Enchilada Ed

3.

"Three hundred dollars a prom ticket?" Ed's dad set his reading glasses onto his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What are they going to be feeding you? Kobe beef?"

"It's gonna be held at this fancy ski resort in the Poconos. That was the student council's decision," Ed pulled on each finger of his left hand in nervous succession, "it was either that or the party cruise out of Philadelphia. But it's not like you can't afford it."

"It doesn't matter whether I could afford it," Ed's dad said, "it's the principle of the thing."

"The principle of what thing?" Ed stared at the checkbook resting beside his dad's glasses.

"Was this your idea?" Ed's dad lifted an eyebrow at Ed's slept-in t-shirt.

"Nah," Ed shook his head, "Phil's graduating so Emily's going, and she's been trying to convince everyone else to attend and-"

"I knew I sniffed the scheming of Emily Horvath," one corner of Ed's dad's thin lips tugged upward. "Has she won anyone over?"

"Katie and Brian, but they would go anyway," Ed said, "Katie being a cheerleader and all. Gina's not going because 'Che wouldn't go to prom."

A small smile now spread across Ed's dad's face.

"But do you want to go?"

"Not really." Ed started to pull on each finger of his right hand.

"You know, you could always tell Emily no," Ed's dad suggested, half-serious, "I understand she doesn't hear that very often but-"

"See," Ed interrupted, "I'm planning on going with a girl."

"Oh," Ed's dad shifted his gaze toward his study's vaulted ceiling. "So you'll need two tickets, dress shoes, a tux that won't clash with her dress, and a decent corsage. Altogether that'll cost well over six-hundred dollars."

"Probably," Ed looked again at his dad's checkbook, "thanks, Dad."

"I imagine you'll expect a duplicate of this next year because you'll be graduating."

"This prom isn't really for me, though," Ed said, "It's more for my date."

"More for your date?" Ed's dad repeated. It seemed like Ed's dad was about to cross-examine him. Ed prayed that his dad wouldn't cross-examine him.

"Audra, the foreign exchange student," Ed explained. "She wants to have an American prom."

"You've asked her already, then?" Ed's dad rose from his desk and walked to his liquor cabinet.

"Not exactly." Ed watched his dad take a keyring from his pocket, isolate a small silver key, and slip it into the cabinet's lock, "But we had this conversation today about balloons and-"

"Have you two been an a date before?" Ed's dad took a bottle of bourbon and a crystal tumbler from the cabinet, and returned to his desk.

"We've hung out in groups," Ed equivocated, "I think you could safely call us friends."

"You think so," Ed's dad poured himself some bourbon. "Has she expressed any interest in you to your mutual friends?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but-"

"Has she expressed any interest in prom in general?" Ed's dad lifted his tumbler to his lips, but stopped short of taking a sip.

"No." Ed knew his dad was now definitely in the midst of cross-examining him. Ed began to doubt the existence of God.