Tongue Tied *UNDERGOING EDITING*

25. Prom Night

Wild Horses - Natasha Bedingfield

Ariel's POV

Cameron steps aside from the door to reveal...

Luke.

"What are you doing here?" the words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them. "Well hi to you too." he says. He's dressed in a white button up shirt, black dress pants, and a closed  black suit jacket with a simple black tie. He looks sexy as hell, and I pray that I'm not blushing. "You look nice." I say. "So do you." he replies quietly. "So, why are you here?" I ask, crossing my arms. "I wanted to know if you needed a ride. I thought of it at the last minute." he says.

"Actually I -" I start, but I feel an elbow jab violently into my side. I turn to my left to see Zoey mouthing "Say yes!" "But I don't-" I start. She looks at me with an are-you-seriously-going-to-turn-him-down look. "A ride would be lovely." I say, swallowing hard. You think of asking if I need a ride at the last minute? Excuse me, Luke Mason, but you do not get to do that. 

"Wonderful." he says with a smile. He straightens up from leaning against the doorway and stretches out his hand. I gingerly take it and he pulls me out the door. I look back at Zoey to give her a death glare, but all she does is gives me a double thumbs up before hooking arms with Cameron and walking out the door.

I turn back around and stare straight ahead of me as we walk into the elevator. Zoey tells me she'll get the next one, and the doors close. "Are you excited?" he asks. "Yeah, I guess." I say. "Is everything OK?" he asks. "Yeah everything's perfect. I'm just a little nervous." I say. "Why would you be nervous?"

I look over at him, unsure of how to answer that. I'm nervous because I'm standing in an elevator with you looking like that and you're going to give me a ride to prom. 

"I don't know. I just am." I say, keeping my arms crossed. I stare back at the doors as they part, letting us exit the elevator. Luke insists I go first, so I step out and walk towards the door. I let him walk in front of me to lead us to the car. He opens the door for me and I climb in carefully so I don't wrinkle or rip my dress or anything.

He walks around the front of the car and I bite down on my lower lip gently. He gets in and I take a deep breath. I'm going to prom. Luke Mason is my ride. I never thought this would happen. Is that Grey's Anatomy marathon taping at home? Why did that thought pop into my head? I guess I'm just trying to avoid talking about stuff. Or freaking myself out. Either one works.

"Ready?" he asks as he starts the car. "Yeah." I say with a small smile, trying to relieve some of the tension that has obviously set in between us. "Good. Then let's go." he says. He backs out of the parking lot and drives towards the school. The sun has begun to set, making the sky a whole bunch of pretty colors. Blue, pink, yellow, orange. It's beautiful.

"The sun set is really beautiful tonight." I say after a while. "Kinda like you." I hear him whisper almost inaudibly. "What?" I ask quickly. I must have been mistaken. I must have been hearing things. "What?" he asks. "What did you just say?" I ask again. "I didn't say anything, Ariel." Luke tells me as if I'm crazy or hearing things. "OK fine." I say.

"What did you think I said?" he asks, looking over at me. "I don't know. I didn't hear you, I just heard your voice." I lie. He said I was beautiful. Did he mean that?



~-~-~-~-~-~



We pull up in front of the school. Cars are parked everywhere, lights are shining inside, and I can hear the music booming even from out here. "Are you ready to go inside?" he asks. "What if people think were...you know, together?" I ask. He looks over at me. "They won't. Besides, who cares? They probably won't even be looking at me with you looking like that." he says with a devilish smile and then gets out of the car.

Oh. My. God.

I smile before getting out of the car and closing the door. I grip the clutch tightly as I walk around the front of the car to join Luke. "Do you mind if we take our picture together so we don't look like loners?" he asks. I look at him again. "Um, sure." I say. Its like we're going to prom together without him even asking me.

We're walking up the front steps when Luke grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. I don't object. I don't know what to do. Am I dreaming all of this? I can't be. Luke leads me inside and we pose in front of the backdrop. I feel his arm wrap around my waist and pull me closer to him. I hold my purse with both hands in front of me and smile as the cameraman takes the picture. The flash lingers in my eyes even as Luke's arm falls away from my waist and he walks into the gymnasium, leaving me standing alone.

I feel my head drop a little in disappointment. But I soon hear his voice. "You coming?" he asks. I look up at him to see he has his hand outstretched. I smile and take it, walking forward into the loud gym.

OK, so maybe he didn't ask me to go to prom with him, and maybe he's just trying to be nice to me. But it still feels different, as though he really wants to spend this time with me.

