by RH Tucker
“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 bodice 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 gir
ls 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 pictures,” 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.
“Hey, Mr. Garrison,” I greet him, grabbing a small drink from the table.
“Mr. Hillard, looking good. We’re all set up, and all the votes are counted. I saw Yvette and Oscar about five minutes ago, so I’m sure we’ll be able to announce the king and queen on time tonight.”
I try to hide the fact that my entire body stiffens with the mention of Oscar. He’s here, so that means Izzy is here too. Nodding, I turn and look around. The DJ is playing something fast and upbeat, but the dance floor is empty. Looking across the way, I see Yvette standing with a couple friends, but no Oscar. Then Yvette sees me and waves.
I wave back and try to start moving out of the room, but she catches up and gets in front of me.
“I’m glad you shaved.” She smiles, rubbing her fingers against my cheek.
“Why?” I grab her hand, pulling it away.
“Because, silly.” She giggles. “When we win king and queen, I don’t want that scruffy stuff scratching me.”
I nod, raising my eyebrows. “You really think we’re both gonna win, huh?”
“I don’t think, I know.” She leans in closer, not breaking eye contact. “I came with Dominic tonight, but he knows our situation.”
“And what situation is that?”
“Our situation.” She grabs my shirt, putting more emphasis on the words. “We’ll win. We’ll have the king and queen dance. And after prom,” she licks her lips, smiling, “we’ll celebrate.”
Good lord. This girl does not give up. Now I understand what Carter went through a few months ago. All I can do is stand there. My mouth open like a fish.
“I have to go,” I manage to stumble out and head outside the dance hall.
Carter and Emma are off to the side of the photographer’s area. While Jen and Franco are setting up to take a picture, a line starts to form as more people show up.
“Dude,” I walk over to Carter. “Have you seen Oscar?”
“Nah.”
“Say cheese!” Emma shouts, raising her phone up to take a selfie of all three of us.
I plaster on my fake smile, while Carter leans over and kisses her cheek.
“Emma, you just took pictures,” I say as she drops her hand.
“I know, but these are my pictures. Besides, it’s our senior prom, Matt. After tonight, no more high school dances.”
“Yeah.” Carter grins. “Now we got college parties to look forward to.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her.
I laugh, my first real one of the
night. I have no idea what I’m doing for college, but I know I’ll still be friends with them. That’s at least a silver lining. My smile fades as I turn around and see Oscar standing at the end of the hallway, near another entrance to the dance hall.
“You good?” Carter asks as I realize I let out an annoyed grunt.
“Yeah,” I answer, turning away.
I see a couple other people with him, but don’t see Izzy. I don’t turn back around to look for her because I really don’t want to see how beautiful she looks. Cosplay dress or prom gown, I know she’s going to look gorgeous.
“Huh,” Carter mumbles, looking over my shoulder. I look at him for an explanation. “She’s not there.”
“What?” I turn around.
Sure enough, Izzy isn’t there. Or either of her friends. But Tammy is, and that’s when I see her lean into Oscar, whispering something to him. Jeremy’s standing next to him, his date already with her tongue down his throat. My feet move before my brain knows what I’m doing.
“Matt.” Carter grabs my arm, but I pull away, making a beeline for Oscar.
A small smile crosses my lips, as I see the bruise still on his cheek. The swelling on my lip is still there, but he looks worse than I do.
“What the hell, Cappelli?” I shout, making others around us take notice.
“What?”
“I thought you were coming with Isabel?”
“No, I told you she was an option,” he says with a crooked smile.
“And did she know she was just an option?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs me off. “Honestly, I just didn’t want to get involved in your drama bullshit.”
“Did you even tell her you were coming with someone else?”
He stares at me, cocking his head to the side, a douchebag grin sliding across his mouth. “Oops.”
I lunge at him, but before I can do anything, Carter grabs me and pulls me back. Franco and Jen are catching up behind us, both of them looking on, unsure what’s happening.
“No, bro.” Carter ushers me away. “Just let it go.”
Jeremy and Oscar are laughing at something, but I don’t hear what they say, my pulse bouncing in my ears.