A Prom to Remember(52)

“I have to figure out my hair mess,” she said, handing him her laptop. “As usual, you are not permitted to check my browsing history.”

Henry lounged on Paisley’s bed while she got ready, in and out of the bathroom, around in circles in her room, digging deep into her closet in search of the shoes she had only bought the other day but that had become buried in the interim.

“Henry, it’s time to get dressed,” Paisley said a half hour before they were supposed to leave. Henry sighed and went to gather his tux. When Paisley heard the bathroom door click shut, she threw off the pajama shorts and T-shirt she’d been wearing and slid her formal wear on.

If the dress looked half as good as it felt, maybe this night wouldn’t be so terrible.

She examined herself in the mirror for a minute before Henry knocked at her door. When she opened it, he stood sheepishly in the doorway, looking quite dapper in his tuxedo.

Paisley led the way back into the living room, even though Henry obviously knew how to get there. Her mom made them go outside to take pictures next to some bush with a lot of flowers on it.

“I’ll be sure to send these to your mom, Henry,” Paisley’s mom said.

“Thanks, that’d be great,” he said, trying to hold his fake smile. At least Paisley’s mom knew enough not to force them into awkward prom poses. She was satisfied with Henry throwing an arm around Paisley’s shoulders.

“You smell nice,” Paisley said as they broke apart. He smiled.

“Thanks.”

After that it was time to actually suck it up and go to the prom.

“You’re a really good friend, Paisley,” he said as they got into the car.

“Thanks, you’re a good friend, too.”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you going to the prom with me. Like you have no idea how much this means, that you would do this. Even though you really don’t want to go.”

Paisley moved far away from Henry, as far as she could get in the confined space. “This isn’t where you confess your love for me, right?”

“Paisley,” Henry said seriously, looking her in the eye.

“Oh god, oh no, I thought you promised it would never come to this!”

“Paisley, I don’t love you like that.”

“Oh thank god.”

They pulled out of the parking lot of Paisley’s condo community.

“But that means you do love me, right?” she said.

“Yeah,” Henry said with a grin. “But only as a friend.”

“And you better keep it that way, buckaroo.” Paisley pointed a threatening finger at him.

“Well, I know you’re serious since you’re giving me the pointer finger.”

She wagged it at him a few times, to show how serious she was.

“Let’s go to the freaking prom now.”

“Yes, let’s,” Henry agreed.

Cora

Teagan and Josie came over after school so that the three friends could all get ready for prom together. Cora figured it was probably because she was the only one of the three of them that had her own bathroom.

Also Teagan was so much better at makeup than the other two, they would have begged her to help them no matter what. This way, it was more convenient for everyone involved having them all together in the same place.

Teagan did her own makeup first, because it only seemed fair, while Cora and Josie worked on their hair and went through a variety of jewelry options, each vetoing the other’s ideas one after another, until finally Teagan said, “OMG. Both of you just wear whatever damn earrings you want to wear.”

While Teagan did Josie’s makeup, Cora painted her toenails to match the awesome peep-toe heels she had bought special for prom night.

“I’m going to be really relieved when this night is over,” she said. The thought had been following her around all afternoon, and it felt good to get it out in the open.

“Are you going to break up with him tonight?” Josie asked, turning to look at Cora and in the process making Teagan draw a line of eyeliner across Josie’s cheek.

“Dammit, Josie, you gotta hold still,” Teagan said, grabbing for a tissue to clean up the mess. “And of course Cora isn’t breaking up with him tonight. Right, Cora?”

Cora chewed her lip and dabbed polish on her pinkie toe. “As relieving and wonderful as it sounds to just rip the Band-Aid off this relationship, no. I’m not going to break up with him tonight. Could you even imagine?”

Cora let herself daydream about a dramatic breakup on the dance floor for a hot second before getting back to work on her nails.

“It would be next-level evil to do it tonight,” she said firmly.

“Agreed,” Josie said.

“And thirded,” Teagan said.

It was Cora’s turn to have her makeup done, and Teagan took her time putting everything in place to make Cora glow.

“But what if, hypothetically, I broke up with him tonight,” Cora said.

Teagan paused, mascara brush hovering in front of Cora’s face. Josie’s jaw hung open from across the room. Neither of them answered.

“I’ll take that stunned silence as a no,” Cora said after a minute.

“Even just waiting until tomorrow would be nicer,” Teagan said.