Cat & Drew's Whirlwind Adventure

30. The Duality of Cat and Troy (Reprise)

For all the concerns I've kept close, I must admit what a beautiful night prom has turned out to be. It's breathtaking, the lights and the music and all the fancy gowns. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, takes my breath away quite like Troy though, all decked out in the fanciest duds he could find. I told him not to spend so much on one outfit, but he insisted on looking his absolute best for me. What a sight he was standing at my front door to pick me up too, another bouquet of flowers in hand, with his handsomest grin yet. He's perfect. Good to know I was also right about being in a much better headspace when prom crept up on us, because I want to present only my best for him as well. He deserves nothing less. I'm even able to tuck away my concerns with relative ease, so I can concentrate on having a nice evening.

His birthday has come and gone, he was pretty happy with the party and his presents, and while I loved getting to see him like that, I'll admit I was also selfishly a little glad at how well my parents interacted at the event—they appear to be communicating much better lately, so I'm cautiously optimistic. Coming clean with my therapist was also a load off, next to the few lies I had to pepper it with to avoid any obligatory reporting, and now my recovery is going better than ever. A thousand small things to improve my quality of life so that I could get here, right to this moment at my boyfriend's senior prom, unburdened and without care as we hold each other closely, slow dancing to the music. Well, mostly unburdened.

"This might be my new favorite song," Troy hums romantically while we dance. He's more than I ever could have asked for, sometimes I still wonder how I managed to get so lucky. In the couple weeks since my mom caught us getting hot and heavy in my bedroom we haven't really turned the heat up any further, but it hasn't gone cold either.

"Why, because you get to dance to it with me?" I tease, despite how much I, too, am loving it. I still want more of course, but there's been plenty of other stuff besides full-on intercourse to keep us both satisfied. I admit, not taking my eyes off him, "might be mine too."

"And here you are giving me crap!" His nose crinkles up when he laughs, his lips brushing up by my ear after he's finished. A familiar surge, like electric, goes through me. "Bet it'd be super easy to play too, I'll practice it a bit and play it again for you sometime."

"I'd love that," the prospect makes my heart soar. For right now though, all I want is to dance with him, so I go back to being unburdened while I rest my head on him and focus on the swaying.

Yet behind us, only a few feet away, is a reminder of the one thing I haven't been able to forget about, because looking over the shoulder of her own beau at me, is Cat. It's her senior prom too, and there was a time I thought I might be torn between whose date I was going to be, but fortunately she's solved that dilemma by bringing along Chad. They've been all over each other nonstop after I saw them together at the store, and she's maintained her floozy façade since, never more than out of earshot of him.

Watching them dance I feel disgusted, an emotion completely out of place on a night as beautiful as this. I'll blame her for that too. At least it's an emotion I understand, unlike the one I experienced upon first seeing them together, but same as failing to explain how their nausea-inducing relationship came to be, I haven't quite been able to flesh it out. The song ends and Troy holds me at arm's length, forcing me to replicate the love-struck expression I'm supposed to have.

"How mad do you think your mom will be if I keep you out passed curfew?" Troy asks, reserved. The question itself takes me by surprise, but it's of no help that I'm distracted by the scene behind him also, where Cat and Chad are just parting ways. My lack of a response must be misinterpreted, because Troy glances down in that sheepish way he has. "I was thinking, my dad will be here chaperoning all night, so if we cut out a little early we'd have the house to ourselves—we could hang out, talk. Or whatever."