The Chase by Amber Riel (love story books to read .TXT) 📕

          “Good…. Make up….”

          “Look I don’t mind wearing a dress and heels but I’m not big on make up.”

          “That’s okay we can use the basic…. You’ll still look like you…. Nothing to bright and broad that will make you look or feel ridiculous.”

          I sighed.  “Okay."

          When Carmen pulled up to the house, I noticed a small red car.  It looked big enough to fit at least five people but it wasn’t huge.  I looked at Carmen, figuring she knew who the car belonged to.  A huge smile grew on her face as she seen it.  “Eric’s home,” she told me.  There was a hint of excitement in her tone.

          I kind of smiled.

          As she placed the car in park, Louis walked out of the house followed by a tall man with short brown hair.  He was dressed like a fisherman with a tacky brown vest filled with fishing hooks of all kinds.  Under his vest was what I guessed to be a white and red stripped t-shirt and brown long shorts which stopped at his knees.  He wore black and white sneakers with long white socks underneath.  I figured the man was Eric, Carmen’s beloved husband.  I kind of recognized him from the pictures I had seen inside of the house.

          Louis walked over to my side of the car and opened the door for me as I unbuckled.  “Thank you,” I told him as I smiled.

          “Not a problem,” he replied.  “What did you get?”

          “You’ll have to wait and find out,” I answered as I climbed out of the car and closed the door behind me.

          “Oh fun…. The guessing game…. Well, I’m not going to go through your clothes anyways it’s personal stuff and I respect that.”

          “Who’s this your friend, Louis?” the man asked as he walked over to us with his arm around Carmen.

          “This is Samantha, the girl I told you about,” Louis replied as he took my hand.  “Sam, this is Eric, Carmen’s husband, as you might have already figured.”

          “Oh yea.  It’s nice to meet you,” I told the newcomer.

          “Nice to meet you too.  So Carmen’s making the two of you go out on a nice date tonight?”

          I kind of laughed and nodded at Eric’s question.

          “I see.”

          “So, Carmen, seeing that you picked tonight as our date night what are Sam and I going to do?  When are we to leave?” Louis asked with a joking tone.

          “That’s up to you two but I’m only going to make enough dinner for Eric, Lainie, and I so you two will have to fend for yourselves.”  It was obvious what she was hinting and the smile that grew on her face was kind of teasing and giving off a tip for Louis.

          “Dinner then,” Louis replied as he locked eyes with me.  “How’s dinner sound?”

          “Dinner sounds good,” I answered with a smile.

          “Good…. Now would you like any help with your bags?”

          “Sure.”  I slid the door to the middle seat open to reveal the bags filled with clothes.

          “Wow,” Louis replied as he counted the bags in his head.  “That’s quite a bit, don’t you think?”

          “Carmen forced me to get it,” I answered as I laughed.

          Louis smirked and shook his head.  “Should have known.”  He picked up the bags, two at a time till there were no more.

          “Need any help?”

          “Clothes and…. Shoes?” he asked as he looked at the box.  “I think I’ll be fine.”

          I followed him into the house and up to the room where Lainie and I were staying in.

          “Must have been quite a shopping spree, huh?”

          I nodded as I watched him place the bags on the bed then turned to look at me.

          “Can’t wait to see what you got for tonight…. Which reminds me…. How long is it going to take you to get ready?”

          “I don’t know…. I think Carmen wants to help me with my hair and makeup.”

          Louis nodded with a slight smile on his face then he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me.  They felt so strong and protective that I didn’t want him to leave me alone.  I felt so safe around him.  “If Carmen’s got anything to do with it, then I guess she’s going to take a while preparing you for the night…. She loves dressing people up and prepping them anything from dates to proms to weddings…. She’s into that kind of stuff so I have a feeling she’s going to be in here any minute to prepare you for tonight.”  He kissed my forehead then released me from his grip.  “I guess I better go because she’ll be up here and kick me out of the room.”  He left as he winked at me, making me blush a little.

          I sat on the bed all dressed up as Carmen fixed my hair.  Lainie was at the door, making sure that Louis didn’t walk in.  Carmen made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t a loud to see me until I was ready to leave the house.

          “I thought that you hated Uncle Louis,” Lainie said as she looked over at me.  “If you hate him then why are you going out with him?”

          I kind of smiled at the child’s question.  “It’s complicated…. When you’re older, you’ll understand.”

          “Oh…. Okay.”

          “And hate is such a strong word, Lainie,” Carmen replied with a smile.  “There your hair is all done…. Want to take a look?”

          I thought about it but decided against it.  I’ll wait to see what it looks like with the make up on.”

