“I look hideous!” she sobs. She doesn’t look hideous but she doesn’t look like the Katherine that I’m accustomed to seeing. Her hair is stringy and falling all over the place and she doesn’t have make-up on, but hideous is not the word I would use. She looks natural and beautiful.
“Put you hair in this until we get to the salon,” I say as I hand her a pony-o.
“Thanks,” she grumbles as she struggles to pull her hair back.
Honestly, Katherine is quite beautiful without make-up. I wonder why she doesn’t see that. I consider telling her that, but I change my mind when I notice that she is pouting. If I compliment her appearance, I’ll be forced to point out all the beauty in her and then hear her remarks about each part I point out. Some things are better left unsaid.
I decided on a hairstyle last night but Katherine is still indecisive by the time we arrive at the salon for her scheduled appointment. Her appointment was before mine but since she can’t make up her mind I ask to go ahead of her. I sit in the chair and explain to the beautician that I want a soft tease up-do. The stylist suggests that I have my hair trimmed and layered for this style since my bangs are past my shoulders. What the hell, I might as well get a new every day hair style while I’m here. After she cuts about three inches off my hair and completes the layers, she starts putting my hair in the up-do. My bangs are pulled to the right side of my forehead and the rest of my hair is pinned up with a soft tease on top.
Just as she’s finished placing the last bobby pin in and sprays my hair with a little hairspray, Katherine exclaims that she has finally decided on a hair style. It’s about damn time! If she didn’t have a style picked out by now, I’m sure the beautician would have kicked her out and she would have to attend our prom without an up-do. “I want the Romantic Twist,” she says with excitement in her voice.
I get up and she takes my place. Since Katherine gets her hair trimmed and styled every six weeks the stylist doesn’t have to do any prep work on her hair before taking the curling iron to her. In forty-five minutes, her hair is curled and the ringlets pinned, loosely, to the top of her head with a couple of little ringlets hanging on either side of her face. Not sure why it’s called a twist since her hair isn’t twisted, but she looks absolutely stunning, even without make-up.
We arrive at my house a little after four o’clock. We make our way to the kitchen for a light snack before we head to my room to finish getting ready. Chris Tamblay and Tommy are supposed to be here by six o’clock. I grab two yogurts and two bottles of water. We eat our snack and chit chat about mindless things until my brother walks in. “Hey, you two clean up nicely,” he says with a smile on his face.
Katherine puts her half eaten yogurt on the counter, grabs her water and heads to my bedroom. I swear, she is overly dramatic sometimes and for no good reason.
“What’s wrong with her?” Michael asks truly looking a bit concerned.
“I don’t know. Maybe she’s embarrassed that you saw her without her make-up?” I take a guess. I never really know what’s going on inside Katherine’s head.
“I don’t know what’s up with that girl, Abby. She’s very gorgeous even without make-up on,” Mike says as he takes a bite out of Katherine’s yogurt cup and scrunches up his face. Mike doesn’t like yogurt so I’m surprised he even took a bite.
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know, Mike.”
“Well, I can’t wait to see you both once you’re finished getting ready.”
“Thanks,” I say, as I throw the yogurt cups away and grab my water.
“Sis, may I ask you a question?”
“Well, that was a question right there, but sure, ask away.”
“Ha ha, funny. How would you feel if I asked Katherine out?”
I about fall over; not in a million years did I expect to hear my brother ask me that. I have never pictured my brother and best friend as a couple. These two are polar opposites. “Umm, well, I’m not her keeper, but I do know that she has a crush on you and has for some time.”
“So, if I asked her out, you wouldn’t be upset?”
“Absolutely not! If you like her and she likes you, then you two should be together. However, I don’t want to be stuck in the middle of your squabbles. Every couple has issues and I don’t want to be drug into the middle of that or, God forbid, forced to choose between my brother or my best friend if your relationship ends,” I say as firmly as I can. I love both of them and don’t want to lose either one because they can’t make a romantic relationship work.
