“Oh, a dance. My, that’s very romantic.”
I hold Raven close. “Did I tell you guys how special this girl is?”
“More than once,” Grandpa says with a chuckle. “But you don’t need to convince us. We’ve seen it for ourselves.”
“And you write lovely music, dear.”
Raven told me it was okay that I tell my grandparents she’s our songwriter.
“Thanks so much,” Raven gushes. “But it’s nothing without Kylen’s band.”
They nod in agreement.
We talk for another twenty minutes before Grandma says, “Well, we don’t want to take up more of your time, kids. Take care of each other.”
Raven and I nod with a smile. “We will,” I say.
Grandma blows us kisses, which we return, Grandpa tells me to call him if I need help finding a suit for the dance, then we wish each other goodbye and hang up.
Raven lays her head on my shoulder. “I really love your grandparents.”
“And they love you. Now it’s time to call your parents?”
“If you don’t mind.”
I bend to kiss her forehead. “Of course not.”
She starts a video call and we spend a few minutes telling them the good news. Like with my grandparents, they’re very happy for us. And they demand we send them pictures from the dance. We also tell them about the fun weekend we had, minus the kissing. Then we ask them to put Robin on.
“Robin! There’s someone who wants to talk to you!” her dad calls.
Robin groans like she’s too busy and wishes not to be bothered, but when she sees it’s us, she grabs her mom’s phone.
“Raven! Kylen! Hi.” Her eyes narrow. “Why are you sitting so close together?” Her eyes widen. “Are you, like, together?”
We smile at each other, then at her. “We are,” Raven tells her.
She cheers as she makes her way to her room and drops down on her bed. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”
“I think everyone expected it,” I admit.
“Duh. You two are destiny.”
“Thanks,” Raven says. “But enough about us. How are you doing, little bug?”
“I’m good. Sorry I’ve kept so much from you, like what happened at Parents’ Day.”
Raven shakes her head. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. I guess I was embarrassed and didn’t want you to worry about me, but I don’t want to keep secrets from you anymore.”
She tells her sister about what upset her and why she ran off. Raven suspected it was because of the kids from her class, but she didn’t want to push.
“Don’t feel bad about it, Robbie,” Raven says. “All that matters is that you’re okay.”
“And are things getting better now?” I ask her.
Robin beams. “They sure are. I took your advice and spoke to Jamie. I didn’t care that everyone was staring and whispering. I knew she needed a friend and I wanted to be that person. It turns out we have a lot in common. She likes stuffed animals like I do and we have the same taste in music and we like the same TV shows. And we both aren’t afraid to dress in unique colors.”
