So this week has been amazing. There is a new J.K. Rowling movie coming out, Shelly Crane is writing a new Significance book, and the Rookie Blue finale BLEW MY MIND!!!! Thank you to everyone who liked and commented on my story. I really appreciate it. After this chapter there is only one more before the Epilogue. I am going to try and have them up soon, so keep an eye out. There are actually two songs for this chapter. The first one is Angel in Disguise by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and One Day by Trading Yesterday. Please read, vote, recommend, or comment. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chapter 38: Prom and Red Lace
Low
“I’m so excited!”
I can’t help but laugh at Vi as she bounces up and down through the mall. Her arm is locked through mine and is shaking me back and forth from her movement. People stare at us in confusion, but I am barely paying attention. My eyes are concentrated on the windows of the stores, trying to look for the dress for prom.
Vi drags me into one of the stores on my left that has an entire display of dresses. We gather up several options and head to the dressing rooms. We both change into dresses and then come out of the rooms to show each other. The pink 80’s disaster I am wearing and the hooker’s length dress Vi has on makes both of us burst out into laughter. We both don’t find anything in that store and move onto the next one.
I zip up the back of my dress and come out of the dressing room. Vi is standing in front of the mirror in a shiny silver dress that drapes perfectly over her small frame. The sparkle in the dress complements her pink hair and makes her look extremely elegant.
“If you don’t get that dress, I might murder you,” I say.
She laughs and twirls around. The lights in the room reflect off of the sparkles and makes her shine.
“I do really like it,” she says.
“It’s perfect for you.” She smiles at her reflection in the mirror and then turns her attention onto me. Her faces scrunches up and I know exactly what she is thinking. I had the same face when I tried on the dress. It is nice, but it is not ‘the one.’ She lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes. Suddenly her body stiffens and a grin breaks out on her face.
“What?” I make the move to turn around and see what she is looking at, but Vi shrieks and covers my eyes with her hands.
“Go back in your dressing room!” she exclaims. She shoves me in the room and disappears back out into the store. I am waiting for thirty seconds before a dress is hung over the door. I pull it off of the hanger and quickly slide it on with out looking in the mirror. When I have it slid on and the zipper zipped up, I turn to look at myself in the mirror. My jaw drops and my breath escapes my lungs.
The base of the dress is a nude color which matches my pale skin perfectly. Over the nude base is a maroon lace layer that covers the entire dress. The neckline of the dress is high but when I turn around I feel my jaw drop. The back dips into a low oval that meets the bottom of my back. The dress clings to my shape and gives me more curves than I normally have. The sleeveless dress is amazing.
“Get out here!” Vi squeals.
I unlock the dressing room door and exit the room. When Vi sees my dress she starts shrieking louder than normal.
“That’s it! That’s it! That’s it!” she says excitedly. My mouth splits into a wide grin and know that she is right.
We both pay for the dresses and head out of the mall toward the car. I carefully lay my dress along the backseat of Vi’s car and hop into the passenger seat. Halfway over to my house, Vi turns to me with a gigantic smile on her face.
“I still find it hard to believe that you are going to prom with my cousin.”
I know if most people heard that, they might be offended, but I get what she means. At the beginning of the year Seth and I still hated each other. Even though it was only a couple of months ago, it seems like a lifetime. He is such a huge part of my life now, it is hard thinking of a time when we weren’t together.
“I’m really happy for you guys,” she says to me. Vi has a smile on her face, but I can see the sadness hidden underneath. Over the past several months, the sadness that I can sense underneath her bubbly personality has become more and more noticeable. I know why, but every time I bring it up, she shoots me down.
“I’m sure that if you asked Tuckett, he would jump at the chance to go to prom with you,” I say quietly. Vi tries to act casual, but from the way her body tenses up, I know that what I’ve said has bothered her.
“If he wanted to go with me, he would have asked,” Vi whispers. “Besides Micah said he would take me as friends. His date canceled last minute and I don’t want to back out on him now.”
