lovely | thirteen reasons why

(5) love is in the air

That statement made me feel weird. "Thanks for what?"

But before she could answer, Hannah spoke up. "Okay, we should get going now."

That was when Andy Baker finally made his appearance and handed Hannah a set of keys. "All yours, sweetheart."

Hannah hugged both her parents and then pulled me to the new car across the street. I was baffled. "Did-did your parents buy a new car for the dance or is this just a coincidence?"

She bit her lip. "I may have asked them if they could rent me a limo."

My eyes widened. "A limo? Why?"

She shrugged. "I wanted this to be a night to remember. Give us the glamorous night we deserved."

I laughed. "You don't need to impress me, Han, I'm already your date." That made her laugh with me.

"And I'm the luckiest girl in the world." She played along.

When we arrived, we were shocked to see how much budget was put into this stupid thing. Hannah looked embarrassed. "Now I feel underdressed."

I scoffed. It was hard to talk over all the music and noise. "Nonsense. Where'd that self-confidence go?"

Her smile returned as she looked at a wall with balloons. "We should pose for a picture. Against the wall."

I grinned. "That's a great idea. I have an idea to make it even better." She looked confused but intrigued as I scanned the dance for one specific person. Sure enough, he was not too far from the entrance. I waved one hand as I shouted. "Tyler!" But as soon as the name left my lips, Hannah started pulling my arm down. My voice seemed to cut through the crowd for him as he turned to face me. When he saw me, he stood frozen for a few seconds. He looked so handsome in his little dress shirt and pants. His hair was still a mess, but I loved it that way. When he came to his senses he started walking over towards me and I thought I heard Hannah curse. I tried to console her. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I get the sentiment, but I really don't want him taking my picture. I mean, our picture."

That confused me so much. She didn't just look frustrated, she was vulnerable. "Why not? Did-did something happen between you two?"

She swallowed hard and waited several moments before opening her mouth, only to close it again as Tyler came up to us. He didn't take his eyes off me. "Hey, Libby. You look beautiful tonight." But then seeing Hannah next to me made him nervous. "Hannah, you look nice too." She shrunk even further behind me. "Did you want me to take your picture?"

Hannah shook her head. "We're good, thanks."

Tyler paused. "It would be for the yearbook." He pushed. Which made Hannah move even closer to me.

I sighed. "She said no, Tyler." With a bit more force in my tone. I then separated from Hannah to move closer to him to whisper. "We've talked about boundaries, baby." And returned to Hannah's side. "Come on! There's someone we have to find!" She looked intrigued and happy to get out of there.

Tyler looked on in worry. He didn't like them being close so soon after what happened. Did Hannah tell her what he did? Would she? No, she still called him baby. If Libby knew she would hate him. He would lose her. Hopefully he's scared Hannah enough to never expose his dark secret. He couldn't let her slip away so soon after getting her. She looked so beautiful in that dress. It was perfect for her. He just wanted to take pictures so he could look at her like this forever. Maybe when it gets later in the night and everyone's drunk he'll take his chances.