Prom

“You look great! Now not another word or I’ll do something abusive that you will not appreciate” I pouted as Kim clamped my mouth shut with her hand and pointed to my reflection in my bedroom mirror. My mouth was free again as she disappeared behind me to rummage through the heaps of makeup that she brought from her house, “Kim this is completely unnecessary, I’m not some Barbie doll that you can dress up when you’re bored, and why does all that makeup have to be on my bed? My comforter is white! It all looks like different kinds of Kool-aid” I made a choking noise as I turned back to stare at my plain self in the o-so-insignificant mirror, it had nothing covering it’s sharp edges, just glass. Seriously one night I’m going to fall off my bed and get killed by that deadly mirror, maybe I should move this hazard from its present location since it rested only inches from my bed…..
Kim stuck her tongue out at me childishly from behind my back because of my previous comment, and then returned to keep looking through the pile of makeup.
I smiled at her child-like behavior, but soon my smile turned into a face of displeasure.
There I was , plain old me, golden hazel eyes stared back, my deep black hair flowed only to the base of my neck and styled bangs covered random parts of my left eye. A short length dress with spaghetti straps covered mostly only half of my body, it was white and ocean blue, the blue fused into white from its bottom left corner and continued on with a sparkles that formed a diamond shape across the whole dress. I felt so exposed with my tanned-semi-skinny legs all free to the public. I hate Kim. God what is she doing to me??? I felt like Paris Hilton threw up on me. The high heeled shoes didn’t make things any easier either, I swear there was a sore on both my toes. I’ll have Kim pay for the medical bills. My emotion at the moment was not happy nor excited, I felt completely stupid, yep that was it, stupidity was making its presence known around me now. A whine left the back of my throat, I saw Kim get up from the bed and makeup she was hogging at her face, she was already beautiful what more could she need to add?
Her black silk dress hugged her curves perfectly and flowed with the wind every time she moved her wonderfully proportioned body. Jealousy started to overflow my mind. She gave me a stern look as she stared at me with her hair held in a decorated bun and bangs hanging over her soft, perplexed skin on her face. It was kind of scary the way she looked at me actually, all her kindness and sweetness leaving her just like a snap of the fingers, just like her spring fat every now and again. Ugh. “Kaitlyn Vironica Miere” she said my full name…..SHE NEVER SAYS MY FULL NAME! atleast not unless she’s like really mad I mean hellfire mad with the smoke coming out of her ears and all, I’m not kidding, it’s happened before. “if you say or whine or do anything else that indicates you look awful tonight, I am going to slap you silly!’ she’s using full sentences, ok now she’s just freaking me out. “w-well it’s just t-that it’s just, I don’t know I guess I just don’t feel right like this” I said as my fear got mixed with uneasiness, she probably thinks I’m some sort of freak that hates everything about themselves and will commit suicide in about 3.2 seconds every 5 minutes but is too much of a sissy to do it. That’s not it though, I know I’m pretty it’s just nobody ever really tells me I am so I lose my self-esteem in the process. Her angry expression changed to a sort of understanding one. Well that was quick, I was expecting some more intensity in the air and maybe some bruises, but she calmed down. Just like that. “Kate I know I’ve told you you’re beautiful many times and you never believe me but this time I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told you before” she sat on my fluffy bed-the part that was not covered in makeup-and motioned me to sit next to her, I hesitated but did anyway, I didn’t really have any other choice. She looked at me lovingly, “Kate you’re my best friend and I hate it when you think of yourself like this, please, please, please, please believe me when I say, you’re gorgeous, much more than you give yourself credit for. You know sometimes I get jealous of you” my eyes widened at that last statement. Jealous? Of me? I noticed that she wouldn‘t look me in the eyes after she said that, I don’t blame her. the Kimberly that I know is always getting chased by guys, loves it, but stays faithfully with her Timmy. Kimberly Anne Johnson is known as the most beautiful girl, pretty much the main course and I’m a side dish, this makes me wonder why she’s friends with me in the first place. Ok I think she’s put on too much perfume for her own good.
