Coincidental Heartbreak

Chapter 5

We walk into the Poseidon’s Paradise themed homecoming dance and almost everything is blue, silver, and sparkling. The walls are covered in ocean wave cut outs, making everything appear to be underwater and the punch is even blue instead of red. I can’t believe I’ve never been to one of these because if all the dances have been this greatly decorated then I was totally missing out.          

I spend the first hour taking pictures of everything, the décor, asking couples to pose for a picture and a few of the chaperones even hopped into the frame. Ella helps for a bit until we take a break to get a cup of punch. Before I headed off to take pictures, Marco made me promise to save him a slow dance so I should probably hydrate for that embarrassment; I can’t dance.           

Behind the punch table is Alivia. Uh oh. According to Marco, things between Ella and Alivia have been totally rocky this week. They’re so blatenly in love with each other though, Ella told me countless times before we walked over here that Alivia looked “breathtaking” tonight.           

“You look great, Peyton!” Alivia says over the music, glancing at Ella.           

I smile. “Thanks, so do you,” I reply, looking at her orange dress and gorgeous hair updo that must’ve taken hours.           

Alivia’s eyes move to Ella. “You look beautiful, Ellie,” she tells her.          

“You already know that you do and I’m sure your date told you as well,” Ella responds bitterly, taking a sip of punch.           

“He didn’t come,” Alivia admits. “I told my parents last night…”           

Ella looks up from her cup of punch, wide-eyed. “You did?” she rushes around the table to hug her.          

Alivia nods. “My dad’s coming around, but my mom still won’t talk to me.” Her eyes begin to water.           

“Oh my gosh, why didn’t you tell me?” Ella demands.           

“Things were weird between us all week after lunch on Monday and I thought you were still mad at me.”                      

“Livi, you can always talk to me, even when I’m mad you, I’ll always listen. I’m sorry I pushed you so hard to tell your parents. I didn’t think about how much harder it would be with your parents than it was with mine,” Ella tells her, consoling her. “Hey, I love you; please don’t be sad, not tonight.”           

I take that as my cue to walk away so they can have their moment. They’re unbelievably adorable together.           

Somebody comes up behind me, slipping their arms around my waist. “I believe you owe me a dance,” Marco whispers in my ear.           

I smile, turning around in his embrace. “This not a slow song,” I inform him.           

Marco shrugs. “Let’s set our own pace,” he says.           

I bring my arms up and wrap them around his neck and we sway back and forth to the most upbeat song that could possibly be playing. “Marco,” I start, not even knowing what it is that I want to tell him.           

“Polo,” he returns, knowing that his overused phrase for answer me still guarantees him a smile from me. “Tell me what’s on your mind, gorgeous.”           

“I’ve been thinking…”           

“And?”           

“And I like you,” I confess.          

Marco smiles. “I know,” he says.         

“And I dig your cheesiness,” I add.           

“I know.”           

“And I want you to kiss me.”           

“I know.”           

I blush. Great, he has me right where he wants me; I’m putty in his hands for him to mold however he wants. This is not how I wanted it to be. I liked when I had the upper hand. Who says the guy has to kiss the girl anyway? There’s always been this preconceived notion that a girl has to wait for a guy to make all the moves. Not tonight.           

I step up on the tips of my toes to reach Marco’s lips. I’m wearing heels and I’m still significantly shorter than him. His lips touch mine and for some reason it feels like I’m having my very first kiss all over again, only this is the better version, the way it was supposed to be.           

When we pull away, Marco blinks, surprised by my self-assurance. “I’m an idiot for not just doing that sooner.”           

“I know,” I say.           

“So,” Marco pauses to clear his throat. “We both like each other,” he says and I nod to confirm. “We’re both single,” he adds, waiting for my nod. “What are we to do?”           

“I don’t know, what do you suggest?”           

“Let’s avoid this ‘relationship’ label because whatever it was that we were previously in was horrible and heartbreaking; besides, it’s too soon for that, am I right?”           

I nod again. “There’s no rush to call this anything, it’s barely been a week, everything has already happened fast,” I remind him, laying my head against his chest. “I want to know you, all of you. Let’s just be.”           

“We can make out though right?” Marco jokes.           

“If you buy me slushies,” I play along, making his chest vibrate with laughter. “Only me though, you can’t go around buying all the girls slushies,” I giggle at my metaphor. At least now I can joke about being cheated on. The way Marco makes me feel, makes realize most of the feelings I had for Tristan were lies because of the heartbreak he caused.           

The sensation in the pit of my stomach is nerve-racking and exhilarating all at once. Putting my heart back out there after it’s been trampled on was not how I saw things happening for a long time. I’ve come to the conclusion that sheltering myself from being hurt, hurts more in the long run.           

Never in my whole high school career have I enjoyed actually being in high school to this extent. It was always about rushing to get out of here because college is going to better and that’s when life starts. High school isn’t scary, people aren’t scary and I’m not going to use that as an excuse. I opened myself up for one night and it led to all of this. I was too busy waiting for things to happen, to change, instead of just changing things myself. I guess my point is that I don’t think happiness searches to find you, you have to find it.           

“Oh, I wouldn’t even dream of buying another girl slushies,” Marco assures me, tightening his hold on me. “I’m set on buying you slushies for a while, Peyton, so you better get used to brain freezes.”

I bury my face in Marco’s tux, smiling so much it hurs. "I can't wait"