STUFFED

Prom

This is the first time the group has all been back together again in a while. Well, everyone but Courtney is in attendance.

The last month of school was so hectic that they never got the chance to do anything together.

So much time has passed that Bradyn doesn't have to try and forget about Courtney anymore. She just seems to slip his mind naturally these days.

He ended up asking a girl named Skylar to prom and as he's sitting in the back of the cramped limo with her, getting wafts of her perfume and watching how the pink satin of her dress falls over her bare leg, he doesn't regret his choice.

Skylar reaches into her purse and grabs a pack of gum. Bradyn can smell it before he sees it. When he turns his head to look in her direction, her hand is already up in front of his face. He opens his mouth and she pops the piece into his mouth for him before returning the pack to her petite over the shoulder bag.

This is the first time Bradyn has realized, or has really paid attention, to how much the girls at their school want him. The entire night Skylar is flaunting their pairing. She holds his arm and doesn't stray anymore than five feet away from him the entire time. He watches the reaction of everyone around him. Everyone is either jealous that he didn't ask them or envious that they aren't him.    

Bradyn has never been one to bask in people's attention but it was kind of nice. Before last summer, most people didn't even acknowledge his presence. Did he really change that much? He didn't think he had, but by the way everyone is treating him like a celebrity it seems that he really did. If he's not careful, all of this could definitely go to his head.

After about half an hour of feeling like royalty, the group has settled in and they're all wandering around different parts of the gymnasium. A slow song starts playing and Bradyn feels himself being pulled to the center of the floor by his wrist. 

He puts his hands on Skylar's waist and he can feel her skin through the slits on the side of her dress. She smells so good and touching her intimately like this is making him feels things. Bradyn is grateful for the dim lighting while he focuses on slowing his breathing. 

Skylar takes a step forward, pressing their hips together. She hooks her chin over his left shoulder. Skylar tilts her head so her ear is as close to his mouth as possible and she smiles when she hears how shaky Bradyn's breathing is. She takes it as a compliment being able to make the hottest guy at school this hot and bothered. She sways her hips up against his body, brushing the upper part of her thigh against his swollen girth.

The way he chokes out her name in a whisper, under his breath, makes her insides tingle. She does it again, teasingly, and receives the same soft reprimand.

Bradyn isn't paying attention when people's whispering picks up as someone attention worthy enters the gymnasium.

Up until this point, Courtney has had full confidence going to prom alone but walking through the gymnasium's threshold knocks her down a peg. The space itself gives her ptsd as she remembers how she exploded on the gym floor as if it happened a couple hours ago; but everyone is staring at her and she's already come all this way so she doesn't really have anything to lose. She makes her way confidently across the room, and when she approaches her friend group they don't greet her immediately.

"Holy fuck... Courtney?" Holdyn is the first one to speak.

Courtney stands in front of them in a low plunge, black floor length evening dress that has a slit down the side exposing one of her legs.

One by one, the few guys from their group standing with Holdyn come over to Courtney and offer her a hug. She doesn't even have to look up to feel all of the eyes that are on her. She doesn't really blame them; she's gone through some pretty drastic changes within this last year.