I sat down next to Tom Richardson, and Rob pulled up a chair from another table. The table was in the midst of a next-year-at-college conversation, which was completely alienating and allowing me to drift to La La Land, until Kendra put the spotlight on me. “And Chloe, have you thought about where you’ll apply next year?”
In an alternate universe where you don’t have to be nice to the ex-girlfriend of your current boyfriend, I might have replied, What are you? My guidance counselor? But, I just smiled and said, “Well, Courtney and Caitlyn want me to go to University of Central Florida with them.”
“Hmm,” Kendra deliberated. “You might get in there.” She was a huge intelligence snob, ranking fifth in the class, but Rob finished second—only because he had fewer AP credits than Tom.
“Are you considering any other schools?” Jessica Jacobs asked, nestled next to her date. “Like anything out-of-state?”
Tom arched an eyebrow. “Georgetown, maybe?”
“Yeah, right. I’m not that studious.” I thumbed at my boyfriend.
Tom was quick to point out, “But you were the only junior in AP English.”
“Well, English is my best subject.” I said, and then I thought it would be fun to reveal the truth—just to toy with Kendra a little. “Plus, Rob and I wanted to have another class together, so that’s why I took it this year.” I draped an arm around my boyfriend.
“Yep, and she made all As.” He placed a quick kiss on my cheek, the second one of the night.
Kendra leaned forward, mumbling “Let’s see how well she does without her private tutor next year.” I smiled back, not because I found her particularly amusing, but because she was at prom without a date and clearly not over mine.
Josh walked across the room, resting a hand on Rob’s shoulder. “Hey, you mind if I dance with Chlo?”
“Not at all,” I answered quickly.
Josh offered his arm and led me to the dance floor. I rested my wrists on his shoulders, and his hands held my waist; we danced with the agility of two middle schoolers in a dark gym. Josh flicked his head at Courtney while she was being twirled around by Landon Williams. “Did she date him?”
“No, but I did.”
“Really?”
“Yup, in the seventh grade. It lasted a whole two weeks.”
“But that’s long enough to make the no-no list, right?”
“Yup, you know the rules, Josh.”
He nodded. “According to page ninety seven of the Seven Cs Handbook, I can only date Courtney.”
I rolled my eyes, since the handbook was only three pages long. “Why? Did you have someone else in mind?” I flicked my head at Caitlyn, who was feeding pretzels to Brandon.
“Way too mothering,” he replied. Then my eyes drifted to Callie and her circle of towering teammates, and he answered, “Way too tall!”
I was out of friends, and a weird feeling came over me. My face froze, but Josh kept smiling. “No offense, Chlo, but cousins have their own set of rules.”
“Then who is it?”
He pushed out a deep breath and leaned in with his answer. “I used to have a thing for Carly Evans.”
“Oh, wow, do I have something to show you!” I pulled him through the crowded dance floor toward a dark corner of the ballroom, where combat boots and fish net stockings accentuated vintage formals, and I said, “She’s the one with purple hair. It was red a few weeks ago, so maybe she added a little blue.”
His eyes remained on Carly for a moment. “What happened to her?”
“She changed.”
“I can see that, but why?”
I shrugged and tried not to think about it too much because it only made me sad. I still missed her. We all did, but Caitlyn the most, and having her here was way worse than if she had moved away.
A giggle entered my ear. “Time to switch,” Courtney decided. Then Landon spun her toward Josh, and I took Landon’s outstretched hand. “Should I get you a step ladder?” he asked with a toothy grin.
“Nah, I’ll just stand on my tippy toes.”
“Yeah, I guess you’d have to wear low heels with your date.”
“Hey, he’s almost six feet,” I tossed back
“That’s average.”
I stepped back. “Listen, there’s nothing average about the size of my boyfriend.”
Landon doubled over in hysterics, and I placed my hands on my hips. “Seriously, is that all guys think about?”
Two hands found their way through the openings in my arms and encircled my waist. “Want me to answer that, baby?”
I stepped out of his arms and whipped around. “No.”
Austin stared at me with his dazed expression and slid the tip of his tongue across his lips. “Dance with me.”
“No!”
“Why not?”
“Because I promised Rob the next dance.” I thought it was a good reason until I followed Austin’s eyes across the dance floor and saw Rob dancing with Kendra. My heart sank into my stomach as Austin patronized, “Aw, I guess he forgot all about you.” He stepped in closer and tapped my butt. “But don’t you worry, baby. I never will.”
Aimee marched over, tossed me a nasty look, and pulled Austin onto the floor for another round of vertical foreplay. I didn’t want to watch my ex-boyfriend with his current girlfriend or my current boyfriend with his ex-girlfriend, so I headed for the bathroom while the DJ announced, “And for the last song of the night.”
