Every Which Way

Chapter 56- Prom Night Pt. 2

"One day," He winks. "I'm going to have to call you my wife first."

One day, I agreed in my head with no hesitation. But then I realized what my mind just told me. You've known him for five months, Row. Do you really see yourself marrying this boy one day?

... Bitch duh.

Only five months, yet I feel like I've known Declan my entire life. As much chaos and uncertainty I've felt because of what life had thrown at me, Declan was one of the only things that I could stay sure of. He's had all of my heart for longer than I had known. God, I love him.

"I love you, Rowena," He says. The look in his eyes tells me he means it.

"Did I say that out loud?" I ask, realizing it was like he had read my thoughts.

"Nope, I just know you well enough by now to know what you're thinking."

I reach up to kiss him. It was a short kiss, but I put all of my feelings into it. I lean into him, resting my head on his chest and his arms come around me as we continue to sway to the steady calm of the music. I didn't say anything and neither did he. We were in our own world for the next few minutes.

After the song ends, our principal comes up on the speaker. The rest of our friends find us immediately and Natalie latches onto me in excitement.

"I know we have all been waiting for this announcement," our principal begins. "But before we announce our prom king and queen, I would like to take a minute to thank our staff who made this night possible."

As he continues, I realize my friends are looking around each other and buzzing with excitement. I find myself dissolving in the feeling as well. This was Natalie's night, we all knew it.

Principal Garcia was wrapping up his appreciation note. "And now it's time to announce this year's prom king and queen," he raises his voice and students are cheering for him to go on.

"Give a big warm congratulations to our prom king," he begins and then opens up the small envelope to read a name. "Oh wow, this one was a close tie. To our prom king Adam Myers!"

We all cheer for Adam as he celebrates his own win. Declan doesn't seem the least bit surprised that he lost against his best friend. In fact, from the way he was supporting Adam, he made it seem like he wasn't even an option.

Adam jumps onto the stage and yanks the mic from Principal Garcia. "Oh, hell yeah Routledge seniors. I knew you had my back!" The sound of more cheering bursts from the crowd. Adam was clearly everyone's favorite.

"No, but seriously, you guys, thank you. And a big special thank you to my best friends back there. Row, Nat, Cyrus, and especially my boy Declan. We all know who I almost tied with because fuck you, Duncan."

Principal Garcia immediately took the mic away and lectured Adam while I watched Duncan, who rolled his eyes and then stuck the middle finger up towards Adam on the stage. Adam wasn't even listening to Principal Garcia, he just held his hands out in the shape of a heart towards Duncan to show his humor. Not even Duncan could be mad, I saw it in the way he was hiding his smile. That's why none of us felt bad from how much we laughed.

"Alright, alright," Principal Garcia says in the mic to get everyone's attention again. They're giving Adam his crown now. "And now it's time to welcome our prom queen!"

As people are cheering, he opens the next envelope. Natalie yells over the cheering so that I can hear her. "Row, I have to confess something!" She starts. "Me and the others, we sort of pulled our own version of a Chuck Bass for you."