You're the Only Hope For Me

Chapter Ten

I dreamt about the past, way back in school at the dance. I remembered the rush of guys who procrastinated asking girls out to the dance until the day before. There were flowers and posters and notes, but I had received none.

"You can go with me if there's no one else," Frank offered to me while we were hanging out after school one day. He was sunken down into the bean bag in my room while I was lying on the bed, throwing and catching a ball.

"Okay," I said, "I don't think I have a chance anyway."

In came a video call from Brendon, who was almost a stranger at the time. He was the shy, band geek that hardly anyone ever got the chance to talk to.

I answered it and saw him holding his acoustic guitar. He smiled nervously and greeted me with a "hey" and a chuckle.

Frank raised an eyebrow as I giggled. I never told Frank that I had a crush on Brendon. I didn't really know that I did.

Brendon cleared his throat and looked away, turning bright red, "Forgive me, I'm not the best at this, but I wanted to show you something."

I kinda knew what was coming, but didn't expect the sound to come out of his mouth. He sang what's now known as Collar Full, but obviously sounded a little different being that this was way before Brendon's career took off.

After he finished, he sighed in relief, knowing he did well. I had a stupid smile on my face the whole time and clapped for him as he set his guitar down.

"Thank you," he said and chuckled again.

"No thank you, that was beautiful," I told him.

"Not as beautiful as you," he said to the ground.

I melted into a little puddle on my bed while Frank scoffed and rolled his eyes, muttering something about girls.

"I...I was wondering if you had anyone to go the dance with?" Brendon asked me.

I glanced at Frank quickly. I don't know if he was listening. If he was, he was doing a good job hiding his hurt feelings.

"No, I'm not," I smirked playfully and wished for him to say it.

"Oh. I was just...you know...wondering if maybe you'd join me?" he shrugged and looked into the camera with his big puppy-dog eyes.

"Of course I would," I answered and laughed. We spent almost the whole night planning. The dance was coming up soon. We planned what we were going to wear, where we were going to eat and taking pictures, and who was driving home. It was a lot of fun, even if it was work.

My dream skipped to the dance, a very stressful day. I dressed up in my black dress and pulled my curly mess of hair over one shoulder. My makeup was dark, as usual, and my eyeliner was thick.

Brendon wore a black, collared dress shirt and black pants. He wrapped a silver corsage around my arm and I pinned a one onto his shirt. Even with my heels, I was still shorter than him. We walked hand in hand into the gym.

There was loud music and lights flashing in every direction. Other than that the room was almost pitch black. We weren't the first people there, but we surely weren't the last. Couples danced and friends chatted each other up. It was fun to see.

During quick and upbeat songs, Brendon and I sang and danced our hearts out. We hardly even knew each other and we were already so comfortable. People would eye us with a smile.

The slow songs were my favorite, though. Random guys that didn't have dates would come to the floor to ask a single girl to the floor. Brendon turned to me, suddenly becoming nervous again. I smiled and took his hands. Our first slow dance started out awkward, the rock back and forth kind of thing.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my head between his neck and shoulder. He held me closely and whispered the lyrics into my ear. It gave me goosebumps.

When the dance was almost over, Brendon found some band friends. He introduced me to them and gushed about me. They pulled him off somewhere and I rolled my eyes, laughing as he tried to apologize.

I bumped into Frank again that night, sitting against the wall by the door. He wore a black shirt with a red tie with suspenders that blended in with his shirt. His arms were balanced up on his knees and they bounced like crazy.

I sat down next to him, "You okay?"

He nodded to the floor, "Anxious."

I frowned and hugged him tightly, leaning my head on his shoulder, "You didn't find a date?"

He shook his head, "No, it's okay. I didn't need one. I wasn't going to come."

"Why did you then?" I asked curiously.

"You," he answered. I wasn't sure then if he had feelings for me. It seemed like it. I felt a little guilty. "I mean, just to make sure and everything. You know...you convinced me."

I played along, "Yeah? Good. I'm glad you're here."

He nodded and looked to his watch, "When is this over?"

I grabbed his arm and yanked him up, dragging him to the dance floor. A slow song came on and I moved his hands to my hips. I brought my hands to his shoulders.

He looked pale, you could tell when the light hit his face, "Rose...you know I'm not a good dancer..."

His body shook like he was cold. His eyes were bloodshot but so tired at the same time.

"You don't have to be. You don't have to impress anyone," I told him.

"What about Brendon?" Frank asked, looking around.

I waved it off, "He'll be fine. He ran off with some friends."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"You're stalling!" I yelled playfully and snapped his attention. We danced for the entire song and through a few other ones.

Brendon came back and joined in. Frank looked uncomfortable, but stayed close for me. Before he knew it, it was over.

That was the day I got together with Brendon for the first time. I thought he would be the right guy for me; sweet, talented, and an all around friendly guy.

What I didn't know was that the one for me all along was watching me run away with everyone else. He was the one still cuddling me like a teddy bear when I woke up. But he was also the one hiding something from me, and I needed to find out what it was before it killed me.