Teenage Romance - Or More Than That? (PAUSED)

29: The Prom

[If something in the timeline makes no sense, please forget what was mentioned if possible. XD. I dont know what I already mentioned and what not XD.]
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Lloyd, Harumi, and their friends are around 2 months until graduation now.
It was finally time.
When they went to school today, everything was already decorated. Banners and posters, flowers, and balloons.
It looked really pretty.

The doors to the prom are scheduled to open this evening at 6 p.m.
Everyone was excited.
Including Skylor, who couldn't imagine anything hotter than Kai in a suit.

Lloyd and Harumi, on the other hand, were very nervous.
Lloyd, for his part, still not knowing why Skylor and Harumi were acting so strangely.
Harumi was nervous because she was afraid that everything would come out.

Skylor and Harumi spent the entire afternoon making themselves pretty, even though their boys claimed they were beautiful enough as they looked every day.

Skylor had her hair up nicely, jewelry on, and a short, fairly tight red dress.
Plus, high red high heels. She looked stunning.

Harumi wore a knee-length emerald green ball gown. Her hair was curled and hung elegantly down to her shoulders. Her silver jewelry matched her outfit very well. Her green high heels also dressed her well. Not quite as high as Sky wore them, but high nonetheless.

Lloyd also got ready. Alone, of course, without the boys. What should they advise?
They can do their hair and put on a suit on their own.
At least, that's what they thought.
Just about everyone had to ask their mother how to tie a tie.
Except Jay, who avoided the problem by tying a bow tie around his collar.

After many failed attempts to tie a tie, Lloyd also had to ask his mother for help.

Oh, well. First, he asked his father. But he sent him to his mother because she always had to do it for him because he could never do it himself.

When Misako finished tying Lloyd's tie, she looked at him and giggled.
"What? Doesn't it look good?"
He looked down at himself and momentarily doubted his ability to simply put on a suit.
"No, that's not it."
Good. That calmed him down a little.
"You just look like a blonde version of your father when he was young."

She seemed to be floating in memory, so Lloyd chose to remain silent.
"My son is already so grown up..." she began.
"Oh, Oh."
Lloyd had to leave before his mother started crying. He wouldn't be able to get rid of her once she got emotional.

He said goodbye, he had to pick up Harumi after all.
Just before he reached her front door, Skylor met him with Kai.
They greeted each other briefly before each went their separate ways.

When he knocked on the front door, her father opened the door. He just stared grimly at the boy in front of him and wanted to close the door again.
But he couldn't do that.
"You won't take my princess away from me, Garmaboy!"

"AH! THERE HE IS!" Harumi's mother shouted from the hallway before rushing to the door.
She let him in and looked him up and down. "Chic!" She confirmed.

Then Lloyd heard someone on the stairs behind him. He turned around only to see the most beautiful girl in the world.
She almost took his breath away.

But something was wrong, he noticed it. Although she was smiling, she was very worried about something. Was it because of the ball?

He shook the thoughts away and uttered a quiet 'Hi'. She also replied with a small 'Hi'.

She had never seen him dressed so formal.
But now she didn't want to see anything else.
Come on: A hot muscular guy in a suit? Who does not want that? She had to be careful not to drool now.

"Come here, children. PHOTO!"
"But mom -"
"Nuh-uh! No arguing!"

So they stood next to each other.
Lloyd put an arm around her waist, and she took his other hand with one of hers.

The photo was taken, and now they finally wanted to go. They didn't want to be late.

Her father drove them both to the prom. There was an uncomfortable silence between the men, even if Harumi tried in vain to break the silence.

Lloyd got out first to open the door for Harumi.
Her father rolled his eyes.
"Garma-slime!"

When they arrived in the hall, they stopped to get used to the atmosphere. Everything was full of guys in suits and girls in dresses.
"My girl is still the most beautiful of all..."
Lloyd looked over at Rumi.

She was completely fascinated by everything. They met their friends after a few minutes.

The evening was beautiful. People danced, laughed, and just had fun. Without even suspecting it, the two were elected prom king and queen.
Judging by the grins on their friends' faces, they planned this.

It was almost midnight when Harumi was delivered back to her front door by Lloyd. "Rumi?"
"Yes?"
"Are you okay? You seem so... uptight? This has been for a few weeks now. I mean, you don't have to say anything, but I'm really worried. You're very rarely like that. Honestly, I feel like you're not telling me something, but I can't figure out what it is. Is everything okay between us?"
He just rattled everything off.
But he sounded worried, very worried.

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
"Yes, darling. We're okay. I'm just tired. The flu lasted longer than expected."
She lied to him again.
That hurt her heart, but she wasn't ready to tell him the truth behind her behavior. He wasn't ready.
She slowly accepted her condition, but she also wasn't mentally prepared enough for his reaction.

"Okay... then. Good night." He moved his head next to her face and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek like she had just done to him.

She smiled and pulled him close. She wanted a real good night kiss.
"Good night, babe. The evening was beautiful."
She gave him another kiss on the cheek and slowly let go of his hands.
He waited until she disappeared into the house before he made his way home.

At home, he was questioned by his parents, but all he wanted to do was sleep. However, he couldn't get Harumi's behavior out of his head. What is she hiding?

Harumi also went to bed after undressing and taking off her makeup.
"I just can't lie to him. It feels so wrong. I have to tell him..."

She wanted to tell him in a few days when she got back from a quick weekend trip with her parents. They would be back Sunday morning. Then she would tell it to him. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong.

She didn't sleep well that night either, even though she was so tired.