by Katy Kaylee
We were both sitting in my bedroom, exhausted from the effort of getting our dresses on, when the doorbell rang. We glanced at each other right away - the boys we were going with were not supposed to pick us up for another hour.
Charlie leaped to her feet and went sprinting down the stairs, and I was surprised at how well she could move in her dress without tearing it. I followed her down the steps, carefully holding my skirt up with one hand as I went. I was glad I hadn’t slipped on my high-heels yet, or I might not have made it down the steps in one piece.
“Jaelyn?” Charlie was asking as I hurried into the room, trying to peek around her to see who was at the door. She shifted and revealed one of our classmates - a friend but not a close friend. She was already in her sparkling pink dress and she looked worried, glancing over her shoulder like she was being chased.
“Torryn,” she said, spotting me over Charlie’s shoulder and speaking directly to me. I could tell Charlie was resisting the urge to shut the door on her, but I was willing to bet it was her curiosity that kept her standing there as Jaelyn spoke to me.
“I don’t know how to tell you this…” she said, her eyes starting to tear up. She shook her head and took a deep breath. “I saw Ron at the mall today when I was getting my hair put up…”
I shook my head slightly, not quite sure what she was getting at. Faintly, muffled through the closed garage door, we heard a slamming car door that sounded suspiciously like Ron’s truck. Charlie glanced back at me as Jaelyn nervously spat out the last part of her message.
“He was with another girl. I didn’t know her but… they were kissing, and not in a friendly way. I just thought you should know.”
Jaelyn turned like she was prepared to sprint out of the garage in her heels, but the door to the garage swung open and Ron came in, his normally calm face bright red, his eyes wild and searching.
“You!” He said when he saw Jaelyn standing at the door, looking disheveled and frightened. In the next moment, his eyes swung around to meet mine and he raised his eyebrows at me, an expression I was used to seeing. “What did she tell you, babe?”
“Ron,” I said, “what’s going on?”
For a moment, everything paused as we all looked at each other. My heart was pounding in my chest as I stared at him, glancing at Jaelyn occasionally, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was.
I wanted to be able to jump to Ron’s defense, but I couldn’t. I was shocked at how easily I accepted the truth that he had been cheating on me, how I was still standing there, watching the scene unfold in front of me, not even feeling like I was a part of it.
“I don’t know what she told you, but it’s a lie,” Ron said, his voice shaking with anger. He met my eyes again. “You believe me, right, babe?”
I paused, glancing at Jaelyn again. Suddenly, I felt stupid in my dress, like a little girl dressing up like a princess. My whole night was shattering before my eyes. I shook my head slowly, unable to say anything to him, knowing Jaelyn was telling the truth.
When he realized I didn’t believe what he was saying, he slammed his palm into the wall of the garage. It connected with a smacking sound, the solid concrete wall not giving in to his attack.
“You little bitch,” he roared, taking a menacing step toward Jaelyn, who was looking more and more like she regretted coming. Though I didn’t think Ron would ever hurt someone, I was grateful that Charlie stepped between them. She put her hand on Ron’s chest and shoved him, making him stumble backward.
“I’ll give you three seconds to get the fuck out of my sight,” Charlie growled, “or we’re going to see who the little bitch is here.”
“Whatever,” Ron said, then, glancing at me again before turning and stomping out of the garage. I felt like my heart was supposed to be breaking, but all I felt was a hollowness in my chest, almost like I had just watched all that happen to someone else.
I took a step back inside the house, so the scene in the garage was obscured from my view. I took a couple of calming breaths but found that they weren’t that calming at all. Faintly, I could make out the sound of Charlie thanking Jaelyn for coming over to tell me, but it was washed out by the waves crashing in my ears.
Had I just lost my boyfriend and prom date? I hadn’t even given him a chance to explain himself. I’d just let him walk away.
