The Story of You and Me

Chapter 36

"I don't even want to go Kyle." I complain, folding my arms defiantly across my chest. "Dylan, you're going." He tells me. I shake my head, "No, I don't want to go."

He glowers, "You're acting like a little kid. Besides, I gave up going with Delaney Jackson for this so you're going." He takes a step towards the door. "Now get your ass off that bed and put that stupid dress on. If you're not downstairs in 10 minutes I'm coming back up here and putting that dress on you myself."

With that he walks out, slamming the door as loud as he can behind him. I pout on my bed for a long moment before finally dragging myself to my feet. I go over to the dress that I bought with Lena and run my hand over it.

As I stare at the mint colored fabric, I know that I can't wear it. I was supposed to wear it when I was going with Cole and the thought of going with anyone else wearing that dress hurts too much.

With a sigh I head into my closet and rifle through the evening gowns I have hanging there. I find one that I wore to a gala at the hospital last year and slip it on. It's pretty, navy with thin straps and beading at the top, but it's not the same as the other one. I guess that's a good thing.

I sigh and look in the mirror, examining the dress from all angles. I run my hand over it, smoothing it out and adjusting it in a couple of places. Out of the corner of my eye I see something move and turn to look out the window.

I find Cole watching me from his room. He looks great, in a dark suit, but his eyes tell a different story and I can't help but wonder if just maybe he's as miserable as me. We stare at each other for a long moment before he turns away, disappearing from view.

I sigh again, feeling the tears spring into my eyes. I take a couple of deep breaths, forcing the tears to stay down, not wanting to ruin my makeup.

Finally, once I've composed myself enough, I head downstairs to meet Kyle. "That's not the right dress." He says as I come into view. I glare at him, "I couldn't wear the other one... it was just too hard." He doesn't comment, instead bounding up the stairs and disappearing into his room.

"Where are you going?" I call up after him, receiving no answer. I wait impatiently at the bottom of the stairs until he reappears a few minutes later in a different suit. Instead of the dark one he had on earlier he's now wearing a grey one with a navy tie.

"And the point of that was?" I questioned. He just shakes his head, "You can't have navy and black, they clash." He says as if I'm stupid for not knowing that. I roll my eyes but take his arm as my mom and dad come in the room to take pictures.

"You're tie is crooked." My mother says, fixing Kyle's tie, "There, now you look great." She glances at me but says nothing, stepping back and letting my father take pictures. I scoff and roll my eyes but say nothing, tonight is going to be bad enough, fighting with her would only make it worse.

My dad takes a million pictures with my mother standing behind him oozing disapproval. Finally we managed to escape to Kyle's car and head out. We stopped for an uneventful dinner and then headed to the civic center that Prom was being held at.

We headed in and I immediately kicked off my shoes. Kyle laughed at me and then we surveyed the scene before us. Before anyone could say anything Lena and Carly appeared out of nowhere.

"You made it!" Carly squealed as Lena surveyed me. "That is not the dress we bought." She accused, receiving a warning look from Kyle. "You don't want to go there." He muttered, earning himself a slap on the arm.

I turned to Lena, "I couldn't do it, you really should just be happy that I'm here." She nodded in understanding and then grabbed my arm, tugging me towards the dance floor. "Well, come on then, we're dancing." I didn't argue, glancing over my shoulder at Kyle who just waved me on with a laugh.

"Oh I love this song!" Carly said, as the music changed over head. She immediately started belting out the lyrics to Demi Lovato's Confident. I laughed at her and started dancing with them. I quickly lost track of time, the next thing I knew Kyle was looping his arm around my waist and pulling me in for the first slow song.

We swayed back and forth until it was over. It was nice but not really anything special. As the music changed, I returned to the floor with Lena and Carly and some of the other softball girls.

I quickly lost track of time again. We danced our hearts out and finally I was beginning to forget that I was unhappy. I could lose myself in the music and my friends and forget that I was heartbroken and lost. However, that bittersweet moment was just that, a moment.

The music once again changed overhead. It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope... My eyes widened and I looked up, somehow managing to make eye contact with Cole for the second time that night.

He was standing across the room from me and it was one of those moments when time and everything stood still. His gaze pierced mine and for a brief instant I thought that maybe just maybe everything could be put behind us and he would come and ask me to dance just as he had all those months ago.

Instead he averted his gaze and, with that, a crushing sense of grief crashed down onto my heart. I felt the tears burn in my eyes again and I immediately started for the door, needing to get out of there.

Before I could, Kyle grabbed my arm. "Do you want to dance?" He asked innocently. I shook my head, not able to meet his gaze. "I need some fresh air, why don't you go find Delaney Jackson and dance with her." I didn't wait for his reply before fleeing the room and heading out to the small garden.

I found a bench and collapsed onto it, dissolving into tears. I put my face in my hands and wondered for probably the millionth time how I could have screwed things up so badly. It was all my fault, I had no one to blame but myself and I wasn't sure I could ever forgive myself for letting him go.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Kyle standing there. "Are you okay?" He asks. I quickly shake my head and wipe at my eyes. "Did you get your dance with Delaney?" I ask, not wanting to talk about the reason behind my tears.

He shakes his head, "Nah, you needed me more. Besides I don't think I ever really had a chance with her anyway. She's way out of my league." Despite myself I laugh a little at that. "There's that Dylan smile." He says, lifting my chin to look at him, "For a little while there I forgot what it looked like."

I don't say anything to that and he drops his hand, instead threading our fingers together and squeezing my hand. Neither of us says anything for a long time, finally he looks at me and gives my hand another squeeze. "Do you want to go back inside?" I look up at him and then slowly shake my head, "Not really but I will if you want to."

"Nah, we can leave. Do you want to go home or somewhere else?" I think about it for a moment, knowing what will make me feel better and wondering if I actually had the courage to do it. I looked up at Kyle in the moonlight and took a deep breath, gathering up my courage. "Can we go for a drive?"