After a few minutes of scanning the gym for Zoey, I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders. I jump about a foot in the air and whip around. "Oops! Sorry I scared you!" Zoey says. Cameron walks up behind her. "It's fine. I'm just glad your here." I say with a smile.

Suddenly, a few people start yelling Zoey's name and run over to us. After talking to her for a little while longer, they leave. I turn around to face the dance floor with Zoey but instead walk straight into Luke. I nearly fall backwards on my butt, except I feel a pair of arms catch me from behind. Luke holds me above the ground for a moment before pulling me up closer so I can stand.

I cannot tear my eyes away from his.

"Sorry I didn't see you there." I say, blushing. "No problem." he says, smirking. He releases me and I brush off my dress.

Did Luke and I just have a moment?

"Come on, let's dance." he says. I follow him out to the dance floor, Zoey and Cameron trailing behind. Thank God it's not a slow song. It's an awkward dance, but I mostly dance with Zoey instead of Luke. Cameron disappears to go get us some punch, but Luke stays.

"You don't have to stay with us, you know. You can hang out with your friends if you want." I say.

"Nah it's fine." he says.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to hang out with us."

"I don't want you to feel alone."

"I don't feel alone. You don't have to stay, it's not like your my date."

He doesn't say anything.

"Why do you want me to leave so bad?"

"I don't want you to feel obligated to be here."

"I don't."

"So why are you still here?"

I don't realize we're yelling at each other until Zoey whacks my arm. "Stop it! People are staring!" she whisper-yells. She grabs my arm and pulls me to the side of the gym.

"What is the matter with you?" she asks. "Nothing's wrong." I say. "So why are you telling Luke to leave?" she questions. "I don't know. I don't want to ruin his night. I don't want him to feel like he needs to stay with me. He's not my date, he didn't ask me, so he's practically taunting me by staying there. He doesn't like me so I don't get why he's staying." I blurt out, feeling tears spring to my eyes.

I walk away from Zoey quickly and dart into the bathroom. Don't let yourself cry, Ariel. You'll ruin your makeup. I place my hands on both sides of the sink to steady myself. I let my head down and take deep breaths. Why is Luke doing this to me? Why do I feel this way? I hate this. I hate him. Stupid hormones. Stupid feelings. Stupid prom. Stupid Luke. The tears come anyways, flowing over my eyes an spilling down my cheeks. I feel so helpless, so weak, so stupid.

I can't do this to myself. I don't want to feel this way anymore. I don't want anything to do with Luke if this is how he's gonna make me feel. I'm done with all of it. I should just go home.

The door swings open and I instinctively drop my head and stand up, trying to hide the fact that I was just crying. The person walks behind me and stops in front of a stall. "Ariel?" the voice asks. I don't recognize who it belongs too. I turn my head, furiously wiping at the tears that remain on my face.

"Ariel is that you? What's wrong?" It's Aubree. "Oh, hi Aubree." I choke out. It sounds like I've been crying. Things are not really in my favor right now. "Are you OK?" she asks, nearing me. "Yeah I'm fine." I say. "Have you been crying?" she asks, sounding genuinely concerned. Maybe she's not so bad.

"Uh, no, not really. Well, kind of, uh, yeah." I stutter out nervously. I'm not really that used to talking to her. "Why?" she asks, even closer to me now. I stare down at the floor, succeeding in holding in the tears for now. I feel one of her arms go around my shoulders and the other one rest on my upper right arm. "You look beautiful." she says. "Thanks, but that's not why I'm crying." I say. It feels comforting, having someone's arms around me, even if I don't really know her that well. I just wish Zoey was here...

The minute the thought escapes my mind, the bathroom door swings open and Zoey is standing there, looking about frantically. "There you are! I didn't know where you ran off too!" she says, sounding relieved. She walks over to me and wraps her arms around me too. Now I'm being hugged by two very nice girls. They release me after a few moments. "Thanks guys." I say, wiping away the last of my tears. "Now can you tell us why you were crying?" Aubree asks. "I just got emotional. You know, girl problems." I say. "Oh, OK. I get it." she says with a smile.

"I should go. Alyssa's probably looking for me." she says, smiling. "Thanks." I say, returning the smile. She gives Zoey and I a small wave before exiting the bathroom. Once she's gone, Zoey whips her head around to face me. "Now can you tell me why you were really crying?" she asks. "No, its too complicated." I say. "Come on, I'm your best friend Ariel. You can tell me anything." Zoey pleads. "I don't want to ruin your night with my sob stories. So just forget it and lets go out and have fun." I say, putting on a smile. I grab Zoey's hand and bring her out of the bathroom.