“Thank you, Abigail. I love you! I promise that I will not make you choose between us. I wouldn’t ever do that to my little sister.”
“I love you too, Mike,” I respond as I make my way out of the kitchen.
My head is spinning with the question Michael asked. I did not see that one coming. I knew that Katherine had a crush on him but I didn’t think that the feelings were mutual. Wow, that’s all I can think about as I walk in my room. I look over at Katherine. She’s sitting in front of my mirror, her make-up kit open, staring at herself. I know, without asking, that she’s deciding on what make-up products to use. I sit on my bed and wait for her to finish her make-up. She’s supposed to do mine because, according to her, I’m hopeless when it comes to make-up.
“Ok, I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to do,” she says to herself. In all honesty, she decided quickly. I was expecting her to take her sweet time and cause us to be “fashionably” late.
She begins to apply her foundation and bronzer while I flip through my iPod looking for a good song. I settle on “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” by Iron & Wine. I love this song. Bella and Edward from Twilight danced so gracefully to this at their prom. Oh, to have a love like that would be so amazing. What am I thinking? I have a love like that. Tommy loves me and would move Heaven and Earth to keep me safe.
“Ok, Abigail, your turn,” Katherine tells me.
Oh, Katherine looks lovely. Her skin looks so flawless with a light bronze on her cheeks. Her eyes are absolutely stunning. She has a light green eye shadow on with a trace of glitter in it. Her top eyelid has liquid eyeliner that slightly pulls up at the end of the lid. I believe I’ve heard her call it a ‘wing.’ She has false lashes on that make her lashes look longer and fuller and she has black eyeliner on her water line. Her lips are glossed with a rosy tint. “Now, remember, Katherine, I don’t want a lot of make-up on,” I remind her.
“Shush! Sit down and let me work my magic!” she orders.
I do as I am told and let her have her way with me, or my face at least. It doesn’t take her long until she’s done. I look in the mirror and I am speechless. She has applied a light amount of foundation to hide my blemishes and added a light pink blush to my cheeks. I have a light beige eye shadow covering my entire lid with a modest amount of mascara on my lashes and light eyeliner on my bottom eyelid. My word, Katherine does fantastic work. “I love it, Katherine,” I say, holding back tears, “Thank you so much.”
“Anytime, love. Now, let’s get dressed. We don’t want to be too late.”
Katherine slips on her prom dress first. It’s an exquisite strapless, floor length mermaid dress. She picked a light green dress embodied in green beads in a diagonal fashion along the breast area. Her shoes are white, open-toed heels that increase her height by four inches and accent the dress brilliantly. She puts her diamond studs in her ears as I clasp her single diamond necklace around her neck. I stand back and gaze at this beautiful woman standing before me. She is absolutely astonishing. “You look amazing, Katherine.”
“Do you really think so?” Katherine asks. When someone gives her a compliment, she always fishes for a bigger one.
“Yes, of course I do.”
“Thank you,” she says as a huge smile creeps across her face. I love this girl to death but she really needs to be able to see herself for what she is; a beautiful girl with potential to become anything she puts her mind to.
I f
ish my dress out of its garment bag and slip it on. Katherine helps zip me up. My dress is a sophisticated column square sheath that reaches the floor. I decided on a champagne color embossed with rhinestones under my breast. I slip on the same white heels that Katherine is wearing and put my diamond drop earrings on as Katherine clasps the matching necklace around my neck. I turn to face myself in the mirror and the reflection is overwhelming. I look like a princess. For the first time in my life I feel beautiful.
“Well, Abby, what do you think?”
“Oh, we look so beautiful, Katherine. I have to agree with Michael, we clean up nicely!” I give her a hug and hold back my tears of joy. As we are releasing each other we hear a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I say
“Wow! You two look amazing,” Michael says sounding rather shocked. He is more focused on Katherine and she does take notice to this. She looks quite surprised that Michael can’t take his eyes off of her.
