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Ginny walked over to the table and picked up the plastic container, then walked to Patrick. She handed him the container as she smiled.
“I’m the lucky woman with two dates tonight.” Ginny held her arm toward Patrick and waited for him to put the corsage on her wrist. Once it was secure, we headed out.
Patrick was quiet in the limo, but Ginny kept the conversation going and insisted on Patrick sitting on the other side of her. Naturally, she had to bring TCF up. She asked about the girl who wandered around the cage holding up signs. Typically, I shut down TCF conversations. And it wasn’t because I wasn’t proud of it. I was. It was my dream. But I was trying to finish out high school without people thinking I was conceited or always talking about it. I let it go in the limo because it got Patrick engaged in the conversation. It also made me happy that he was so excited about TCF.
As we arrived at the restaurant, the sky seemed to have darkened more and the air was thick and heavy with humidity. We walked up the sidewalk to meet our friends, and I leaned closer to Ginny’s ear. “Please don’t bring up TCF anymore tonight.”
“Why? You should be proud of it.”
“I am, but no one wants to spend the evening listening about how great things are for me. This is a special night for all of these kids. Let’s be kids.”
“First off, I’m a few years older than you and am kind of done being a kid.”
“Gee, thanks. That makes me feel great.”
“Don’t mistake what I’m saying. You’re already quite the man. An incredible, sexy man trapped in high school for another few weeks.”
Okay, she redeemed herself a little there.
“Let’s have dinner with these people that we’ll probably never hang out with again for the rest of our lives, go to the school and get pictures so your mom can proudly display them, drive around the city for a bit, and then go to the hotel suite I booked for us,” she suggested.
I frowned and cocked my head to the side. “I didn’t think you’d want to go to the hotel still since Patrick’s with us. She smiled and then glanced at the back of Patrick as he talked to the friends we were meeting.
“He can come too. Remember, I have two dates tonight,” she said matter-of-factly.
I nodded and went along with it. Maybe she was thinking that I wouldn’t or that I’d find a way to send him home or something. And I couldn’t give a fuck about pictures. My mom was the one who wanted pictures. Even though I’d attended every prom since ninth grade with Ginny, and Mom had all those pictures, this one was special since I was now a senior.
At dinner, most of the girls talked about music, and we all talked here and there about movies. The guys talked sports, which ended up coming to me and TCF.
“Dude, Hollis, when are they announcing your first fight?” Kenton asked.
“I don’t know yet,” I said honestly.
“Do you know when your first fight is?” Tristian asked.
“They’re keeping everything out of Hollis’ head until after he graduates. They don’t want him distracted by it,” Patrick jumped in.
“That makes sense,” Gracie said.
“Is your mom okay with you fighting?” Catherine asked.
I shrugged and bobbed my head from side to side, as if the jury was still out on that.
“She’s proud of him for attacking his dream. But I’m sure she’s nervous about the fights,” Patrick added.
The conversation went from a TCF topic that I wasn’t thrilled about, to the date situation of Patrick. I didn’t feel like the topic change was an improvement.
“Patrick, we’re sorry Brianna bailed,” Gracie consoled.
“Brianna is a bitch. Sorry, but she is. There, I said it,” Catherine added.
“She didn’t deserve Patrick. Few people deserve him,” I said as I looked at him.
I wasn’t trying to add any sort of fake apologies or make up excuses as to why she bailed, but when it came down to it, I felt he deserved more. And maybe since we were done with petty, dramatic, Beverly Hills high school, maybe he would find someone who was worth his attention.
No one challenged what I said, and no one took it lightly. I was dead serious too. Patrick deserved the best of everything. He was dealt a shit hand and just wanted to be treated well. I wanted him to be treated well.
After dinner we stopped at the school and waited to get our pictures taken. I made sure that after the photographer took some pictures of Ginny and me, that he got a picture of all three of us, then a few of me with Patrick.
