Chapter 9
I could think of nothing but the dance for the next two weeks. One week before the dance, I bought my dress, and when I got home, I ran up to the woods to show Abigail the pictures I took of it. It was slightly below my knees, and was a simple white with gray straps and a belt in the middle. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever thing and it was only twenty dollars, being in the clearance section.
"That's so pretty!" Abigail exclaimed.
"Thank you! It's even comfortable. Almost the perfect dress."
"I don't know what I'm going to wear," Abigail confessed, her face falling a bit.
"Don't you have any dresses at home?" I asked Abigail shook her head. "Maybe you can borrow one of mine," I said, then remembered Abigail was a good few inches taller than me.
"I'll figure out something," Abigail assured me. I left the woods with a smile on my face.
The night before the dance, Abigail texted me to say her father had just left on the business trip - and wouldn't be back till Sunday morning. The morning of the dance, I was so excited I could hardly get ready for school, and all day, I barely paid attention in any of my classes. At lunch, all I could possibly talk about was the dance, to Sierra, who didn't seem very interested. After all, she wasn't going, and she'd told me so the minute the school had decided it was going to be a dance with dates.
I got home and I couldn't sit down, I was so energetic and excited. At four, I dashed up to the woods to get Abigail. She was already at the meeting spot when I got there, a bug tucked under her shoulder.
"Hey," she said, casually. Then she broke into a grin and we hugged each other.
"What'd you tell Andrew?" I asked.
"Oh, I told him we were having a sleepover, 'girls only', and that I'd be back in the morning. He seemed to not care, he'll probably be up watching action movies all night now that I'm not there to tell him to be quiet."
"Nice! Well, come on, Mom's getting dinner ready now, since the dance starts at six..." We headed back towards the house, and every time her arm brushed against mine, my heart fluttered. We walked inside and my mom was standing by the door, waiting.
"Mom," I said, "this is Abigail. Abigail, this is my mom." My mother pulled Abigail into a hug then pulled back to look at her.
"It's so nice to meet you, Abigail, I've heard so much about you." My mom said. Abigail turned slightly pink.
"It's nice to meet you, too," she said. We sat down to have dinner. I was pleased to see Abigail and my mother getting along very well. After dinner was finished, Abigail and I went upstairs to get changed.
"So, did you ever find a dress?" I asked as we walked upstairs.
"I did, actually," Abigail said, "it was my mother's old dress. It's a bit old fashioned, but pretty anyway."
"I'm excited to see it," I said. "Anyway, you can get changed in the bathroom, I'll be in my room, and then once we're done, we can do hair and makeup and all that."
Abigail thanked me and walked into the bathroom, and I walked into my room. I took my beautiful white dress out from my closet and began to get changed. I had a little trouble with the zipper in the back, but I got it in the end. I walked out and knocked on the bathroom door.
"You done?" I asked. In response, Abigail opened the door, and my jaw dropped. My first reaction was to her hair. I'd never seen her let it down, with no braids, no ponytails, nothing. It was slightly wavy, a bit thin, and fell to her elbows. My second reaction was to the dress. It was, as she had said, a bit old fashioned, but I liked it nonetheless. It was charcoal gray, with white trim on the neckline, and the sleeves were baggy and went almost to her elbows. Abigail was also wearing a pair of large, wire frame glasses, the type that are generally more for fashion than for sight, and that had a more old-fashioned vibe, but that she definitely pulled off.
"Woah," I said. She blushed. "Um, you look great," I said.
"So do you," she said, her face steadily turning redder.
"Time to start makeup and hair?" I asked. She nodded, and I giggled. We walked into the bathroom and I began brushing my hair as best as I could. "You keeping your hair down?" I asked.
"I don't know, does it look okay?" Abigail asked.
"It looks amazing, honestly," I said. "Do you want any makeup or anything?"
"No, I'm okay, thanks," she said. I shrugged and began pulling my hair up into a tight bun. A few minutes later, I was dabbing on some foundation, and then I was done. I'd never really been a fan of makeup, and I didn't want to make Abigail stand around awkwardly any longer.
"Are we ready to go?" I asked Abigail.
"I think so," she replied, and she linked arms and walked down the stairs. My mom almost cried when she saw us and spent the next few minutes fussing over the two of us, making sure every hair was in place and then she began to take pictures.
"Mom, really," I said, "we gotta get to the dance, we're gonna be late."
