"I still cannot believe Dylan FINALLY wised up and asked you to prom it only took him thirteen years to figure out what he had in front of him." Andrea declared with a huge grin on her face.
Andrea and I had been best friends ever since her family moved to Mississippi back in the 9th grade. A prim and very pretty yankee with long, blonde hair who was snatched out of the big city and dumped into a rural town in the deep south of Mississippi due to her father's work. Andrea had looked terrified on that first day, and I had felt bad for her. I had offered her a seat at my lunch table thinking she would decline since it was the nerd table and she was so not one of us, but to my surprise she accepted my offer. We sat together everyday after that. Today she had come with me to pick out my prom dress after Dylan had asked me to go with him. Dylan and I met on the first day of kindergarten when he scrapped his knee falling off the jungle gym. I had always been accident prone, so my mother had packed bandaids into my back pack. I offered him one rather than laughing at him like the other kids, and the rest was history. We were inseparable through elementary and middle school. He was there for me the summer when my dad abandoned my mother and I. We sat up in my tree house every night watching lightening bugs and playing board games and when it all got to be too much he held me while I cried. It wasn't all one sided though. The next year I returned the favor. His mom was diagnosed with cancer. No one else at school knew. He hadn't wanted the looks of sympathy. Dylan had said that the only thing worse than his mom having cancer was the looks of pity that everyone gave him when they found out. I kept his secret. I sat up late at night in the tree house with him offering my silent support. I helped him with homework and studying for tests. When he fell behind because of traveling for his mother's appointments, I wrote his essays and book reports. Thankfully his mother was able to beat cancer. I can't remember when I fell in love with him, but I also can't remember a time when I wasn't in love with him. Things changed the summer after our 8th grade year. Dylan had tried out for football that spring, so he spent most of the summer gone to training or football camps. I had been naive enough to think that we would always be best friends. I had underestimated the social hiarchey that was high school. To his credit Dylan stayed friendly. He would wave at me in the hall and speak whenever we were in the same classes. He still brought me a present every year on my birthday, but our days of being best friends were long gone. He moved on to jocks, cheer leaders, parties, and a seat at the popular table; and I found Andrea. I missed how close Dylan and I had been, but I was eternally grateful to have Andrea in my life.
Needless to say I was pretty shocked when Dylan asked me to go to prom with him. It wasn't a secret that he had wanted to take Holly to prom. Holly was captain of the cheer leading squad and an exact replica of every popular mean girl in every movie. I never understood what he saw in her. I can understand him not liking me, but he could have had someone much better that Holly. Apparently she had decided to go with some guy she had met at a college party. Dylan asked me if I was going and when I said no he had insisted that we go together. I didn't figure he knew how I really felt about him. I was fairly certain that he saw us going to prom together as a just friends thing. That was the logical explanation, but I couldn't quite squash the tiny bead of hope I held that maybe he had finally seen me as more than just his nerdy friend.
"Andrea, we've been over this. It's not like that. He wanted to take Holly, but she's going with someone else so he asked me to go. We're just friends." I explained for the millionth time as I gazed at my reflection in the mirror.
I was wearing a long, black gown with beading around the bust and a slit on the right leg. It was simple, but looked very elegant. I felt pretty in it.
"Quit starting at that mirror and go change. That's the dress. We're buying it. I'm not going to let you stand there dissecting yourself until you hate it. As for Dylan, don't be silly. He asked you because he wants to take you. He could have taken any girl in that school if he wanted, but he chose you. That means something. So, go change and let's pay. I want an iced coffee." Andrea declared before shoving me towards the dressing room.
Three hundred and fifty dollars later and I was the proud owner of the black dress.
The Next Day
"Hey Arden, can I talk to you for a sec?" Dylan asked as he approached Andrea and I the next day at school.
"Sure." I replied before glancing towards Andrea.
"I'll meet you in science class." She said before turning towards Dylan, "Arden found the perfect dress yesterday. It looks absolutely amazing on her. You're not going to recognize her Dyl. It took some convincing, but I finally got her to buy it."
With a Cheshire cat grin, Andrea turned and headed towards science class. I could have sworn I saw a look of guilt cross Dylan's face at the mention of the dress.
"So you bought a dress already?" He asked casually as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Well, yeah. Prom is this weekend, so I kind of had to unless I wanted to go naked." I replied with an awkward shrug.
"Shit." Dylan muttered.
"What?" I asked as the sinking feeling grew in my stomach.
"Nothing." He replied too quickly.
"Something." I argued, "Just spit it out. Are you having second thoughts about going?"
"No, not second thoughts. It's just, well Holly isn't going with that Brett guy anymore and asked me if I wanted to go with her. You hadn't seemed too thrilled about the idea of going, so I thought I'd let you off the hook." Dylan rambled.
"You want to cancel?" I hated how small my voice sounded in that moment.
"No, not cancel. I just thought you didn't want to go, but you bought a dress so I'm guessing that you do. And we will. It's totally fine. Holly can find a date no problem." Dylan rambled.
Before he could say anything else, Holly approached us and slide her arm around his waist.
"Hey Dyl." She chirped, "I was going to tell you that everyone is meeting at my house at six thirty for the limo to pick us up on Saturday. I'm so glad that you agreed to go. I was worried that you might already have a date since it's so last minute."
"Nope. Not Dyl." I said with a fake smile, "He was hoping you'd change your mind about going together and look at y'all now. Everything really does always work out. I've got to head to class, but good talk Dylan. You two have fun on Saturday."
"Arden-" Dylan started, but he was too late. I was already head down the hall. I refused to let him see me cry.
Later That Afternoon
"I can't believe that he would do this to you!" Andrea roared as she paced her bedroom floor.
I had just finished telling her about the whole ordeal before bursting into tears and she was not taking it well.
"I just really thought that he was better than that. I didn't expect him to like me back, but I did expect more from him than to cancel on me the Wednesday before prom. 'Oh you bought a dress already?' No I thought I'd show up in my underwear." I raged as more tears streamed down my face.
"Fuck him Ards. You deserve better. You have waited around on that idiot long enough. It's obvious that y'all aren't even really friends because a friend wouldn't do you like that. Get up." Andrea declared.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because you're going to go wash your face, and we are returning that dress. We will get your money back and then we're going to go do something fun and stupid. Also, you're going to cut off all ties to Dylan. You don't need a 'friend' like him. Then in four weeks when we graduate, you and I are headed to Harvard. I know we had said that we weren't going to leave until time for school to start, but fuck it. I say we head on up. We can go ahead and settle into our new apartment and spend the summer getting to know our new city." Andrea announced.
I pondered what she had said for a few minutes. Andrea's family was very wealthy. I was going to Harvard on a scholarship, and Andrea had decided to come too. She said that she wasn't giving up her best friend, and honestly it had worked in my favor in more ways than one. I would have at least one friend in this new city and her grandparents just so happened to have an apartment in the city. Boston was only a twenty minute commute to the university. I would never be able to repay Andrea and her family for what they were doing. My mom could never have afforded to help me pay for housing. I had almost turned down the offer to attend Harvard because it had been books and tuition only. I had needed room and board included, but then Andrea swooped in and her grandparents offered up the apartment to us for free. To hell with Dylan. He really was a terrible friend. I deserved better. Anyone deserved better than what I got. Looking over at Andrea, I couldn't help but smile. I really was blessed to have her in my life.
Grinning I replied, "I'll start packing this weekend."