She stared into my eyes again and smiled at my reaction, “it’s true, you never notice but at school when you go to class, guys watch you walk away. I sometimes even catch Timmy staring at you too” my bottom lip went down a meter or two if that was possible. She chuckled, she said this as if she wasn’t that shocked. “Timmy use to have the biggest crush on you, and maybe still does a little bit. That made me very jealous and still does sometimes, since I love him a lot” I needed to process this new information thoroughly. I was completely dumbfounded, “wait…..what? but Timmy is so in love with you, you guys have now been together for what? 6 months? Kim what are you talking about? Guys like you, not me. And….ugh” I let out a breath I had been holding for what seemed an eternity.
She smiled wider this time showing her pearly white teeth, “he did like you but then I started to talk to him more and more so I could take his mind off you and get him to like me, I succeeded…..the way he looked at you and the way he talked about you to me…..made me so jealous” her face got tense as she spoke and I just felt like someone just flashed a picture at my face unexpectedly. I started to get angry at her, no real friend would do something like that, “Kate let me ask you something, who was the last person you had feelings for?“I was still angry and in shock from everything she was telling me, but I managed to get her question through my ear drum and get into thinking mode to try to answer what exactly she was asking. How? I don’t know. This question caught be off guard though, I hadn’t really thought about it, I just turned eighteen last month and I’ve only kissed one person in my life…..curly haired, chubby, freckled Bobbie Rover….5th grade….we played spin the bottle at a party….I don’t even want to talk about it…..
My mind came back to the present, “I guess I havn’t really liked anyone in about 6 years, I havn’t felt that spark you know? I believe that the right guy that’s meant for you is supposed to stay with you until the day you die, most guys won’t do that, they’ll get tired of you sooner or later and treat you as if you and what you had was a complete joke. You know when he’s the right one. You’ll feel your stomach get invaded by butterflies at unexpected times, he’ll make you smile for no reason, when you spend time together, holding hands…..fingers intertwined with each other, Staring into your eyes, you don’t need something to talk about, it’s all being said by the way you treat each other. With kindness and cherishment,  as if you’re a fragile glass. He‘ll never let you go and never leave your side, he would take the time to just stop whatever he‘s doing and call you beautiful but to specially tell you he loves you more than anything” I didn’t notice that I had kept talking as if someone wrote a love poem and I was reading it aloud, I smiled to myself affectionately.
I looked at Kim, her face was completely warm and just listening to me intently, her glossed lips formed into a smile, “you have an amazing heart, all you want is love, pretty much the perfect man but remember Kate, no guy is ever perfect. There‘s lots of jerks out there but the good ones will take the time to get to know you and treat you like your worth more than their own life. Just tonight please, atleast pretend that your having a good time, this is our last prom in high school, let‘s take advantage of this night and have fun, ok?” I smiled at her kind words, “ok Kimmy, I promise” she smiled widely, “you haven’t called me that since 7th grade ‘Katie‘. I just want you to be happy, just try, please, for me?” she hugged me and I hugged her back tightly answering her question. I guess I could forget about the whole Timmy thing, I never really did like him but she did. Some days she wouldn’t stop talking about him for hours, and I was just happy that she was in love. Me and Kim had been best friends since we were in diapers, I could tell her anything and trust her with everything, just like I could with my mom, but of course the relationship was different. Speaking of my mom….We heard my bedroom door creak open and we both looked up from the hug to my shabby old door. My mother was poking her head in, Her semi-wrinkled lips formed into a huge smile, showing her o-too-straight teeth. She walked fully into the room and opened her arms in a welcoming hug, “oh honey you look absolutely beautiful” she said as she caught me in a tight embrace. Of course Kim let go before she could get sucked up into the hug of doom, I smiled appreciatively. I got up to make the hug easier for her, she’s got back problems you know?
We finally let go and a tear trickled down her wrinkled cheek. She’s been crying a lot lately since I’m leaving for college soon.
It made me feel horrible to leave her here all alone, I mean she’s in her ending forties. My mother needs me, just like I need her but Brown University is in Providence Rhode Island, we live in Boston, Massachusetts. Although she still couldn’t grasp the fact that it’s only 1 hour away and I can drive back in my new car that I earned with my money! Those were four years of saving up money from my crappy jobs. It’s true when people say that dogs won’t pick up after themselves and that neither do kids from the age of seven and down. It was worth it though, my car is great. A very affective Volvo, in great shape. I was in love with it. The joys of getting older.  
