Living Backwards (22 page)

Was she taunting me? Really?

“You too, Meg,” I replied sweetly. “Oh and Nate, love the statement you’re making with the tux shirt. That I-just-screwed-my-girlfriend-in-the-limo look is all the rage.”

“Burn!” Josh exclaimed raising his palm for a high five. I slapped his palm giggling, but was met with Megan’s furious glare when I looked up. While I should have been terrified, I knew better. Girlfriend was probably dying to kiss and tell.

“Oh get over it, Meg,” I added. “It’s all in good fun.”

“We really should get going, though,” Danielle said checking her watch.

“Okay, everybody,” Mrs. Powers announced walking over to the limo. “Group shot before you leave.”

“I think Jillian should go in the middle because she balances the blue and purple of our dresses on either side,” Danielle explained to Megan, who rolled her eyes, and took her place by my side. Then each of us stood in front of our respective dates, smiling for the camera. After the flash, Danielle popped up and scurried over to the limo door.

“Chop-chop, people,” she called out clapping her hands and motioning into the car. “I’ve been dreaming of my prom since I was a little girl. We need to get there early so that I can give the DJ the list of songs that need to be played and the order in which to play them.”

“Be right back,” Luke added, jogging over to his car. I climbed in and wasted no time grabbing Joan from my purse. If Danielle was this amped up now, it was going to be a long night.

When we were all settled, Luke slipped into the limo, covertly pulling out the bottle of Goldschläger from his jacket. Josh grabbed some glasses from the bar as Luke poured shots for the others. I unapologetically sipped from Joan in the interim, watching the others interact. Megan was attempting to convince Nate that the Macarena was sexy when done by the right person. Josh had his drink in one hand and held onto his top hat with the other. Danielle and Luke seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation. She had a pretty smug expression on her face, and Luke looked entirely too annoyed. He must have sensed I was watching because he turned suddenly and looked across the seat at me. A slow, sexy smile spread across his face when he caught me staring. I recognized that smile right away; it was just in black and white the last time I saw it.

Mine now.

A few minutes later, we pulled up to the Reynolds High School gymnasium for the I Still Believe (Brenda K. Starr Sang it Better) Prom because nothing said romance like the smell of jock straps and gym socks. I was feeling pretty good. After a couple weeks “on the wagon” as Luke put it, I welcomed the tingly feeling the Goldschläger provided.

The first thing I noticed as we walked through the gym doors was the balloon arch. It was silver and white, not pink and silver.

Oh shit.

“Thank God they listened to me,” Danielle sighed staring up at the arch.

“Who?” I asked slightly dazed.

“Oh, the prom committee,” she replied nonchalantly.

“But you weren’t on the prom committee,” I replied because I knew for a fact that arch was supposed to be pink, and Danielle had no part in planning the color scheme.

“No, but I just got so excited about all of us going to prom together. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect so I kind of imposed my will on the committee girls,” she explained. I stared at her, stunned. I’d been on the receiving end of her powers of persuasion. I could only imagine what she put those poor girls through. There were probably tears involved.

“What did you say to them?” I asked.

“They have no concept of design and color,” she added. “They were going to use pink balloons, Jillian. Pink! Hello, clashing color! Someday, dear Jillian, people will pay a great deal of money to have me design for them. Reynolds High should be happy they got me on the cheap.”

Danielle led us over to the area for prom photos explaining that we needed to get the necessities out of the way before we were allowed to have fun. While we waited in line, she bounced over to the DJ to make his life miserable. I focused on the balloon arch overhead, wondering what else had changed and if it was a bad thing.

I was still pondering the implications of Danielle’s actions when Luke slid his hand into mine. He was staring at me with the softest, sweetest smile. It was such a small gesture, holding my hand. Not something people even think about anymore, really. But with that small gesture, everything seemed to change. Our unspoken words hung in the air between us, causing the atmosphere to feel heavy and charged.

In front of the jungle of silver and white balloons, Luke stood behind me once again, but this time when we faced the camera, there wasn’t any teasing. This time when he rested his hands on my hips, he pulled me in closer to his chest. This time when I felt his breath on my neck, I leaned my head towards his. This time was different, and we both knew it.

