Wishing Upon A Miracle

Ch. 16: Save The Last Dance

Our last dance is tonight. I had gotten my dress a month ago. It's hard to find dresses that aren't so revealing for a Christian teenager. Something appropriate and modest. I don't mean dresses needed to be like a nun. I just mean why should dresses end right below your rear. I mean if you were to bend over; your hind end is on full display. If you move your leg too high; your hooha is on full display. I would be too self conscious and afraid I would flash someone if I wore something like that. Plus why should a dress's neckline plummet to their belly button? Aren't females afraid of flashing your bazookas? I would be.

I opted for a soft pink ball gown. The neckline is a swoop. It sweeps down right under my collarbones and has thicker straps instead of them thin ones. It zips in the back and has a small ring train because of how short I am. I also opted for flats in the same shade of pink. I will not be in heels this go around. No sirrie Bob. Not this time.

Last time I wore heels, my feet were throbbing halfway through.

Save my feet is my plan tonight.

I slowly start to get ready for our final last dance at school. Soon it will be graduation next. It is crazy how quickly our senior year has gone by. It feels like yesterday when I thought my world ended when I had gotten paired with Hayden for two class periods. Here we are, dating and having our last dance. Here we are planning a future together. If you would have told me, I would be dating Hayden a year or two ago; I would have laughed in your face. Quite literally, I would have laughed in your face and that sounds rude of me but it's honestly the truth.

I take small a small section of hair and begin to curl it into a small ringlet. I catch the small curl and pin it up on my head. This helps keep my curls in my hair or well makes them last a lot longer. When my last ringlet is pinned on my head; I start to apply a little makeup. Nothing too dramatic; something simple and elegant. This gives my last few ringlets time to cool off before I start to unpin them. Fifteen minutes later, my face is finally complete. Now time to tackle my pinned up curls. I slowly and carefully take each bobby pin out of my hair. Catching each curl as they fall. Once my last pin is out of my hair I take my fingers and gently brush them through my curls. Separating each curl into smaller pieces of curls. I bend my head over and spray my favorite sea-salt curl spray. It's in a small turquoise bottle and it makes my curls stay out while they smell like the ocean. The ocean smell is by far my favorite scent. It's not too strong; it's just has the faintest hint of the ocean smell. So, it's not overpowering. I stand back up straight and glance in the mirror; my hair almost complete. I grab a bobby pin and clip both sides of my hair back. Leaving only my face framing pieces down.

Like my sea salt-spray from my hair; my body fragrance is called At The Beach. It smells like coconuts and like I've been swimming in the ocean. I spray every inch of my body from my waist up to my hair. My lotion is the same as my body fragrance; I lotion up my legs and arms with it. Now I definitely smell like I've been to the beach. Again, it's my favorite scent.

Oh how I wish I could be relaxing at the beach right now.

Once my lotion is absorbed into my skin, I slip into my soft pink dress. The zipper on the side makes it easy for me to zip my own self up instead of yelling for Papa. As soon as I sit on my bed to put my flats on; my ball gown style dress ruffles up in front of my face.

Maybe sitting down to put my shoes on wasn't the brightest idea of mine.

I let out an annoyance groan and stand back on my two feet. I toss both shoes back on the floor and lift my dress back up. I carefully place my right foot in first. Next I not so gracefully put my left flat on. My left foot always gives me the issue. I loose my balance every time and topple over onto the floor. As I sit on my floor I pull my dress skirt even higher to where my tulle underneath is showing. Moving the tulle around I place my foot back into my flat. This time it wasn't as hard.

As soon as I stand back onto my two feet again; the bell rings.

He is here!

My nerves get the best of me because my hands begin to shake.

"Katie! Hayden is here!" Papa yells from the bottom of the stairs.

"Coming!" I yell back in a shaky voice.

Here goes nothing!
My shaky hand opens my bedroom door and I walk out to my date. Hayden. I slowly decide the stairs and come face to face with both Papa and Hayden smiling from ear to ear.

One look at Hayden has taken my breath away. He has his hair styled neatly for once and his tuxedo is a chef's kiss. His tuxedo is a soft pink like my dress. It's a three piece tuxedo. The button up dress shirt is white, the vest is the soft pink, the jacket is the same soft pink while to collar of the jacket is black, his pants are the same soft pink, and his tie is black while the folded cloth in his breast pocket is white. His dress shoes are a shiny black pair.

We end up in a stare down, both of us taking in each other's appearance. Papa lets out a cough that breaks our spell.

That was rude Papa.

Hayden pulls out my corsage from its box. It is a soft pink rose with small pearls dangling off the lace band. He places the corsage on my right hand. I grab his boutonnière out of the box. His boutonnière is the exact same design as my corsage except his is a pin that I pin to his tuxedo. I carefully pin his boutonnière onto his right side of his chest.

"Be careful. Have fun." Papa says from the doorway as we head towards Hayden's sports car.

We both throw out free hand up in the air and give Papa a big thumbs up. Hayden opens my door for me. I kiss his cheek and take my seat. He lets out a chest rumble laugh. All because when I sat down; my dress ruffled upwards and all you can see is my forehead. The rest of me is hidden under this massive dress. Our prom theme is Venice Nights. Usually I do the painting and decorations for each school dance, school plays, and any school event. However, this dance I didn't get the chance to do so because I was sick a while back; plus Hayden was too overbearing about how I need to be resting and going slow with everything. So, in other words, I have no clue what the design looks like, what the decorations look like, or how detailed it is. I'm hoping it looks closer to how I'm imagining it.

We pull up to the small venue site. There's workers in the parking lot directing cars on where to park. The one worker hand signals us to go right; which we do. The second worker flags us to go left; again we do. By the time we make it to the third worker, they tell us to circle around the fountain and park in the small gravel lot behind it. The fourth worker points to one of the several empty spots. Hayden parks the car and quickly gets out before I can situate my dress. As soon as I unbuckle my seat belt; my door swings open. In the process startles me to where I nearly jump out of my seat and completely out the car. Before the worst in this situation can happen; Hayden's arms come around me so I don't fall. As his arms are wrapped around me, he dies into laughter.

"Always the scaredy cat Katie." Hayden says in between his laughs.

"I can't help it you scared me half to death!" I whine.

We walk hand in hand towards our last dance. When he opens the doors to our dance; the decor has me stopping in my tracks. It decor is so elegant and romantic. There's a backdrop of Venice behind an replica of a boat that is from Venice. That's where the pictures will be taken place at.

"We'll have ours done in a bit." Hayden whispers in my ear.

For the first few hours all we done was dance. Thank goodness I decided on flats. If not, my feet would have been chopped off five songs ago. At this current moment we're standing in line for our pictures to be taken. From the corner of my eye I can see Hayden fidgeting in his suit pocket.

What are you up too?

The couple in front of us has finally finished which means it's our turn. Hayden guides me into the small boat. The photographer has both of us standing and facing each other. So, the photographer has the sides of our faces.

"So, this makes me more nervous than being your partner all year. Before you ask yes I have your father's permission." Hayden begins to speak.

Whatever he's saying next doesn't reach my ears as I watch him kneel to the ground. He pulls out a small box and opens it.

"Will you marry me, Katie Alder?"

That my friends is how our last dance ended.

Engaged.