The next morning when I returned from the paint store, guess who I saw talking to my mom. Austin, of course. I practically jumped out of my car and ran to the doorstep with paint supplies spilling from my arms. "Hey, Austin. What are you doing here so early?" He was definitely not supposed to be here yet.

"I was hoping to surprise you and maybe give these to your mother," he held up a bouquet of flowers, "We just started talking, but she seems like a really nice woman. Can I help you with that supplies, Em?" Always so thoughtful, but that day I had no time for any of it. He was not supposed to be there. He couldn't know anything was wrong.

"No, I think I'm okay, Austin. I'm just going to bring these inside so my mom can work. It might not be the best time for you to be here right now." I managed to say while attempting to contain all of the art supplies from spilling out of my arms.

"Nonsense!" My mom exclaimed, "Emily, learn some manners." she scolded me, "You are too kind, Austin. Come on in." I bit my lip and hoped for the best. "So are you here for another date?" She seemed so happy. I didn't want to ruin it, but I also didn't want Austin to figure out anything.

"Yeah, kind of. We wanted to hang out before I go on tour tomorrow. Speaking of which, did Em tell you about my offer?" I shot him a look that I thought told him to 'kindly shut up' ,but he must have mistaken it for a look that said 'please continue'.

"No, not yet. Emily, what is it?" She waited patiently for my reply.

I rolled my eyes at Austin and then went on to tell my mom about his offer, "Austin invited me to go to California with him for his first major concert tour thing tomorrow night, but I don't think I can make it, right mom?" I dumped the remaining paint supplies on the table and was hoping to avoid much more conversation.

"I don't see why not. You should get out more and hang out with your boyfriend. Go, have fun, just make sure to take Sophie with you." my mom seemed more excited than I did about this. I didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone for another night. What if something went wrong. It was too soon after she had wandered again.

"Sophie was part of the deal too. Come on, Em, you should come. Why would you want to stay here? Your mom will be okay. She seems like a very capable woman." Austin touched my arm as he said this. Why did he have to be such a gentleman?

"Long story." I whispered under my breath. "Mom, are you sure you'll be fine alone for the night? I probably won't be getting home until very late the next day." I was probably going to have to call in a favor for this.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Em. Just enjoy your evening." Austin gave me a confused look as my mom tried to shoo us out the door.

"Mom, it isn't until tomorrow, remember?" I asked her. I just hoped that Austin didn't think it was too weird. Other parents forget things like this, right?

"Oh, that's right. I remember you mentioning that. I'm sorry. I can be so forgetful sometimes. Silly me." I knew that she knew that something was wrong, but she could never quite remember what it was.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, but maybe you should go back up stairs and work on something with all of the art supplies that I got for you. Okay?" I always felt awful for treating her like a child. I felt as if I was embarrassing her.

"Fine, fine. You would think I'm under house arrest. It was nice to meet you, Austin, and I hope to see you again tomorrow." She took the art things from the table and headed for her room.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cosden and I hope that Em lets me see you tomorrow as well." Austin gave me another suspicious look as my mother climbed the stairs. He had picked up on the fact that something was off. I just hoped he wouldn't find out exactly what was wrong for a while.

"What a nice boy," she muttered to herself as she headed back upstairs.

"Is that why you ever let me meet your mom? Is she under house arrest?" Austin asked in a whisper. He looked a little concerned at first and then seemed to remember his own family's history and he started to relax again. I guess house arrest wasn't as bad as an insane sibling.

I just laughed, "No, no. She has just been busy with stuff. She just loves her art." That part was actually true so technically I didn't lie...technically.

"Can I see her art work sometime? " His head tilted ever so slightly to the left.

"Maybe later." The truth was that my mom's work was not the best. I'm a terrible artist and I could do better than her, but it made her happy and kept her busy and that was all that really mattered. "What would you like to do?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know; I figured that you made the plans." He gave a little chuckle.

"I planned on going out to lunch, but since it's only ten, I figured that we could do something else." I had a couple other great ideas in mind.

"Like what?" He took a step closer.

I stood on my toes and whispered in his ear, "Dance party?" I thought it might be a fun break.

Austin looked surprised at first, and then he just laughed. "Of course you would suggest something like that. That's an amazing idea, but let's spice it up a little bit." He did a little shimmy when he suggested the idea. That brought out another laugh from the both of us.

"Oh?" I raised one eyebrow and flashed him my dorkiest smile.

"Dance competition." He truly was perfect.

"Let's do this!" I took out the radio, turned it up, and the party was started. We had such a great time and of course, I won. My song came on and we jammed out to that as well. Of course his singing rocked, but so did mine. In the middle of a song he turned off the radio and I was the only one left singing.

"What was that for? That was my jam!" I kept dancing in hopes that he would turn the music back on.

"You can sing." He looked so shocked, it was sort of insulting.

I stopped jumping and turned to face him, "Everyone can sing, but only a few can sing well. I am not one of those few. Plus you heard me in the car before." That was truly what I believed, I just wanted to continue the party. I tried to turn my song back on, but he was blocking the button.

"You were clearly holding back, and yes, yes you are. Maybe you should join me on stage and we can sing a duet together." It was his turn to show a dorky smile. As good as that sounded...

"Let me think about that, NO! I have awful stage fright and I would just mess up your whole concert. I would just stand there awkwardly and I would embarrass both of us." This was all true. I remember messing up a talent show in fourth grade because of my stage fright. I was too scared to be moved from the stage, but I was also too determined to perform, so I wouldn't let anyone move me, but I also wouldn't sing. It was a complete disaster and Soph still likes to bring it up for blackmail sometimes.

"No way, you would be great," I shot him a look, he seemed to get the message, "or not. It's your choice. Have I told you how much I love you lately?" He opened his arms into a guilty hug. I guess that was his way of apologizing.

"Yes, you have. Now turn up the music and let's continue where we left off!" He turned it back on and I was able to dance all my problems away. I had to cut the date shorter than I wanted to because I knew I had to talk to Sophie as soon as possible.