“Hey,” Charlie said, pulling my attention away from my thoughts for a moment. She was concerned about me, I could tell, because while aggression was a natural state for her, soothing was not, and she had just awkwardly patted me on the back. “What are you thinking?”
“I didn’t even give him a chance to defend himself.”
“Tor,” Charlie said incredulously, kneeling down in front of me. She took my hands in hers and looked up into my face, “he didn’t even give himself a chance. He didn’t even know what to defend… who knows how long this has been going on.”
“I just…” I laughed, something like relief blossoming in my chest and spreading through my veins, light and sweet, making my fingertips tingle. It only lasted for a moment, then I was staring down at the lap of my dress and realizing I didn’t have anyone to go to my senior prom with.
“Hey,” Charlie said, as tears welled in my eyes and streamed down my face silently. I didn’t raise my eyes from where I was staring at my dress, thinking about how aquamarine was just a fancy word for blue. “Everything is going to work out. I will just ditch Mason and we can go together, does that sound okay?”
I whipped my head around and looked at her, shaking it. “No,” I said, standing up and putting my hands up as if to stop her. I started to wipe the tears from my cheeks and kept shaking my head, my mind whirring, trying to figure out a solution for the mess I was suddenly in. “You can’t just ditch Mason. He didn’t do anything wrong, and I would hate for him to have to scramble for someone to bring. I can just go alone, it’s not a big deal. I’ll probably just skip grand march and go to the dance, but that’s fine…”
I was already re-imagining myself showing up to the prom by alone, my clutch at my side, staring down anyone who gave me a sideways look. Then, I thought about how all my friends would be asking me about Ron and what was going on. I started to imagine what it would be like if he showed up with someone else on his arm. That would be like him, to cheat on me and ruin my senior prom. I took a deep breath and shook my head, an overwhelming sense of dread flooding through my chest.
I turned slowly and went up the stairs until I got to my room, collapsing onto my bed and breathing deeply the scent of the fabric softener on the pillows. I couldn’t believe any of this was happening - we had everything planned for so long, and now it was all being torn down. About ten minutes later my mother knocked on the door, her voice soft but firm.
“Torryn,” she said, “Charlie tells me there’s a problem… I’m sorry, honey, but you can’t just stay in your room. You have to come out. You have to deal with it.”
“I’m not going,” I said, feeling more and more silly in my elaborate dress. Maybe Lucas was right about Prom after all - maybe it was just a huge waste of time. Maybe I was silly for going to all the trouble and buying a dress.
“What do you mean you’re not going?” Charlie exclaimed, muffled, from the other side of the door. “I did not go through all this torture just to go to Prom without you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head, unable to control the drastic swing of emotions coursing through my body. I started to think about why Ron had been with another girl. I wasn’t pretty enough? I wasn’t there for him?
Or was it because, after three months of dating, the two of us hadn’t gone any further than making out, my fingers wrapping around his wrist any time it started to snake up my stomach?
I just hadn’t felt like it was the right time, and it was clear he was getting impatient. And now, I had ruined everything by being stubborn.
My mother knocked on the door to my room again, using her stern voice to try and get me to u
nlock the door so they could come in and comfort me, but I just ignored them, burying my head in my pillow. I didn’t cry, I just breathed deeply and tried to come to grips with what was happening.
After a few minutes, they walked away from the door and it was silent in the hallway. I wondered if Charlie would go without me - I would hate for Mason to be abandoned like that. I thought about how Mason and Lucas had never really liked Ron, and how I should have listened to their advice when it came to him.
I was reevaluating everything I had done during our three-month relationship when another knock came at the door.
“Mom,” I said, my voice hoarse and heavy. I cleared my throat and sat up, rubbing at my face. “I’m okay… just, tell-”
“It’s me, loser.”
I froze as Lucas’s voice came muffled through the door. I cleared my throat and shook my head, standing. My feet were numb and suddenly my legs were tired, paralyzed as I forced them to move toward the door. When I got there, I hesitated, putting my hand against the wood and leaning my forehead against it.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, slowly. “Did you come to rub it in? How right you are about everything?”
