TANGLED PLANS

70

Max

This night is especially made for me to rewrite the one that we never got to have.

The last time I went to a dance for the school, I had gone alone, my mind a mess of what I wanted. There were two things alone in my mind. One: To know whether or not I would be going to visit my mom. Two: Oh, how I had wished that I were the one who had brought Daisy to the dance.

The subject of my mom is a cruel one now, but at Prom last year, I had hoped to see her. I had wished on every star that my dad would be with me and book the plane ride. The one that he was supposed to. I had been angry at my dad for wanting to keep me away from him. I had been angry at my dad for not letting me see a woman who hadn't contacted me in three years.

It turns out I needed to listen to my dad. But someone close to me had told me that it was okay to want to form a relationship with my friend, and ever since I have wanted it. I had wanted it so badly that I didn't care about anything else that came into play. That was one of the horrible things about that night.

The other one was the fact that a stunning girl I liked was not with me. Just the other week prior, I had wanted to kiss her. And she had wanted to kiss me as well. Her ocean eyes stared into my eyes before moving to my lips. Daisy had wanted to kiss me. We could've. We could've kissed then.

But she was with another guy. Even though I wanted her so badly, I couldn't let her cheat on someone else. That was the only reason I hadn't kissed her.

The whole night, I stared at her. The guy who brought her to the dance had abandoned her and went to talk to the football team that I learned later the night he had used her to get to. I had watched her play around with the cupcake and stare into her phone. Then I went over to her and asked her to dance. The three minutes I was able to hold her were the best ones of the night. Nothing else compares to it.

Then I left her with a goodbye because I was sure I wouldn't see her again. Not for a long time. But she came after me, poured her heart out, and I rejected her.

That is the wrong thing I'm trying to do tonight.

"Hey, baby, can I go speak to my friends now?" My girlfriend asks me after the two of us claim a table next to a few other seniors. My best friend sits at the table with his girlfriend as well; the two of them are close together in a conversation. I hoped that tonight they wouldn't end up on a break like the other time. I felt horrible that I wasn't there for Brayden as he went through that time.

I take my hands off her waists and say, "Of course, why would you need to ask me?"

She gives me a funny look, her eyes looking into mine with an expression that tells me I was the one being silly. "Because your hands on my waist were tight and hard for me to move out of."

I cringe at that and say, "Sorry, sweetheart. I was just trying to keep you close." Daisy places her delicate hand behind my neck and stands closer to me. "I'll come back, okay?"

"You owe me a few dances," I say to her with mock seriousness. She laughs, the sound so sweet and gentle that I wanted to hear it all the time, and says, "Promise." She then presses a kiss on my cheek and saunters off to where her friends were waiting for her.

I turn my attention to the conversation at the table. A hand trembles in front of me, and I glare at it, and it moves away. Ashlyn gives me a hateful glance and says, "I can't believe you gave everything we had for her."

"We had nothing, Ashlyn," I tell her simply. "I chose Daisy, and you need to respect that."

Ahslyn gives me a mock laugh and says, "Right. As if she could make you feel all the things I made you feel."