The consequences for being in her ending forties.
“thanks mom” I smiled again, she looked at Kim and clapped her hands together in awe “oh Kimmy you look beautiful as well, you both look so gorgeous!” she gave us both a kiss on the cheek. “well I just came in to see how you guys were doing, to see if you needed my help in anything but I can tell you two beauties didn’t need me at all” she just would not stop smiling, that made me happy. “well girls…” she looked at her antique watch that had Roman Numerals instead of actual numbers - my mom had a thing for antiques - she looked up at us again, “it’s 7:45pm at the moment and doesn’t Prom start at 8:00pm?” we both nodded, “well then you girls need to get going. Come on pretty ladies, it’s time to party” she said throwing both her hands in the air, we all laughed. I took another quick glance at myself in the mirror, after talking to Kim I guess I got a new outlook on myself, I did’t look that bad actually, not a super model but not an ugly stepsister. “yes we must go, I told Timmy we’d meet him by the main door of the hotel” Timmy…well this is now going to be awkward after that nice piece of information was thrown at my face unexpectedly like a pancake smothered in syrup.
I guess Kim felt my awkwardness and frowned a bit, she must have regretted telling me about what Timmy had felt for me once upon a time. It makes me wonder what it could have been if he had confessed himself to me before Kim could convert him to the dark side….. It was silent for 5 seconds. Yes I counted. “ok well you guys must go, got your keys Kate?” my mom broke the silence by speaking and asking a sarcastic question as she threw the keys to my Volvo, luckily I played baseball for 5 years and was a damn good catcher. We smiled at each other and we all headed for the door at the same time, me and Kim making sure not to trip on our heels. “Midnight Kate, I mean it” my o-so-attentive mother said over her shoulder as she walked towards the kitchen while me and Kim walked the opposite way that led to the front of my house, I grabbed my rectangular shaped pale white purse that rested on the armchair that was right next to the main door. “yes mom!” I yelled back smiling. I checked inside the purse for my license and any other normal things that a girl should have in there, lip gloss, money, and my cell phone. I took a deep breath and I heard Kim chuckle behind me, Well I guess I should just try to enjoy myself tonight, might as well take advantage of the moment since it won’t last long.




The drive to the hotel was quiet, I guess both of us were deep in our thoughts all the way - atleast I was, even though I shouldn’t be since I’m the one driving - once the hotel came into view Kim perked up and started searching for Timmy’s’ truck, she finally spotted it and smiled. I saw it too and realized it had a free space next to it, I quickly parked in and took the keys off, we both sat in silence for about 10 seconds, and then I went to open the door but Kim’s voice invaded my clouded mind of thoughts, “wait Kate. What I told you today of Timmy, you’re not going to be weird about it are you?” this took me a minute to think through but soon got my conclusion, “no of course not Kimmy, I never did like Timmy anyway so it’s not like it matters to me” I smiled to her reassuringly. She sighed in relief, her flaming red lips forming into a returning smile, “come on let’s go find Timmy” I opened the door and waited for Kim to close her door before I could use the control to lock it. Our heels tapped the pavement in unison, it was very cold for May. I forgot to bring a jacket, Kim was starting to shiver too but at least she was wearing a long length dress, I was half naked for god’s sake.
