The day was finally here. Saturday I worked like a normal day, and I got to leave a couple of hours early. Before I left Abby and Maia went in to show their dresses to everyone.
"You guys look great." I said.
"Thanks. We're on our way to take some pictures." Maia said.
"How about you? You ready for tonight?" Abby asked.
"Yeah. Turns out I will be going after all." I said.
"Good. I'll see you then." Abby said.
"Yeah."
I was hoping Henry would text me, and offer me a ride, but he didn't. That confirmed he was going with Kevin after all. I was finally going to meet the guy I had been jealous of for far too long. But I wasn't going to be mean or act up, I was going to be friendly to him, and pretend I didn't want him dead.
When my shift ended I went home, showered, and got ready, but there was a minor problem. Either the tailor did not measure my waist properly, or I had lost some weight because the pants were loose. They weren't about to fall by any means, but they didn't feel fit. I was nervous they would fall at some point while at prom, and I was going to be laughed at by the whole school. But it didn't stop me, I got everything set, and tried to look my best. I was just hoping to run into Henry at some point, and maybe get a compliment from him. I made a deal that my stepdad would drop me off, and my dad would pick me up from the dance. It wasn't the way I had planned, but I had no other option. Yes it was lame I wasn't going with a date, and most especially that my parents were dropping me off, but I guess that was just one of the perks of having no friends.
When I got there I was scared, and nervous. Where was I supposed to go? I didn't know if anyone would actually want to hang out with me, and then I saw that the hall was set up like school cafeterias. You had to find a table to put your stuff down while you danced, or sit down if you were tired. I had to find people to sit down with, and that made me nervous. I went to the bathroom to breathe, and think things over. So far no one knew I was here so I could still get a taxi, and go home, but that would be a stupid waste of money. I got my phone out, and texted Mindy, the person who practically forced me to go to prom.
Where are you guys?
We're on the left side of the dance floor. R u here?
Yeah. I said, and I walked out of the bathroom, and made my way to the table. I was really embarrassed to have to walk across all the tables with people sitting there. I thought that maybe they were judging my outfit, or questioning why I was there, and I was doing the same thing. Not once in a million years did I think I would show my face in a school dance, but it was Senior year, so I had to do it.
"Oh, my god you're here. You look great." Mindy said since she was the first one to see me.
"Thanks. Everything was last minute."
"Even so dude. You look good." Jordan said, walking towards the table.
"Thanks." I said.
"I think you should dress fancier more often." He added.
"Do you have a date?" Mindy asked. I looked around at the table.
"No. I thought maybe I could hang out with you guys."
"You're a dumbass, yes you are sitting here with us." Mindy said. "I was just curious if you went to dances even if you were single. I know Kyle, and Adam don't, and you're like their third member. I didn't know if you were like them."
"Well this is my first dance ever, so I don't have standards yet."
"It's just more enjoyable if you have someone to dance with." Adam said.
"You can have fun being alone, and being with someone. You just need to be okay with yourself." Jordan said, "Look at McKenzie and I. We broke up like five or six days ago, and we're here sitting together."
"Five days ago, and he's right. He doesn't even care that I'm here with the guy I dated before him." She said.
"Not one bit." Jordan said.
"Moving away from the weirdness. Maybe you'll find someone to dance with while you're here." Taylor said.
"That's what I'm hoping for." I said, looking around the room trying to see if I could find Henry who wasn't sitting with us.
"Henry's on the other side of the dance floor. He's with Seth, Steven, and Steven's friends." Jordan said. I guess I was too obvious.
"Why isn't he sitting here?" I asked.
"I told him to join us, but he said he wanted to be with them." Jordan said. He knew I knew of Kevin, but he didn't mention him. I wonder if Henry took Kevin as his date.
"I still can't believe he's gay." Mindy said.
"Why not?" Jordan asked.
"He just never seemed gay to me before." She said.
"So who cares if he's gay. He's free to do whatever he wants." Adam said. Did he take homosexuality better than Kyle did?
"I think you mean whoever." Jordan said.
"Okay, let's change the topic to something more appropriate." Taylor said.
"Should we go dance?" Mindy said. Everyone got up, and we went to dance. I had no idea what I was doing, and I looked dumb just standing there.
"Just do what everyone else is doing." Jordan said. I did my best to mimic everyone, but I wasn't sure if I was doing it right.
After dancing for a while I needed to use the restroom. As I was exiting the room I ran into Josie.
"Holy crap you look good." I said.