“Thank you, Michael,” she says
Mike walks up and, first, gives me a kiss on my cheek and then Katherine. I think I see her eyes dance a bit after that.
“May I escort you ladies to your waiting dates?” He asks with both arms out for us.
“Oh, the guys are here?” I question.
“Yes, they just arrived and are waiting in the living room.”
“Well, then, better not keep them waiting,” Katherine announces.
Those pesky butterflies have made their infamous appearance as I walk down the hallway toward the living room. Will I always feel that fluttering with Tommy? Katherine makes her way into the living room before I do. All eyes turn to face us and I am floored when I see Chris and Tommy. These two men really look great. They really clean up a lot nicer than Katherine and I do.
Tommy is wearing a grey suit with a tie and vest that match the color of my dress perfectly. His hair has been trimmed and he is sporting a goatee. I love the way that Tommy looks now but nothing compares to his bad boy look. Too bad he couldn’t wear his leather jacket for the event.
Chris looks just as stunning in a black suit with a tie and vest to match Katherine’s light green dress. Chris is clean shaven with his hair brushed back. These two guys are absolutely breath taking, but I have to say that my Tommy is the most handsome man in the room.
“Wow, Abigail, you look fantastic,” Tommy says.
“You don’t look half bad yourself, handsome,” I say with a come-hither look across my face. Tommy is more than handsome but I can’t come up with a word to describe him.
“Katherine, you’re beautiful,” Chris stammers.
“I know. You look good too, Chris,” Katherine replies matter-of-factly. Sometimes I wish she wasn’t so conceited with her looks. She is hard on herself when she doesn’t have makeup on and then goes to the queen of stuck-up once she’s all dolled up.
The guys walk over and place our corsages on our wrists. They are both matching with three white rose buds surrounded by baby’s breath. I’m sure my parent’s ordered the corsages because there is no way that these guys accidentally picked out the same ones. It doesn’t matter, they are beautiful regardless.
My parents are taking pictures and posing us all over the place. They have to get pictures of all of us together, alone, with our dates, the guys together and the girls together. My face is hurting from being in a constant smile for so long. My brother even sneaks into a picture of Katherine and me together. He squeezes himself between us and has an arm around each of our waists’. After that picture, Michael kisses my cheek and then Katherine’s and hands us over to our respectful dates.
“The limo is waiting to take us to dinner,” Tommy explains.
I give my parents a hug and kiss and remind them that I will not be coming home tonight before taking Tommy’s hand and heading outside. The limo driver is there with the door open for the four of us to climb in. I’ve never been in a limo before. It’s so spacious inside. I climb in behind Katherine and the guys follow. Katherine and Chris are sitting side by side but not touching in front of Tommy and me. Tommy and I are wrapped in each other’s embrace as the driver takes us out to dinner. Katherine has made reservations at Chili’s Bar and Grill. The waitress seats us in a corner booth and hands us our menus. It doesn’t take long before our orders are in and we have our drinks in front of us.
“So, how did you and Chris meet?” Tommy breaks the silence.
“Oh, he plays offense for our varsity football team.”
“I see. Are you guys an item?”
“No,” she chuckles, “he’s just the one I chose to escort me to prom.”
“I see,” Tommy says unimpressed.
The table falls silent again. We finish our meals and ask for the check. We opted on separate checks and the guys have picked up the tab. Katherine and I excuse ourselves to freshen up while the guys go out to the limo to wait for us.
“Abigail, I feel really uncomfortable with my decision for my date.”
“What? Katherine, it’s too late now to change your mind.”
“I know, but do you think it would be rude of me to ditch him after pictures?”
“Oh. My. God. Are you seriously considering abandoning your date?”
“Yes I am and do not judge me. I made a huge mistake and I don’t want to waste my entire prom night with a mistake.”
“Well, you should at least dance a few dances with him before you ditch him,” I remark as I roll my eyes.