We finally got to the main door and sure enough there was Timmy, in a deep ocean black tuxedo, and his semi-longish dirty brown hair combed upwards all spiky. His blue eyes trailed over to me and stayed there for about 2 seconds but then moved to Kim, a huge grin spread over his paleish face, “whoa, I guess you win the bet Kimmy” he said as he walked over to Kim to put his arm around her waist and kiss her awaiting lips. My face flushed a deep crimson red, “what BET?” Kim punched him lightly on his chest, “nothing Kate he’s just trying to scare you. Look why don’t you just stop making her feel uneasy, it’s bad enough she doesn’t want to be here, I don’t want her to go home…she’s my ride back” she smiled to me jokingly and so did Timmy, “I’m sorry Katie, I was just kidding around, there is no bet”  he said winking at me. I gave him a weak growl but what I got in return was a chuckle from both of them, “well shouldn’t we go in now? They don’t allow people in after 8:15pm and it is now….” I managed to look through the glass doors that led into the grand hotel and get a glimpse at the amazingly decorated clock that looked as if it was a fortune, “it’s now 8:10! We need to move lovebirds!” I said while walking through the double doors quickly and letting them catch up whenever they felt like it. I ran -slowly of course, I didn’t want to kill myself - down a flight of stairs and the rumble of the loud music including the overly excited people talking got louder and louder, I guess I was getting closer to the grand hall. I finally got to the bottom of the stairs that were beautifully decorated with white long silky cloths on the bars with roses sticking to the parts that connected with the bars again, it looked like something a wedding would have.
Mr. McGee stood right at the bottom of the stairs with a tuxedo on as well, his half bald head shined brightly in the flashing lights that came from what looked like a Mosh Pit. “ Miss Miere you’ve just made it in time, there’s only 2 minutes left until we‘d close the doors on you” he smiled jokingly, “is there anybody else coming that you know of?” he asked, I remembered Kim and Timmy upstairs, they must have been right behind me….Timmy better not have taken her to a motel. “yes there’s Timmy and Kim, they’re still upstairs but I’m sure they’ll get down here at any second” I said smiling at him reassuringly, “well I guess they better hurry because now it’s only 1 minute” the loud Hip-Hop music made it hard to cause and awkward or silent moment between us, “well I’ll just head in now” he nodded once and I stared at the huge crowd of people dancing as if they had rabies. I walked step by step toward the entrance and took a deep breath, I can’t believe Kim left me alone.
I took 3 steps in and I already had millions of eyes on me as if I had a zit the size of the moon on my face.
I didn’t really care if they thought I looked awful tonight, atleast that’s the impression I was getting from their faces…they looked….confused and outraged. I swallowed hard, ‘just don’t pay any attention. Kate you…l-look beautiful tonight’ I closed my eyes and breathed deeply again, where was Kim and Timmy?! I felt like a very vulnerable prey in the eyes of hundreds of lions.
Instead of thinking of the staring people, I admired the amazing hall, the theme was ‘Classy Glassy’ so that meant everything was made of glass, I wouldn’t be surprised if the school owed this expensive hotel about three thousand dollars worth of glass after these very expensive looking artifacts of glass got a piece of the people attending prom tonight.
In the middle of the hall was what looked like a fountain but made of complete glass, I had no idea where the water was coming from but there were random spurts of water being thrashed out of the middle of two glass made man and woman, they were staring at each other as if there was no tomorrow. The color of the glass would change colors gradually, from blue to red to yellow, pretty much every color, it was quite beautiful. Round tables with silky blood red tablecloths were spread all over the grand hall, with they’re pale white chairs, there had to be at least 7 chairs around each table.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turn around to meet Timmy’s gaze, big blue eyes stared me down as if I was something to eat, “hey Timmy, where’s Kim?” he gave me a crooked smile, some very soft relaxing music came on as he spoke, “she’s finding us a table, in the meantime….” he grabbed my arms by the elbows and put them around his neck, he soon put his own arms around my waist, a little bit too low for their own good. I felt a bit uncomfortable like this, since now I knew that Timmy had liked me once and probably still does, I don’t think I feel comfortable engaging in this kind of physical contact. He’s with Kim, she would be crushed. “T-Timmy what are you doing?” I stared deep into his eyes and asked intently, “what? We’re just two friends dancing, no harm in that right?” he raised an eyebrow at me and still kept his crooked smile, “I guess…”
We swung slowly from side to side and casually turned in circles, a couple minutes passed and I felt Timmy rest his chin on my shoulder while pulling me tighter to his body. What was he DOING? “I love you” I heard him whisper in my ear all of a sudden. Shock, numbness, disbelief, astonishment clouded my whole body - was it even possible to feel so many emotions at the same time? - what was he saying? What is going ON? It’s PROM night Jesus Christ! I took a step back away from him and met his sustaining gaze, “..wh-what?” I was surprised that I even managed to choke out one word, “I love you Kate, I have for a while and you have no idea how long I’ve waited to tell you that. When I saw you tonight…I couldn’t even believe I controlled myself from kissing you right then and there in front of Kim…you look so beautiful” he seemed shocked with himself as well. Oh…my…god… “n-no you don’t, y-you love Kim” he shook his head quickly, “she wouldn’t leave me alone, I knew she liked me, and I felt bad for her so I asked her out hoping that you would become jealous and try to take her from me…of course you paid no attention, you just got happy for her…I was disappointed. You’re like my fire Kate…god I’ve wanted to tell you this for so long..” our whispering continued roughly, getting louder at every word we would say. I didn’t even notice that he took a step closer to me until he put a hand on my flushed cheek, and leaned in close to my face ever so slowly. All I could do was stand there frozen in shock with wide eyes.
