing for Eric" I say. Good thing too because I don't know what I'd do if he stayed mad at me. 

"Are you spending the night at our dorm room?" I ask her. 

"No, I'm packing my stuff now and then I'm heading back to Felipe's dorm to spend the night with him" she tells me. 

"Ah so you can get up and go in the morning, right?" I ask her. 

"Exactly. So when are you going to tell Eric?" she asks me. She must think I'm not going to tell him. Actually it is something I would do, isn't it?

"Soon. Like after we leave here" I tell Lily. I just want to get it over with. 

"You better because you know Felipe will tell Eric" she warns me. Yeah, I'm not going to let that happen. 

"I know! I'll tell Eric myself for sure" I tell Lily. We talk a little more before we say good bye, then I head back out there to talk to Andrea and try not to look at the disgusting love birds. 

"I think you should spend the night at our house tonight since you were planning on coming tomorrow anyway" his mom says to me as everybody is getting ready to leave. Wait.....what? I was planning on staying with his family for the weekend before I go home to my dad's. But tonight too?

"Mom, its ten o'clock at night. It takes like three hours to get home" Eric says. I love being three hours away from my family. No, parental control. Heehee. 

"Yeah, but two and a half hours with no traffic. So you'll get to the house faster" his dad says coming up to us. I guess that is true, but I really need to tell Eric about you know what and I can't if we have to leave for his house tonight. 

"We have to finish packing and that means we won't be leaving the campus until probably around eleven. So we won't be home until one-thirty" Eric says to his parents. Dang! That's late.....or early. 

"Well you can sleep in for as long as you want to in the morning" his mom says. Sweet! I'll definitely need that. Eric sighs. 

"Your not going to take no as an answer, are you?" he says. She shakes her head no. Now I see where Eric gets it from. 

"It’s really up to Cori, remember" he says. His mom looks at me. 

"Will you spend the night? If you don't to and come tomorrow, that's fine too" she says to me. I can tell she really wants me to say yes. 

"Sure, I don't mind" I say. Her face lights up just like Andrea's did. Good thing I said yes. 

"So you have a key to get in, right?" she asks Eric. Eric nods his head and takes my hand. 

"Yeah I do. We're gonna head out. So see yea later" Eric says. His parents tell us bye and to drive be safe. So it will take us about fifteen minutes to get back to the campus and fifteen minutes for me to come up with a way to tell Eric. Ugh! I need more time. As were driving back, Eric takes my hand and kisses it. 

"You know my family loves you right?" he ask me. Hmmmm. You know, I kinda got that impression that they did; but you never know. 

"Really?" I ask him with a smile. 

"Really" Eric says with a smile back at me. YES!! Goal accomplished. Now all I have to do is don't do anything stupid to change their minds about me. Well that will be easy. NOT! So we get back to campus and our walking to our dorms. You see, there is a huge water fountain in the middle where all the paths meet. It separates into paths leading to the different dormitories are. This is where we are now and where I'm planning on telling Eric about the smoking. I'm tempted to put a coin in the fountain for a wish that Eric won't kill me. 

"Eric?" I asks me. Deep breathe in and out. 

"Yeah, baby?" he asks looking down at me. 

"I gotta tell you something" I tell him. I'm not making any eye contact with him at the moment. Would you? I don't think so. 

"What is it angel?" he asks me. I sigh. Well here it goes. 

"Actually, I think we should head over to your dorm and I'll just finish telling you there" I say and start to pull Eric in the direction of his dorm. Okay, so I chickened out. I think Lily got the better end of the deal. She didn't have to tell Felipe like I have to tell Eric. This is torture. I like it better when Eric finds out about these things on his own; not through me. 

"Oh, so it's a bad thing?" he asks me. Oh yeah. I just nod my head. I'm tempted to tell Eric to tell just go ahead and txt Felipe for the information. Ugh! We get to his dorm room. 

"So tell me baby" Eric tells me. I bite my bottom lip with my teeth. 

"Okay, so I have been smoking cigarettes for the last three weeks" I say and then burst into tears and fall face down on top of his bed. I continue lying on Eric's bed with my face hiding between my arms sobbing uncontrollably. I'm really hoping Eric isn't going to be embarrassed of me in front of his family now. That would be terrible; not for me, but for Eric. I'm a horrible girlfriend. He deserves someone sooooo much better. Although, he probably won't find another girl with as much fashion sense as me. That I know for a fact. Heehee. 

Eric's POV: 

Wow! My girlfriend was fine and then the next thing I know she is in a crying heap on my bed. Cori can be so bipolar sometimes. I wonder why she's like this. She usually doesn't cry until I start spanking her; never before (as if you don't know why). I wonder what's up. Before I get to the smoking business, I got to find out what's bothering my sad little angel. I sit next to her lying form on my bed. She's sobbing really hard. I'm surprised she can still breathe. 

"Cori, calm down a little. Your gonna start coughing if you don't start taking deep breathes. Breathe angel" I tell her while I start rubbing her back gently. She does what I tell her to do; surprisingly. Usually with Cori, he always likes to test my limits. Once my baby calms down to a lot more controllable sobs, I start my questioning. 

"What’s wrong, little angel?" I ask her softly. Cori just shakes her head at me in her arms. I roll my eyes. See! I told you she likes to test my limits. 

"Come on, baby. Just tell me. I won't get mad. I promise" I tell her gently. Getting mad at Cori for doing things that always seem to blow my mind away is one thing. But I could never get mad at her when she is upset or obviously hurting. At first, Cori doesn't do anything. But then she slowly lifts her head up out of her arms and turns her teary eyed face at me and lays on her arms while looking at me. This about breaks my heart to see her like this. I hate it when my little one cries. 

"Baby, tell me what's wrong? What's making you so sad" I ask her softly. This just brings on a fresh tears to her face. Great job, Eric. Cori closes her eyes and cries more. Okay, this is getting nowhere. I got to take a handle on this situation. I reach up and wipe away her damp hair from her eyes. 

"Cori, I want to help you. But I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong, now can I?" I ask her firmly but gently. She shakes her head no. 

"So calm down, stop crying, and tell me what's wrong" I tell her. Cori takes a shaky breath. She's still crying but not as hard before. 

"I'm sorry.............I won’t do it again........ A mistake..... Didn't like it......don't hate me.......never again.....what was I thinking.........I'm sorry.......only for finals......few weeks......would stop.....so sorry....." Cori tells me. Or at least tries to tell me. Since she was crying, I only got bits and pieces of what she was telling me. But I got the idea. 

"So you feel bad for smoking?" I ask her. She nods her head. Cori seems a lot better after telling me; like I knew it would. 

"I'm sorry Eric" she tells me in this really sad voice. The voice you get after you've cried along time. My heart breaks more. I grab under her arms and pull her onto my lap. I put my arms around her and hold her tight while rocking her until she stops crying. The only thing you can hear is her sniffles. I kiss the top of her head. 

"Are you okay now, baby?" I ask her. Cori shakes her head no. 

"Why not?" I ask her. You'd think after all that crying she'd be a little better. But then again, it is my baby who I'm talking too. 

"Because I still feel bad" she tells me quietly into my shoulder. 

"I know baby. We're going to deal with that in a few minutes, but I need to know this. Do you know how much I love you?" I ask her quietly into her ear. Don't think I didn't hear her say don't hate me. I heard that loud and clear. Cori nods her head. 

"Do you know that I could never hate you?" I ask her next. I get a nod in response as well. I kiss her temple before helping her off my lap to stand between my legs. 

