Chapter 1

I met a girl last year at school and her name is Stacy. She and I hit it off and became good friends.

After a few months of holding hands in school, she asked if she could come over to my house. I had told her we had a pool. That seemed to make her happy.

She told me she had to ask her father, but she thought it would be no problem.

Her father had dropped her off, but stopped to introduce himself to my mother. He ended up staying and they chatted in the kitchen, while we went to the pool.

Stacy changed and was in a very pretty bikini. She came over to me in the pool and gave me a kiss.

I was worried that her father might see that, but I looked into the kitchen and saw them talking and laughing—probably about us. War stories about being single parents, I figured.

While we were kissing, she told me that she lost her mother five years before, but didn't really want to get into the details.

I explained that my father left my mother for another woman. After watching them in the kitchen it seemed that our parents were getting serious about each other ... maybe even falling in love.

"What happens to us if they get married?" Stacy asked.

I was still returning her kisses, but I stopped long enough to say, "What do you mean what happens to us?"

"What if we fall in love and want to get married?" she questioned.

"Say what?"

Let's step back for a moment; my name is Daniel Louden. Her full name is Stacy Sherman. We're both 17.

My mother's name is June—her father's is Michael.

Up to this very moment, my relationship with Stacy was as friend, but when she said what she said—I stopped to think about it.

"Are you in love with me, Stacy?" I asked point blank.

"I think so. How do you feel about me?" she asked me back.

I turned to her and looked in her eyes, I saw myself in them. I said, "Stacy, I could fall in love with you ... really easily!"

She shocked me by saying, "Well, we had better do something before they do ... or we'll become step-brother and sister."

"What's wrong with that?" I asked.

"There are rules! We need to become a couple before they do," this pretty blonde in my arms said.

"Or what?"

"Or, I could never do this," she said, this time giving me a French kiss. I responded ... by responding.

After finishing our kiss, we separated and looked back into the kitchen and saw my mother and her father kissing on the lips as well.

"We need to get a move on," she said.

"Whatever you want Stacy—what do you want?"

"Have you ever had a girlfriend before?" this beauty said to me.

"NO, I've had buddy's who were girls, but not a serious girlfriend ... what do you suggest?" I said willing to do anything for this girl in my arms.

"We have to work quickly, Danny!" she said. "What's that ring on your finger for?"

"I was on the All-County Track Team, that won first place. Everyone got one of these," I answered.