Everything's Changing Now

As soon as the sun got bright, Sophie groggily awoke and sat up. Everyone else was somehow still sleeping, so she took it upon herself to wake them up. Deciding to get revenge for the rude wake-up call on the camping trip, she violently shook and hit all the guys until each was sitting up. She then gently shook Delaney and Jess and stated that they had to go get ready, their parents would be there within the hour.

Delaney and Sophie quickly showered and finished packing when they arrived at the Cleary’s, anxious to see their parents and recount the tales of the summer. Sophie saw Delaney talking to herself in the mirror, no doubt trying to get her speech down to convince her parents to allow her to stay. Sophie laughed, but wished her good luck as she brought her suitcase down the stairs. Stephen and John were both waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her and her cousin. She quickly gave them both hugs and whispered to John not to worry, everything would work out. She and Stephen went outside and sat on the porch steps, awaiting the arrival of the parents.

“Are you still nervous?” Sophie asked, beginning to laugh.

“Yeah, I am. I know I’m gonna make myself look like an idiot, then they’ll hate me,” Stephen confessed. Sophie continued to laugh at him, and he gently pushed her. “Laughing’s not nice, you know. Maybe I’ll make myself look like an idiot on purpose so they’ll forbid me to see you and I can get out quickly.”

“Haha okay, sounds like a good plan,” Sophie said while rolling her eyes. “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”

“I don’t wanna get rid of you yet, anyways,” he laughed, wrapping an arm around her. “Tomorrow is seriously going to suck.”

“At least you have people to hang out with. I get to go home and sit by myself for a week before school starts,” Sophie pouted. “Uh oh, they’re here!” Stephen immediately stiffened and took his arm off of Sophie’s shoulder. She laughed at him again and ran to greet her parents. Soon, Delaney exited the house and saw that her parents had arrived and also ran to see them. John and Stephen exchanged nervous looks before following their girlfriends to be introduced.

“Mom, dad, this is Stephen. We’ve been dating for a few weeks now but have been hanging out together the whole summer. He’s really nervous to meet you because he thinks he’s awkward. Stephen, these are my parents and they won’t care that you’re awkward because they’ll tell you that we’re exactly the same so we’re perfect for each other,” Sophie smiled as she concluded the long winded introductions. Stephen blushed and shot her a half-hearted death glare before shaking her father’s hand and giving her mother a hug.

“Well, we must say we’re surprised that you’re dating someone, but we’re very pleased to meet you, Stephen,” Mrs. Westman smiled. “Sophie must really like you to have started a relationship this quickly. She’s usually very particular with who she dates.”

“I could’ve guessed that from the way she is with everything else,” Stephen smiled, causing a laugh from the Westmans. “She’s a really great girl though, I usually don’t rush into relationships either but this seemed right to do.”

“Does this change your college plans at all, Sophie?” her dad asked her. “We’ll support you in whatever you choose to do.”

“We talked about it a bit, and we’re going to continue with what we had planned before but look at where things are at the end of the semester or year or whenever and go from there,” Sophie answered. “Stephen’s going to ASU so I could always transfer if I wanted to. Which reminds me, we need to check in on Delaney’s situation.” Stephen and Sophie both started laughing before they filled the Westmans in on the plan.

“Well, I have no idea what Charlie is going to have to say about this,” Mrs. Westman laughed. The four walked over to the very animated conversation Delaney and her father were having, as John and her mother seemed to make casual conversation. John and Stephen were introduced again as Delaney and her father made their way towards the group. Delaney quickly hugged her aunt and uncle before turning to John and whispering in his ear. Stephen and Sophie exchanged a look, neither able to guess what Delaney was about to announce.

“Well, obviously you’re all interested in this a lot more than I thought you were. I’m going to finish this semester at home, graduate early, then move in with the Clearys. It was the only compromise we were able to reach, but it’s better than nothing.” she stated, looking both defeated but slightly happy.

“I think it’s a great thing. We’ll be together half a year sooner than we thought,” John said to Delaney. The two looked pleased enough that their plan somewhat worked.

“Why don’t we move the party inside?” Mrs. Cleary suddenly announced from the doorway. The four adults laughed and walked to greet their friends. The four teenagers stayed behind for a few minutes, sharing disbelief and reassurances that the parents liked the boys. Stephen gave Sophie a gentle push because of how she introduced him, but quickly pulled her back in for a hug. As the four kids made a move to go inside, Stephen held Sophie back.

“I thought I was falling in love with you before, but now that I know your parents want us to be together, I know I am,” he whispered to his girlfriend before giving he a quick kiss and jogging inside. Sophie stood stark still for another moment as she let Stephen’s words sink in. Still dazed, she continued inside and took a seat around the dining room table next to her boyfriend.

The five couples sat around the table for the next six hours, sharing stories of everyone’s summer, how the kids had met, college plans, and more tales from the “old days.” There was a lot of catching up to do on everybody’s part, and still more to learn about each other. Stephen and John were let in on interesting stories from when the girls were younger, and though they were reluctant to share things from their childhoods, as soon as John told an embarrassing story about Stephen when he was in elementary school, they quickly joined in on the reminiscing. The boys easily felt comfortable with the girls’ families, and Mrs. Cleary suggested inviting Mr. and Mrs. Gomez over to meet the girls’ parents.

Stephen called his mom to relay the invite, and she promised that as soon as his dad was home from work they’d be over. The women soon moved to throw together a dinner for everyone, and the four teens excused themselves for the time being. While John and Delaney chose to disappear into the basement, Sophie and Stephen settled on going for a walk. They held a comfortable silence for awhile, before Sophie spoke up.

“What you said before…it was kinda cheesy,” she laughed. Stephen gave her an incredulous look before she stopped him from saying anything. “I didn’t say I didn’t appreciate it, I just thought it was funny how you went about it. Besides, I feel the same way.”

“You gotta say it,” Stephen laughed, a look of mock hurt still apparent on his face.

“I don’t have to say anything,” she stated, before changing the subject. “I told you my parents would like you, though.”

“They are really cool. It won’t be too awkward going to visit you, I guess.” Sophie rolled her eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time at Stephen. They continued on in silence for a bit longer, before they made their way back to the Cleary’s street.

“We have to get something worked out so we can see each other more often than only weekends,” Sophie stated.

“We’ll figure something out. Hell, I gotta get my books and shit for next week still. Knowing you, you probably had your freshman year planned out since before graduation,” Stephen laughed as he saw Sophie turn pink and start to protest. She shut her mouth and shook her head instead, causing more laughter from her boyfriend. She slapped him on the chest and sped up her walking. Stephen grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto a curb. “I know I’ve said it too many times already, but I really don’t want you to go.”

“I know, I don’t want to go either. We’re gonna see each other all the time though, and we can talk everyday. It’s not like we won’t have any communication,” Sophie laughed. They sat in each other’s arms for a few more minutes before Sophie pulled Stephen up to continue on to the house. As they reached the driveway, Sophie stopped her boyfriend and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “By the way, I love you.” He grinned and pulled her into a deep kiss before returning the words. He knew that they would be fine, and the two hours apart didn’t mean anything but that the their time spent together would be even more special.