"Okay baby, let's deal with the consequences now" I tell her while unbuttoning her jeans and start pulling them, along with her panties, down.  I pull her jeans and panties down to her knees and help her over my lap. I put my hand on her bare butt and begin to rub to calm her nerves down. Okay so here's the thing, I'm only going to spank her with my hand. I know, shocker isn't it? You thought I'd be pissed huh? When Cori first told me that she has been smoking, I didn't even have time to react to what she said before she started crying and my mind was set on knowing what's wrong; not that she was smoking. So I was never really mad, just kinda shocked really. I didn't even scold or tell her off and she was extremely sorry about what she did (and I'm not using that word lightly). That shows me that Cori is actually sorry for what she did and I don't know why but I have this feeling she won't be smoking again. NOT because I'm gonna spank her ass, but for some other reason which I don't know yet. Hopefully I'll find out soon. 

I raise the heel of my foot up so that Cori's butt is higher and giving me full access to her sit spots and thighs. Hey, just because I said I'm going to spank her with my hand doesn’t mean that it isn't going to hurt. It's definitely going to hurt like hell. 

"you ready, angel?" I ask her giving her butt a few pats before I start her spanking. Cori nods her head. I raise my hand up high and bring it crashing down on her right sit spot. 

Cori's POV:

Ugh! It's going to be a sit spot and thigh spanking. Yay! Lucky me. NOT! Eric is really spanking me hard. 

"ow! I'm sorry Eric owwie" I cry out to him with tears already running down my face again. Okay, so I really do feel bad and all, but what was I thinking?!?? Did I forget that spankings hurt or something? I'll get rid of my guilt somewhere else please. 

Smack smack smack smack

"ah owwie I'm soorryyyy ahh" I cry out. Is his hand made of steel or something? My butt is already on fire and we just started. Ugh!

"are (smack) you (smack) going (smack) ever (smack) smoke (smack) a (smack) cigarette (smack) again? (smack smack smack)" Eric asks me. Hell no!!! I wasn't planning to before you even started spanking me. That show's something for sure. I'm sobbing really hard now. 

Smack smack smack smack

Eric must have spanked my sit spots and thighs at least a hundred times each. Or at least that's how it feels to me. 

"ahhhh please Eric I'm sorry ahhh" I sob loudly. And the sucky part is that this is just the warm up. I really don't want to know what Eric is going to pick to spank me next. I hope it isn't Mr. Meanie Belt. That would suck. 

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK 

"Cori, do you think you learned your lesson?" Eric asks me while resting his hand on my inflamed cheeks. My poor defenseless butt. I'm sorry this has happened to you....again. I quickly nod my head. 

"yes sir" I sob. 

"are you ever going to smoke again?" Eric asks while rubbing my butt. 

"no sir. I'm sorry" I sob next. Eric seems satisfied with my answer because the next the thing I know he's lifting me up and helping me sit on his lap gently. He puts his arms around me and rocks me back and forth as I calm down. Wait a minute? What just happened here?

"Eric? (sniff)The spanking's over? (sniff)" I ask him. Eric looks down at me with a smile. 

"yes, my baby" he says while kissing my wet cheek. He finished? Seriously?

"that's it!?!" I ask him kinda shocked. I was expecting a ton more. No Mr. Meanie Belt or Ms. Unfriendly Brush?

"what? You want more?" he asks me with a small amused smile. Um, no thanks. 

"no please" I say quickly and snuggle back into him. Eric laughs. He continues to hold and cuddle me until I am no longer crying or even sniffling. 

"are you okay now angel?" he asks me. 

I smile. 

"much better" I tell him. Eric smile back at me and kisses my nose. I feel surprisingly happy. Actually the whole thing wasn't that bad. I mean the spanking still hurt like hell but I think u got the better end of the deal. Ha-ha! Poor Lily. That's what she gets for telling on me. Heehee. 

"come on baby, we gotta get up and get ready to leave" Eric tells me while helping me off his lap and gently pulling up my pants and panties over my sore butt. I wince when it makes contact with my jeans. Ow!!

"oh yeah, we got to leave for your house tonight huh?" I ask him. He nods his head and sighs. 

"yes baby, but I wish we could leave tomorrow morning instead of tonight" he says looking at his watch. 

"why?" I ask. We're gonna beat the traffic; so what's the problem?

"it's 11:30 now and we probably won't be leaving until 1200 and it takes two and a half hours to get home" he tells me. So what's the problem?

"so what's wrong with that?" I ask him. 

"I want to get you to bed ASAP. You usually sleep after a spanking; since you’re always so tired. But after all the crying you did tonight, your gonna feel really exhausted" he tells me. 

"oh Eric. I'll be fine" I say but end up yawning at the end of my sentence. Eric gives me an I told you so look. 

"all this talk about sleep made me yawn” I tell him in my defense. Well it did. It’s a natural reaction. Duh! Eric smiles and rolls his eyes. 

"Go on baby. Get your pajamas on and pack up" he tells me and pats my butt to start me off to his door. Sounds good to me. 

"oh and Eric, I think it would be a good idea if I got a nectarine patch to wear to help me quit smoking. Just to make sure" I say as I open his door. I walk out and turn around to Eric outside his doorway. 

"you mean a nicotine patch, angel. A nectarine is an orange" Eric tells me. 

Really? It's an orange? That explains it!

"ohhhhhh. No wonder the lady at the store gave me a weird look. Ha! Go figure" I tell Eric with a smile and start to walk to my dorm. I hear Eric laugh behind me. 

"I love you, baby" 

Okay, Lily. This is what we're going to do. I'm gonna grab my gold and white flats and your gold heels from the evil old witch lady and then I'm gonna throw it long to you. You catch it and run as fast as you can to the cashier. If you get stopped by annoying robot nerds then use your awesome ninja skills to defeat them. I'll try to distract IT by wearing an invisible vest. Oh and wear earplugs or else Mr. Annoying pants Jared will use his evil yodeling to distract us. Ready set and g- 

"Eric!! Cori!! Wake up, you guys. It's time for breakfast" I hear a voice say. What the? Noooo, my dream's disappearing and it was such a good plan too. Hmph. Who is this anyway? I can barely open my eyes. I'm sooooo freakin' tired. I hear Eric groan. 

"Andrea! What the hell? Leave us alone" he says as he pulls my body closer to his. I snuggle my face into his chest. 

"But it's time for breakfast" Andrea says in an excited little girl kind of voice. 

"I don't care. We got home early this morning and all I have time for is sleep. So leave us alone" Eric grumbles to his sister already half asleep again. Yeah, we got here at like 3:45 this morning and went to bed at around 4:15. I told you I was tired. Okay, so I did fall asleep on the way here. Eric's probably more tired than me since he had to drive, BUT I did get spanked. So it's even. Ha!

"but-" Andrea starts to say but was interrupted by their mom yell

"ANDREA!! I told you to leave them two alone. Come downstairs. NOW!!" Dang!! I didn't expect that kind of voice from her. I hear Andrea huff and leave the room, closing the door behind her. I snuggle even closer to Eric's warm body. I wonder if Eric is asleep again. Hmmmm, should I chance it? You know how boys can get if you disturb their beauty sleep. They are like fire breathing dragons. No lie. Me and Lily have compared stories. Okay, so maybe we have done a few pranks on them while they were sleeping, but that is sooo different. BTW Eric looks so good with golden hair. Heehee. 

"Eric?" I ask quietly. I quickly shut my eyes tight incase he decides to spit fire at me. I hear a slight tired chuckle from the dragon himself. Is that a good thing? He gives my forehead a kiss before saying

"yeah, baby?" Definitely a good thing.....for now. 

"What time is it?" I ask him while looking up into his closed eyed face. 

"Time for you to go back to sleep" he tells me while placing his hand on my butt. Okay Cori, your dreading on water now. Be careful. 

"But Eric, why can't you tell me? I just want to know" I whine to him. Cori, what did I tell you about being careful?

