Right Place, Wrong Time

43. Too Soon For Goodbye

The cars followed each other in a string of lights down roads otherwise deserted this late in the evening, double parked along the residential street to let out their passengers. Joey and Lauren had lost Julia but ended up in a car with Dylan, and they walked into the party together. The pre-drinks before prom had worn off for anyone who hadn't smuggled in their own, and most people headed directly to get more.

"You want one, Lo?" Dylan asked.

"Please," she said. "A small one."

Dylan smiled in acknowledgement.

"What about me?" Joey said.

"Yeah, can I see some ID?" Dylan joked. He knocked Joey's arm. "Sure thing bud."

Joey was going to wait there for Dylan to come back, but he felt Lauren's small hand in his and she pulled him onwards, through the sliding doors leading out to the deck. There was indeed a hot tub out there, and beyond that a pool reflecting the lights strung up across the garden.

"It's beautiful out here," he said.

"I give it sixty seconds," Lauren replied, leaning against the deck railing.

He wasn't entirely sure what she meant, but less than a minute later people came tearing down the stairs and canonballed into the pool, still fully clothed.

She laughed. "Told you."

More people spilled out onto the deck and into the garden, but Joey still thought it was beautiful, if less undisturbed.

"Are you swimming tonight?" she asked.

"I came prepared," he said, pulling up the waistband of his swimsuit to show her. "Are you?"

She opened up her clutch to show the bikini nestled inside it.

Dylan came out and found them with their drinks. "There's still some people I gotta catch up with, but I'll catch you guys later," he said, squeezing Lauren's shoulder before he headed off in a way that filled Joey not with jealousy but with warmth.

"You know, you could have asked Dylan to prom," he said. "You could have asked anyone to prom." He hadn't met a person who didn't love Lauren; he was sure anyone else she asked would have agreed to go with her.

"Yeah," she said simply. "I know."

They looked out over the yard again as they drank. Lauren finished off half of hers before abandoning it on the table. "Okay, let's see how cold this pool is."

Joey pulled off his jacket and hung it over the back of a chair, expecting Lauren to go inside to the bathroom and change. But she just grabbed a towel.

"Will you hold this up?"

He swallowed thickly. "Um, sure."

He looped it around her, staring fixedly into the distance when he wished he could shut his eyes tight. She slipped the bikini on and he heard the rustling of her dress as she shimmied out of it. She placed it on the chair his jacket was on and he fumbled his way out of the rest of his clothes, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt hot.

He jumped right into the pool, the cold a relief. Lauren sat on the edge, dangling just her legs in.

"Not coming in now?" he grinned, swimming up to where she was sitting.

"It's fucking freezing," she laughed.

"That's part of the fun," he said, finding her ankles under the water.

"Don't you dare."

He let go immediately. "You know I wouldn't. I really think you should come in though."