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I planned on leaving to join the military after school ended, but I hadn’t told anyone. I hadn’t found the courage to tell my best friend, Taylor Jane. The only people who knew were the marine recruiters expecting me after graduation.
“Yeah, well, you can tell any other dipshit who wants to know that you’re going to prom with me.” I thumbed my chest and walked up to the table, dropping the money and watching the staff scramble writing down my information.
“Oh, okay.” Her cheeks pinked to a rosy hue and Kristen’s mouth dropped open.
“You’re catching flies, Pebbles.” Damien nudged her, and she hissed back.
“Yeah, well, you’re going with me, Demon.”
Shocked, I watched Kristen do exactly what I did moments earlier, slapping her hand down with the bid money. This was going to be a fun night despite having to wear a monkey suit. At least it wasn’t a suit of armor. I was no shining knight, feeling tarnished and battle weary knowing I couldn’t be what she wanted, but I could at least be what she needed. Taylor Jane would look pretty in whatever she wore and the other two would argue the entire night like always. Nothing had to change or threaten our carefully balanced status quo.
“We’ll pick you girls up. Just tell me when.” I grabbed Damien by the collar and dragged him to our next class before he could he fuck everything up by opening his big mouth. I would save beating the shit out of Scott after prom. I wasn’t going to ruin Taylor Jane’s night seeing as how she needed this as much as I did. One last night before I told her and everyone else I was leaving this place for bigger things.
24
Taylor Jane
Twelfth Grade - May
“Do you think they’ll kill each other?”
Hunter glanced over my shoulder at the bickering twins. “Does it snow on the mountain in winter?”
“And I was so hoping for a peaceful night.”
“It will still be perfect for you. I promise. I’ll make it magical.” Hunter took my hand and spun me in a circle leading me back into his arms. I didn’t know this but Coach Calloway made all the football players take six weeks of dance classes to improve their agility and balance. That was where Hunter and Damien had learned to dance.
I felt light as air as he spun me round and round. “Magical, huh?” My pale icy blue dress caught on his tuxedo clad legs and I wondered how it would feel to get tangled up in him.
“Yeah, try not to bruise my ego though.” He laughed taking a moment to rub his chest before taking me for a turn around the dance floor again. The mirror ball above our heads twinkled matching the beaded crystals in the bodice of my dress.
Hunter had been quiet since he’d picked me up. We might have all lived on the same street, but the Hart boys made a production of driving over in his uncle’s classic Ford Mustang. We did the traditional set of pictures. My dad, Mrs. Hart, and Mrs. Calloway made us pose for over an hour until our faces hurt and the boys threw a tantrum. Well, Damien anyway. Hunter was stoic as usual. A smile peeked out from the edges of his lips. He said my dress reminded him of a frosted cupcake with glitter on top. Kristen and I pinned on their boutonnieres and wore matching wrist corsages. We drank punch, and Hunter dragged Jeremy Dolan out, who got caught pouring rum in the bowl. Everything was going according to plan until the final dance of the night. I excused myself to powder my nose in case there were more pictures and bumped into Becky and Clarissa. I wasn’t close with them, but we got along just fine. I’d given up on the girls who gave me the stink eye for showing up on Hunter’s arm.
“Did you hear he’s going into the military right after graduation?”
“How do you know?” My heart stopped listening to the two of them. Why hadn’t he told me about this? Was life so bad for him that he had to run away and get himself killed?
“My dad saw him walk into the recruiter’s office last week. He had a bunch of papers and was shaking the staff sergeants’ hands.”
“Can you image a Hart boy in uniform? So swoony.”
“I know. I bet he’ll learn all kinds of cool stuff and come back like this super-hot war hero.”
“I’d love to nurse him back to health.”
“What?” I exited the stall, interrupting them. Shock filled their faces until Becky smirked. I swore she always had it out for Kristen and me and here was her chance to finally nail it to me.
“Oh, come on, I’m sure Hunter tells his best friend everything. Or does he?” She breezed past me and went back to the mirror, reapplying her lipstick that looked more like a slut pink if there was such a thing. I didn’t know what Kristen’s brother saw in her and hoped they broke up before graduation. She would probably give him a wicked crotch itch if he wasn’t careful.
“We haven’t talked about it,” but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to ask him the second I left this bathroom.
“Oh, sad little Taylor Jane with the super long name only Hunter uses. You are so lame, like he’d stick around for a girl like you. He hasn’t applied to any schools for college, what could he possibly offer you?”
“He’s my best friend,” I argued feebly, and the boy I loved with all my heart since the day he’d moved here.
“Oh, come on, every girl in town has seen what’s in his pants except you, which I’ll never understand because you are so freaking obvious in your obsession with him.”
I was? Was I obvious? Crap. Was that why Hunter never made a move, never crossed a line?
