The night of the prom was perfect: not too warm or too cool. Mom offered to drive me over to Jeff’s house. I’d used a good chunk of my savings to rent a black tuxedo, complete with bow tie, and to buy flowers for Katie. The shoes were mine; Mom had bought them for me a few years prior, but I’d hardly ever worn them. That afternoon, I tried using shoe polish to buff them enough so that they’d shine. Didn’t happen, so I settled for just covering the scuff marks with a black marker.

“Have a good night, honey,” Mom said as I got out of the car. “I want pictures!”

“Yes, Mom.” I put my hand on my pants pocket. My cell phone was indeed there.

Jeff was waiting outside by the Firestorm. He was wearing a dark suit with a blue and black striped tie. On his head was a black hat that looked as if it should be worn by a sea captain or a cop.

“Good evening, sir,” Jeff said, touching the brim of the hat.

I chuckled. “What’s going on?”

“I’m driving us to the prom.”

“You’re driving us?” I shook my head. “I thought I was driving.”

“When did I say that?”

Didn’t he say that?

“But, but, I thought...” I stammered. A wave of anger swept over me. This was just like Jeff! He was always making me feel inferior. Especially when it came to things like electronics and cars. He always thought he knew more than me. Usually, he was right. Like when I was seven years old and thought my grandmother’s radio would sound better if the inside of it were cleaner, so I poured water into it. He warned me not to do it, but I wouldn’t listen. Still, how dare he deprive me of this! I did just as much work on that car… well, no; I just stood around while he put the parts together. But, still, I wasn’t going to stand there and let him talk down to me again! Tonight was my night and I wasn’t going to take this!

At that point, I realized that no, this wasn’t about me. This night was supposed to be for Katie. What was I going to do: start a fight with Jeff minutes before going to the prom, while I’m wearing a tuxedo? I gave myself a minute to let the testosterone subside. Thankfully, Jeff was still ranting, unaware of my inner monologue. Okay, I was cool.

“So, what do you say?” Jeff said. “Are you ready to go?”

I sighed. “Sure.”

Jeff grabbed the steering wheel and pulled himself into the driver’s seat. I stashed his wheelchair in the trunk of the car. Jeff had installed a removable system of poles and pulleys that enabled his to drive the car. Pushing down on the pole make the car accelerate; pulling up made it slow down or stop. When did he install that?

We arrived at Katie’s house. I grabbed the flowers and slid out of the car.

Before knocking on Katie’s door, I checked my tuxedo. Everything was tucked in or zipped up. From my pocket, I took a box of mints, opened it and popped one in my mouth. As I ran my hand through my hair, I inhaled. As I exhaled, I said a quick prayer, and then knocked. Katie’s mother answered. She had dark hair, blue eyes and was beautiful. Most likely, Katie would grow up to look just like her. I smiled.

“You must be Scott,” she said, with a radiant smile.

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

“And you.” She gestured for me to enter. “Come in. Katie will be right down.”

“Thank you,” I said, stepping into the living room. The room was neat and had several bookcases filled with books and knick knacks. The hallway from the living room led to the kitchen at the back of the house. In a room adjacent to the living room, the den, I guessed, a children’s video was playing. Every so often, a little girl’s voice would repeat a line from the video. A long couch and a love seat formed an “L” in front of me.

Katie’s mom gestured for me to sit down. “Have a seat. Katie will be down in a second.” She briefly touched my arm, smiled that smile that could make a man melt, and then walked into the kitchen.

I moved to the long couch to wait for Katie, brushing some lint off my pants as I sat down. Katie’s sister peeked through the doorway for a second, but ran back to the couch in the den when we made eye contact. I sighed and cleared my throat, which had suddenly become dry.

I heard the clopping sounds of Katie’s shoes on the wooden backstairs. She spoke to her mother briefly, and then came through the hallway into the living room. As she entered the room, her eyes met mine and she beamed. She was wearing a green dress with a halter top. My mind went back to our previous lengthy conversations about the colors of Katie’s dress and I mentally corrected myself: the skirt was pine and the halter top was spring. Whatever you wanted to call the color, she looked amazing. The dress sparkled as she moved. Around her neck, she wore a gold necklace with emerald charms. Her long dark hair was curled.

“Wow,” I said, involuntarily.

“Wow, yourself,” Katie said and I was suddenly embarrassed. I had to clear my throat again. “You look very handsome.”

“Well...” I laughed nervously.

She handed me a plastic box that contained a deep red boutonniere that seemed to appear out of nowhere. “This is for you.”