"Because your extremely tired baby girl and need your sleep. If I tell you the time, your mind will wonder off into who knows where and you'll never be able to go back to sleep. Which means I won't be going back to sleep either" Eric says to me while rubbing my butt gently. I don't think I want to keep Eric awake; especially when he's in dragon mode. You’re lucky he isn't in full blast dragon mode or else the house might burn down. And my mind does not wonder off either. I don't know what he is talking about. Eric always says stuff that isn't true. Like one time he said that he thinks I'm addicted to shopping. Well okay I guess that's true but I can break away any time I want too. But why would I want to? Shopping rocks; like chocolate. Whoever found chocolate is a genius. Kinda of like myself. Duh! Oh and-

"angel, come on. Close your eyes and get comfortable. We're gonna be here for quite awhile longer" Eric says as he runs his fingers up and down my back. Hmmmm, that feels really good. His magic fingers are working. My eyes start to droop and I feel my body relax. 

"How long can I sleep for anyway?" I ask him, fighting myself from sleep. I want to win this time. Eric places his hands on my butt again and pats it in a warning kind of way. 

"Until I say so" he tells me. I sigh. I better not argue with the dragon. Hmph! I never win. I snuggle deeper under the covers, but still close to Eric. Eric continues to rub my back and butt as I start to fall back asleep again. My eyes are closed and I'm at the unconscious state of dreamland when I barely hear Eric whisper to me 

“it’s 9:22, baby" right before everything goes black.
I yawn as I walk behind Eric to wherever he's going. And when I say I'm walking behind Eric, I mean literally. I'm right behind Eric with my arms closed around his stomach. I sooooo do not want to face the world right now. Because for one thing, I really don't want to face his family and two I'm still sleepy. Ugh! I personally think Eric woke me up too soon, but he said that if I didn't wake up now then I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Double ugh! He want me to go to sleep when I don't, but when I want to sleep he doesn't let me. Eric walks downstairs to where the kitchen is. It's surprisingly quiet. I'd thought there would be a ton of noise considering how much family they have. They have so much family that Eric's parents bought a huge mega house just so that they could fit all of their family in it during the holidays. Tons of family, I tell you. We get to the kitchen and I look around Eric to see his mom sitting at the table looking at recipes in a magazine. 

"Mom?" Eric says to her attention. She looks up startled. Those must be some recipes she's looking at. 

"Oh there you guys are. I was wondering when I'd see you guys. Did you sleep good?" she asks us. 

"Yeah, once Andrea left us alone" Eric says. 

"I told her to let you guys sleep but she didn't listen. I'm sorry" she says actually looking really very sorry. 

"It’s cool" Eric says with a shrug. 

"So how did the drive go?" his mom asks next. The drive actually wasn't that bad. We did cut the time shorter. That's good considering my ass was freakin' sore. Eric tells her it was the same as always. 

"Where is everybody anyway?" Eric asks his mom. I was wondering the same thing. 

"Oh some of them went to the mall for Christmas shopping, others went to the park, and well the rest I'm not really sure where they went. I'm glad they left though because I didn't want them to disturb you two" she says to us. Omg! I love his mom. She is like the nicest person I know. She really cares about Eric and must really like me. That is a first in my book. I wonder if she'd still like me if she found about how I can get into a lot of trouble. I wonder if she'd like me then. I don't want to find out. 

"Sit down and let me make you something to eat" she tells us while she hurries out of her chair and heading to the fridge. Eric helps me sit down gently on a chair. I’m still half asleep and really not paying attention to where I'm going and plus I still have a sore ass. Eric bends over and kisses my cheek before going inside the kitchen where his mom is. I take this time to look around. I see a lot of family pictures, sports trophies, and a ton of pictures obviously made from the kids. Awwwww, how cute. It makes me kinda sad looking at these things. I wish I had an awesome childhood like Eric. He's so lucky. I wonder why he wants to be with a messed up girl like me. My eyes start to moisten. Pull yourself together, Cori. You'll be fine. Whatever you do, don't cry. That's the last thing you need is Eric questioning you and he won't stop until he gets an answer. Okay, quick. New topic. I look around some more. I really like how his mom decorates their house. I can tell she has great taste; especially since she commented on my outfit last night. Anyone who does that obviously has great taste. Duh! I continue to look around when something catches my eye on the table. It was the magazine that his mom was looking at with all of the recipes. She flipped it closed when she stood up. Now it is showing the back cover with a familiar looking picture. Oh crap! My eyes widen. I look to the right where Eric and his mom are in the kitchen. Neither one is looking my way. I quietly grab the magazine with my ninja like fingers and pull it towards me. My heart starts beating faster as I pull it closer to me. No. No, no, no, no, nooooo. It can't be; but it is. There on the back of the magazine is a picture of me from one of those modeling shoots. The one where I'm in a pink bikini. The one I didn't want Eric to see and especially NOT his family. Damn! What am I going to do now? I look over at Eric and his mom again and not that they still are not looking this way. I use my ninja skills to quietly rip the picture of me out of the magazine. And let me tell you, it is not easy to rip something quietly. You gotta have ninja skills like me. Heehee. Okay now that I have the picture, I gotta figure out a way to get rid of it. Hmmmmm, I could rip it? Nope, not gonna risk being loud. Sit on it? Nah, if I stand up, it could stick to my butt. How I just eat it. Sounds easy. I open my mouth to stuff the paper in when I see something out of the corner of my eye. I look to see a small blonde girl staring right at me. 

Shit! I've been caught. I slowly lift the paper away from my mouth. I quickly stuff the paper in my bra. I look back over the little girl. She is still staring at me, but not in an I'm looking at a crazy physco way. Just in a curious way; thankfully. If I was her, I'd probably think what in the world is this freak doing in my house? You got to show her that you’re not crazy, Cori. I smile and wave at her. She quickly looks down at her feet, but I see a small smile on her face. She looks back up at me shyly before walking back into the living room. Quick Cori. Think fast. I look back to Eric and his mom. Eric's back is to me and his mom is digging around their fridge. Sweet! Now all I have to do is sneak out of the room. I double check to make sure the coast is clear before I quietly get up from my chair and start to walk to the doorway. Omg!! This is soooo hard. How do mice tip toe so easily? Thank god I'm not wearing heels today. I FINALLY get to the doorway leading to the living room. Ha! I didn't even get caught. I bet you thought I would, huh? Heehee. I walk into the living room and I instantly am greeted with a pair of green eyes staring at me........again. The little girl is sitting on the floor with a bunch of Barbie dolls lined up on the floor. Hmmmm, what's up with that? I walk closer to her. Wow, this is a little awkward. 

"Um hi..... I know that you saw me about to eat a piece of paper, but it's for a good cause. I'm not crazy. I was just sooooo hungry and I thought that the paper looked appetizing and I decided to try a piece. Totally not crazy. So maybe you won't mention what you saw to Eric....... Or anybody...... But especially Eric...... Please" I say to her quietly while walking closer to her. Okay, I know I'm not supposed to be teaching her to keep secrets but this is crucial. If she mentions a word to this to her family, I might as well kill myself. If she mentions this to Eric, I don't have to kill myself because will do that for me. She just looks at me. Well she must officially think I'm crazy. Good job, Cori. She then smile at and shyly pats the floor next to her. I walk over to her and sit down gently and slowly next to her. Still sore, remember. I cross my legs and look at her. She lifts her hand up to my face, but stops and hesitates. What's she doing? 

"Go on" I say gently with a smile. She then lifts get hand to my nose and rubs it. Awwwww, she is so cute. Even though I have no idea what she is doing. 

"I-I w-won't t-tell a-anybody a-as l-long a-as you s-stay w-with E-Eric f-forever a-and e-ever b-because y-you m-make h-him r-really h-happy" she tells me in a serious little kid face. Is she kidding? Of course I'm going to stay with Eric forever. Although I don't think I always make Eric happy; in fact more like mad. So she won't tell anybody? I like this girl even more now. 