“Vi-”
“Low, please . . . stop.” The pain behind Vi’s eyes is flaring and I quickly shut my mouth.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I just don’t like to see you like this.”
“I know,” she says and lets out a loud sigh. “I just don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
I nod and take her hand in mine. She squeezes my hand tightly, like I am going to get rid of all of her pain. I squeeze her hand back and try to think of a way to help my best friend without making everything worse.
The day of prom, seniors are dismissed early. Vi and I quickly race back to my house to get ready. I shower and blow dry my hair first since my hair is longer and then sit down on my bed while Vi works her magic. My blonde and turquoise waves are soon transformed into blonde and turquoise curls which are pinned up into a loose bun at the back of my head. Vi then showers and I straighten her pink hair so it slightly edgier than it normally looks. She then does my makeup. My eyes are soon transformed with dark brown eyeshadow that makes the color of my eyes stand out. Nude lipstick is applied to my lips and I am satisfied with the results. On Vi, I apply the ever so effective smoky eye and pink lipstick that matches her hair. We slide on our dresses and shoes carefully and we are finished. By that time there are only fifteen minutes before the guys get here.
The time soon passes and Lizard comes sprinting up the stairs screaming that Seth and Micah are here. Vi makes me wait at the top of the stairs so there will be a more dramatic effect when Seth sees me. She quickly goes down the stairs and then calls my name up.
I take a quick breath and quickly push aside the anxiousness I am feeling.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.
I finally reach the top of the stairs and make my way down. I force myself not to look and Seth and to focus on where I am walking until I make it to the bottom of the stairs. I would be mortified if I fell.
When I look up at Seth, I am shocked.
Gone are the leather jackets and ripped jeans. The man standing in front of me looks amazing in the black suit and red tie that he is wearing. My eyes travel over him hungrily before moving up to his face.
Seth’s eyes are wide and his mouth is slightly agape. Vi elbows him in the stomach and he quickly tries to stop staring. He swallows nervously and I feel amazing. I have accomplished the rare event of making Seth Ryker speechless.
Seth steps closer to me and takes my face in his hands. His lips lightly descend onto mine and I hold my breath throughout the soft kiss. He pulls away just enough so he can look into my eyes.
“You look so beautiful,” Seth says. I feel the heat move to my cheeks and know that I am blushing.
“You look handsome,” I reply. He grins down at me and presses his lips against mine again. I will probably be redoing my lipstick all night.
His tongue peeps out of his mouth and brushes against my lips.
Oh, who the hell cares!
The doorbell rings and forces us to break apart. Seth growls in annoyance and I laugh. I know exactly how he feels.
My mom comes rushing out of the kitchen and quickly opens the door. All of my friends from school come spilling into my house and the night begins. We eat some food and then are about to head outside for pictures when my Seth pulls me aside.
He whips his hand out from behind his back and reveals the dark red rose corsage.
“This is for you.” I smile happily and hold out my hand so he can slide it on. Flashes go off next to us and we both look over to see my mom grinning like a maniac.
“Mom, what are you doing?” I ask.
“It’s your senior prom!” she shrieks. “I’m taking as many pictures of the two of you as I possibly can!”
I groan and turn to my dad who is leaning against the wall next to my mom. I motion for him to do something, but he shakes his head no.
“There is no way I am stopping your mom. If I take the camera away from her, she would kill me in my sleep,” he says. My mom smiles at him and pecks his cheek.
Once pictures are done, we all head to the party bus waiting in my driveway. We all hurry on and soon we are on our way to the hotel.
The ballroom is decked out in the Night in Paris theme that the dance committee picked out for this year. Lights twinkle around the room and there is a large cut out of the Eiffel Tower that we all enter under. Music is pounding throughout the room and there are bodies swaying all over the dance room.
