10. Not Now Dad!

Today is the day! I get to go out with Anthony. The plan is that we will walk around the park then eventually I'll offer to share my funnel cake with him. Then at some point, we will reach for it at the same time and our hands will touch and he will fall in love with me.

Yup, this will totally work.

I heard the doorbell all of a sudden and my heart jumped. He is here!

I opened the door and there he was.

"Hey Summer, cute dress," he said and gave me a lopsided grin.

"Thanks," I giggled nervously.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

"Not so fast!" I heard my dad say. Ugh! Not now dad!

"Hello, you must be Mr. Philips, I'm Anthony Turner," Anthony said politely.

"It's Jacob," dad said and looked at him intently. "Before you leave, what are your intentions of my daughter?"

"DAD!" I gave him a warning look.

Anthony chuckled. "It's okay Summer. It's a fair question." he turned to my father. "We are good friends Jacob. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."

"Oh leave these kids alone, Jacob!" my mom said and walked over to us. Thank God, mom always has my back. "You kids have fun," she smiled at Anthony.

"It was nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Phillips," Anthony said before leading me to his car.

"Sorry about that," I said.

"I don't mind, your dad seems protective," Anthony chuckled.

"Yeah, apparently he used to be a jerk so now he thinks all guys are like that," I rolled my eyes.

"Well thank you for inviting me. We always wanted to go to the fall festival?" he said.

"We?" I looked at him questioningly.

"Oh, my sister is coming with us. She is waiting in the car. I hope that's okay?" Anthony said.

I was not okay with that at all. I was gravely disappointed. I thought this was a date but I couldn't show him I wasn't happy. Might be a turn off for him.

"That's perfectly fine!" I said.

"Great! Let's get going then," Anthony said.

"This is my sister Jessica. She is in middle school," Anthony introduced us.

"Nice to meet you," I said and smiled.

"Hmph.." was her response. Huh? What kind of response was that? Does she not like me for some reason? I decided to ignore it for now.

We finally arrived at the festival. It was a nice sunny day so the festival was crowded. The air smelled like popcorn and cotton candies. My mouth started to water.

"Let's go look at that stall first!" Jessica pointed at a stall that has wooden crafts.

The rest of the day we walked around and looked at different stalls. It was nothing like how I imagined. We didn't get to share any funnel cake or touched hands. Jessica clung to him the entire time and glared at me. I wondered what her problem was.

"Phew! I am beat. We should go home Anthony," Jessica said after a while.

"Yeah, you are right. Are you just about ready to go, Summer?" he looked at me.

"Yeah sure. Let me go to the restroom first," I said.

"Me too," Jessica said.

Good. Now is my chance to ask her why she is being a brat. I caught her before she left the bathroom and cornered her.

"Okay, what's your deal?" I asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Jessica acted obliviously.

"Why have you been giving me cold shoulder all day?" I asked.

"Oh that. Because I don't like you," she said.

"WHAT? But why?" I was shocked.

"Because I know your type. My brother dated someone just like you before and was heartbroken then stopped dating altogether," she declared.

Oh..I see. Now I know why I've never seen him with a girl.

"I am not like that. You shouldn't judge me based on my looks," I said.

"We'll see about that," she frowned and headed toward the exit.

I wonder who was the girl that broke Anthony's heart.