"Deal. Even though I was planning on staying with Eric forever and ever anyway. But I'm glad that you approve" I say with a smile and a wink. She smiles at me again. 

"I'm Cori by the way. What's your name?" I ask her. She looks like an Ashley. 

"D-Devon" she tells me. Well, she also looks like a Devon too. My name could've worked too. 

"Wow! You have a ton of Barbie dolls. I loved to play with mine when I was your age. I still sometimes do, but shhhhhh. That's our secret" I tell her. She giggles. And I'm not lying. I used to play with my Barbie dolls until last year, but my step mom gave them away. (Sniff) I miss my babies. 

"OMG!! Look at all of the clothes you have. I loved to just change their clothes and match them with different accessories" I say while looking at all of the doll clothes. I used to dress my doll up and pretend it was me. Heehee. Devon nods her head too. 

"m-me t-too!! D-do y-you w-want t-to d-do I-it n-now?" she asks me shyly again. How can I say no to that face? Hmmm, maybe I should take notes. Maybe I can use it on Eric. Heehee. 

"Duh!" I say with a smile and then she shows me all of her favorite Barbies and clothes and then we begin to dress them all up while using my awesome Barbie fashion tips. Duh! Obviously. Heehee!!
"oh my gosh, we have to hurry and defeat these slow evil mall walkers or else we won't make it to the buy one pink shoe and get a green one for free sale" I cry out. Me and Devon are having soooo much fun. I love playing Barbies. It reminds me of my childhood years. (Sigh) Good times, good times. 

"Phew! We made it past the slow walkers, now we have to jump over the-" I say before I hear a voice say

"having yourself a nice play time, Cori?" I look up to see Eric leaning against the doorway grinning at me. 

"As a matter of fact, I am Eric. Care to join us?" I ask him back without missing a beat. Oh yeah, that's how I roll. I'm fast with the comebacks when I want to be. Which let me tell you, is not often. It's too much work. Eric walks into the living room while rolling his eyes. 

“As fun as that sounds I can’t. It’s Devon's nap time “he tells us. Awww, she's lucky. I want a nap time. Hmph!

"I-I d-don't w-want a-a n-nap t-time. Y-you a-always r-ruin a-all t-the f-fun, E-Eric" Devon says pouting to him. 

Don't worry, I'm used to that. I know how you feel. 

"Yeah, Eric. Why do you always have to ruin all the fun?" I say to him in a fake pout too. Eric grins and shakes his head at me while rolling his eyes. 

"Geeze, I wonder why?" he asks me. Yeah, I always wonder the same thing. 

"Sorry baby doll. It’s mommy's orders. Not mine" Eric tells Devon with a shrug. Just then their mom walks into the room also. 

"Come on, Devon. Nap time. Say good bye to Eric and Cori" she says and takes a hold of her hand. Devon looks so sad when she told us night night. I don't know what she's sad about. Oh wait, she doesn't get to spend any more time with me right now. Actually that is depressing. Eric takes a hold of my hand and helps me up off the ground. 

"Thanks for playing with her baby. I know she really wanted to me you" he tells me, giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I smile. I'm really glad to have pleased Eric; finally. Eric takes my hand and leads me back to the kitchen table. Just as I was sitting down, I remember that I have to txt Lily today. 

"Eric, I need to get my cell phone! Be right back" I say jumping up quickly out of my chair. But just as I did that, the paper falls out of my tank top and falls on the floor right between me and Eric.  Okay FREEZE!!! What are my options here? I could nonchalantly take the picture and act like it's nothing major. I could grab it and run. Oorrrr I could do both. I could nonchalantly grab it, act like it's nothing major, and then run. Plan a, b, or c? Hmmmmm. Eek! I don't know. I'll just wing it. Okay, Cori. Act like a bird. I look up at Eric. He looks confused. He's probably wondering why a freaking' piece of paper flew out of my shirt. 

"Oops! I dropped this" I say and bend down to grab my picture. So far, so good. Don’t worry, I got this. 

"Baby, why were you hiding a paper in your shirt?" Eric asks me still looking confused. Wing it, Cori and act natural. 

"Oh, because...well I saw a great story in a magazine about how to keep...um... Gray hairs away for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long time and I wanted to keep the paper with me to show Lily" I tell Eric. Okay, so it may not have been my best excuse but I panicked. What else was I supposed to say? Actually I could have said it was a recipe that his mom gave me to try. Ugh!! NOW I think of that. Just Unbelievable. I jinxed myself. I soooooo don't got this. Good job Cori. Eric just looks at me. I can't exactly meet his eyes. Geeze, I wonder why?

"Give it to me" Eric tells me while putting his hand out. Um, no thanks. 

"What for?" I say holding onto the paper tighter with both of my hands. 

"Because I want to see what it really is" Eric tells me. Think fast, Cori. 

"I told you what it says" I tell him while backing away from Eric. I want to get far, far away right now. 

"Cori, I know you. You’re so lying. Gray hairs? Really? Try a little harder next time" Eric tells me while advancing on me as I continue to move backwards. I was trying this time! Next time, I'm going to the easy way; grab it and run for my life. 

"Okay, so it isn't about gray hairs. But I can't tell you what it is" I tell him while backing into the kitchen wall. Damn! I'm trapped. 

"And why not?" Eric asks me, stopping 2 feet in front of me and folding his arms together while waiting expectantly. That's a good question. Maybe because once you do see what I'm hiding, you aren't going to be very happy; at all. 

"Ummmmm because it's a surprise for you and I don't really want to ruin it for you. Duh!" I say trying to play it cool. Even though on the inside I'm am so not cool. Total panic mode here. I'm also slowly moving to the right against the wall so I can escape. 

"A surprise huh? Well lucky for you I don't like surprises. So you can go ahead and tell me" he tells me while placing his hands on either side of me against the walls, stopping me from my escape. Ugh! Double trapped. Eric doesn't like surprises. Neither do I. That's a thing we have in common. It's funny actually because I seem to surprise Eric with whatever troubles I have done recently. No wonder he hates surprises. 

"No!" I tell him. Maybe not the smartest decision but I'm desperate here. Eric narrows his green eyes. 

"Cori, you can give me the paper or I can take it from you. Either way, I'm going to have it. So it's up to you" he tells me. No, the end is near; but I still have some tricks up my sleeve. 

"Not unless I eat it" I say and hold the paper to my mouth. Déjà vu or what. 

Eric then takes a hold of my arm and takes the paper out of my hands. SHIT!! 

I can't look. He opens the folded paper. I look up at Eric. He is looking at my picture. He hasn't said anything yet; good sign. Then I notice a very, very bad sign. His normal bright green eyes are now a dark, dark green. 
"Cori, what the hell?" Eric asks me looking pissed. I'm in soooooo much trouble. 

"I can explain" I tell him hoping to calm him down. That way he won't be as mad when he is slapping the daylights out of my butt for this. 

"You better have a good explanation for this" he tells me. (Gulp) Yeah, me too. 

"Okay, so me and Lily went to a lady who was taking pictures of rookie models for free. She thought we were really good so she asked us to come back and take pictures again. But we would get paid the second time and we did. The lady said that our pictures would be put in magazines as an ad; but she said that they wouldn't be put into any major magazines are newspapers" I tell him quickly. Thank god the truth is finally out. Eric folds his arms again. 

"Oh yeah? What magazine did you get this one out of?" he asks me. Hmmm, that's a good question. 

"I don't know. I got it off the back cover of your mom's magazine" I tell him with a shrug. What magazine was his mom looking at? Eric and I both look over to the magazine still on the table. 

