Prom Queen ⚢ [EDITING]

↻ ◁ eighteen ▷ ↺

"take a look at the future"

"You're joking, right?"

My mother's face remained unchanged, stuck in an expression solid as stone. "No, I'm not joking."

It had been a full week since my date with Camryn and I'd practically been walking on clouds ever since. My mind was racing with thoughts of the countless unholy things I wanted to do with her after the whole car situation and our constant conversations over the phone weren't making that feeling go away any time soon. In short, I was in utter bliss, for the first time in a while.

That was, until about four seconds ago when my mother decided to tell me she wants me to meet a suitor.

"We're not in the fifties anymore, Mom," I reminded her. "You can't just marry me off to some guy I don't know."

She groaned. "I'm not marrying you off, Ivy. I'm suggesting you get to know him for the future sake of becoming business partners."

"And by becoming business partners, you mean merging our companies through marriage?"

Her silence was more than loud enough to give me the answer I most dreaded to hear.

"Not happening."

"I don't recall giving you a choice, young lady," she told me, crossing her arms as she looked down at me. As I tried to respond, she cut me off with even more absurd words. "You will meet with him for brunch next Sunday. I expect you to clean yourself up nicely and not show up in some risque party clothes."

"Do you really think I just party all the time and that's all I do?"

She didn't respond. I watched as Dad walked into the kitchen, finally ready to start eating dinner with us.

"Dad, you guys can't be serious about this whole suitor thing, right?"

He glanced at me, said absolutely nothing, and then focused his attention back on his plate of food getting cold in front of him. I shook my head at them, utterly astounded by their dictative behavior. I could've sworn I was supposed to be their daughter—not their personal employee.

I took one last bite of the gourmet steak and excused myself from the table. My parents watched in exasperation as I marched to my room and left the house within only a few minutes. Once I was in my car, I double-checked that I had my wallet and started driving straight to the local marketplace twenty minutes away.

I made a round trip within the marketplace, hitting up a few stores to find what I was looking for, heading back to my car when all of my shopping was complete. Two hours had passed and I began to worry I was running out of time, so I rushed to make sure everything was perfectly put together before making my way over to Camryn's house. Thank god I'd been there before and didn't need to ask for directions—that would've completely ruined the surprise.