He led me over to the table where Megan and Nate were seated, pulling out a chair for me to sit down in. Danielle skittered over to us grabbing my hand before I could sit.

“Let’s go, ladies!” she exclaimed. “My good friend DJ Dan has promised me some
Genie in a Bottle
and I need my girls for that.”

I glared at Luke silently imploring him to intervene. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled, leaving me to fend for myself. Danielle proceeded to drag me roughly onto the dance floor as Meg gladly followed.

As if on cue or more likely by threat, Christina Aguilera began playing as soon as we hit the floor. Megan grabbed Danielle by the hips and began doing that ridiculous grinding thing girls do to get the attention of every guy in the room.

Sorry, Danielle, love you, but I will not grind on anything but Luke from here on out. Non-negotiable.

So while the girls hypnotized the whole room with their hip swiveling, I danced alone next to them and kept my rear end to myself. DJ Dan, master of the mic that he was, clumsily segued from rubbing us the right way to Lonestar’s
Amazed
. Turning to head back to the table, I collided, mid-step, into Luke’s chest.

“Dance with me,” he said. I think I nodded, but I was too busy freaking out over how I was going to dance with him. I wasn’t sure if we were going to attempt the G-rated version, his hands on my waist and mine on his shoulders. Or the PG version, wrapping my arms around his neck and moving our bodies closer together. Then there was the scarier R-rated version the kids seemed to be so fond of that involved grinding and undulating. I really didn’t think I could pull that off. At least not sober.

I could feel the sense of panic flood my body. As if he knew what I was thinking, Luke grabbed my right hand and pulled it in close to his chest. I placed my left on his shoulder and felt the electric current in the air once again. As soon as we began to sway, I wrestled my hand from his grip and placed it on his shoulder. I slowly drew him closer as my arms met behind his neck. It suddenly didn’t feel very PG as he moved his hands from my waist and clasped them at the small of my back.

From this position, I couldn’t see Luke’s face anymore, but could feel the rough fabric of his tuxedo jacket against my cheek. I never liked this song. I wasn’t into sappy music or bands with names like Lonestar, but at that moment, they could have been playing Megan’s Macarena and it wouldn’t have been anything less than perfect.

I didn’t lift my head from his shoulder when the music ended. I didn’t want that feeling to go away, but Luke pulled back so I withdrew my arms from behind his neck, saddened that we’d lose that connection. But instead of releasing me from his grasp, he held me for a beat longer and stared into my eyes. I felt like I could be reduced to ashes under his gaze.

“You really do look beautiful tonight,” he whispered. “But the evening would be significantly better if I had you to myself.”

I was so used to snarky comebacks and comedic banter that I didn’t know how to deal with just being straight with him. The fire in his eyes was unsettling and honestly terrifying.

“I wish we were alone too,” I replied. He grabbed my hand, walking us back to the table with the others.

“Think we can sneak out later for a bit without anyone noticing?” he asked flashing that wicked smile.

“I think that can be arranged,” I replied because honestly he could have asked me to follow him anywhere and I would have.

Facing the table, I watched Nate hand Josh a twenty dollar bill. The look of satisfaction on Josh’s face and scowl on Nate’s was reminiscent of the exchange between Luke and Josh earlier.

“What’s that about?” I asked eyeing Josh’s hand suspiciously. His eyes grew wide for a moment before he seemed to settle down.

“He just owed me some money,” he replied. I knew Josh well. He wasn’t a good liar, and he was definitely lying now. Before I could investigate further, Megan cleared her throat.

“Nate has some exciting news,” she announced.

“Way to sound like his mom, Meg,” Danielle muttered. She narrowed her eyes before turning back to Nate.

“While I appreciate the fanfare, it’s hardly a big deal,” he added looking a little uncomfortable with the attention.

“It’s
a huge deal, Nate,” she replied, leaning closer and rubbing his back. He smiled at her, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

“My dad’s going with me to check out Notre Dame this weekend,” he announced. I had fortunately put my drink down because if I hadn’t, I would have choked. Nate never toured the campus. It was still a sore subject with him. You couldn’t even mention “fighting” and “Irish” in the same sentence without getting him upset.