"So your pictures wouldn't be in any major magazines?" he asks me. Yup, that's what she told us. I nod my head. 

"Well she lied to you then because the magazine my mom was looking at was Cosmo" Eric tells me. My eyes widen. You say what now?

"What?!?! But it has recipes in it" I say pointing to the magazine. 

"Baby, I thought you read those kinds of magazines. They were lists of clothes and stuff like that" he tells me. I do read those kinds of magazines; a lot but for some reason I thought they were recipes. Oh wait, I was still half asleep. 

"I guess I wasn't fully awake yet" I say with a shrug. I was fully awake to notice a picture of me. Shouldn't that count for something? 

"Eric, are you mad at me?" I ask him quietly, afraid of the answer. 

"Well do you really expect me to be happy to know that my girlfriend is on the back cover of a popular magazine in a skimpy bikini?" he asks me. Oh that does sounds bad. Damn! His family is going to find put for sure about this. I hope Eric isn't embarrassed of me now. I would be if I were in his place. Ugh! I can never do anything right. 

"No and I'm sorry" I say quietly with tears starting to make my eyes moisten. I'm a total failure. Eric wipes the few tears escaping with his hand. 

"whats-" he starts to say but was interrupted when a voice says

"what's going on? What happened?"

Me and Eric pause for a second before looking at the entrance of the kitchen to find his mom staring at us with wide, worried eyes. Oh snap! I didn't see or hear her come in. I wonder how much she heard. I really, really hope she didn't hear too much. Talk about embarrassing. Eric and I both move away from our positions near the wall. I quickly wipe my eyes. Act like nothing is wrong, Cori. I'll just let Eric do all the talking. Go ahead Eric and work your magic. 

"Chill mom. Everything's cool. Right Cori? “Eric asks me. I quickly nod my head. Duh! Everything is so NOT cool. Can't she tell? His mom narrow's her eyes at us. 

"Don’t chill mom me. From what I heard upstairs, everything is NOT 'cool'. What's going on?" she asks while placing her hands on her hips. Ohhhhhh, so she could tell and she isn't happy about it. But what are we supposed to say? That Eric found out I took some racy pictures that are now the back cover of Cosmo and he isn't happy. Not one bit. 

"Mom, Cori was going to get her phone when she bumped into the wall. She can be soooo clumsy sometimes. Anyway, go get your phone baby" he tells me while pushing me gently to the door. Hey! I'm not that clumsy. Well..... I do tend to slip a lot when I wear my heels and trip going up the stairs and drop my phone and I guess I have to add falling papers out of my shirt to the list. But that isn't THAT many things. I'm sooooo not clumsy. If Eric wasn't covering up what just happened I would so defend myself right now. I continue to walk out of the kitchen and up the stairs to get my phone. I definitely need to text Lily now. 

Eric's POV: 

My mom watches Cori leave the room and then she turns back towards me. 

"Eric Dawson! You tell me what's going on right now!" she tells me. I sigh and roll my eyes. Like I'm actually going to tell her. What happened between me and Cori stays between me and Cori. Always had, always will. I pocket Cori's picture and turn around and went to the fridge to get a coke. My mom follows me. 

"Mom, I already told you. So just leave it" I tell her. My mom can bug you FOREVER until she is satisfied with your answer. This is really annoying because when you actually tell her the truth, she doesn’t believe you. That's my mom for you. 

"Do you really expect me to believe that? It sounded like you and Cori were fighting. And when I walked in here, it really did look like you guys were fighting. Eric did you and Cori have a fight?" my mom asks me with worried eyes. Nah, me and Cori never fight; especially since I won't allow it. I don't get it when couples have a big argument and then don't talk to each other for days. What's the point of it? Just handle your problems right away and work it out or just get over it. That's what me and Cori do. It works for us and I think you know why. You see if we weren't at my parent’s house right now, that's exactly what we would be doing right now. I need to know what's going on with Cori. She's hiding something and I want to know what it is. And we also need discuss this picture issue too. What the hell was she thinking dressing like that and then allowing this lady to put it in ads? Wouldn't be in any major ads. Yeah right. I don't know if I'm more mad or if my over protectiveness is taking over right now. I mean I'm pissed, but just thinking about what guys would say if they saw this picture is making me even more pissed. There is no way in hell I'm letting my brother or guy cousins see this picture. They already think she's hot. I don't know what they'd do if they saw this. I'm gonna have to figure something out. Either way, I'm going to know the truth by the end of the day. I look down at my mom. 

"No mom. Me and Cori didn't have a fight. Okay?" I say to her as I head toward the back door. I know she doesn't believe me, but it's my mom. So go figure. I gotta clear my head.
 Cori's POV:

"Are you serious? He only spanked you with his hand? You got off so easy!!" Lily tells me over the phone. I decided to call her instead of text. I have too much to say and I don't feel like typing it all down. My fingers would be so tired and besides, I might chip a nail. 

"Well yeah. Compared to you I did. It still hurt like hell though" I tell her while rubbing my butt. Oh it definitely wasn't a walk in the park and I know for a fact I'm gonna be getting more later for the pictures. This reminds me.......

"Lily.....um.... I gotta tell you something" I say hesitantly. How should I break this easy to her? Nice and slow or fast?

"What?" Lily asks me. Hmmmm, nice and slow. 

"Jamie lied to us. Our pictures aren't on small ads, they are on big ads. My picture was the back cover of Cosmo. Who knows where our other pictures are. Plus, Eric saw it and he is super duper pissed right now" I tell her in one huge breathe. Your probably wondering what happened to nice and slow? You’re not alone because I'm wondering the same thing. I don't hear anything from Lily, and then I hear a door shut. 

"WHAT!?!" she shouts into the phone. Geeze, is she trying to make me deaf in this ear? 

"Ugh! Can you be any louder? And you heard me. Were in BIG trouble. What happened to you? Did are phones lose signal or something?" I ask her. 

"I ran into my room so I could have privacy. My dad is being really nosy lately. What are we going to do, Cori?" she asks me worriedly. Well I can't really do anything now. What's been done is done.

"Well I'm pretty much toast now. So I can't do anything. I've been caught.......but you haven't" I tell her. Lily may still have hope. 

"Really? Did you say my name to Eric?" she asks me. Oh wait....I did say her name, didn't I? Okay, Lily has no hope. I kinda see how Felipe found out about us both smoking now. 

"Yeah I did. Sorry about that" I tell her. Lily sighs. 

"I guess it's payback. It's only fair" she tells me. Hmph! It's definitely pay back. Ha-ha! 

"Yeah it is. So are you going to mention it to Felipe yourself? Eric didn't say anything about it to me" I tell her. Maybe that's because we were interrupted by his mom, but let's hope for the best anyway. 

"I really don't want to" Lily says gloomily. I don't blame her. 

"Hey, I told the truth and I didn't get it to bad" I tell her to try and cheer her up. 

"Your boyfriend's a lot less strict than mine is, Cori" she tells me. She's got a huge point there. 

"Yeah, but they both love us!!!!" I say. I can feel Lily roll her eyes at me. 

"Yeah, your right about that" she tells me. Duh! I know I am. I was about to tell her to just wait a couple of days before bringing it up when Lily quickly says

"oh no! I just got a text from Felipe saying that he wants to meet me at the park. I think he knows. What do I do?" she asks me in a panic. Well she's screwed too. 

"How do you know he knows? He may just want to take a walk in the park with you" I say. 

"Cori, get real. A walk in the park? In this weather? It's freezing outside. No one’s going to be there" she tells me. Ohhhhhh, a perfect place to spank someone. Yup, she is definitely screwed. 

"Just go and face your doom Lily. Like I have to go and face mine" I tell her. I'm soooo not looking forward to it, but I don't want Eric to be mad at me anymore. Lily sighs again. 

