Friends Don't Kiss, Do They?

Chapter 25

Mom stands behind me as she zips up my dress. I eye my reflection in the long length mirror that mom had put in my room for this day. The navy blue strapless dress came to my ankles with silver chiffon glitter covering the bottom of the dress from the waist down, and a silver glitter belt around the waist. Seeing my reflection of the dress made me feel like I had stepped out of a page from a fairy tale, and I guess in a way tonight was a fairy tale.

The dress gave me a great figure, and for once in the past week I finally see how Samantha was wrong about me being fat. I wasn't anything like she had said, and after last night at the game, I felt confident with myself. This night was going to be magical. I just know it will. It will be a night to remember. The only thing that spoiled my outfit was my cast, but I wasn't going to let myself worry about that.

Mom helped with my hair, choosing a hairstyle that would go well with my dress. I could have gone in the hairdresser this morning like a thousand senior girls and guys were doing for their prom, but I didn't want to do that, save mom some money and allowed her to be my stylist. Mom does a half braid at the top of my head and tied the remaining half into a side ponytail.

"You look perfect, sweetie," Mom says once she was done glancing at my reflection in the mirror. "I can't believe this day has come." She looked as if she may cry.

"Mom, why are you crying?" I ask, spinning around.

She wiped her eyes. "I just can't believe my big girl is going to her prom, and then next week she will be graduating."

"Mom, I should be the one crying, not you." I laugh softly.

"I know, sweetie. You will someday know how I feel when you have your own children. So what time is Matt coming to pick you up?"

"He said at six."

We head downstairs where Matt should be arriving in ten minutes. I stepped in the living room where my brothers were playing Wii. Mom catches their attention, telling them it was time to put the video game away. They had been at the game for most of the afternoon since I had gotten ready for the prom. My brothers groan, not wanting to get off their game, but they do so to avoid an argument.

Tommy switches off the game. Timmy turns to me and stares at me in astonishment.

"Wow, Hailey," he says. "You look amazing."

Tommy turns to face me. "Whoa. Nice dress, Hailey."

I smile at my brothers. "Thanks you guys."

The doorbell rings and I feel my heart flutter with excitement in my chest knowing the person at the door was Matt.

Mom gives me a proud smile. "Would you like me to answer the door, or would you like to?"

"I will."

"Great. I'm just going to go grab my camera so I can get some pictures of you and Matt together."

Mom heads up the stairs to her room.

"Ooh, Hailey's boyfriend is here," my brothers say happily.

I smile brightly as I shook my head. I then went to answer the door. Standing on the porch was Matt dressed in a black suit and a navy blue tie to match my dress. His bleached hair was neatly combed. In his hand he held a single red rose. My heart does a crazy little dance in my chest.

Matt examines me from head to toe. "Wow. You look incredibly, Hailey."

"Just kiss her!" one of my brothers called out from inside.

Matt and I just laugh, and he holds out the rose to me.

"For you," he says.

I take the rose, thanking him.

Mom comes down the stairs with her camera, smiling at both Matt and I. She greets him. She then gathers us to gather for photos. She even gets my brothers to posed for them. After the photos were done, she allowed us to leave.

Matt takes my hand into his as we walk to his car. He apologises to me for not hiring a limo for the night, but I told him it's fine and it doesn't matter if he has hire one or not. Driving to prom in his car was good enough for me.

As Matt drives us towards school, I thought about everything that had happened in the past few weeks. I felt lucky to be attending prom with Matt, and I'm glad he isn't attending it with some random girl or Samantha. I wondered if I had never kissed him, would we still be attending the prom together as friends.

I still felt hurt with the way things ended up, and confused with the reason why Matt and I couldn't be more than friends, but at the same time I was grateful we didn't end our friendship. I was hanging onto the hope that Matt may change his mind and we will be able to be a couple in the future.

And no matter what happens to Matt and I, I was thankful we were friends. I may have been a fool to think I had a chance with him, but being friends is better than nothing.