Right in Front of You

42. Drunk and Dangerous

This was so not how Kay had imagined spending the night before prom.

It turned out the prom was to be held in a remote lodge on the top of a steep hill, at the edge of a forest. The place served both as hotel and event venue and had a kickass view and great conditions. No complaints there. It was much better than the school gym.

So, in Kay's perfect fantasies, she and Kelly and the band would find a nice remote place and spend their time laughing and joking, singing around the campfire, then she and Kyle could go on a moonlit walk on the edge of the forest and she'd miraculously make sense of her feelings towards him. If she were completely honest, her dream included a lot of him sweeping her off her feet and kissing her.

Instead, the band had practice.

They would be playing a few songs at the prom, so they had equipment to set, sound checks to perform, and some actual singing to do, since they hadn't practiced in ages.

Kelly went into full on pamper mode, then subtly implied that Joey was coming over after rehearsals because they had a lot of catching up to do.

It had Kay mumbling and slamming the door behind her as she went to find someone else to hang out with. The fire inside her made it very hard to accept everyone else's romance.

Most of the seniors had met up in the lounge on the second floor, where most of the rooms were. The teachers had set up camp downstairs in the lobby to keep an eye on the younger students and also make sure no one would wander into the forest which was supposedly dangerous and filled with wild animals.

So the seniors took advantage, somehow managed to procure massive amounts of booze, and were well on their way to getting completely shitfaced. Kay had no intention of drinking, but she had to admit that three turned down prom dates later, it sucked to be the only sober one amongst drunkies.

"Hey, there, Kay!" Malcom slumped on the couch next to her, sloshing half his drink down his front. He already reeked of alcohol. "Wanna be my date for the prom?"

"Aren't you going with Cecily?" she shot back, scooting away from him.

Malcom scrunched his forehead, obviously in deep thought. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." He downed his drink. "Who you going with? Kyle?"

"No one." God, why couldn't he just go and be drunk somewhere else? Half of her was tempted to say she really was going with Kyle, but she didn't want to keep fanning the flames of rumors. They'd ruined her life enough.

"That's just sad." He shook his head. "A pretty girl like you, all alone for prom. Can I get you a drink?"

Kay opened her mouth to explain that it was not sad, it was her choice, and screw him and his judgment, but sighed instead. "Yeah, sure, why not?" It was hard to stand these guys sober.

Three shots of tequila later, she was queen of the world. Another three shots later, it started feeling like she was a sad little girl. Everyone around her was hooking up for the prom, getting dates, making out, and there she was, alone, unwanted. Out of spite, she had a drinking match with Erin and didn't stop until the gossip faucet fell under the table.

But alcohol no longer did the trick. It actually made her feel like a hypocrite. She'd given Donnie such a hard time, and here she was, drunk and sad. She'd never imagined she'd be alone for prom. Donnie was meant to be her date, and they'd laugh and dance and have fun and maybe, just maybe, they'd make love for the first time.