          “Okay then.”  I watched as she dipped a small round brush into the base of the blush which was the color of my skin tone and then as she lifted it up to touch my face with it.  The bristles of the brush felt ragged but soft.  I sat patiently as she moved the brush against my cheek and then did the same when she moved to the other one.  When she was done with the blush, she placed eye-shadow on my eyes.  I had to keep my eyes closed but it was kind of hard to do because I wanted to blink so badly.

Once she was finished with the eye-shadow, she turned toward the make-up and looked at it.  “Want eye-liner?”

“No thank you,” I replied, shaking my head.

“Okay then…. Mascara?”

“Okay.”  I watched as she took the mascara and unscrewed the lid, bringing it over to my eye.  She had me blink a few times against the brush which made my eyes tingle as I did so.  Then she had me repeat with the other eye.

“Okay, time for lipstick.”

She had me purse my lips as she applied the light pink lipstick on them.  The lipstick was about the same color as my lips; it was only used to make my lips stand out, pretty much like the other make-up items.

“And you’re done.... Would you like to see now?”

          “Yes please.”

          “Okay.”  She handed me a round small hand held mirror and I looked into it.  The make-up wasn’t noticeable which was what I had wanted.  No one would be able to tell that I was even wearing anything.  My hair was placed in a half bun with curls from the curling iron which looked amazing and even my small bangs fell off to the left side of my face with little curls.  I smiled at the sight, wondering what Louis was going to think when he seen me.  “Well?”

          “I like it…. Thank you…. You did an excellent job…. Thank you so much.”

          “No problem always glad to help.”  Carmen returned the smile then picked up the high heels and handed them to me.  “Don’t want to forget these.”

          “Of course, thank you.”  I placed the high heels on my feet then stood up slowly so I didn’t fall.

          “You look pretty, Auntie Samantha, Uncle Louis is going to flip,” Lainie spoke with that cute adorable voice only a child could have.

          I smiled at her.  “Thank you, Lainie.”

          “Ready to go meet your prince charming?” Carmen asked with a grin growing on her face.

          “Yea, but I think I could use some help walking.”

          Carmen laughed.

          Carmen helped me walk down the stairs so I didn’t trip on the steps as I made my way down.  When we got down stairs, Louis and Eric stood there, waiting for us.  Eric smiled at us while Louis just stared with amazement on his face.  I kind of thought that he was in shock.  I noticed that he held a beautiful bouquet of all kinds of flowers.  It was mixed with red and white roses with a few yellow lilies and I believed a few small sunflowers.  I couldn’t help but notice that he was wearing a nice white dress shirt with long black dress pants and shiny black shoes.  His hair was brushed back nicely with a few pieces hanging in front of his face.  He was so handsome and dreamy.  I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

          As I worked my way to the ground I stopped kind of in front of him.  I had no idea what I should say.  He was so attractive.  I felt if I were to say anything it would have been unintelligible and idiotic.  I just stood there, checking him out in awe.

          “You look handsome, Uncle Louis,” Lainie’s little voice broke me out of my little daze.

          I kind of shook my head and looked down at her.

          “Thank you, Lainie,” Louis replied with a smile.  I watched as he took a sunflower out of the bouquet and handed it to the child.  “This is for you, kiddo.”

          “Thank you, Uncle Louis,” Lainie replied with a wide smile as she took the little flower.

          “And these are for you,” Louis replied as he handed the rest of the bouquet to me.  “I figured that there was plenty of flowers already so I hope you don’t mind me giving one to Lainie.”

          I smiled as I looked at the bouquet in my hands and then locked eyes with him.  “I don’t mind.”

          “What about me?” Carmen joked behind me.

          Louis sighed.  “You’re my sister…. Besides, you’re making us leave while you make dinner for the three of you.”  He couldn’t hold in his laughter.

          “Still it would have been nice.”                    

          Louis shook his head and turned toward me.  “Is it okay if I take one to give to Carmen?”

          “It’s okay,” I replied as I kind of closed my eyes with a shy smile.

          Louis reached in and took a lily out and handed it to Carmen.  “I know you like roses but because you’re my sister and not my date I figured that you’d be okay with a lily.”

          Carmen kind of laughed as she took the lily from Louis.  “Well, thank you.”

          “Shouldn’t you two be heading off now?” Eric replied as he smiled at the both of us.

          “Of course,” Louis nodded as he spoke.  He took my hand and walked me toward the door then stopped.  “Carmen, can you take the bouquet and put up in the room for Sam so she doesn’t have to carry it all night?”

          “Sure.”  Carmen walked over to me and I handed her the bouquet with my free hand.  “You two have fun now.”

          “Oh and you kids remember to be back by 10,” Eric joked as he laughed.

          “We’ll be fine,” Louis replied as he led me out of the door.