"Fine" she tells me in a pout. 

"Plus, how do you know he knows anything about the pictures. He may actually want to take a walk in the park with you. Think positive" I tell her. 

"Whatever Cori" she tells me. Fine, don't enjoy and appreciate my positive spirit. Hmph! Meanie. I walk quietly down the stairs. I don't hear anything; which is a good thing. I walk into the living room. As I'm walking into the kitchen, I hear Eric's mom's voice come from the study. 

"I really think they are fighting, Greg. It didn't sound like a friendly chat to me. They also looked like they were fighting when I walked in. Fighting I tell you. Well of course Eric denied it. I don't know what to do. I just hope that they aren't ending. I love them together" she says. Hmmm, she must be on the phone. Fighting? No sweetie, me and Eric don't fight. It's pretty much Eric's way or no way. So there's no fighting in this relationship. I continue to walk through the kitchen to the back door where I think Eric is. I quietly open it and go outside. Yup, I knew he was out here. Eric is playing basketball. It's his way to let go and clear is head......or anger; thankfully. I really hope he still isn't mad at me. That would majorly suck. 

 I walk onto the driveway. Eric doesn't see me yet. 
"Eric?" I say gently. He stops playing and turns around. I'm looking down at my cute boots. They are so warm and cozy. Heehee! 

"Baby, come here" he tells me. Without even thinking, I quickly run into his warm open strong arms where he hugs me tight. Eric let's me go and puts his hands on my waist. 

"Baby, we're gonna take a walk. Okay?" he tells me. In this weather? It's so cold. But I know Eric really wasn't asking me. He was telling me. I sigh. 

"Okay, but where are we going to take a walk to?" I ask him as he takes my hand in his. I have a funny feeling about this. Eric looks down at me. 

"To the park" he tells me. (Gulp) Shit! The place where there won't be a lot of people. The perfect place for a spanking. Ugh! Why me?

"Do we have to go to the park?" I pout. It's not fair. Then again, is it ever?

"Oh most definitely. You and I have a lot of things to discuss and we're gonna need the privacy. This reminds me. Go inside and get the wooden spoon baby" Eric tells me. Wait, did my ears hear correctly. He wants me to get the wooden spoon in his house? He must be joking. God, I really, really hope he's joking. 

"The wooden spoon? But why?" I ask him as I put my hands on my butt. 

"Because like I said angel, we're going to have a big discussion and most of the talking will be with you over my lap getting the spoon. Once you go get it, of course" he says. Eric really isn't joking. 

"But Eric, what if your mom sees me take it" I say. What am I supposed to say? Hey, I gotta take this because Eric needs it to spank my ass. Yeah, I don't think she'd like that. I don't even like it. 

"Well your good at making excuses. Make something up" he tells me while turning me around and giving my butt a few pats to get me started. Hmph! This isn't fair. I walk inside and into the kitchen. I head to the drawer that has all the kitchen utensils in it. Don't ask me how I know this. Anyway, I grab the dreaded wooden spoon. It's actually more like a wooden spatula. Either way, it hurts like hell. I quickly turn around to make my escape when I bump into Eric's mom. Just what I needed. 

"Cori? Are you okay and what do you need a spoon for?" she asks me curiously. Cori, think fast. 

"Oh! Well me and Eric are going to the park and we're going to dig holes to put things in to see if they grow" I tell her. Yeah, I know. A pretty lame excuse. Work with me here. 

"Well what do you need the spoon for?" she asks me next. 

"Well to dig the holes with. A cold outside and we don't want to dig with our hands. Talk about terrible frost bite. Anyway, we'll be back later" I tell her as I move quickly to the door. 

"Oh okay. Well have fun" she says with a confused wave. Once I'm outside, I close the door and stuff the stupid spoon in my coat. Phew! I'm glad that is over. Good thing she didn't ask what we were going to plant because I would have told her skittles. What? Skittles were the first thing that came to my mind. I walk onto the driveway where Eric was waiting. 

"Well did you get it?" he asks me. 

"Yes, I got and if your mom asks what we did later, tell her we planted skittles and m&m's at the park" I tell Eric. He rolls his eyes. 

"I really don't want to know" he says as he takes me hand and starts leading me down the driveway. Good thing the park is like 2 minutes away. I really just want to get this over with. 

Eric's POV: 

Once we get the park, I lead Cori to this huge garden maze. It's just what I need right now to deal with Cori. You see, the maze can be pretty confusing. There are a ton of dead ends in it with benches. I guess if you get tired of looking for the exit, you can sit down and take a break. I know this maze by heart because me and my brothers would go in it all the time. The walls are tall so we'll have a lot of privacy. Not like there's people here, the park is deserted; as I thought would be the case. 

"Why are we going in here?" Cori asks me when we enter. 

"Where else would we go?" I ask her back as I continue to lead her to the place that I'm looking for. She doesn't answer because she probably figures that I had a point. I turn left into a corner leading into a dead in. Ah, found it. 

"I'm sooo lost right now. How in the world are we going to get out of here?" she ask me looking confused. I smile slightly. She's so cute sometimes. I sit down on the stone bench and sit Cori down next to me. 

"Okay Cori, listen. I know that your hiding something and I want you to tell me what it is" I tell her. She looks up at me with wide eyes before she hides it with a look of innocence. Ha! Nice try but your too slow. 

"I told you what I was hiding. The pictures" she tells me. Yeah right Cori. I can see right through you. 

"No, there’s something else that your hiding. I know it's something deeper because you've been really emotional lately and that isn't like you" I tell her remembering what happened last night. Man, it still is a total shock. 

"Um, I'm on PMS" she says. I roll my eyes. 

"Nope, not gonna work" I tell her. Why won't she tell me?

"Baby, I know there is something wrong. Just tell me already" I tell Cori. I'm losing my patience here. Cori looks down at her boots. Her eyes start to water. Then she quickly puts her hands over her face and starts to cry. Yup, this is exactly what I'm talking about. I put my arm around her and then I pull her close to me. I kiss her head. 

"Will you please tell me, angel" I say. I'm getting desperate now. I have no idea what's going on with my baby and I'm starting to get worried. What if something bad happened?

"Did someone hurt you, baby girl?" I ask her gently. She shakes her head behind her hands. 

"Did something happen with your family?" I ask her next. Again, she shakes her head no. 

"Is it something I did, baby?" I ask her. She cries harder, but shakes her head no. Hmmm, what's up with that? 

"Are you sure?" I ask again. She shakes her head no. I roll my eyes and sigh. I'm getting nowhere. I gently grab her wrists and pull her hands down. Her face breaks my heart. She has tears streaming down her face and her eyes are all red and are starting to go puffy. Poor baby. 

"Cori, just tell me baby. Please" I plead with her. I'm really desperate now. 

"Okay I'll tell you" she says. Finally!!! She jumps up and stands in front of me. 

"I'M ASHAMED!!!" Cori yells at me. I raise my eyebrows shocked. I wasn't expecting that to come out of her mouth. 

"Ashamed of what??" I ask her still shocked. 

"ME!!" 

Cori then sobs harder and then hides her face again behind her hands. I stand up and engulf her in my arms tightly. This is a serious problem that needs fixing. I let Cori cry it out for a few more minutes before I start to calm her down. 

"Shhhh baby. You need to calm down before you make yourself sick. Shhhh" I tell her gently. She slowly starts to lessen her crying to sniffles. I sit back down on the bench with Cori on my lap. Okay, it's time to start asking some questions. 

"Baby, what do you mean your ashamed of yourself?" I ask her. She hides her face on my chest. 

"Do I have to?" she asks me. I roll my eyes. Only Cori. 

"Yes. Now go on" I prompt her. 

