The Breakfast Club - Monday Morning

Chapter 14

"What are you going to do about prom?" John abruptly asked.

Claire startled, pulling herself from his embrace to stare at him. He let her go without looking at her, just continued to stare at the television, like he considered the question no big deal and not worth his full attention. But she could see the set of his jaw, the seriousness in his face that wasn't there before, and she wasted precious seconds racking her brain at what could have caused his mood to swing to this while she was daydreaming about him fucking her in the back of his car.

"I know you're up for Prom Queen," he stated to the TV. "I get that. But since you and I are like, a couple, I'm just wondering what you planned to do about bringing a date to the dance." He shrugged and tried to hide a grimace. "You know, if you don't want to bring me."

Claire gaped at him. "It's not that I don't want to bring you...," she protested, her eyes flicking to the television. There were only five minutes left of the movie. Five more minutes and they could have escaped together, could have spent the rest of the night in his car, sweating and panting and not caring about things like prom or the real world.

He waited for a few seconds, and when she didn't add anything else, turned and looked at her. Silently. Waiting.

What happened in those ten minutes of silence? Why was he doing this?

"It's just...just..." her legs slipped from his lap and her feet thudded into the floor, the noise somehow startling her. "I thought we were keeping a low profile until after graduation," she finally sputtered out. "Didn't we agree on that?"

"We did," he admitted. "But you're my girlfriend. We agreed on that, too. Which means you can't go to prom with someone else. So I'd like to know...what were you planning to do?"

She couldn't stop staring at him. She was angry he thought she couldn't go with someone else, angry he would assume she didn't have a date lined up before she'd even met him. Then angry with herself that she couldn't pretend otherwise, knowing she'd led him to believe there was no one but him. Like a tease. She could feel her teeth biting into her bottom lip, as though if she just concentrated hard enough, she'd see an easy answer.

He stared back, his eyes darkening the longer she didn't respond.

After what felt like hours, he visibly slumped and turned back to the movie – quickly, like he couldn't look at her any more. "I'm only bringing it up because I would go if you want me to." His eyes dropped to his lap and her heart fell with them. "I mean, I think prom is a stupid waste of time and all, but if you think it'd be worse for you to go alone than with me, I would consider it." He shrugged tiredly at his hands, as though he were sad to be giving them bad news. "Going to the prom, I mean. For you."

Her heart hit bottom and shattered. She wished he hadn't added the "For you" part, it somehow made this so much worse. She'd had everything figured out. If he just hadn't asked, had let this one thing go, they could've made it to the end of the school year. Why didn't he understand how easy this could be? And who was this person sitting in front of her? The John she first met never would have allowed himself to be this vulnerable in front of her.

But that John had been disappearing for weeks. She knew that. She should have seen this coming. After all, he saw it. He saw what was coming next, too, was fighting himself to ignore it. She could see it in his eyes.

Claire realized her mouth was hanging open and clamped it shut again just as John turned to her. His eyes were guarded now, her lack of response finally making his face rigid in that way that made him look haute and mean. "Forget it. It's a stupid idea. I don't really want to go."