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Me: Where are you?
Mark: lol
My heart sank. He’d stood me up. And it seemed like it was intentional from the start.
I’m a joke.
I turned, and Jack was standing there at the edge of my driveway. “Hi.”
“What do you want?” I asked. After getting ridiculed by my mother, I didn’t have the energy to withstand teasing and mockery from Jack freaking Franco. Already, tears were welling in my eyes again.
“We’ve got a stretch limo,” he said, pointing.
Great. He’s rubbing that in my face.
“There’s lots of room,” he said, “if you want to catch a ride to the dance with us.”
The offer took me by surprise. I stared at him, waiting for him to laugh in my face and take back the offer.
“Alyssa?” he said gently.
Sniffling, I replied, “My date is probably on his way. He had to clean out the car first.”
“I’m sure he is,” Jack said, smiling. “But why don’t you ride with us anyway? That way you’re not late. He can meet you at the dance.”
Suddenly, I realized what he was doing. Pretending like I hadn’t gotten stood up, and giving me a way out of it that would allow me to save face. The longer I waited, the less likely it seemed that he was here to make fun of me. Tears welled in my eyes, this time tears of relief.
“Thanks,” I said. “Yeah, I’ll ride with you.”
“Wait a minute,” he said, stepping closer.
Here it comes. The punchline to whatever joke he’s going to make. I steeled myself.
“Your makeup smeared a little.” He wiped his thumb carefully across the side of my eye. “There, I got most of it. But if you have, like, a mirror or something…”
He lingered there in front of me, uncomfortably close. Except it wasn’t uncomfortable. The evening had become a shipwreck, and he was like a life preserver tossed from a rescue boat. He was wearing cologne, and the scent filled my nostrils in a heady way.
He’s definitely more like a man, now.
“Jack!” called a girl over by the limo. “What are you doing?”
He led me over to the limo and announced that I was catching a ride with them. His date Stacy Hendricks, who was like a walking Barbie doll, didn’t hide the fact that this annoyed her. But I didn’t care. I wasn’t interested in Jack; I was just happy to have been rescued from a night at home with my mother.
“I’m Liam,” said the boy next to me in the limo. “Not sure if we’ve met, but I’ve seen you around. I’m a foreign exchange student.”
“Nice to meet you. Hi, Lindsey,” I said to his date on the other side.
She smiled politely at me, then gave Stacy a look.
The two girls ignored me during the ride to prom, but compared to the way Mark and my mother had treated me tonight, being ignored was downright kind.
Jack and Liam chatted during the drive, and Jack kept glancing at me. He seemed like he wanted to say something. I only smiled and enjoyed the ride. I had never been in a limo before.
The dance room was dark and the music was too loud, but I was just happy to be here. I quickly found Brandi and Kyle sitting at a table near the dance floor, watching all the other students attempting to dance.
Kyle went to get us some punch while I filled Brandi in on what had happened.
“That little shit!” she said, standing up angrily and gazing around. “I swear to Christ if I see him…”