“No,” he said, sounding genuine, like he was upset that Ron had cheated on me. Normally, I would have expected a smug, condescending tone from him. “Charlie called me. She told me what happened, and I thought I would come over and cheer you up. Now… let me in.”
Almost as though I couldn’t resist doing what he said to, my hand found the handle, and I unlocked the door, opening it a crack and staring at him. The hallway was dark, so it was hard to make him out, but I could see his eyes, staring right back at me.
I backed, up, opening the door wide and letting him into the room. He stepped in, and I realized he was wearing a tux, and in his hand was a small shopping bag.
My breath caught in my throat as he reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a blue bow tie, holding it out in his hand like an offering.
“What do you think?” He asked, smirking up at me. “Is this aquamarine, or just blue?”
I shook my head, my eyes scrambling over his long legs in the black pants and his broad, smooth chest in the button up and jacket. He was dashing, he was more dressed up than I had ever seen him. I could hardly get my eyes off of him.
“I…” I said, swallowing the knot in my throat and shaking my head. “What does this mean?”
“I’m taking you to Prom,” he said, straightening up and grinning at me. Slowly, he held the bow tie out against my dress, his knuckles brushing against my midriff as he did. I shivered and looked down at the bowtie, realizing the color lined up just perfectly with the color of my dress. When I looked back up he was staring right at me.
I took a step back and shook my head, looking down and away from him.
“You don’t even like Prom, I don’t want you to do something you don’t like-”
“Yeah,” he said, “but I like you, Torryn. And I want you to have an amazing night.”
I blushed furiously as he took my hand and led me from the room. My mind was spinning, trying to figure out what he meant when he said he liked me. Was he just expressing the fact that we had been best friends for as long as I could remember? Or was he trying to say something else?
I let him pull me from the room and down the hall, my heart pounding away in my chest as we went. When we got to the bottom of the steps, my mother was there waiting for me with her camera in hand. Mason and Charlie were sitting at the table, having an intense argument about the state of baseball and they both looked up when we walked in.
Charlie gave me a knowing look and glanced at Lucas’s hand in mine, so I quickly dropped it to keep her from thinking the wrong thing. Lucas said something to my mom, and I looked over at him, my eyes tracing along his strong jaw and the rest of his profile. No, we were just friends.
“Okay, now put your hands around her waist,” my mother said, and we did as we were told. Butterflies erupted in my stomach when his hands settled onto my waist, and I had to take a deep breath as they slid over my stomach, coming to rest in front of me. I put my hands over his and smiled, looking at the camera and hoping my cheeks weren’t as bright red as I thought they were.
Charlie and Mason were next, taking a plethora of pictures as Lucas and I sat to the side and watched. Normally, we weren’t this quiet, but tonight I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was terrified of breaking him of this spell and making him realize how much he would hate going to Prom with me.
“Okay,” my mom said, “you guys can take the car whenever you’re ready.”
“Actually,” Lucas said, grinning, “I managed to get us another ride if you’re okay with it?”
My mother looked confused for a moment. Lucas just grinned, then glanced back at me and held out his hand again. I took it and followed him, laughing as we burst through the garage door and into the driveway.
There, in front of my house, was a white limo. A driver was waiting outside, and he smiled at us when we came out.
“No way!” Mason said, shaking his head and laughing when he and Charlie came out. “This is amazing!”
“Well,” Lucas said, meeting my eyes and smiling at me. “There was no way I was going to Prom in anything less than the best.”
Lucas and Mason went around to talk to the driver and give him instructions on how to get to the venue for the dance. Charlie came up to me and tapped my arm to get my attention, smiling at me when I glanced over at her.
