A Prom to Remember(56)

He could still make it there without a problem. He’d have to be fast, because if he got there after eight, he wouldn’t be allowed in and the venue was a solid half hour away. But he could do it.

The door jangled open at the moment that Cameron considered slipping into the restroom to put on his tuxedo. He couldn’t leave the register unmanned, and the only other people working were the chef in the back and a waitress, Heather. Unfortunately, Heather had been on a fifteen-minute break for at least thirty-five minutes.

He really didn’t want to stand Laptop Girl up. The anxiety of that thought was enough to make him want to leave the pizza place immediately. But he knew if he ran off like that, the reality was that he’d be fired. He needed the money.

When his replacement finally showed up, Cameron knew he was going to be cutting it awfully close. He ran into the employee bathroom and set the timer on his phone for three minutes. He opened up the garment bag that held his rented tuxedo, but first he closed the lid on the toilet. Tonight was not the night to drop something in it.

Unfortunately, the tuxedo was far more complicated than he could have possibly imagined. The fly on the pants wouldn’t work, and the cuffs on the sleeves of the shirt wouldn’t button properly.

The timer on his phone went off long before he was anywhere near finished getting dressed. He decided to just keep moving.

He ran out of the pizzeria and right into Jacinta Ramos. He had already come to terms with the fact that he probably wasn’t going to make it to prom, so he might as well chat with Jacinta for a minute.

Cameron listened intently as Jacinta told a brief story about Landon’s girlfriend, Emma, and her surprise for Landon.

“Emma annoys the crap out of me,” Cameron said. He looked at his phone and sighed.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Jacinta asked. “You look a little … nauseous.”

“Um, well, I’m kind of supposed to be at the prom.”

“I kind of gathered that, but you won’t be allowed in after eight. And the venue is at least twenty-five minutes away.”

“Yes. I’m aware of all of this. But the person who was supposed to relieve me at work ran late. So it looks like I’m not going.”

Jacinta nodded sympathetically.

“I was really hoping to make it,” Cam said. Although another glance at the clock told him he was shit out of luck. It was already 7:45. His shoulders deflated.

“I’ll never get in now.”

“It doesn’t seem like it,” she said. “So did you have a date? Are they going to be super pissed? Can you text them?”

“It’s a weird story. I technically don’t know who my date is. I kind of thought you might be her for a second. But you’re not wearing any lime green.”

“Wait, what? Who?”

“It’s kind of an embarrassing story. You probably don’t want to hear about it.”

“Try me,” Jacinta said.

“There’s a girl, and, um, we’ve been exchanging messages on one of the laptops in Ms. Huang’s class, and I was supposed to meet her tonight at the prom.”

Jacinta’s jaw dropped.

“I thought maybe you were her, just for a second, but I don’t know how you would have known that I was working late at the pizza parlor and wouldn’t be at the prom to meet you.”

“Why aren’t you at the prom?” Jacinta asked, and he could see the moment her mouth caught up with her brain. “Why are you wasting time with me? Why would you stand her up?”

“So you know who it is?” he asked.

“I one hundred percent know who it is.”

“Who is it? Can you text her? Do you have her number?”

“No, you dumbass, you have to go to the prom!”

“I can’t. Ms. Huang said that they weren’t letting people in after eight. There’s no way we’ll make it there in time. We’re both too late to get in.”

“But why aren’t you there?” she asked again.

“I told you! I had to work late. Somebody called out, and the waitress was late getting back from break, and my boss is a real pain in the ass.”

“You could have just left when you were supposed to leave.”

“I mean, that’s nice in theory, but I need the job. I need the money for college next year. I can’t wander off because I have a girl to meet at the prom.”

“You’re not much of a romantic.”

“Says the girl who minutes ago was going to get a slice of pizza instead of going to the biggest dance of her high school career.”

Jacinta stood up. “It doesn’t matter! We need to come up with a plan! You have to meet … Maybe I shouldn’t tell you who it is yet. Maybe we still have another option.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jacinta said resolutely. “You finish getting dressed and I’ll drive.”

He shrugged and followed her. He didn’t have anything to lose.





Chapter 27

Lizzie

On a scale of one to ten, Lizzie’s excitement level was somewhere in the thousands. To quote Mean Girls, the limit did not exist.

Madison, Otis, Luke, and Lizzie had arrived at the prom right at seven o’clock. After they found their table, Lizzie took the seat with the best view of the main entrance.