Carly POV

Getting ready was no easy feat. I have no make up, no pretty dresses, and no experience in dating whatsoever.

But of course, that's not all I have to worry about.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to sneak out and sneak back in without Brandon knowing.

He's going to kill me when he finds out. And he most likely will find out because I'm not exactly skilled with the whole sneaking out thing.

I'm sitting in my room now with no clue what to wear as I stare into my closet.

I don't know where he's taking me either but I'm guessing a dress would probably be most appropriate. But of course I don't have any of those. Unless you count the ones that my dad got me but I grew out of those years ago.

Not sure what I was going to do, I jumped onto my bed and shoved my face into the pillow.

Then I got an idea.

My mom might have some nice dresses that I can wear.

I snuck across the hall and into my mom's room.

I guess I didn't really have to sneak around right now cause Brandon is sleeping on the couch in the basement but I still think I should be cautious.

I walked over to her closet to see my options.

There were a lot of black sexy dresses and I cringed just thinking about my mom wearing them.

But after looking for awhile I finally found the dress.

It was white and it had long lacy sleeves that would cover my bruises and scars nicely. It was also almost long enough to reach my knees, which I thought was the perfect length for me.

I also found a bunch of shoes in her closet. She had mostly high heels but I knew I wouldn't be able to walk in those so I grabbed a pair of white flats.

Next, I thought it'd be nice to try on some makeup.

I've never really put on makeup before except for when I was a little girl and just smeared the stuff all over my face.

I searched a makeup tutorial on YouTube and followed the girl's instructions step by step.

When I was done it didn't look quite as good as the other girl's did but I thought it still looked nice on me.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do with my hair. I didn't really know how to do any gorgeous fancy updos on myself so I just curled my hair.

Looking in the mirror, I hardly recognized myself. I could almost say I looked beautiful.

I looked at the time to see that Sean should be here soon.

I slowly descended the stairs and cautiously looked around for Brandon. He wasn't here so he must still be sleeping. I let out a sigh of relief.

I looked out the window to see Sean climbing out of his car.

I didn't need anything waking up Brandon so before he could knock or ring the doorbell I opened the door.

His jaw literally dropped when he saw me.

"Y-you look amazing, Carly." He stuttered.

I smiled. I couldn't believe that I actually got him to stutter like that.

"Thank you. Can we go now?" I asked ready to go and get away from this house.

"Of course." He held out his hand and I took it.

I gently shut the door and he led me over to his car.

Being the gentleman he is, he opened the car door for me.

"Where are we going?" I asked him when he pulled out of my driveway.

"It's a surprise." He said.

"Ugh. Fine. You're not gonna blindfold me or anything right?"

He chuckled.

"I promise I will not blindfold you. That could ruin your makeup and we wouldn't want that." He said.

"No. I worked way too hard on this for that." I said laughing along with him.

"You don't need it." He murmured quietly.

"What?"

"The makeup. You don't need it. You're beautiful even without it." He told me staring into my eyes.

I blushed furiously and looked away trying to hide it.

It wasn't too much long after that we arrived at our destination.

It looked like we were at a beach.

It's been such a long time since I came to the beach. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it until now.

I quickly unbuckled and slipped off my flats before hopping out of the car and running onto the sand.

The sand felt so nice on my bare feet.

I began laughing for no particular reason. Laughing at nothing at all. It just felt so nice to laugh.

Sean catches up to me and is now by my side.

"Is everything alright?" He asked looking at me weirdly.

"Yeah. Everything's perfect. I just love the beach." I said smiling.

He decided to let it go and began grinning with me.

"Come on." He said taking my hand again.

He took me over to where there was a nice set of table and chairs.

I stood there in awe. We were going to have a romantic dinner on the beach. This was the greatest first date that I could ever ask for.

For the entire dinner, we ate and talked.

We didn't talk about anything real important or significant. Just the simple things like favorite colors and foods so we could get to know each other better.

Now that we were finished with our delicious food, I just wanted to sit in the sand and watch the sunset.

As we were sitting there, Sean pointed out to a seashell that was by my feet. I wanted it to keep so that I could remember this date forever.

But when I reached for it my sleeve came up a little and he got a glimpse of something I never wanted him to see.

"What is that?" He asked.

"It's nothing." I told him.

"It looks like something to me." He said as he reached over and grabbed my arm to get a better look.

He pulled the sleeve up and traced his fingers over the scars from where I cut myself.

"Did you do this to yourself?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't say anything even though I wanted to tell him that it was nothing.

"Answer me." He ordered.

I just nodded my head.

He pushed my sleeve up even more and saw bruises on my arm that were in the shape of fingers.

"Who did this?" He asked calmly even though I could tell how angry he actually was.

I shook my head not wanting to admit the truth.

"Tell me!" He shouted.

"M-my older b-brother." I stuttered quietly.

I was scared. I didn't like this angry Sean. I knew that he wouldn't hurt me but I wasn't used to seeing him like this.

"Is he still at your house?" He asked.

I nodded my head.

Despite all his anger, he still managed to gently pick me up and hold me as if I were glass as he carried me to the car.

The whole way there I cried into his chest. He was so angry and I was afraid of what Sean would do.