“Ok, so pictures and a few dances and I’m off to mingle with others.”
I sigh as I put my lip gloss back in my clutch purse and make my way out of the restaurant. Poor Chris, he’s going to get stood up and he doesn’t even realize it. Thoughts of Michael’s question earlier begin to creep into the forefront of my brain. Do I really want my brother dating a woman as callus and cold hearted as Katherine? If she hurt my brother, that would end our friendship right there. No questions asked. Ugh, why did Michael put me in that position?
We arrive to prom half an hour late. The theme is Heaven on Earth. The activities department has certainly outdone themselves this year. It’s absolutely magnificent here. There is a magical kingdom display set up behind the gates to Heaven. Silver balloons and tassels hang from the ceiling along with a mixture of silver and white stars, while bunches of white balloons surround either side of the gates. The tables are covered in white, linen table cloths with, what resembles crystal plates and glasses. There are pale blue cloth napkins and a center piece that looks like a miniature version of the kingdom and gates of Heaven.
“Oh my God, I feel like I’ve died and gone to Heaven!” Katherine shrieks.
“It really is lovely,” I agree.
“Not as lovely as you, angel,” Tommy whispers into my ear.
I nearly melt when I hear his words. I look up at him and he seems genuinely happy. I haven’t seen him this happy in a few weeks and it’s a relief. Tonight is going to be magical.
“I love you, Abigail!’
“I love you too, Tommy.”
He leans down and presses his lips to mine and my heart melts. I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone else but Thomas Jackson.
Katherine grabs my hand as ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’ by Belinda Carlisle begins to play through the disc jockey’s sound system. “Come on, we have to dance to this song!”
“Ok, Katherine, but I am not dancing with you. No way in God’s green Earth!”
Tommy grabs my hand and we are out on the dance floor. Chris is trying to dance with Katherine, though she’s not even touching him. Tommy spins me around and puts his hands on the small of my back as he dips me and kisses my throat. He pulls me up and brings me closer to him as we begin to dance to the rhythm of the song. It’s faster paced than I’m used to dancing to, but Tommy and I make this song a very intimate dance.
The song ends and some techno song begins to play. This is my cue to go get my prom pictures taken with my prince charming. I let Katherine know what we’re doing, but I’
m not sure she heard me. She’s too busy jumping around with the small crowd that is on the dance floor.
After Tommy and I have our photos done, we decide to find a table for all of us. The tables seat six, so it will be our party plus one more couple. We pick a table near the dance floor. The song ends and Katherine makes her way over. I give her a disapproving look. She has practically ignored Chris since we arrived and I am very upset with her over that.
“What?” she mouths at me.
“What happened to photos and dancing a few dances with Chris before ditching him?”
“Shit! I forgot.”
“Well, I think it’s time for you and Chris to take your picture and then dance a couple of dances together.”
“Right you are. I’m on it now.”
She grabs Chris’ hand and they are off in the direction of the photographer. Tommy lays the jacket to his suit over one of the chairs and pulls a chair out for me. He takes his seat beside me and we watch and laugh at some of the people on the dance floor. A lot of my classmates dance like wet noodles. The song, ‘Heaven’ by Bryan Adams starts to play and Tommy rises from his seat. He holds a hand out to me and I take it before standing. He guides me to the dance floor and we begin to sway and turn to the music. He has his nose rubbing against my cheek and is softly singing the lyrics to the song. Tommy can sing! Tears begin to fall down my cheeks. I have got to be the luckiest woman in the world.
“Baby, why are you crying?”
“I’m just so happy. I never thought I’d fall in love and then you walked into my life. I am the most blessed woman alive.”
“Angel, please don’t cry. You are the most important thing to me and I love you more than words can say, and it is I that is the most blessed. I have you, Abigail.” He leans in and gives me a passionate kiss as the song ends. This man owns me, body and soul.
On the Edge Page 6