She hesitates for a moment before smiling too and eagerly following me out of the bathroom. The music fills the entire gymnasium and I can feel the pounding in my ears. Zoey and I focus on dancing with each other and having fun. After a while, I take a break from dancing and walk over to the refreshment table. Ms. Brooks is behind the table, spooning out punch into cups and handing it to students. "Hi Ariel! How's your night going?" she asks while scooping out some punch.

"Good." I say with a smile. She hands me the punch and I take it, sipping it slowly. "That's good." she says. I turn away, continuing to sip my punch and trying to push any thoughts of Luke out of my mind. I refuse to let him ruin my night. I will not let his ignorance and love for my best friend ruin this for me.

But that becomes pretty hard when I see Luke walking towards the refreshment table. I duck my head down and walk in the other direction, praying that he won't see me. "Hey Ariel." I hear him say. I stop in my tracks and turn around. "Hey...Luke." I say. "Look I'm sorry about before-" I start. "It's fine." he interrupts, coming closer to me. I grip my now empty cup tightly, crushing it under my clutch. I nod my head, unsure of what to say next.

The music currently playing stops, and the DJ talks for a minute before beginning to play a slow song. Luke and I turn away from the DJ and he looks at me. There's silence between us for a minute before Luke clears his throat.

"Do you wanna dance?" he asks. I swallow hard, never breaking my gaze from his. "Sure." I reply. What am I doing? I thought I was supposed to be ignoring him and not thinking about him. This won't help!

He takes my hand, smiles, and then turns around and starts walking towards the dance floor, leading me with him. He pulls me into his arms and places his hands on my waist. I wrap my arms around his neck and clasp my hands behind his head. He sways us back and forth, keeping eye contact with me. I'm trying not to get lost in him and let myself go. I can't do that. I'm making myself get over him. Being with him will never happen. I don't know what I'm doing.  "Ariel..." he says quietly. "Don't." I say. He looks confused. "Don't what?" he asks.

A crack of lightning explodes in the sky outside, causing most of the people in the gym to look at the large windows towards the top of the room. Rain begins pour down, beating against the ground. After a moment, Luke looks back at me. "Don't what?" he repeats, scrunching his eyebrows.

I shake my head and focus on Luke. "Don't tell me I look pretty, don't tell me I look beautiful, don't tell me that you hope I'm having a good time tonight. Just...don't do anything." I say, beginning to draw my hands back. This wasn't a good idea. I shouldn't be dancing with him.

"What are you doing?" he asks. I pull my hands away from his neck and step back. "Where are you-" he starts. "I don't need this, Luke. I don't want to feel like this anymore." I say. "Feel like what? Ariel, you're not making any sense. Please tell me, what's going on?" he asks, stepping towards me. I take another step back. "Don't pretend like you actually think I'm pretty, don't pretend that you like me. Because I know you don't. I heard you tell Zoey about your feelings for her." I blurt out. Finally. It feels as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but Luke just looks even more confused.

"My feelings for Zoey? What are you talking about?" he asks. I feel more tears spring to my eyes. "Please, don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. It's only making it worse." I say. "Ariel, I'm not pretending, I have no idea what your talking about. I don't have feelings for Zoey." He pushes. "Just stop!" I yell. I dart out of the gym, tears blurring my eyes. How could he just pretend like he doesn't know what I'm talking about?

"Ariel! Ariel wait!" I hear Luke call out from behind me. I continue to run outside, the rain beating down on me heavily. I stop in the parking lot, my dress and hair soaked, tears mixing with rain drops.

I can't let myself feel like this anymore. I won't.

"Ariel." I feel a hand grab mine and spin me around. "I don't have feelings for Zoey." he says. "I heard you tell her! In the hospital! Stop lying to me!" I say, ripping my hand away from his. "I'm not lying to you Ariel! Why would I lie about that?" he yells back. "I don't know, because you're...you're Luke! You lie to girls! You play with their feelings! Why should I trust you?" I snap.

He steps back a little. "I never knew you felt that way." he says slowly. "You don't know how I feel! Because if you knew how I felt...." I start to yell, but I stop myself. "'If I knew how you felt' what?" he yells. "If you knew how I felt then you would know that I'm falling in love with you!"

Oh. Shit.