“Oh, thanks,” I muttered and grabbed the box with my free hand.

“And, this is for you.” I handed her the flowers. She smiled as she took them, reached up and touched my face with her other hand.

“Thank you,” she said. “They look more exotic than the picture.”

“One second, you two,” Katie’s mom said from the hallway. I hadn’t even seen her there. She was holding a small video camera and watching us through the view screen.

“Oh, Mom.”

“Show me the flowers.”

Katie sighed as she struck a pose, holding the flowers in front of her. I was happy to move in and put my arm around her.

“Would you please take a picture for me?” I asked, my cell phone out of my pocket. “I promised my mom I’d get a picture too.”

“Of course. Say cheese.” The camera flashed. “Have fun tonight,” she said, as she handed the phone back to me.

“Thank you,” I said. “It was nice to meet you.”

Katie’s mom smiled again and nodded. “And you, Scott.” Her voice was warm and inviting.

“Thanks, Mom.”

When we got outside, Katie saw Jeff waiting by the car like a limo driver and she started cracking up. “Wow! Look at you!”

Jeff opened the car door for her and held out his hand to help her inside, “Miss.”

Katie chuckled. “Thank you, sir. This is going to be an interesting night.”

Next, we swung by Julie’s house to pick her up. I got out to go ring the doorbell, but Julie was already coming out of the door. She was wearing a tiny, strapless red dress with a silver sash. It was so short, it barely passed the school’s prom dress code.

“Hi guys,” she said, climbing into the car.

“You look great,” Jeff told her.

“Thanks. Hi Scott. It’s been a while.”

“Hi,” I said, choking on my words. “You look… nice to see you.”

Jeff bought Julie a simple corsage with white flowers, because “white,” one website said, “goes with everything.” Didn’t they say the same thing about my black tuxedo?

It was only a half-mile drive to the school, but it seemed to take forever. Katie had taken my right arm in hers, which was a little awkward when we were seated, but I didn’t mind. I had no idea what to say to her. We’d talked a million times before, so why was it so hard to talk to her now? There had been so much discussion about flowers and colors and cars. Now that the moment was finally here, it seemed like there was nothing left to say. The silence was nice, though. We just sat there in quiet in the back seat, her arm wrapped around mine. One of Katie’s friends drove by with a carload of kids on the way to the school. They honked at us and hooted. Katie smiled and waved. Then, she looked at me and I became gelatin.

“Are you okay,” she asked laughing.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

The gymnasium was decorated with the school colors, red and blue. Streamers were strewn from across the room, meeting in the center of the ceiling to form a tent shape. Lights flashed from all corners of the room, giving the appearance of revolving planets of various colors or comets moving through space. As we walked in a slow song was playing.

Suddenly I was filled with terror. I was going to have to dance tonight. Dancing in public was definitely not one of my fortes. This wasn’t going to be like those occasional slow dances with Holly McFadden. While Morty had seen me dance to the fast songs, he was a very forgiving partner. At the moment, however, Katie had seen her friends and they were busy talking about their dresses and flowers and their dates.

“Scott looks very nice,” I overhead one of them say. I tried to remain nonchalant and not look directly at them while they said sweet things about me and giggled.

“He got me this,” Katie said. She must be talking about the corsage. A couple of girls awwwed, one said, “sweet!” and another made a comment about the color.

I was proud of the orange roses that I got. Several times during the night, I caught Katie admiring them.

The slow song ended and another began. The new song was an upbeat dance song, “Kiss for Luck” by Cindy Anders. Not one of my favorites.

Katie and friends screamed. “I love this song!” Katie said, grabbing my hand and dragging me onto the dance floor. “C’mon, Scott!”

I glanced over at Jeff and saw that he and Julie had moved onto the dance floor. She held onto his hands and led him around the floor, gazing into his eyes seductively. At one point, she climbed onto his lap, but one of the chaperones stepped in and ended that.

By the end of the night, Katie and I were exhausted. We danced to nearly every song, it seemed. I’m sure my dancing was like an ostrich attempting to fly, but that didn’t stop me. I remember swinging my arms over my head to the point that my shoulders ached.

“This is the last song,” the DJ announced. The audience’s reaction was mixed. It was a slow dance. Good thing. I didn’t think I had the stamina to dance a fast one. Katie moved in.

“Sorry,” I said. “I’m all sweaty.”

“I don’t mind. This prom was a blast, Scott! Thank you for asking me.” As her put her left cheek down against my shoulder, she said, “You’re a great friend!”

Next Chapter: Chapter Eleven