"So where are you guys going?" Claudia asked Amanda as she dusted some blush onto her cheeks.
"We're going to this restaurant on the ocean, where he took me on our first date," Amanda grinned, her eyes sparkling.
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Jill cooed. Amanda nodded, then carefully wiped stray lipstick off the corner of Jill's mouth for her.
The doorbell rang, and Amanda smiled sadly. "It's Justin."
"How do you know?" Jill laughed, adjusting her black lace top. "Do I need more cleavage?"
Amanda laughed. "Is AJ ever really going to ring the doorbell in this house?"
Leigh Anne smiled. "You'd be surprised, he really wants to do this right. And yes, more cleavage. You're going dancing."
Claudia laughed. "Aren't you her mother? Shouldn't you be telling her to go put on a sweater or something?"
The girls laughed and Leigh Anne helped Jill adjust the thin straps of her top.
"Amanda!" Brian's voice called, and Amanda's jaw drop.
"He really did ring the doorbell," She whispered to Claudia.
"He really does want this perfect," Claudia replied, hugging Amanda. "Now go have fun."
Amanda disappeared out the door, and after a respectable amount of time, the three remaining girls bolted for the window in the hallway, the one above the front door, and waited for AJ and Amanda to emerge. When they finally did, all three girls melted. Amanda was carrying a dozen red roses, and AJ was politely holding her elbow as they walked.
"Somebody's getting laid tonight," Kevin's voice floated to them.
"That was vulgar," Jill replied, turning playfully to face her uncle.
"Uncle Kevin, Uncle Kevin!" Little Amandah's voice floated to them as little feet pounded the stairs.
"Amandah, Amandah!" He called back playfully, scooping up the little girl into his arms when she ran to him.
"Don't get mouthy," Amandah replied primly, and Kevin laughed as Jill stepped out of the dark hallway into the bright light of her bedroom, Kevin following behind, Amandah on his hip.
"Well, what do you want, Kiddo?" Kevin asked as Amandah pressed her forehead against his.
"Will you read me a bedtime story when I have to go to sleep?"
"Yes, I will," Kevin nodded, a broad smile covering his face. "Isn't it your bedtime now?" He asked pointedly.
"No," Amandah smirked defiantly. "Daddy said I can stay up to answer the door when Justin comes, and Daddy says that in his house, what he says goes."
As soon as she finished her speech, the doorbell rang. Kevin laughed. "Tell Mommy that," He replied as he set her down to run off to answer the door. He turned to look at Jill. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks," Jill smiled and closed her eyes as Claudia spritzed her with a body spray.
"But what kind of date requires black leather pants?" Kevin asked defensively as Amandah screamed for Jill at the top of her lungs.
Jill smiled. "The kind where we go out dancing!"
"He's taking you..." Kevin began, dumbfounded, as Jill walked by. He turned to Leigh Anne, "He's taking her..."
"Yes. Dancing."
Leigh Anne laughed as Kevin turned and barreled down the stairs after Jill, who was smiling up at Justin as he shook Brian's hand. "I promised it would be a real date," He whispered in her ear as she hugged him.
"So far, so good," She playfully replied.
Kevin smiled, then remembered what he was there to say. "If you so much as touch anything below her shoulders and above her ankles, I'll kill you myself."
Justin nodded. "Hey, Kev."
"Hey," Kevin responded, grinning.
Justin took Jill's hand, and after they said goodbye to everyone, and each gave Amandah a goodnight hug and kiss, they disappeared out the front door.
Going dancing with Justin was a dream for Jill. When a drunken man pinched her bottom and made a sleazy suggestion, Justin instantly defended her. And when that same drunked man asked who Justin thought he was, he responded without hesitation: "Her boyfriend." When Britney Spears and her posse of bodyguards arrived, and Jill offered to leave if Justin wanted, he simply continued to dance and said, "Why? I'm proud to be here, with my girl. I'm not going to run from anyone, and I'm not going to hide you from anyone." And when Jill saw someone who looked vaguely like AJ, and she was reminded of all his problems as of lately, Justin leaned in and gently kissed her, and all thoughts of AJ left her mind.
She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was where she belonged, and that no one else in the world mattered at that very moment. She was home.
© 2003 Princess Fan Fics