Promised by Prom

by Jessica Bucher

  So, I was stuck being the backup. The guy that swooped in to make her smile when the serious boyfriends failed. And that was fine, for now. But what would happen if Nora didn’t text me? Addy was okay with making jokes and teasing me, but the only one at risk of really getting hurt here was me.

  Nora

  By noon we had been to nearly every shop in the mall. Lucy was already carrying three bags while Addy and I remained empty handed.

  “How can you have three bags when we haven’t even hit the dress shop yet?” asked Gray. “I thought the entire purpose of this trip was buying a dress?”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “Prom makeup,” she said hoisting a Sephora bag into the air. “Night before prom face and hair prep,” she continued raising her other arm. “And last but not least, ridiculously bedazzled tiara.” She was grinning from ear to ear in a way that was infectious.

  Earlier that morning, I had been dreading the trip. Who wants to watch your best friends try on dresses for a prom you likely aren’t going to? The dance was rapidly approaching, and I didn’t have a date, let alone a serious boyfriend. It was looking a lot like senior year would be no different than the rest. I needed a T-shirt: Nora Henry Failure Extraordinaire.

  But then, Max had offered to take me as a pity date. An idea I couldn’t help but smile about. Sure, I could pretend like going with Max was a consolation prize, but I knew the two of us would make the night more memorable than it ever could have been with some dude I was trying too hard to impress.

  Lucy’s joy was contagious. As the three of us walked toward the dress store, arms intertwined, it was impossible not to feel the rumble of excitement building up in all of us. I snuck a look over my shoulder to see what the boys were up to. Max, Simon, and Gray were following a few paces back now.

  It struck me that they were a lot like us. Totally, and completely different people, yet together the three of them seemed to make sense. They had Simon to be reasonable, Gray to be tough when needed, and Max to make everyone laugh.

  If Max and I were allowed to date...I shoved the thought aside as quickly as it came. There was no we. Addy would die, and if things ended between me and Max, the way they seemed to end between him and whoever he was dating, I wasn’t sure I would be able to bounce back. He was my rock. I didn’t want to compromise that.

  As if reading my mind, Max gave a little wave in my direction. It was hard not to see him as a boy now. Before, when I housed him squarely in the friendzone, I didn’t notice things like the tiny scar just above his eyebrow or that five o’clock shadow he only let show on the weekends. Maybe it was just because he was walking with Gray and Simon, but he looked older today. I smiled back at him before turning my head back to face the stores ahead.

  “There she is ladies,” said Addy, tugging us to a stop in front of Cinderella’s Closet. The shop had opened last spring, and since then, every girl in Delinki had made the trek out to peruse the racks. Lucy had scored the perfect Homecoming dress this fall, and we were all anxious to find the dress. Not just any dress. It had to be perfect. It had to be worthy of a frame at your grandma’s house or in my case, a full page dedication in our Squad Goals notebook.

  “This is where we leave you,” said Gray, giving Addy a peck on the cheek.

  “Wait? You don’t want to help us pick?” she asked, pouting just a little.

  Gray tossed his head back in a laugh. “Pretend it’s our wedding, Addy. I want to be surprised.”

  Addy rolled her eyes. “What you want is to peruse Foot Locker without me interrupting or pointing out how ridiculous it is to spend 189 dollars on sneakers.”

  Max clapped his hand to his heart. “Addison Marie Altman, how dare you call Jordans sneakers! Besides, it’s important. Gray has to find a pair that matches his tux.” His eyes were positively beaming with mischief as he tormented Addy.

  “No flippin way!” she cried, shooting daggers into Gray. “You cannot wear Jordans to the prom.”

  Gray pretended to look torn, holding his hands out like a judicial scale. “I don’t know, Addy. Making a fashion statement is important to me too.”

  “Alright,” said Simon, pulling Gray back by the sleeve of his swim team pull-over. “You guys find your dresses. I will prevent these two from doing anything that may compromise their chances at attending the prom with you two.”