The entire ballroom flooded the floor. I was heading upstream, finally finding refuge at the vacated refreshment table. I grabbed a bottle of water, and Rob sidled up next to me. “What did he say to you?”
I played dumb. “Who?”
He offered his serious stare, which was supposed to intimidate me into submission, but instead, I changed the subject. “Did you have fun dancing with Kendra?”
“She asked me,” he replied quickly. “Plus, you were out there with Landon.”
“It’s not the same.”
He looked down. “Yeah, I know.”
“Do you?” I paused. “She still likes you, Rob. A lot.” His eyes remained on the floor as I continued, “She didn’t even come with a date because she’s hoping you’ll get back together.”
He stepped in, his eyes finding mine. “But that’s not going to happen because I’m with you now.”
“But,” I paused, not wanting to relent. “I still have every right to be mad at you.”
“Yeah, maybe, but just hear me out, okay? This is the last song of the night, and regardless if I’m right or wrong, you’ll probably forget all about why we were fighting in a few days anyway.” I rolled my eyes because I had quite the memory for such things. “But I can promise you this: you’ll never forget this fight if we spend the last few minutes of our prom arguing about it.” He turned up a corner of his mouth and offered an outstretched hand. “Either way, I’m sorry, Chlo,” he said earnestly, and then I accepted his hand and his apology.
We found a spot on the edge of the dance floor, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. While we danced slowly in a circle, I gazed into the swaying mass. I spotted Mike and Callie. They were linked together in a movie ending kiss, and even Jessica Jacobs was frenching her last-minute date. I wondered if the last song at prom was like “Auld Lang Syne” at a New Year’s Eve party, and if so, why was I the only girl not getting kissed?
Wait, I felt something. Rob kissed the top of my head lightly and mumbled, “I had a great time tonight. Thank you for asking me to prom.”
I patted his chest. “Yeah, you bet.” I refrained from saying “buddy” or “pal” or some other nomenclature that signified we were less than boyfriend and girlfriend. But it was four hours into prom, and the last song was playing its final refrain, and all I had to show for the night were two kisses on the cheek and a slight peck on the top of my head. And as the last song faded into closing announcements, I heaved a heavy sigh.
Prom was officially over.
r /> -20-
After Party
We took the limo back to my house, where everyone changed into shorts and T-shirts, and then headed to the beach. Rob drove his Jeep, and Caitlyn was deemed designated driver for Brandon’s Forerunner.
Josh and Courtney rode with us, and it was guys up front and girls in the back. I wasn’t very good company for Courtney, since I was still sulking over Rob’s inability to get out of the batter’s box on prom night. Sure, I had recovered from his dance with Kendra, since it’s not his fault that she’s not over him. He was just being nice; therefore, I had another reason for fuming in the back seat. I was extremely upset that he never kissed me—I mean, really kissed me.
Yes, I was suffering from a bad case of PDA envy, and it didn’t help any that I was stuck in a Jeep with Sir Flirtsalot and Lady-is-Willing. The one-hour ride intensified my feelings, since along the highway, Josh kept turning around and smiling at Courtney. My date, however, kept his eyes on the road, and I kept my eyes on the side of the road, reading every billboard like great literature. When we exited the interstate, Rob still kept his eyes on the road, but I ran out of interesting reading material and was forced to watch the amorous interactions of my car mates. At one stop light, Courtney undid her seatbelt and lurched into the front seat and made out with Josh until I offered a helpful comment, “Oh, look, the light turned green.”
This, of course, didn’t dissuade them from trying similar feats with the many red lights along A1A, which is the main strip along the beach with all those tourist shops and hotels. I looked at Courtney as she buckled her seat belt again. “Should I switch places with Josh?”
“Nah, we’re almost there.”
Where? I wondered because I was still at 0st base, thinking someone should create an ordinal number for zero, by the way.
A few minutes later, the Jeep pulled into the driveway after the Forerunner. It must have been all those red lights, we could say if anyone asked, but nobody did. They had beer and overnight bags in their hands and whooped when Courtney hollered, “And let the party begin!”
I grabbed my bag from the back and headed into the house. Callie and I claimed the back bedroom with the two twin beds. Courtney took the master, and Caitlyn rolled her suitcase into the middle bedroom. Sleeping arrangements were predetermined, and the only boys relegated to the family room were the ones who dated the virgins.
With my overnight bag still slung over my shoulder, I went immediately to the bathroom and started brushing my teeth. Rob showed up in the doorway. “Listen, I know you’re mad at me.”
With the toothbrush dangling from my mouth, I mumbled, “I’m not mad.”
