A Prom to Remember(55)

“Oh god, seriously. You should have seen his face as I fled the house. I’m shocked there’s not a SWAT team coming after us.”

That set everyone off laughing again.

It was going to be a great night.





Chapter 26

Jacinta

Jacinta took her own car over to Kelsey’s house for pictures before the prom, mostly because she wanted to be able to drive herself home afterward. Especially now that she was going to the prom alone. She didn’t need to drag the night out any longer than necessary.

As Jacinta drove down Kelsey’s street, she realized that her mom hadn’t even given her a curfew for the night. Jacinta’s usual curfew was eleven, but that was when the limo was picking them up from the venue after the prom, so her mom knew that Jacinta wouldn’t be home by then.

Jacinta laughed giddily at the thought of the freedom this night had given her. She was wearing a pretty dress and she had no curfew. She could go anywhere.

That thought took her by surprise. Because she’d been looking forward to the prom, even with all her date issues. But now, the idea of not going suddenly felt like the best idea she’d ever had.

When she got to Kelsey’s house, there were no available parking spots close by. The limo had arrived and was taking up most of the driveway.

Jacinta drove around the block, and when Kelsey’s house came back into view she got to observe the moment Landon saw Emma.

Jacinta was happy that Landon was happy, but suddenly she was even happier at the prospect of just not going. She pulled to the end of the street and looked back, making sure that no one had noticed her car passing. When she felt it was pretty clear, she turned left, away from Kelsey’s house, away from the hotel, away from the whole evening.

Toward freedom.

Her phone beeped and booped in the passenger’s seat. She knew she couldn’t leave them hanging, so she pulled over and sent a few texts without really reading the ones she already had.

One text went to Kelsey, saying they could leave without her and that she wasn’t going to make it to the prom. She offered no further explanation, and another little thrill went through her.

The next text she sent was to Landon, saying she hoped he had a great time with Emma.

The third and final text went to her mom, promising she wouldn’t get home too late.

Jacinta chewed her lip.

Then she decided to turn off her phone.

The world was her oyster; she could go anywhere as long as she didn’t get home too, too late. She could even drive around and then meet up with everyone after the prom. Or she could keep driving. Forever.

The prom had been her dream, but around the time Emma got involved it had started to feel like a commitment that Jacinta wasn’t interested in. Jacinta had kept going along with everything because her friends wanted her to. But she didn’t have to do things just because she was supposed to. Life didn’t have to work like that. She could do something else.

But she really wasn’t sure where she should go. She sat at a red light, thinking about her options.

The mall, the diner, and the movies were out. None of them sounded like fun at the moment; she wanted to be outside. She wanted the breeze to ripple through the skirt of her dress.

She drove around for twenty minutes blasting her “get psyched” playlist. What did she want?

The answer was ice cream. Jacinta really, really wanted ice cream.

She decided she’d go to the ice cream place on Main Street and get “dinner.” Followed by “dessert” at the pizzeria next door. Eating dessert first was a minor rebellion, but she liked the decadence of it.

Jacinta parked about a block away and walked to the ice cream shop. The breeze blew through the trees and rustled her hair. She had put it up in a ponytail, and her sister had helped her make ringlets with the curling iron, but now she’d let it down and it tickled her shoulders as she walked down Main Street.

She ordered the most elaborate thing on the menu, a banana split, and ate sitting at the café table outside. She watched the cars drive past and thought about where her friends were at that moment. They had probably just arrived at the venue.

As she stood to throw away her empty ice cream bowl and turned to go into the pizzeria, Cameron Wyatt came stumbling out, barefoot.

“Hey,” Jacinta said.

“Oh, hey,” he said, obviously flustered. “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” she said. “You look … nervous.”

He pulled on a pair of socks. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the prom with my stepbrother?”

“Well, it’s kind of a long story, but I promise I didn’t stand him up.”

“What happened?” Cam asked, leaning down to tie his shoes.

He seemed like he was in a big rush, but he was asking, so Jacinta decided to give him the abridged version of the story while he continued getting dressed in the middle of the sidewalk.

It turned out he was a pretty good listener.

Cameron

Cameron had watched the clock from behind the counter at the pizza place. It was suspiciously empty for a Friday night, as if everyone in town was going to the senior prom and not just the seniors. There had been a rush of orders between five and six, but now it had completely slowed down.

The clock ticked past seven. The dance had begun and Cameron wasn’t there.