  “Thank you,” huffed Addy. “But you can let Max buy whatever ridiculous thing he wants. Nora will have a prom date.”

  “A prom date in the flyest shoes on the market,” said Max, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

  I was pretty sure Addy was gonna strangle him if he kept talking so I grabbed her and Lucy by the arm and dragged them into the store before she had a chance to dole out another verbal lashing.

  Once inside, Addy sighed with relief. “Remind me not to allow my brother to tag along everywhere we go.”

  I wanted to tell her not to be so hard on him. Lucy and I really didn’t mind, but a warning look from Lucy effectively sealed my lips. As the three of us dragged dress after dress behind the changing curtains, I tried to imagine how it would feel if Nina suddenly wanted to go everywhere I went. I probably wouldn’t like it either, but Max was different. Max had always been the D'artagnan to our three musketeers—to me anyway.

  Five dresses in, and I was ready to give up. Ready to give up that is, until Lucy yanked back my curtain her eyes wide as a blowfish.

  “It’s your dress!” she cried excitedly. “It’s like they made the thing for you!”

  I pulled the curtain in front of my exposed skin.

  “Lucy,” I growled. “There are people in this store!”

  “Forget about them,” she said hopping up and down. The dress in her hand shimmered under the fluorescent lights above her.

  “I will humor you,” I mumbled taking the hanger from her arm and heading back behind the curtain. I hung the dress on the hook inside my dressing room then shrieked.

  “I told you,” cried Lucy from the otherside.

  The long silver gown was made of a thick creamy satin that if worn right, would hug the wearer, all the way down to the knees. From there a small train swept behind. It was a pretty dress by any standards, but this was not just any dress. I knew this dress.

  I quickly pulled it over my head, tugged up the zipper and pulled back the curtain. Addy and Lucy gaped. “It’s perfect,” whispered Lucy.

  “It’s Gillian Anderson’s dress from the Emmys,” came a voice from behind the register. “Or a replica more like.”

  I looked up, expecting to see a fashion savvy man in his thirties. Someone who belonged behind the counter of a dress shop called Cinderella’s Closet. Instead, I locked eyes with a boy who could have been in our grade.

  He smiled at me with gleaming white teeth, before reaching up to adjust his tie. “And your friend is right. That dress was made for you.”

  The heat rose in my cheeks as I mumbled a thank you, and stepped back into the dressing room. Did I really just meet a boy who knew what Scully wore to the Emmys?

  I had my arms up above my head to remove the dress when Lucy pulled the curtain open for the second time, threatening to expose me to the store. This time, however, her and Addy squeezed in with me.

  “Buy the dress,” whispered Addy, “and give that boy your number.”

  I did buy the dress, and shoes to match. The boy with the compliments, however, was gone by the time we had gathered our things to head to the register.

  “Oh well,” said Addy. “Maybe you didn’t get that one, but it’s positive reinforcement right?”

  “Reinforcement for what?” I asked, feeling a mix of elation from finding the dress and disappointment for missing an opportunity to talk to the only guy I’d met so far who had anything in common with me.

  Addy sighed before wrapping her arm around my shoulder. “Now you know boys like that exist. We just have to find them. I for one am relieved. For a second there I thought you were really going to be stuck going to prom with my
baby brother!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Max

  “Road trip!” I shouted at a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Nora who ran down to the SUV with her sleeping back and duffel packed to the brim. It was so early, the sun hadn’t even peeked over the trees yet.

  “Yay,” she said, waving her Hydro Flask. Her excitement echoed mine, but we were currently the only ones showing enthusiasm. It was Nora who managed to convince everyone to buy tickets to the music festival for spring break, but I don’t think it required much coercion at all. It was their senior year spring break, the last spring break they would likely spend together. I could sense Nora’s desperation to savor every last moment with her friends before they slipped away and left her behind.

  So when she wanted enthusiasm, I’d be the first to give it to her.