“Then why are you getting ready for bed?”
“I’m tired.”
“Then why did we even bother to come?”
“Good question.” I closed the door on him, mostly because he was annoying me, but partly because I had a strand of floss caught between my butt cheeks. Luckily, I had packed a spare pair of granny panties in my overnight bag.
He knocked. “Open up, Chloe.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I’m naked. That’s why!”
“I’m sorry. I, uh, didn’t realize…”
I finished getting dressed, putting on a Riverside Cross Country T-shirt and a pair of plaid boxers, and flung open the door. “I think we need to talk.”
He nodded, and together, we entered the family room. Everyone else was consuming Frito Lay favorites and adult beverages. I wore a look that said, “I’m pissed at my boyfriend,” who, by the way, looked completely unfazed as he walked by his cousin’s bare feet and shoved them off the arm of the couch. “Get your stinkin’ feet off my bed.”
Rob’s comment started something, and Mike shouted from the kitchen, “Hey Braitlyn! (Yes, my two friends were deserving of a Hollywood compound name.) Stop making out on my bed!”
Everyone thought this was hilarious, but I didn’t. I officially lost my sense of humor around midnight, and I kept moving toward the sliding glass door. I slid it open, stepped onto the patio, and assumed Rob was trailing behind me like a puppy. He was, and his comment affirmed it. “Sometimes…” He started to growl. “You can be such a—”
“Thanks!” I cut him off and fast-walked down the private boardwalk to the beach. I plodded across the sand and stopped at the water’s edge, letting the waves roll over my feet. My arms were folded across my chest, and I stood there, silently brooding.
He spoke first. “You wanted to talk. So talk.”
“I’m mad at you, Rob.” He said nothing “And do you want to know why?” This was clearly rhetorical; he didn’t have to respond. “It’s because the whole night, you didn’t even…and sometimes I don’t think you ever will…and if that’s the case, then maybe we should just…” I turned to face him. “You know what I’m saying, right?”
“Nope, not at all.” He pushed out an exhale. “Why don’t you just come out and say it? Like in five words or less?”
I counted the words on my fingers. “You. Didn’t. Kiss. Me.”
It was only four, so he added a fifth. “Yet.” He stepped in front of me, cupping my shoulders with his warm hands. “Chloe, I haven’t kissed you tonight because I was waiting for that perfect moment. You see, this girl I know made me read all these romance novels, and I actually learned something from them: real kisses don’t take place on crowded dance floors or between the front and back seat of your cousin’s Jeep. They happen at the right place…at the right time...”
“Like on a quiet, moonlit beach?” I looked around us, stars glittering in the clear blackness and waves rolling up on the shore; then I glanced at his face. “But this isn’t the right moment, is it?”
He swiped a finger down the length of my nose and rested it on my lips. “I think you already know the answer to that.”
-21-
Sweet Dreams
The house was quiet and still as I slipped from the front bedroom and into the family room. I knelt down next to the couch and brushed Rob’s cheek with the back of my hand, and as I touched him, his breathing quickened and a slight smile surfaced. I wet my lips with my tongue and pressed my mouth against his cheek. His skin glistened momentarily where my lips had been, and then his eyes opened slowly. “What are you doing, Chlo?”
“Trying to influence your dreams.”
He flipped onto his back and rested his hands behind his head, and I sat in the small space on the edge of the couch. He brought his arm around my side to keep me from falling off.
“Guess what? Mike snuck into our room last night,” I informed.
Rob glanced at the empty couch and expected the direction of the conversation. “Yeah, but we told our parents we’d sleep in separate rooms.”
I eyed the room where I had slept for a few hours and then back at him. “Well, we did that, so we wouldn’t be lying if we...” I pulled my lower lip across my top teeth and settled into a convincing look.
“Please don’t do that.” He spoke in a very serious tone, which only encouraged me more, so I cued the pitiful eyes and pushed out my pouty lips.
“That’s probably how Eve looked before Adam took a bite of the apple.”
“Well, did it work…this time?”
He shook his head, pulled up the blanket, and closed his eyes.
“Rob, I can’t sleep in there.” I left out the details of what was happening in there, primarily because I didn’t have proof, just auditory speculations and an astute understanding of Callie’s prom-night mentality.
“Well, you’re not sleeping with me.” His eyes remained closed as he turned on his side and faced the couch.
“Why not? We did it before, and who knows what would have happened if my dad hadn’t called.”
At that, he flipped over and opened his eyes, wide. “Do you know how that sounds?”
I mock-glanced around the room. “Oh, no! What will the walls think?”
He mumbled some non-i
ntelligible remark under his breath and sat up on the couch. “What do you want to do, Chloe?”