"I look good? Have you seen yourself in the mirror?" She said.
"Thanks, but I'm not a big fan of the color of the shirt."
"I think it looks great. It's a good color for you. So did you come here with someone?"
"No, I came alone. I just met up with some friends."
"You should've told me. We could've hung out before this, maybe take some pictures."
"That would've been fun, but I was at work." I told her.
"That's boring."
"Yeah, it is. How about you, did you come here with someone?"
"No. I came with my friends, but there's this one guy in our group that I'm hoping to get a slow dance with."
"That's cute. So far every slow song they've played I've sat down."
"Oh come on. Go find someone to get one slow dance with. Even if it's just a friend. Is there no one at your table that would dance with you, cus I will if you want, just let me know."
"Thanks. There's one guy I'd like to dance with, but we're not even on the same table."
"Oh my god who? You haven't told me there's a new guy." She said. Smiling.
"It's this guy I've known since forever, and I've kinda had feelings for this whole year."
"Oh my god you're smiling, and blushing. You really like him."
"Yeah, I really do, but it doesn't matter. He doesn't like me, and he might be here with this guy he might be dating. His situation is a bit unclear at the moment."
"He's gay too? You have to go dance with him. You have to tell him you like him. You'll regret not telling him now." She said.
"It's more complicated than that. He's been my best friend since middle school. I can't just tell him that I like him. I'm afraid it'll ruin our friendship, and he's one person I can't picture my life without. He's been an amazing friend to me, and I don't want to ruin that." I said.
"But what if he likes you too? What if he's afraid to ruin the friendship too? Wouldn't it be worth taking a leap of faith?"
"I'm not one to take leaps of faith regularly, and with him it's a big no."
"I respect that, but I do hope that one day you are able to tell him." She said.
"Hopefully one day I will no longer have feelings for him."
"I want to say you won't, but the way you've talked about him, I don't think it's going to be an easy crush you'll have to get over."
"When have you known me to get over a crush easily?" I remind her.
"You're funny. I need to get back to my table. We have to hang out, and talk boys soon. Especially after tonight."
"Yes, I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about."
"Ok. good luck with your boy." She said.
"Thanks, you too." I said, and I made my way back to my table.
Everyone was tired from dancing so they sat down for a bit. Mindy started taking pictures. After a couple of minutes they decided it was time to dance.
Then another slow dance song came up. All the couples stayed, and held each other closer to dance, and us the single ones went to sit down. People like Mindy didn't, she just danced with her girl friends. I sat down, and just watched people dance.
Then Jordan came to sit next to me.
"So you're not going to slow dance with anyone?" He asked.
"With who? No one here's asked me to dance with them. Have you danced a slow song yet?"
"Yeah, I convinced McKenzie to dance with me for a bit a while back."
"Was that weird?" I asked him.
"Not really I mean we're still friends. Sure we just broke up like five days ago, and it sucks a bit. But we're here now, no time to change the past."
"That's one way to look at it."
"Come on let's go." He said getting up, and giving me his hand.
"Go where?"
"You're dancing with me for a bit." He said. I was a bit in shock. I never thought a guy would ask me to dance with him, and this was not the way I had pictured being asked to dance, but it happened.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"I'm not good enough to dance with you?" He asked.
"No it's not that." I said. But how was I going to tell him that I didn't want to dance with him because I didn't want my feelings for him to get out of hand.
"Then let's go, and dance with me." He said, and smiled, god that smile was cute.
"Fine." I said, and we walked to the dance floor. He put his hands around my waist, and I put mine over his shoulders since he was taller than me. He actually pulled me in closer to him, and we started to dance. I didn't say anything nor did he. He was just smiling, and I was too. For a moment people did fade out, and it was good.
It only lasted for about a minute since the song was halfway through when we jumped in, but also because Mindy jumped in to stop us from dancing.
"Oh come on guys. We can all dance together, not just you too." She said. We broke our pose, and we all huddled to slow dance as a circle.
Once the song ended we went to sit down to relax for a bit. They'd been dancing for minutes non stop, we just talked while Mindy took more pictures. Then I saw Abby walk by.
"So you came." Abby said.
"Yeah, I was kinda bullied by everyone so I had to come."
"Good. You would've missed out on a great night."
"Beginning to think I would have." I said. I looked quickly at Jordan. I had my slow dance with a guy after all, I never in a million years thought it would've been with him.
"Great. Well enjoy the rest of your night."
"Thanks. You do too."
"Who was that?" Jordan asked.