  “It’s a little early for your energy level, Max.” Addy was practically asleep on Gray’s shoulder in the far back. Lucy and Simon still looked awake, but not by much. We had a six hour hour drive to the festival, and if we wanted to maximize the full spring break experience—and get our money’s worth on those overpriced tickets, we had to get there early.

  Before long, it started to feel like Nora and I were the parents in the front seat of a giant minivan on a cross-country road trip. When the kids in the back weren’t sleeping, they were whining, hungry, and complaining about the embarrassing dancing in the front seat. More than once, I had to remind Gray that he and Addy were in my direct sight in the rear-view mirror and would have to keep the canoodling to a minimum.

  Around lunchtime, we stopped at a rest area to eat the lunches Mom packed. Simon and Gray walked the other girls to the bathroom, once again, leaving Nora and I alone. I never struggled with what to talk about with Nora. Never. But ever since the whole strawberry shake, boyfriend plan started, it felt like our relationship was different...but just to me. Like my side of our friendship changed.

  “So...the scheming matchmakers took the week off?” I asked.

  She laughed. “I think they’re leaving it to fate this week.”

  “Oh no. Not my sister. She doesn’t leave anything to chance. Besides, there’s too much on the line. If she doesn’t find a suitable bachelor for you, you’ll be stuck with me. Oh God!” I made an over-dramatic gesture of being stabbed and fell off the picnic blanket and onto my back.

  Nora tossed a tortilla chip at my face.

  “Wanna know a secret?” she said, sinking down to lay on her stomach next to me. Our faces were so close, I felt the movement in my chest completely stop, which couldn’t be good.

  “I’d rather go with you, anyway,” she continued. The chances of my breathing again were getting very low, and I could only assume the lack of oxygen was causing me to hallucinate. She picked at the grass between her fingers, and I waited for her to speak again. I wouldn’t dare move.

  Was she confessing her feelings for me? Finally admitting that I was way better than any tool my sister could find. That everything between us was so real and right, and the moment we took down these walls between us, we would be, quite possibly, the greatest couple that ever graced the earth.

  “I just think going with a friend, someone you could really have fun with would be way better than trying to keep up appearances for some stranger.”

  I kept my stupid eyes on her face as the air returned to my lungs. I’d been quiet for too long, so I really needed to say something. I chuckled awkwardly. “Then, just tell them that, Nora. Don’t ruin your prom night with some random stranger. Have a blast with me!”

  She smiled, and I hoped that when she looked at me, she couldn’t see the devastation I was trying to hide.

  “Get up, weirdos,” Addy called when she and Gray returned from the bathroom with vending machine sodas.

  “Time to get going,” he said as he held an arm out for me to grab. When he pulled me up, he gave me a questioning head nod that I answered with a despondent shrug.

  As we packed up and loaded back into the car, I realized something. I’d been keeping this goal of mine on the downlow for too long. How long could I expect to wait for Nora to finally come clean with her feelings for me if I was also keeping mine a secret from her?

  I glanced over at her in the passenger seat as she scrolled through the music app to pick something for the radio. And I made a promise right there. I was going to tell her how I felt this weekend. Addy be damned. I was tired of her goals getting in the way of everything. By the end of this weekend, Nora and I would either be in lip-locked bliss or my heart would be shattered.

  But at least I would know the truth.

  Nora

  I could barely contain my excitement as Addy, Lucy, and I set up our Igloo tent. It was a little small for the three of us now, but too many memories were made in that thing to upgrade to something new. Besides, we had enough trouble setting it up, and everyone knew Igloos were the easiest tent to build. I didn’t want to imagine Lucy trying to wrestle anything that actually required instructions.

  Across the campsite Simon, Max, and Gray were setting up their own tent.

  “I guess they don’t want to cuddle,” giggled Addy, watching as the boys laid out all the pieces to their massive three bedroom family style tent.

  “I have four siblings,” yelled Simon. “You think we all get our own tents?”