"I mean that because I'm different" she tells me. Isn't that a good thing?

"Angel, everybody's different. Why are you ashamed of that?" I ask her not really getting her point. 

"No, it's because I'm different from other people" she tells me. Aren't we all? But I think I see where she's going with this. 

"To who?" I ask her next. 

"Your family" she says quietly. I raise my eyebrows in surprise. Cori's just full of surprises today, isn't she?

Cori's POV: 

"why do you think your different from my family?" Eric asks me. I really don't want to answer that. 

"Because I just am" I tell him. That's an answer right? Yup, I think it is. 

"Nope, not gonna cut it with me" he tells me. Ugh! I guess the truth has to come out now. I look down and start playing with Eric's hand around me. 

"Because..... I'm not perfect. I'm a misfit and a troublemaker. I never do anything right. They'll look down on me if they know the true me. I don't want you to be embarrassed of me.....um...that's kinda why I didn't want to see your family" I tell him while still looking down. Phew! Good thing I got that off my chest. You know, I don't know why I didn't tell Eric sooner. I sneak a look at him. Shit! He doesn't look happy at all. Okay, that's why I didn't tell him. 

"Cori, you are perfect. Very perfect baby. And your definitely not a misfit. So get that idea out of your head" Eric tells me. Easy for him to say, Mr. King perfect. 

"No I'm not. You’re the one who's perfect, especially your family" I say with a pout. I'm like a muddy pair of coach shoes in a white clean house. 

"Your perfect to me baby. Isn't that what matters the most?" Eric asks me. He actually has a point there. 

"I guess so" I say quietly. 

"You guess so?" Eric mimics me with a grin while tickling me. I try not to grin; but not doing a very good job of. 

"Mhmm" I say with a nod. 

"Angel, you are perfect for me and that's what matters most. And even if my family didn't like you, it wouldn't matter because I don't what other people think" he tells me. Yeah I know that already. Eric could care less what other people think or do; unless it has to do with me. In that case, he cares very much. 

"So you aren't embarrassed of me?" I ask him quietly. Eric shakes his head. 

"No baby. I'm never embarrassed of you. In fact I'm very proud to call you mine. And plus, you know I don't get embarrassed easily" he tells me while kissing my cheek. I smile to myself. 

"Really?" I ask him just to be sure. I want to be a hundred percent positive. 

"Really" Eric confirms with me. Yay!! But there still is some other things. 

"But I'm still a trouble maker AND I'm black. I'm sure your parent’s want someone better" I remind him. 

"Angel, you may get into a ton of trouble a lot and be a troublemaker but it doesn't define who you are. You see what I'm saying?" he asks me. Ugh! Unfortunately I do. Why does Eric always have such wise words to say?

"Soooo, the first word to describe me wouldn't be troublemaker?" I ask him. If you ask one of the nerds, I bet you'd get that answer. 

"Nope. And who cares if your black. My family doesn't care about that. Just because you’re black and I'm white doesn't mean my parents will like you any less" he says. Actually, Eric's Mediterranean to be exact. Hint the natural tan. I just love saying that. Heehee. 

"Baby, my family loves you. Just open your eyes and realize it" Eric tells me. I sigh. I guess he's right. Isn't he always? 

"Okay" I tell him in defeat. 

"So is there anything else? No other hidden feelings or other wrong thoughts?" he asks me. I smile and shake my head no. I feel like a whole new person now. Maybe I just should have said my feelings to Eric sooner. 

"Told you so" a voice says in my head. Ugh! Don't rub it in, stupid conscious. 

"So that’s why you never wanted to see my family and not for the other reason?" Eric asks me. I shake my head again. Why do I have a sudden bad feeling?

"So you lied to me?" Eric asks slowly. Oh shit!! That's why. 

Okay Cori. Be careful. Don't say the wrong thing. I know for a fact that Eric HATES lying. 

"Um.....well....yeah, I guess. I didn't mean to though" I say, adding the last part quickly. I have to save my butt somehow. This is kinda pointless because my butt’s already dead; literally. 

"Really? You didn't mean to lie to me? You hid something from me, right?" Eric asks me. Oh boy. I see where he's going with this. 

"Yes, but-" I say but he cuts me off by asking

"and you didn't tell me the truth, am I right?" Why didn't I just say yes in the first place? Ugh! Now I feel like a moron.

"Right" I say with another sigh. 

"I don't know about you, but I think that's definitely classified as a lie. So I'm gonna ask you this, did you lie to me?" he says not sounding happy. 

"Yes sir. But I just didn't want you to be mad at me for what I was hiding" I tell him while giving him puppy dog eyes. It works for Devon; PLEASE let it work for me. 

"Baby, you told me what you were hiding a few minutes ago. Was I mad at you?" Eric asks me gently. 

"No" I say. But he very well could have. 

"So you had nothing to worry about and you didn't need to lie to me. You know better, Cori" he tells me. I know, but it always seems to escape my brain so it's not my fault. 

"Yeah, I know" I say. Well my puppy dog eyes obviously did NOT work. Only me. 

"Let's not make this hiding thing a habit, Cori. Like you have been doing lately" he says. Dang! I forgot about the picture. 

"I won't. I'm really, really, really sorry about the pictures" I tell him. I actually kind of am. What was I thinking? If I want to be a model, I want to be on the front page instead of the back. Duh!

"What were you thinking, Cori?" Eric asks me. Hey, I was just thinking that! Telepathy moment!!

"I just wanted to try something new and it sounded like fun. I was only planning on doing it one time but the photographer wanted us to come back and she said she'd pay us. I didn't know my picture would be on any popular ads" I tell him softly. I still think my pictures looked AMAZING! I'm gonna hang some up in my dorm room. Shhhhh, don't tell Eric. 

"Well it may have been fun, but the whole thing sounded pretty shady to me. Plus, your picture was in a popular magazine. I bet you didn't get paid nearly as much as you should have gotten paid" he tells me. Eric has a point, unfortunately. Wait, so I should have gotten more money for what I did? Well that's no fair at all. 

"I guess you have a point" I say to him. Eric is on a roll tonight, isn't he?

"Yeah, and your my baby girl. I don't want you dressed in practically nothing then letting whole world see. Your mine and no one else's" he says. Eric is sooo overprotective of me sometimes; actually all the time. Is it like a gene or something in boys? Because that seems to be the case. 

"I won't do it again and I'm sorry" I say. Yeah, I don't want another sore ass. 

"Well you should be because you’re about to get a whole lot more sorry" Eric warns me. (Gulp) How much more sorry?

"I know" I say waiting to face my doom. 

"Okay, here's what's gonna happen-" Eric starts to say before I cut him off. 

"Your gonna spank me with your hand for lying and then your gonna spank me with the spoon for taking those pictures" I say in a monotone kind of voice while I get off Eric's lap to stand in front of him. Let's just get this over with. Eric rolls his eyes. 

"Actually Ms. Know it all, your wrong. It's the other way around" he says. The other way around?!? Well you could have knocked my pink sparkly heels off. 

"Why?" I ask him surprised. Eric places his hands on my hips and pulls me closer between his legs. He then starts to pull my pink sweat pants down. 

"Because the pictures is a small offense compared to you lying for two years. And you know I hate lying" Eric tells me, now pulling my panties down and then helping me over his lap. See! I told you so. Eric situates my butt better. 

"I know" I say as I feel Eric place his hand over my bare cheeks. 

"Good. So we understand each other" he says and then lifts his hand and brings it down hard over my left cheek. 

Ow! Ow! Ow! I was not expecting him to start spanking me. Usually he asks if I'm ready or something like that. Geez, give me a heart attack while you’re at it. 

"Owww. Owwie. I'm sorry ah" I cry out to Eric. He continues to spank my whole butt as if I'm not in total pain right now. 