He noticed my expression and laughed a bit under his breath, the minty freshness of his breath erupted through my nostrils like fireworks on the 4th of July. Now there was only about 1 inch between our faces and I could make out every single detail about his face, the deep sea blue of his eyes that never left my brown ones, the newly shaved skin on his cheeks and chin, the dimples on the side of his lips that were too close too mine than they should. Was I even breathing?
It only took me seconds to process the event that was taking place inches away from my face, I remembered Kim and the way she would talk about how much she loved Timmy, she seemed so in love but so jealous of when she said to me about how much Timmy had liked me and maybe still does. I was not aware of my surroundings, but the wave of a hand behind Timmy caught my eye, it was Kim….smiling and waving at us from a table where she sat alone, it was dark but not dark enough to disrupt my eyesight. I got my hearing back and the same music was still playing from before, I felt some pressure on my bottom lip and returned to see Timmy right on my lips, but I backed away early enough to stop anything else that would happen.

A look of pain spread over his flawless face, I don’t know why but I just didn’t feel attracted to him, he was such a good looking guy but he just never seemed to get my attention, he’s the only guy in seven years that’s ever gotten close to me like that…instead of feeling excited, I felt scared and ashamed as if I let what was going to happen go any farther…so many things would fall apart…me and Kim’s relationship, me and Timmy’s relationship…it would be so awkward.
I stopped thinking abruptly, took one step toward my best friends boyfriend and slapped him across the face, couples dancing around us turned to stare at what was going on, I didn’t pay attention. I don’t know what came over me but anger just blurted out of me and I could only make it known by hurting him physically, at least I thought I did, I had a pretty good arm “How could you do this to Kim? You’ve been together for 6 months, if you actually felt something for her at least friendly, you wouldn’t have let her on for so long or even let me know all these things at PROM NIGHT when you’re HER DATE” I said sharply and making sure it stung as if piercing through his heart with my icy voice. I stared at him coldly, I wanted to slap him all over again. He stared at me in a state of shock, went pale completely, eyes wide in question and worry and of course hopefully some guilt. “Unlike you I don’t want to hurt someone close to me so I won’t tell Kim any of this as long as you never speak to me like that again. Ever. Kim found a table, let’s go” I gestured toward where Kim was sitting and started to walk away from him before he could even say anything. I knew if I stayed with him like that, I would make a scene and I did‘t need that right now, I wasn’t exactly the most wanted person at the moment.
Apparently Kim didn’t see what exactly had happened because once she saw me she gave me a wide smile all over again, I gave her a crooked smile back and tried to compose myself.
I sat in a chair next to her, “Where have you guys been? I’ve been waiting forever” My eye twitched at her innocence that she held at the moment, “I was walking around looking for people I knew and then Timmy found me, we drank some punch and we started to go find you, of course we got lost and you were nowhere to be seen so he offered to show me how to dance and a couple minutes into the dance I saw you wave at us and here I am” I tried to say that as buyable and calmly as possible. “Oh, ok, well where’s my Timmy then?” She urgently asked over the loud music, and turned to the packs of people searching for her Timmy. Oh you are so naïve sometimes Kim, “I don’t know, he should have been right behind me” I responded back casually. Where are you Timmy?!