In the week since they'd moved back to their old neighborhood, Dani hadn't made much headway with arranging her room, or even completing the simple task of emptying out all the boxes in her room. In fact, most of her clothes were still packed away, too. She'd set aside a duffle bag with enough clothes for the first week at school that she was so unwillingly thrown into the day after their arrival. For the most part, Dani kept a low profile and went straight home after school. She'd managed to run into a few new faces and made a some potential new friends. It hadn't seemed too bad, although Danielle still felt a bit
'meh' about being uprooted and dropped into a whole new school in the second semester of her senior year.
To make things worse? Her mom and aunt insisted that she go to the school's Valentine's Day Dance with her cousin Max, as the two didn't have dates. Not that she minded Max at all, she actually loved her cousin. It was just not something she would have orchestrated herself. I mean, kinda embarrassing to go to a high school dance with a family member, no? All these thoughts kept circling Danielle's mind as she got herself ready, engaging in conversation with her mother from time to time who had taken up residence on Dani's bed while she sped around the room.
Danielle stood in front of the mirror with a hard expression across her face as she turned her head left and right, reaching her hands up to gather her hair up a moment before dropping it down again with a deep sigh.
"What do you think? Should I wear it up? Or..""Well, you could always braid it up into a-" her mother's words were cut off at Danielle's repulsive look, laughing.
"Okay, okay. Honestly, Danielle, you'll look amazing either way. Have you even tried the dress on yet?"Danielle turned around to look at her mother rather than staring at her reflection just to give her a look, smirking as she gestured down to her towel,
"Don't you think if I had tried it on, I wouldn't still be wearing this?" Danielle laughed at her mother's hands raised in surrender, running a hand up through her hair with a heavy sigh as she stood up and walked towards her walk-in closet.
"I'm just gonna go down. Less hassle. I'm sure Max is almost ready to head over, anyways." The
blue dress she had decided to wear for the night was one she had worn to winter formal earlier that year at her old school. Of course she didn't have to try it on, she knew it'd still fit. Or was that her mom's subtle way of saying she'd gained a few pounds since Winter Formal? A quick glance down at her figure and the girl quickly dismissed it with a quiet snort-laugh, making a mental note to poke at her mother later about it.
Stepping out from the closet, Danielle took the dress off the hanger and slipped it on, getting her mother to help with the zipper. Hayley insisted on helping Dani with her hair, blowing it dry and using the straightener which gave it a nice finishing shine to it. Even using it as a make-shift curling iron to put a few thick curls in the ends of her hair as neither of them could locate the
actual thing, both of them smiling at the final look. Danielle could see her mom just beaming at her, causing her to turn a bit red as she quickly stood up to grab her dress shoes out of the box with the rest of her footwear stuffed in it.
From downstairs, a call could be heard from her father,
"Incoming!""Shit!" Suddenly Danielle's anxiety shot through the roof, quickly slipping one heel on before snagging the matching one from the box as she began to hobble down the hall. She quickly pulled the second heel on before ascending the staircase, getting about halfway down before she heard a knock at the front door, hurrying down the steps as fast as the heels could take her without falling flat on her face.
"I got it, don't-" Her father was already at the door, swinging it open wide to reveal Max in the doorway.
"Weeeeeeell, lookie here. Max! Sure clean up well, young man." Danielle stood a few steps behind her father, pinching the bridge of her nose while shaking her head.
Could this night get any worse? she thought to herself, peaking around her dad with an apologetic look as she nudged her dad aside, smiling nervously.
"Ignore him, I think he's had a little too much," she made a drinking gesture with a smirk, Theodore looking down on his daughter with a small grin.
"Nonsense! I'm happy. I don't have to worry about having to put on Tough Dad Mode, and don't have to worry about telling you kids to be s-""Honey! Let them go. I'm sure they want to get out of here," "-and away from you." Hayley smirked and narrowed her eyes playfully at Danielle, crossing the distance between them to place a kiss on her forehead, cupping her cheek tenderly.
"Go enjoy yourself, tonight," Hayley then turned her attention on her sweet nephew, smiling at him,
"I know I don't need to say this, cause we know you.. but, take care of her tonight, would ya? We'd like you guys to get back by midnight at the latest, please." Danielle's mother turned her attention on her daughter once more, brushing a stray hair out of her face.
"But, you know, if you come home earlier than that, it's totally okay. I'll be waiting up for you. Call me if you need anything."Danielle nodded, and with that her mother stepped away from her to stand beside her father, Dani stepping across the threshold out into the cool night air with Max, getting her first real look at him. He looked quite stunning, really. She nodded in approval and smiled teasingly at her cousin, speaking with a playful mock in her tone,
"I guess we can make this work." She stuck her tongue out at Max, taking him by the hand to lead him away from the doorway.
"Now lets get out of here before they start crying," she laughed as they headed for his vehicle.