by Tucker, RH
“Yeah.” I nod, climbing up a ladder to hang the banner.
She climbs up one right in front of me, stretching out the tape. “This is so exciting! Our senior prom. After this all we have is graduation, and then it’s so long high school.” Her smile fades a bit.
“I can’t wait,” I mutter.
“You’re not going to miss it?”
“High school? Nope. There were some fun times, but no.”
“I am.”
For everything I don’t like about her and the stupid games she plays, this is a rare moment for her. She actually seems sentimental. Like this has been the best time of her life, and she isn’t sure what the world is going to be like next. And in reality, I have no idea either. It never bothered me before, but after arguing with my dad, now I really feel like I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. Carter’s been accepted to UC Irvine, and Emma is going to art school in Laguna. I know Lucas got acceptance letters from Fullerton, Irvine, and Riverside. And here I am, still drifting about, no clue what to do. Even Izzy has a plan, going to the local community college so she can take some classes and still focus on her channel.
I frown, thinking about going to the same college and seeing her there. I really screwed everything up and have no idea how to fix it. Can I even fix it? Would she want me to? How can I be with her and not be who I really am? A new wave of frustration rolls over me.
“Matt, are you listening?”
“Huh?”
“I said is your date going to get mad when we’re whisked away to our dance tomorrow night?”
My eyes squint, stepping off the ladder. “What dance? And what date?”
“Our dance.” Her eyes sparkle, but not with love. It’s more like mischief. “The prom king and queen dance. We’re totally winning.”
“Oh, right.”
“Matt.” She swats my arm playfully. “We are. I campaigned like a bitch to make sure people voted for us. There’s no way that nerd is winning my crown.”
I wrinkle my nose at the derogatory tone she uses. “She did come in second on the court.”
“Yeah, but that’s because I didn’t take her seriously. I still don’t, mind you. Just make sure your date is fine with you leaving her because we are so dancing together.” She wraps her hands around my arm.
“Well, no issues there.” I wiggle my arm free, reaching for the ladder to fold it up. “I’m not going with anyone.”
“What?” The look of pure horror on her face would have you believe I just said I like to punch puppies. “Matt, you can’t be serious.”
“I am.” I grab the ladder and start walking away, hearing her footsteps follow.
“Matt, you’re our president. You cannot attend our senior prom without a date. It’s … classless.”
“Wow, thanks.”
“How can you not have a date? It’s unthinkable.”
“I didn’t want one. Look at all this stuff we’ve had to do.”
“Oscar got a date.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Greg got one. Even I got a date.”
“Yvette, you could’ve waited till five minutes before it starts tomorrow and still shown up with a date. Any guy would kill to go with you.” I’m not lying. As annoying as she is, that doesn’t mean she isn’t gorgeous, and I’m sure most of the guys in school would have no problem being her date.
“Not any guy.”
I turn around after putting away the ladder and find her staring at me, her arms crossed. “Yeah, well … anyways, I’ve been busy.”
“Whatever.” She flings her hair over her shoulder, turning away. “That just means I can spend more time tomorrow night with my king.” She gives me a flirtatious smile over her shoulder before walking away.
Chapter 33
Izzy
I try and fail multiple times to work on a new video. Usually, when something is bothering me, I can vent in my videos. But there’s no venting I want to do. I’m just confused. I’m not sure what exactly Matt was mad about at school. If I didn’t mean much to him, there’s no way he’d get in a fight with Oscar over me. But he did. I texted Oscar after school, and he said it was ‘no big thing’ and didn’t reply after that. I agreed to go to prom with him but I’m regretting it every minute that passes by. And not just because I feel guilty about Matt.
Oscar hasn’t been specific about when he is picking me up. Or if we were doing anything beforehand. All he texted was, ‘I’m sure you’ll look hot’. That’s it.
I accompany Cindy and Veronica as we go get our nails done in the afternoon.
“It’s like, he asked me, but doesn’t really want to go with me,” I say, taking a drink of my smoothie I got as we wait for Cindy to finish up with her nails.
“I still can’t believe you said yes,” Veronica scoffs.
“V, this was your idea. You told him I wasn’t going out with Matt.”
“Yes, but I didn’t say you should say yes to him. It was just to get Matt jealous so that he would ask you again.”
“Yeah, well, that worked out great.” I slump my shoulders.
“Are you still coming with us before the dance? We decided on Chart House.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, who cares if we don’t have dates. We still want to eat at a fancy place.”
“Exactly.” I stand up a little straighter, smiling at her. “Of course, I’m in. I don’t even know what Oscar’s deal is. He hasn’t texted me all day.”
“You should just tell him no.”
“V, the dance is in six hours. I can’t do that.”
“I know, I know.” Veronica gestures over to the nail place as Cindy makes her way out. “When did he say he’s picking you up?”
“He didn’t.” I scowl. “Seriously, this has to be the worst prom date in the history of prom dates.”
“Look.” Cindy wiggles her fingers at us, displaying the new designs on them. “I love ‘em!”
“They look amazing,” Veronica adds.
“Now, what’s this about worst prom dates?”