  Addy wiggled an eyebrow. “Touchy touchy” she whispered. “He’s probably just mad he has to sleep with the boys when this is a perfect opportunity for…..”

  “For what?” asked Lucy her face as red as I’d ever seen it.

  “I’m just joking!” cried Addy. “But you know, no chaperones...could be a lot of liplocking going on behind those zippered walls.”

  I cringed. As much as I loved Addy and Lucy, I didn’t exactly want to be ten paces to the right of them participating in unchaperoned time. I also didn’t want to be the reason they couldn’t.

  “You know, I meant it when I said you guys don’t have to share a tent with me. Seriously, if you want to split the big tent. I can stay in here.”

  Addy laughed, “And what will we do with Max? Leave him out for the bears? You know he’ll fall asleep with an open bag of Doritos in one hand and end up eaten alive.”

  “I heard that,” barked Max. He was standing on the farside of their tent holding the centerpiece so that the whole thing wouldn’t collapse on them as Simon and Gray attempted to stake down the sides.

  I shrugged, knowing full well that what I was about to say would make Addy uneasy. Heck, it made me uneasy.

  “He can just sleep in the igloo with me.” I watched from the corner of my eye as a suddenly very interested Max popped his head to the side of the tent to hear Addy’s response.

  “Ew,” she groaned. “You don’t know what you are volunteering for. Don’t you remember the gas man?”

  Lucy giggled, “Oh my lanta, the Gas Man! I totally forgot about that nickname. Why aren’t we using that nickname anymore?” she howled.

  I snickered, remembering full well why we had stopped using that nickname. Max was mortified of it.

  “Because I’m a full grown man,” cried Max, “who doesn’t deserve a forever sentence based on one ONE bad chili dog incident.” He stepped to the side of the tent, arms crossed over his chest in an angsty boy on a mission pose. This might have been more effective had he not let go of the center pole causing the whole tent to collapse, prompting a united groan from Gray and Simon. I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help myself. The sound came bubbling up and out before I could stop it.

  “Alright,” said Gray standing up in a huff. “You three each grab a side. If two of you are sleeping in here, and I hope you are” he said directing a wink at Addy, “The least you can do is help assemble.”

  With all of us working, putting the big tent up took less than ten minutes. Those ten minutes however, were fraught with tension for me. Did I just volunteer to share a tent with Max, alone? And more importantly, did Addy just go along with it, no complaints?
No Max stay away from Nora?

  I had to confirm. “So,” I started awkwardly. “Are we all agreed on the sleeping arrangements?”

  Gray grabbed Addy by the waist, hugging her tightly to him with a smirk. “I am very pleased with the change in plans.”

  “Addy,” I asked, my tone far more hesitant.

  Addy looked from Gray to me and then back to Gray again. She would have had to have a heart of stone to say no to that boy, the way he was looking down at her like a kid next in line to sit on Santa’s lap.

  “Alright,” she sighed. “But if my brother is gross…for even one second...you have full rights to resegregate the tents. Deal?”

  “Deal,” I answered.

  By the time I turned around to ask Max what he thought, he was already laying in our tent, legs stretched out in front of him, arms crossed behind his head.

  So I guess I was the only one nervous.

  Chapter Twelve

  Max

  If there was any god in heaven, then it would be a very cold evening, one that would require mass amounts of cuddling for body heat.

  Okay, okay, okay, I scolded myself. I needed to stop thinking like a typical, gross guy and just appreciate that sharing the tent would just mean more quality time with Nora. More time to come clean and tell her how I really felt.

  Which would wait until the last day of the festival, of course. If by some tragic turn of fate, she rejected me, then the sleeping arrangements would get very awkward very quickly.

  By the time we got our tents set up, and some much needed food to cure the crankiness, we settled in for a pretty chill evening. For the most part, our camping situation was pretty primitive, but the girls were overjoyed to find a decent bathroom facility was only a short walk away. While they were gone, we got started on a small fire in the firepit between our tents.