Once I set my clutch down on my group’s table and Seth throws his jacket onto one of the backs of the chairs, he drags me to the dance floor and we start moving around it together. My hips move against his and I remember the time we danced together months ago at Parker’s party. Things have changed so much since then, and I am so glad I’m here now.
Vi
I’m out on the dance floor with Micah, and I feel extremely guilty. I am more than grateful that he came to prom with me, but I can’t stop looking at Tuckett out of the corner of my eye. He is dancing with some girl who is all over him. He should be having the time of his life with her, after all, she’s his kind, desperate, but for some reason he looks like he is in pain.
Micah breaks me out of my session of self pity by spinning me under his arm and then dipping my backwards. A small squeal of surprise, soon followed by laughter, escapes my mouth and I cling to Micah’s arms’s for support. We both laugh and spin around on the dance floor before the song to the next one. The music beats through the room and the excitement rises with it.
A finger taps Micah’s shoulder and Tuckett stands behind him.
“Hey, mind if I cut in?” he asks. Micah quickly excuses himself and heads over to find a drink.
Tuckett’s hands reach around me until they settle on my back. Tentatively, I reach my arms up and wrap them around his neck. We move back and forth, neither of us talking for a while. Neither of us look at each other.
“So, Micah . . .” Tuckett says.
“Yep.”
“Why him?”
“He asked,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders.
Tuckett nods his head and finally moves his eyes to mine. The run over the top of my head to my eyes, nose, and finally to my lips. The song ends, but neither of us let go. While everyone around us are jumping up and down to the fast paced music, we still stand close together and sway back and forth.
“Would you have gone to prom with me?” he asks.
“No.”
“Why not?” I can see the nervousness on his face.
“Because you didn’t ask,” I say the words with a little more venom than I should, but I can’t help it. I tear myself out of his arms and make my way off the dance floor. I can feel the tears running off of my face, but I quickly wipe them away.
“Vi, wait!” Tuckett lightly grabs my arm an pulls me to a stop.
“Did you want me to ask you to prom?”
I try to look anywhere else, but Seth moves my face towards his with his finger. The stern look on his face makes me want to burst out into tears, but I hold everything in.
“Please talk to me.”
Screw holding it in.
“Of course I wanted you to ask me to prom!” I cry. “But here you are with that girl! I can’t do it. I can’t deal with all of your shit. No matter how much I care about you, there will always be some other girl before me.”
I move to run away, but Tuckett grabs my hand.
“Vi-”
“No,” I bark, and pull my hand out of his. “Stop.”
I run away, leaving him standing alone and head over by the food area to look for Micah. I don’t want to ruin his night, but I have to get out of here. When I find him, I see him laughing with some girl. I can’t bug him with my stupid problems. He’d probably have more fun without me.
I leave the ballroom and head into the lobby of the hotel. I take my phone from my clutch and call my mom to come pick me up. I plop down onto a bench and bury my face in my hands. To anyone else it would look like someone deep in thought. Only I know that I am sobbing into my hands at the loss of the boy I might be in love with.
Low
Seth and I dance the whole night. We stop quickly for a make out session out in the gardens before we are back on the floor and dancing. The song changes and a slow song comes on.
‘If I could see beyond the here and now
If you could hear me calling you somehow
If I could know that love is reaching out
To find you with me tonight
‘Then hope could make these promises come true
Beyond what I could say, what love can do
With every moment leading me to you tonight.’
I wrap my arms all the way around Seth’s neck and he lifts me so that I am standing on his toes with my chucks. His arms wrap around me and his hands rest on the bottom curve of my dress. His fingers brush against my exposed skin and shudders run through my entire body.
“Did I ever tell you how much I love your dress?” Seth says with a sly smile. “Especially the back. It’s extremely sexy.”
I laugh and rest my forehead against his. My fingers curl into his hair and he lets out a moan.
“You drive me fucking crazy.”
I smile and press my lips against his. His fingers trace patterns along my bare back and I release a moan to match his.
“Same here.”