An Exchange

Chapter Fifty-Seven - Prom

Ryan

Prom night. My knees jiggled as I rode to Penny's house in the limousine with Spencer and his date, as well as two of the other guys from the team with their dates. They talked excitedly, ready to party, but I was too focused on Penny. She was going to look beautiful, I just knew it.

We pulled up out the front of Penny's house. I leaped out to get her, earning me a teasing whistle from Spencer.

"He's so whipped," one of the other guys said with a laugh.

Jonas answered the door. He pursed his lip, then gave me a run-down of all the rules he was setting in place-home by midnight, no groping, no drinking, no swearing. The list went on and on...

Penny.

My jaw dropped. She looked amazing. She wore a long, dark red dress with short sleeves. Even though she wore about three times the amount of fabric as the girls back in the limo, I found her far more attractive. She had her hair half up, and the rest hanging over her shoulder, and her makeup was light, but drew my attention to her eyes. She wasn't sexy, just classic. And she was going to prom with me. Twelve months ago, this scenario would have been laughable.

"Cut it out, Jonas," she said, poking him in the ribs.

She came to me.

I touched her hair, stunned by her. "Penny, you're beautiful."

She blushed deeply. "Thank you."

I offered her my arm. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." She took my elbow.

Jonas grabbed Penny's purse from her hand. "Just one minute." He removed her camera and took a photo of us. I smiled down at her proudly. As he returned the camera to her bag, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and slipped it in too.

"Take this, just in case." He waved his finger at me. "She better not need it."

I smiled at him. "I'll take care of her. Don't you worry about that."

Penny and I walked to the limo and I opened the door for her. As we climbed in, Spencer stared at her. "Penny, you're smoking hot tonight."

"Hands off, Spence." I pushed his hand away as he reached out to grab her arm.

In the limo, all the guys pulled out the customary corsages and handed them to the girls. Penny grinned excitedly and thanked me with a kiss.

We arrived at the venue and entered as a group. The function room was already half full. Couples were dancing, people sat talking around tables. Penny eyes lit up. The excitement she always had for the simple things made me love her more.

She looked up to me, grinning. "Our version of prom back in Australia really sucked for me. My dress turned out hideous, and I was basically ignored most of the night. I'm so glad I could be here tonight. This is so much better, and will be much nicer for me to remember."

I pulled her closer to me and kissed her forehead. "You're far too easy to please."

She laughed.

We danced most of the night, moving between our friends. When Dylan showed up she came over and offered Penny her hand.

"I'm sorry for everything," she said. "I'm glad you make Ryan happy."

Penny stuttered a, "Ahh, yeah sure," as she shook Dylan's hand.

About halfway through the night, the music stopped to announce the prom King and Queen.

"You'll get it," Penny whispered, squeezing my arm.