“Nothing.” I groan as we turn and start walking along the outdoor galleria.
Our nails are finished, so now we just have to pick up Cindy’s dress. Veronica’s is already at my house, and I finished mine last night. We are all going to get ready at my house as kind of our last hurrah of high school.
“Oh, are we talking about McTool?”
“You and your McNicknames.”
We laugh as we make our way down to the store where Cindy’s dress is and head back home.
My dad’s home but stays out of our way while we run back and forth, between the living room, my room, and the bathroom. Veronica and Cindy have become quite comfortable around him over the years and don’t bat an eyelash as they get ready.
The top of my dress is daisy yellow, and I found a red, shimmering shawl I was able to customize. Even though it sits on my shoulders, it hangs low around the back, so it resembles Faye’s jacket in the show. The rest was just making sure I find the right matching skirt that went along with it, which oddly, was easy enough.
Veronica decided to go with a beautiful black lace dress, which goes down to just below her knees. The lace is covered underneath from the bottom, up to her chest. Just above that, and along the short sleeves that go down to her elbows, the lace is open, showing off her incredible gorgeous tan. She originally wanted a similar dress that was blue but opted to go for the black one because she said it would give her a slimming effect.
“You’re beautiful,” both Cindy and I told her when she said that. We know she’s always dealt with weight issues and have heard people say she carries it well. Of course, she hates when people tell her that.
Cindy, having the thinner frame among all three of us, is super petite and decided to go with a dress that she said made her feel ‘hot and sexy’. It’s a black and gold dress that goes down to her ankles, but a slit on the right-side travels all the way up to the middle of her thigh. It has a sheer bodi
ce top, with black and intricate gold swirls, that ties around her neck. It drops low to reveal her back and hugs her breasts, which she jokes about the smaller size of but always comes off super confident. In a word, she looks stunning.
Of course, with all the dressing up, applying and re-applying of makeup, and making sure our hair is still in place, we have clothes scattered everywhere.
I walk into the room, rummaging through a pile of underwear and bras, as my dad crosses behind me. “You guys, there’s no lip liner here,” I say.
Dad stops, looking down at the pile of clothes. “Why would you have lip liner with your bras?”
“It’s the most accessible place for it.”
He chuckles, shaking his head on his way to the kitchen.
“Also,” Cindy pokes her head out from the bathroom, yelling at us. “We didn’t want to just leave our contraception packs just laying around, Mr. Jacobs.”
My face drops, as I spin around and see Cindy laughing as Veronica tries to hide a giggle. My dad looks over at me, still holding the refrigerator door open, raising an eyebrow.
“Cindy!” I scream at her through clenched teeth. “She’s joking, Daddy.”
“Mm-hmm.” He looks into the fridge. “You know, I know you all are eighteen and graduating soon, but I’m really not ready to be a grandpa yet, Iz.”
“Dad!” I yell at him but shoot Cindy an evil glare.
“Mr. Jacobs, you’d be a great papa.” Veronica smiles, holding a curling iron to her hair, making it even bouncier than it normally is.
“Oh my God!” My death glare switches from Cindy to Veronica.
“Just kidding.” Veronica nudges me.
Dad stands up behind the fridge door. “You girls almost ready?”
“I’m just waiting on the slow pokes.”
“Hey, I’m just about done. Just finishing up these curls.”
“You can’t rush perfection,” Cindy says from the bathroom.
“And your dates?” Dad asks, and I can see the hesitation on his face as he watches me.
“We’re going solo,” I say, unsure about Oscar because he still hasn’t contacted me. I sent him a text an hour ago, but after no response I’m content with just ignoring him now and in no way am I going to be playing the damsel in distress. If he shows up, fine. If not, even better.
Veronica looks at me, then at my dad. “Izzy’s got a date, Mr. J.”
“Really?” He looks at me.
“Kinda.”
“What does ‘kinda’ mean?”
I shrug, looking at the table with our scattered undergarments. “It means he hasn’t even gotten ahold of me to tell me when he’s coming. I don’t even really want to go with him.”
“Why are you then?”
“Yeah. Why am I, Veronica?”
“I told you, it’s not my fault.”
I look back at dad as Veronica heads back to my room and he gives me a crooked smile. “I actually thought you might be going with your friend that came over. Matt?”
Swallowing some nerves, I take a breath to calm myself. “No. We just …” I want to say something else, but what can I say? What is there to say? “Come on, Cin, hurry up.”
I try to hide it, but the frustration and defeat in my voice bring my dad next to me, wrapping me in a hug. It’s just been the two of us for so long; he knows when things are on my mind. When something is bothering me, and also when I don’t want to talk about it. But he also knows when I’m hurt. And when I don’t need or want him to say anything, but just be my daddy. I lean my head against his chest.
“I can’t smudge my makeup,” I let out a strained giggle, holding back tears I didn’t realize I’m on the verge of.
“You won’t.” He wraps his other arm around me. Pulling away from me a step, he looks down at me and smiles. “You’re beautiful and strong, and I’m so proud of what an incredible young woman you’ve become.” His eyes look over my dress as he wrinkles his nose. “But I would like you to wear a trench coat over your dress for the entire night.”