Smack smack smack smack smack

"owwie please Eric ah owww" I cry again with tears now running down my face again. I'm like a broken faucet that can't be fixed today. 

Smack smack smack smack smack 

Eric is spanking my butt so hard right now. And this is just his hand. I'm sooo not looking forward to that Mr. Evil..... (Some catchy nickname) wooden spoon. I didn't think of a name for it yet; but don't worry, I most definitely will. Maybe when my ass is getting spanked. 

Smack smack smack smack smack

"owww I'm owwie sorry Eric ah oww" I cry harder to Eric. 

"are (smack) you (smack) sorry (smack) that (smack) you (smack) got (smack) caught (smack) or (smack) are (smack) you (smack) actually (smack) sorry (smack) (smack) (smack)" Eric asks me now spanking my sit spots. Ugh! This is torture. 

"Ahh no owwie ah I'm actually sorry owwww" I sob. Eric continues to spank my sit spots at least a million more times before stopping. Thank god, I thought it never end. He rubs my tender butt gently as I sob over his lap. 

"Shhhhh baby, breathe angel shhhhhh" he tells me calmly to settle me down a little. I don't know why he's trying to calm me down since I'm going to start crying again when he starts paddling me with Mr. Evil.........(something snappy) wooden spoon. I still don't have a name yet. 

"Almost done baby. Just hang in there" Eric says to me as he grabs the evil piece of wood and places it on my warm butt. I brace myself. I feel Eric raise it and then bring it crashing down on the middle of my butt. OMG!! It burns so much. 

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

"ahh owww Eric please owww I'm sorry ahhh" I sob harder to him. 

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

My butt is literally on fire right now. You could probably make smores on it after Eric is done. 

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

Eric raises his leg slightly. This raises my butt to the perfect area called my lovely sits spots and thighs for him to have access to now. He spanks them even harder if that is even possible. 

"owwww I'm sorry ahh please owww stop ahhh I'm sorry owwwwie" I sob. 

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

Eric continues to spank my lower butt area FOREVER. I think he's trying to kill me. 

"are (smack) you (smack) going (smack) to (smack) lie (smack) to (smack) me (smack) ever (smack) again (smack) Cori (smack) (smack) (smack)" he asks me. I'd be pretty pissed at myself if I did. I shake my head. 

"nooooo, I won't" I sob. 

"and (smack) what's (smack) gonna (smack) happen (smack) if (smack) you (smack) do (smack) (smack) (smack)" Eric asks me next. 

"I'm gonna get a spanking" I barely get out. 

"yup (smack) but (smack) an (smack) even (smack) harder (smack) spanking (smack) (smack) (smack)" he tells me only spanking my thighs now. I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to sit comfortably for a looooong time. Eric spanks my thighs a dozen more times before stopping. By this time, I'm laying limp over his lap while sobbing really hard. I don't even realize he's stopped spanking me until I feel him helping me up gently. Eric then sits me down on his lap and wraps his arms under my legs and pulls my up so it doesn't have any pressure on it. He rocks me back and forth to calm me down. 

"shhhhh. Angel, it's over. Shhhhh. Just cry it out baby girl. Shhhh I've got you and I'm never gonna let you go shhhhhh baby" he whispers to me to calm me down. It always works. It's like magic. I eventually stop crying to only sniffles. 

"I'm (sniff) sorry (sniff) for (sniff) everything" I tell Eric quietly. He kisses my head. 

"I know you are angel and I've already forgiven you" he tells me with a smile and gives me another kiss. I sigh happily. 

"you know I hate spanking you right?" he asks me. I nod my head against his chest. 

"I'm sorry I had to spank you so hard this time baby. But you earned it" he tells me. Yeah, well if we were back at the university, Eric wouldn't have spanked me with Mr. Evil wooden spoon of doom. (Oh yeah, I'm sooo using that name) I wish we were back at the university. 

"you got lucky this time because if we were back at the university, you would have gotten your mouth washed out with soap for lying" Eric tells me. Thank God we aren't back at the university!! 

"yup, that's me" I say to him with a grin. Eric rolls his eyes and grins also. He then helps me off his lap and stands me up and pulls my pants and panties over my inflamed butt gently. 

"ready to go angel?" he asks me. Oh now he asks me if I'm ready. I nod my head with a yawn. I'm really tired now. 

"let's go baby. You can lay down with me when we get back" he says as he takes my hand in his and starts to lead me out of this really confusing maze. Yay! I love snuggling with Eric after a spanking. It's turning dark outside now as we're leaving the park. I look behind me to see a guy and a girl walking out of the park waaaaayyy on the opposite side of the park. Hmmm, they look kinda familiar but it's too dark so I can’t see them clearly. I soooo hope they didn't hear my spanking or me crying. Talk about embarrassing. 

"okay, so are you two fighting or what?" Chris asks me and Eric. I look up at him across the table. Everybody's eyes are looking at us. We're eating dinner at the table. I'm trying to eat my food as fast as I can without looking like a pig because Eric said that as soon as were done eating we can leave the table. And that is exactly what I'm planning on doing because my ass is killing me. Stupid wooden chairs. Eric rolls his eyes. 

"no Chris, were not" Eric tells him. Nah, me and Eric are so NOT breaking up. And besides, I did make a deal with Devon and I'm not a deal breaker. Heehee. 

"are you sure?" Janey asks. She's sitting right next to Jared. Ugh! 

"you kinda look like you've been fighting" Jared says putting his two cents in. I resist the urge to roll my eyes; which was torture. How would he know what someone looks like when they've been fighting? It's not like he's been in any relationships before. I don't know what Janey see in this guy. Eric shakes his head no and tries to convince his family that were not fighting. While this is happening Andrea says to me quietly,

"why are you so quiet? Are you guys gonna break up" She looks worried. 

"I'm just not in the mood for talking and plus I'm really tired. Don't worry, we're not gonna break up" I tell her quietly back with a smile. I never am extremely sociable after a spanking and my voice is all hoarse from crying this afternoon. Plus I am really tired. Geez, I wonder why? Andrea looks relieved. 

"so you guys are fine?" his mom asks one last time. 

"positive" Eric tells his mom. Phew! Good thing that's over. 

"good. I was just thinking while looking at you two that you two would have such beautiful children" his mom tells us. My eyes widen. I'm surprised they didn't pop out of my head. Kids?? No way. I just turned 18 in September. Kids are going to happen way, way, way, way into the future. 

"what!! Mom, why would you say that? We're not even married" Eric says probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking. 

"well get working on that" his grandma tells him. A lot of people nod their heads in agreement. 

"Zach and his girlfriend are getting married next year. One wedding at a time please" Eric says while rolling his eyes again. His dad quickly nods his head in agreement. I smile slightly. His dad can probably only handle one wedding at a time also. Heehee. I love his dad. 

"it's because mom likes you better than Bailey" Andrea tells me, a little louder than she planned on. 

"that is NOT true" her mom says. 

"yeah it is. Just admit it" Chris tells his mom. BTW Zach isn't here tonight. I don't think his family would talk about this in front of him. 

"no. There is nothing to admit" she tries to convince everyone that it wasn't true. Then everyone started to put in their own opinion. It was pretty crazy. Eric shakes his head at his family then gives me a small grin. I grin back at him. We then share a secret smile before his grandma start talking to us about the benefits of marrying young. Yikes! My mind then wanders off. I love his Eric's crazy family. (sigh) Eric was right. I just had to open my eyes and see that they really like me. I could sooooo get used to them. I then start thinking about what his grandma said. It would be pretty cool to marry Eric Dawson. I look over at Eric talking to his grandma. It would be pretty cool indeed. 




2 comments:

  1. Were the mysterious people that looked familiar supposed to be Lily and Felipe?

    ReplyDelete