The party really starts to pick up as more and more people show up. Some I recognize as members of the local police department, some are his fathers coworkers, and there are a handful that I don’t recognize at all.They all stand together around a table, talking amongst themselves when Preston’s father calls for them to join him in another room.
“Alright beautiful, let’s get you home. I don’t want Nick hunting me down for missing curfew.” Preston appears beside me, and drapes his suit jacket around my shoulders. Focusing my attention back to him, I smile up at him as he leads me out of the house and into the back of the car.
We pull into my driveway at eleven p.m. sharp and he gets out to come open my door for me. I take his offered hand and he helps me out of the car. Closing the door, he laces my fingers with his as he leads us to the front steps.
“I hope you had a good time tonight. I know I did.” He says as we reach the front door, turning to me with a smile.
“I had a great time. Please tell your family thank you again for having me.” I say and lean up on my tiptoes to hug around his neck. He wraps his arms around my lower back and hugs me tightly.
“I love you, Lizzy. So much.” He whispers in my ear.
My heart stops at his confession and just as I’m about to say it back, for the first time, the front door opens. Uncle Nick stands on the other side and puts his hands in his pockets. Preston pulls away from me and glares at my uncle.
“Thank you for getting her home on time. Come on Lizzy, you have school in the morning.” Uncle Nick says tightly.
I’m about to tell him I’ll be inside in just a minute when Preston speaks up.
“What is your problem Nick?” He hisses and my jaw drops.What the hell?
“Excuse me?” Uncle Nick booms and his body stiffens.
“You heard me. What’s your problem? You can’t give her five minutes before you come out here telling her what to do? She’s not a baby Nick.Give her a fucking minute.” Preston says through gritted teeth. His fists are balled tightly at his side and he glares at Nick with a fury I don’t think I’ve ever seen in anyone’s eyes.
Uncle Nick crosses his arms over his broad chest and he looks Preston up and down. A smirk pulls at his lips and he takes a step forward.
“Lizzy, get inside please.” He says coolly, eyes locked on Preston.
“She can go in when she’s ready.” My hand shoots out to Preston’s chest and he glances at me.
“Stop. It’s okay.” I soothe, but it’s pointless. Preston’s body vibrates.
He loosens his tie and yanks it off before taking off the suit jacket and tossing it to the ground.
“You need to stop while you’re ahead Preston.” My uncle warns, but it falls on deaf ears.
“No,youneed to stop. You’re going to have to let her go someday, UncleNick.”Preston shouts and he pushes past my hand, positioning himself so he’s toe to toe with my uncle.
I stare wide eyed at the scene in front of me.Is he going to hit Uncle Nick? What is even happening tonight?He was just smiling and laughing and now he’s standing with his chest puffed out, jaw tightened and balled fists.
Preston goes to lift his arm but I quickly reach out to stop him.
“I will never forgive you if you do this. Go home, Preston.Now.” My voice is firm, my eyes pleading with him to stop before this situation gets too much farther out of hand. He drops his hand and takes a step back from Uncle Nick. He leans down to collect his coat and tie off the ground.
“Fine, I’ll go.” He leans to kiss me on the cheek then turns to walk back to his car, climbs in and the car pulls off.
I stand there for a minute trying to process what just happened when I feel a hand land on my shoulder.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Uncle Nick asks in a calm voice.
I nod. “I think so. That was just very…shocking. I don’t know what happened.” I whisper.
“Lizzy, look. I know you really like Preston, but what he just did was not okay.” He says and he ushers me in the house.
“I think he’s just really stressed with school and pressure from his Dad. This isn’t like him.”
Uncle Nick looks at me for a long minute before he speaks. “That might be true but I have a bad feeling about him.” I can tell he’s never really liked Preston that much, but I always thought it was just because all of my attention has been on him, so much so I’ve started to fall behind in school.
“He’s just having a bad night.” I defend and wave him off as I try to rush up the stairs and into my room.