"Abby. She works with me."
"She's hot. Is she single?" He asked.
"You just broke up with McKenzie." Mindy said.
"She's here with her ex. What's wrong with what I'm doing?" He said.
"He's got a point. And she has a boyfriend, but I haven't seen him tonight." I told them.
"Damn. Well I guess I gotta work at Pizza Street to get in line just in case they ever break up. Do you think I'd have a chance?"
"I mean maybe." With that I was reminded I never had a chance with him. I was always going to be single, and I never was going to have a chance to be with someone, but that was ok. Jordan was not the guy I was after. I guess I was always going to be shadowed by a pretty blond girl I worked with.
After a couple of minutes of resting we went back to the dance floor, and we started to dance, and halfway through a song Henry showed up.
"Hey you came" He said smiling. I was mesmerized by him. He was wearing a white tux with a green vest, and white shirt. He looked like a real life prince charming, and I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
"Yeah. I wanted to see what this 'most memorable night of my life' hype was about."
"I'm just glad you're here."
"So did you slow dance with a guy yet?" Seth asked with a bitchy attitude.
"As a matter of fact I have." I said.
"You came here with a date?" Henry asked.
"No, I just danced with Jordan."
"Really out of all the guys you could've danced with, you picked Jordan?" Seth asked.
"It wasn't so much that I picked him, rather he was the only one who asked me to dance with him."
"Oh I'm sure you did not want to dance with him." He said. Why did he altered between hating me, and not.
"How about you guys? Have you slow danced with someone yet?"
"Nah, slow dancing is dumb." Henry said.
"That's what I said, but I did it anyway." I told him. We stood there for a couple more minutes, just pretending we knew what we were dancing like. Then Josie walked by.
"They announced the last slow dance. Please tell me you dance with someone."
"I did. It was fun."
"Good." She said, and shot a look with her eyebrows asking if it was Seth. I shook my head, and then her eyes widened, and nodded towards Henry, and I nodded back. She smiled, and went back to her friends.
"Well I guess since it's the last song. Henry, you can dance with me." Seth said.
"Do we have to?"
"Well we can slow dance close to each other to not make it gay." Seth added.
"Fine." Henry said.
"Then I guess I better go dance with my circle." I said
"Yes, please leave, and let us dance alone." Seth said.
"I literally just have to turn around." and I did. The song ended, and people were starting to leave the hall. Adam left with his girlfriend, Mindy, and a couple of others from the table were leaving to get dinner. Jordan and I joined Seth, and Henry since their friends had also left.
We talked while we 'danced' for a couple of minutes, but then Jordan left to join McKenzie and her friends, so it was just Seth, Henry, and I. Seth got tired so he went to sit down.
"So did you have fun?" Henry asked me.
"Yeah, it wasn't bad."
"See I told you you would've missed out on this. I just wasn't expecting you to dance with Jordan. That was a surprise."
"Neither did I, but it was fun. I thought you would've come with your date." I said without thinking first. I have to get control of my inner voice which is constantly telling me to say what I feel without thinking things over.
"Who would I have come with?" He asked me with a weird expression on his face.
"I don't know. I thought Seth said you might have a date or something."
"Nope. just here with the boys."
"Better than here by yourself." I said.
"That's true, but you ended up hanging with friends, and me, so it turned out great."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." I said. We kept moving pretending to dance, but I was sure we looked stupid to the rest.
"Can we leave now. I'm getting really tired." Seth said to Henry, since Henry was the one who drove his friends there.
"Oh my god you're so needy, but fine. I'd offer you a ride, but the car is kinda full." Henry said. Looking at me.
"No worries. There are still a couple of songs left." I said.
They were making their way out when Josie showed up again.
"That guy is really cute. You guys would be cute together." She said.
"Thanks, but he's not interested in me." I said.
"Well that's his loss. Looking the way you do right now I'm surprised there weren't guys in line trying to dance with you."
"I don't think that'll ever happen, but I'm ok with that. I'm learning how to be happy all by myself."
"I'm so happy for you. We don't need no boys to hurt us. Let's just dance until we can longer move." She said.
We danced for a couple more songs, but the night had come to an end. She went home, and I was waiting for my dad to pick me up. The sky was clear, and starry. I liked how it looked, it made me feel not alone, even if there was no one with me. I knew I was going to be okay without a boy. I felt happy because I knew I didn't need a boyfriend anymore. I would like one, but I didn't need one. I was able to make myself happy, and I am all I'll ever need.