"Oh, fine, fine," my mom said, and began to hurry us into the car, making sure we had warm coats that wouldn't ruin our hair or our outfits. Abigail and I sat in the backseat, nervously grinning at each other. We were at the school before long, and my mom waved goodbye from the car as we walked in. Abigail stood awkwardly to the side as I dealt with getting us into the dance. I'd gotten all the forms signed for a student not from my school to attend the dance, and, luckily, there were no problems. Before we knew it, we were in the gym, on the dance floor. The lights were low, and the walls were decorated with glowing snowflakes all around. The music ranged from upbeat holiday tunes to the latest pop songs. I stuck my hand out towards Abigail. She stared at it for a moment.
"Want to dance?" I asked, and cringed. It sounded better in my head.
"Um, sure," she said, and I dragged her out onto the dance floor. Before long, I bumped into a couple of friends from school who I knew from the GSA.
"Hey! Ella! Lucy!" I exclaimed, upon seeing the two girls dancing together nearby.
"Hey!" Ella said. She was a pale girl, with choppy blonde hair and small, brown eyes. She was holding Lucy's hand, who had tan skin, curly dark brown hair, and a mischievous smile.
"Is this Abigail?" Lucy asked. I nodded.
"We've heard so much about you," Ella said, grinning. Abigail turned slightly pink.
"Um, thanks?"
"Anyway, we've got to get back to dancing," Lucy said, laughing a little. "It was really nice to meet you, Abigail!" The couple walked away. I elbowed Abigail.
"What?" she asked.
"Don't stare," I said.
"Sorry," she replied sheepishly, "I'm just not used to seeing people who are so comfortable being out, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it," I said. And I did. Right now, Abigail was in an entirely new world. I couldn't blame her, honestly. Soon we met other friends and acquaintances of mine, and Abigail grew more comfortable as we all danced together in a big circle.
Towards the end of the night, the DJ announced that he was putting on a slow song. I looked over at Abigail, a little nervously, and held out my hand. She took it. I put my hands around her waist, and hers went onto my shoulders.
"You're so tall," I muttered, wishing I'd thought to wear high heels. Abigail giggled a little. The song began. We slowly swayed together, not sure what to do. Neither of us had ever really slow danced before.
I'd never really contemplated how awkward dancing with someone else really was. I had always been rather awful at eye contact, and I now found myself staring determinedly at the floor, my cheeks hot. To avoid looking Abigail in the eyes, rather than holding her at arm's length, I drew myself in closer so that the dance was more like a hug, my cheek resting on her shoulder and my hands on her back. I heard Abigail breathe in sharply, startled when I did this, but she relaxed immediately. We were okay, we were fine. The singer in the background crooned about how difficult love was, and although I agreed that maybe there were some challenges along the way, falling in love was quite simple and easy. After all, who'd have thought that I'd be dancing in Abigail's arms, enveloped by her warmth and feeling at peace, and above all, loved?
🍂🍂🍂
Saturday morning, Abigail packed up and went home. She hugged Meredith at the gate to the farm, grinning.
"See you later," Abigail said. Meredith smiled, and they parted. Abigail walked back to the farm. Everything seemed so pretty, the grass, the sky, the trees. She walked into her house, still smiling. She wandered around, trying to find Andrew, and finally knocked on his bedroom door.
"You awake?" she asked quietly. She heard a groan and footsteps coming to the door. Andrew opened it, looking groggy, his hair messy.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," Abigail said, "I've got something to tell you." Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You, ah, might want to sit down," Abigail suggested. They went into Andrew's room and both sat on his bed.
"What's up?" Andrew asked. Abigail bit her lip nervously.
"You can't tell Dad," she began, "promise that you won't tell Dad anything."
"I promise," Andrew replied uncertainly. "What's up?" he repeated.
"Meredith and I..." Abigail said slowly, "we're, um, a couple."
"Hold on," Andrew said after a pause, anger suddenly growing in his voice, "you got together with the girl I asked out?"
"I like her too, Andrew, and we tried not to get together for you, but it just...happened." Abigail said apologetically.
"I can't believe this," Andrew muttered, and stood to leave.
"Andrew, wait," Abigail cried, "don't tell Dad, please, don't tell him!"
Andrew's face softened for a moment. "God, of course, I won't tell him, but I need some time alone." He left the room. Abigail sat alone, guilt-ridden and nerves flying.