“Daddy.” I swat his arm.
“Or maybe a blanket. We can take the throw off the couch and just wrap it around you. This thing is …” He feels the red shawl over my shoulder before shaking his head and letting out a deep breath.
“You haven’t seen Cindy’s dress yet.”
Like clockwork, she steps out of the bathroom, and my jaw drops. She looks absolutely breathtaking.
“You’re right,” Dad says, taking in Cindy’s dress, before looking over at Veronica. “On second thought, all three of you girls need to change. Preferably into sweatpants and ponchos.”
Veronica giggles, as Cindy re-examines everything about her outfit.
“Anyways.” He turns around, reaching behind the counter. “These are for you girls.”
All three of us exhale, “Aw,” as my dad has three red rose corsages. “I wasn’t sure what your dresses were, but I figured a red rose goes with anything.”
“Mr. Jacobs, that’s so nice.” Veronica comes over and gives him a hug.
“Wait.” I look at the corsages as he hands them to us. “You didn’t know if we had dates or not either. What if we had and they’d gotten us corsages?”
“Then you’d have two.” He smiles. “And I’d take your picture with only mine on you.”
“Pictures!” Cindy screams and starts clapping.
For the next five minutes, my dad withstands a barrage of photo poses from all of us and swapping of phones. When he told Cindy he could just send her the pictures she said no because the camera on her phone is supposedly the best one. I roll my eyes, while he simply continues to take pictures.
“All right, enough,” I call out. “Let’s get going.”
My dad sends me a curious look. “Your date hasn’t got here yet.”
I let out a scoff. “I don’t think McTool is gonna show up.” The nickname sends Veronica and Cindy into a laughing fit, while my dad stares at us confused. “It’s fine, Daddy. I don’t need a boy to have a good time.”
He smiles before taking me in his arms one more time, planting a kiss on top of my head. “Exactly. I’m holding you to those words for the next thirty years.”
“Dad!” I groan out but can’t help but laugh, as the girls follow suit.
Chapter 34
Matt
I spend half the day back at the hotel, helping to get the finishing touches set up. After we finish everything, I head back home and lounge around. Carter calls and says they’re going to meet up at his house, the limo picking us up from there. While I’m happy to hang out with them, I know Jen is going with Franco. That means I’ll be the fifth wheel, which stings. Mostly because I screwed up so bad with Izzy and it didn’t have to be this way. But now I have to bite the bullet and just deal with it.
I take one last look at the Spike costume before I leave the house. It’s no use. Even if I changed into it now and showed up, she was already going with Oscar. So, what’s the point?
I pull up to Carter’s house just as the limo pulls up. Carter’s mom is outside taking pictures, while Franco stands off to the side with Carter, and the girls whispering back and forth, giggling.
“Yo!” Carter calls over to me.
“Hey.”
“Rent or buy?” Franco asks.
“I own one. It’s the same one I wore for a New Year’s Eve party my dad held last year,” I say, straightening out my tie.
“Cool.” He nods as he points at his. “Rental.”
Carter eyes me carefully. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry.”
“About what?”
He looks around, as Franco walks over to the girls, speaking a little lower. “Just about all this crap with Izzy and—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, sure.” He slaps my shoulder. Looking back over to everyone else, he points to the limo. “All right, let’s do this thing.”
“Just a couple more pic
tures,” Carter’s mom calls out.
“Mom.”
“Carter, Matt just got here. I need at least one with him in them.”
“Fine, fine.” He looks at me. “Better turn that frown upside down.”
“Shut it.” I walk over with the rest of them. His mom takes a few more picture with all of us together before Carter finally breaks away, urging us toward the car.
Inside the limo, I try to put everything else in the back of my mind and just have fun. I listen, nod, and joke around. But every time Carter whispers something to Emma, making her laugh, I grind my teeth. Jen and Franco aren’t together, but she likes him, and from the looks of it, he likes her. Their playful affections for each other make me look out the window. Not only am I cursing myself for not being in those same positions with Izzy tonight, but I fight against the thought of her being like that with Oscar. I have no reason to think she actually likes him, but just the fact that they’re going together is enough to make every muscle in my body tense.
It doesn’t get any better as we get to the restaurant. It’s a fancy sushi place, which I should enjoy because I love sushi. But when I’m not remembering to respond to something, or making sure I laugh at someone’s comment, I just stare out the window of the restaurant. It doesn’t help that another couple from school decided on the same place and are actually feeding each other. The couple cuteness is starting to make me gag.
After the restaurant, we hop back in the limo and make our way to the dance. We arrive thirty minutes after it starts, so there are a few people, but it’s still slow. A photographer is set up, taking pictures.
“Hey.” Carter nudges me. “We’re going to take some pics.”
“Cool.” I motion to the dance area, where a few tables are set up. “I’m headed inside. Mr. Garrison and a few other teachers are running things and counting votes, but we’re supposed to check in.”
We’re not. But I have to get away from the couples and breathe.
“Cool, we’ll be in in a bit.”
I bump his fist and walk towards the tables.