“Are you feeling better?” She asked, raising her eyebrows at me. I couldn’t help the smile that stretched over my face as I glanced across the limo and saw Lucas standing there, leaning against the side and talking casually to the driver. He clapped him on the back and came around to us, and before he came within our earshot, I pulled Charlie into a hug.
“Thank you for calling him,” I whispered into her ear, and she just nodded against my shoulder in response, pulling me closer.
“Alright,” Lucas said, grinning brightly as he came around the side of the car. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them, looking around like he was coming up with our game plan for the night. “Let’s get rolling.”
“God,” Charlie said, rolling her eyes as she climbed into the limo, “you sound like such a dad.”
The thought of that made a shiver run down my spine and I crawled into the limo after them, not missing the way Lucas’s hand lingered on my back as he helped me in. The inside of the limo was actually rather cramped, and Lucas and I sat so closely together that I could feel the warmth of his thigh through his pants and the skirt of my dress.
His hand was at his side, and I could feel his fingertips grazing my leg occasionally, light enough that I really had to concentrate to feel it.
We pulled up to the vineyard right on time, and the sun was just beginning to set when we walked into the building. It was beautifully decorated inside, with silver and gold decorations lining the walls and shining in the lights. The room was filled with round tables all covered in white tablecloths, and it smelled amazing.
A greeter took our tickets and walked with us to the table we were to sit at. Lucas’s spot was marked with Ron’s name but the waiter quickly picked up the markers, and I pushed it out of my mind.
I wanted to focus on this magical night with my two best friends.
Lucas kept us laughing through the dinner, then they moved us all to a bigger room with space to dance. Lucas surprised me by dancing to the very first song like there was nobody else in the room.
“Woah man,” Mason said, laughing as Lucas moved to the song. “I didn’t know you could dance like that!”
“Don’t patronize me,” Lucas laughed, then meeting my eyes, he said, “I’m trying to impress my date.”
My heart jumped at the thought of being his date, but I shoved the feeling deep down and ignored it. Jaelyn found me at the dance and apologized for the scene she had caused, but I thanked her for coming to tell me the truth. When the
first slow song came on, Mason grabbed Charlie as she grumbled about the boring music, and a moment later, Lucas took my hand for the third time that night.
He slid his hand up my arm until his hand was at my waist, then wrapped both of his arms around me. My chest imploded at the feeling and I closed my eyes for a moment, wrapping my arms around his neck.
I could feel every ridge and curve of his chest. I wondered if he could feel me too, and what he thought. His arms tightened around my waist, bringing us even closer together, and I breathed in his scent, sighing and resting my head on his chest as we swayed.
“Are you having a good time?” He asked, his voice soft, just low enough that only I could hear it. I pulled away and looked up at him, my throat swelling at the emotion rising in me.
I loved him. I was certain of it. I didn’t know how long I had, all I knew was that I did. For a brief moment, I wondered if that meant I had been cheating on Ron, but I didn’t want to think about him. I bit my lip and looked down at our feet, moving seamlessly together in the dance. I thought about the last month of school and the time we had left together, wondering if it would ruin our friendship for me to tell him how I felt.
Something in his eyes was urging me ahead, so instead of answering him, I asked him my own question.
“Lucas, what did you mean earlier when you said that you like me?”
He took in a sharp breath and looked away from me, making my heart plummet. Of course, he didn’t like me - we had been friends for so long I was probably like a sister to him.
When he met my eyes again I was taken aback by the look, something I had never seen in them before. He pulled me tighter to him and his gaze dropped first to my lips, then to my breasts, making me shudder at the thought of him seeing me.
“I mean…” he said, his voice low, gravelly. “That I’ve wanted you for a long time. And you’re my best friend. And…”
He didn’t finish his thought. Instead, he put his hand on the back of my neck and leaned down, taking my lips with his. They were soft and he tasted like spearmint, so I leaned into him, gasping against his lips when his other hand settled on my back and he pulled me closer, so our hips were flushed together.