“I told my dad that I paid the deposit to hold my spot. He’s keeping an open mind. I think he’s a little upset that I don’t want to go to his school, but I think he understands how much I want to be in South Bend,” he explained.

“Nate, man. That’s great news,” Luke replied.

“You were right,” he said to Luke. “It sucked having to tell him, but I’m glad I did. And what about you?” he asked enthusiastically. “Meg tells me you’re heading to Seattle on Sunday. It’s your cousin’s bar, right?”

“Second cousin,” he answered curtly. I noticed he was bouncing his knee, as well. I really didn’t feel like talking about Sunday either, but I didn’t leave for New York for another couple weeks. If Luke wanted to see me, I wouldn’t mind making the trip to Seattle to visit a few times before I left. It wasn’t something I particularly wanted to think about tonight, though.

“That’s a sweet deal, man,” Nate added. “And if the Tom-Cruise-in-Cocktail thing doesn’t work out, you can try Tom-Cruise-in-Risky-Business. You’ve got U-Dub right there,” he suggested. We all looked at him in disbelief.

“What?” he asked staring back at our gaping mouths.

“Are you seriously suggesting that Luke run a prostitution ring?” Danielle asked, clearly repulsed.

“What? No! I meant go back to school and study business or something. Didn’t he do some entrepreneurial shit? Jeesh.”

“Well, thanks for the advice, Nate,” Luke replied, trying to restrain his laughter. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

He leaned over to me, and I felt his lips and warm breath close to my ears.

“I have a small task to take care of,” he whispered, his eyes darting towards Danielle. “I’ll be back in a few. Tell them I needed a cigarette, okay? Oh, and don’t drink the punch.”

With that he disappeared into the crowd heading toward the front of the gym.

Don’t drink the punch? Oh God. What did he do?

I anxiously scanned the room, checking for anything abnormal. I was about to chalk it up to Luke acting dramatic when I saw Mrs. Jacob and Mr. Gilbert…dancing…the R-rated way. Then, Sarah Spellman hopped up on one of the tables and began dropping it like it was hot. And this was before we even knew that was what it was called. Tyler Burroughs had just yanked off his bowtie and was swinging it around over his head, air spanking, hooting and hollering. I needed eyeball bleach. STAT.

And that skank Val was sitting on some older guy’s lap, grinding and leaning her back against his chest.

Someone should get singles to stuff in her cleavage.

“Jesus Christ!” I exclaimed. “This prom is turning into Sodom and Gomorrah.”

“Oh my God!” Danielle cried. “What the hell is going on?!”

“And what the hell is Val doing?” Josh asked.

“Stop looking at her, Josh. You might catch something,” Danielle replied cupping her hand over his eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening. They’re all wasted.”

We watched in horror as Karen Larson staggered up onto the stage.

“Hey, Class of 1999,” she squealed into the mic, adding a drunk girl “woo” to punctuate her enthusiasm. “So, I’m supposed to announce your Prom King and Queen, but I thought I’d take the opportunity to tell each and every one of you just how important you have been to me. And I would like to share this with you…via song.”

Karen bowed her head dramatically and then like a gift from the Gods of Comedy, she began to sing.

Shania Twain.

From This Moment.

And I died.

When she wrapped up, she punctuated her outpouring of affection with yet another “woo” before grabbing the envelope from the DJ.

Luke slid into the seat next to me slightly out of breath.

“Yeah. Definitely don’t drink the fruit punch,” he whispered across the table to everyone.

“You did this?!” Danielle exclaimed, motioning around the room. “I can’t believe you, Luke!”

“I was just giving you the perfect prom experience, Danielle. You said I shouldn’t forgo a rite of passage. Spiking the punch is one of those things,” he explained, smirking.

Danielle’s murderous glare was interrupted by the commotion caused by Karen’s near tumble off the stage.

“Whoops! The nominees for Prom King and Queen were Kimberly Rock and Paul Martin; Gina Walters and Scott Montgomery; Sarah Spellman and Tyler Burroughs and Karen Larson and Erik McDougall.” She gave a “woo” and a pump of the fist when she read her own name.

“And the winning couple is…” she began as she tore open the envelope. “Danielle Powers and Josh Fletcher?”