I shrugged and looked out the sliding glass door at the waves creeping up the shore. “How about a walk on the beach?”
“What time is it?”
“Late or early, depending on how you look at it.”
He shook his head and dragged his blanket behind him like Linus from the Peanuts gang, and once outside, he gathered the green blanket into a ball and toted it under his arm as we walked to the beach. We reached the water’s edge, letting the cool water crawl across our feet and then slowly retreat back into the ocean again.
“It’s a nice night,” I said.
“For sleeping,” he added with a yawn.
I gave him a little nudge. “Oh, c’mon, Rob.”
“Yes, it’s a nice night, and you look lovely under the moonlight,” he romanced flatly, and then he headed toward the dunes and spread the blanket on the sand. I followed him dejectedly as he continued, “Listen, I’m going back to sleep, and if you’re not tired, maybe you should just count the stars.” He lowered himself to the blanket. “Goodnight, Chloe. And wake me when you reach infinity.”
“Funny,” I said and took the spot next to him. I propped up on an elbow and let my fingers glide the length of his arm. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, Rob.” I made a swirl in his arm hair. “It’s a real personal question, and there’s no easy way to ask it, so I’m just gonna’ come out with it. Are you a virgin?”
“Huh?” He turned with a scrunched-up face.
“Listen, you know I am, so I was just wondering if you were. And it only seems fair that we know each other’s…”
“Standings,” he added. “For a lack of a better word.”
I nodded.
“Does it really matter?”
I fell on my back and looked up at the stars, figuring it must have been with Kendra. She was the girl he dated the longest, and I know he really liked her because he avoided answering my annoying “Do you love her?” question whenever I broached it.
“No,” I said softly.
“Good,” he paused. “Because I am.”
I turned my head toward him. “You are?”
He nodded sheepishly.
“Do you believe in waiting until marriage?”
“Yeah.” He rolled onto his back and folded his hands behind his head. “I sure as hell don’t want to repeat my parents’ mistake.” He looked away, and I moved in closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder and draping my arm across his chest. Rob’s mother was still in college when she got pregnant with him, but I guess his biological father treated the pregnancy as a mistake rather than a miracle. And to this day, his real dad has never acknowledged his existence.
“Rob,” I started softly. “You’re not a mistake because God doesn’t make mistakes.”
“Now, you sound like my mother.” He pulled me into a hug, drawing me closer to him than I had ever been before, and with my head against his chest, I listened to the rhythmic beats of his heart and breathed in his familiar scent.
“Thanks, because your mom is the best mom I know.” It wasn’t some secret, but when I was little, I wanted her to be my mom. Their house always smelled like fresh-baked bread, and his mother was like an antidote for boredom, always coming up with fun ways to spend the day. My mother—and this won’t come as any surprise—only had one idea in mind: go read a book.
“Yeah, I know,” he said, swallowing audibly. “But I hope I was a good enough son. I mean, she gave up everything to have me, and I hope I didn’t disappoint her.”
“You didn’t disappoint her,” I said softly and held him close while his heart was open. “Rob, you’re probably the best son in the whole world.”
“Thanks, Chloe.” He kissed the top of my head lightly. “And you’re probably the best friend in the whole world.” I pulled up from him at the sound of that word, but he was way stronger than me. “Hey, listen, friends last a lifetime; but girlfriends come and go. And I always want you in my life.” He gave me a squeeze. “Because I’ll always need you, Chloe.” Need is not synonymous with love, but it felt really good to hear him talk in terms of “always.”
“You too,” I mumbled and placed a kiss on his chest. His hand smoothed back my hair, and he kissed my forehead. “Goodnight, Chloe. And sweet dreams.”
His familiar line sent me to a beautiful night of slumber, and when I awoke in his arms hours later, I was still somewhere between a dream and reality, wishing the two were one. I kept my eyes closed, replaying the fragments of a dream in my head.
His lips fell to my ear. “The sun’s coming up.” He pulled me up with him, and still half asleep, I opened my eyes slowly and watched the cloudless canvas change from a soft grey to a powdery blue as the fiery orb rose from the depths of the ocean. My eyes stayed on the horizon. “It’s…it’s beautiful.”
“I know,” he said softly and brought my face toward his. I stared back at him in complete awe. His eyes simmered in the sunlight as the rays turned his eyes into a rich auburn hue, the same color as his gorgeous hair. And without thinking, my fingers filed through the strands of his hair. My heart filled with warmth as we stared into each other’s eyes, and very slowly, he leaned forward, pressing his mouth against mine, and very gently, his tongue parted my lips. He drew me closer to him, and we kissed passionately as our bodies fell to the sand.
****