X-Kid

Terrified

The Winter Ball wasn’t set to start until about 8, so Luna arrived at my house at 6:30 sharp so the both of us could get ready. We set up in my bedroom, a curling iron, hair spray, and various other hair products covering my desk and my bed in an orderly fashion. Our dresses hung on the back of my door, swaying a little as we moved about the room. Excitement bubbled in my stomach uncontrollably, making me a little jittery.

“Sit,” Luna ordered, gesturing to the chair in front of my desk. Luna was the beauty expert out of the two of us, so she took it upon herself to be my hairdresser and makeup artist for this evening.

I plopped down into the seat as she began messing with my hair, making random conversation as she worked. “The boys are going to be so blown away when they see us.”

“You fucking know it, girl. Alex has never seen me in a dress before, and I can’t wait to see his reaction,” she commented, grinning.

“His jaw is going to hit the floor,” I said. “Hey, are Zack and Rian coming too?”

“I think they decided to tag along at the last minute. Who knows how long they’ll stick around though. I mean, I can’t imagine Zack in a suit at all,” she mentioned.

I laughed. “Yeah. His skateboarder look makes it hard to picture.”

When my hair was done, I helped her curl her own, and then she did the makeup for the both of us. We changed into our dresses and donned jewelry and shoes. Just as we were putting on the finishing touches, my aunt called to us down the hallway. “Nora! Luna! Your gentlemen are here!”

We giggled at her phrasing before finishing up and heading down the hallway. I smiled at the boys as they did a double take, but it quickly faded. Standing by my front door were Alex, Rian, and Zack all in suits...but where was Jack?

“You both look beautiful,” Alex grinned, his eyes lingering on Luna.

“Where’s Jack?” I questioned, smoothing the fabric of my dress down.

Rian furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I didn’t know Jack was supposed to be coming.”

Silence fell over our group as I felt disappointment course through me. This was supposed to be my perfect night to be fancy and dance, but my own boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. I tried to shake it off. “Oh well. We’ll still have fun, right?”

They nodded vigorously, and we all piled into Alex’s mom’s car to head to the school for the dance. I could sense pity coming from my friends the whole ride over there. Once we arrived, we got our picture taken as a group and entered the school gym, which was decorated with paper snowflakes and streamers. A crowd was already gathering inside as they played some Top 40 pop song.

“You guys all go ahead and dance. I’m going to make a phone call really quick,” Alex said, stepping away and taking out his cell phone.

We all separated a little, Luna, Rian, and Zack getting caught up in conversation with our peers while I trailed after Alex. Something told me he was going to call Jack, and I wanted to hear what was said. Luckily, he put it on speaker.

“You’re an idiot, Jack. How did you not know Nora wanted to go to the dance? That’s all she and Luna have talked about for the past week. For God’s sake, they went dress shopping,” Alex said angrily.

“Relax dude. They have like 10 dances every year. I’ll take her to one of those,” Jack replied.

Alex shook his head. “Didn’t you ever hear about how Nora’s ex ruined that formal dance for her? Luna said that Nora likes to dress up once in awhile, and tonight was going to be her night of redemption. Don’t you realize that you completely fucked that up?”

“If it was completely fucked up, Nora would’ve backed out and not gone,” Jack pointed out.

“Yeah? Well you didn’t see how disappointed she looked when we said you weren’t coming,” Alex seethed. “Have a good fuckin’ night at home, Jack.”

Alex hung up and turned around, nearly running right into me. His expression softened to look friendly instead of angry. “Sorry. How much of that did you hear?”

“Pretty much all of it,” I admitted. “What’s going on with him? Usually he isn’t so careless.”

He sighed. “Jack is really bad at relationships. I think he just gets scared when they get serious. You two have been together for nearly a month, and that’s like, a huge milestone. He really cares for you, and that terrifies him. So, he screws up under the pressure. He doesn’t mean to, he just...can’t help it.”

I nodded with understanding, but his words didn’t make me feel any less sad. “It scares me too, but I’m still giving this my all.”

“I know, Nora. I wish I could talk some sense into him, really. But I can guarantee you he’s giving it his all...he just has a funny way of showing it sometimes,” he mentioned.

We talked a little bit longer before Luna came and whisked her boyfriend away. I stood off the the side, watching the two of them sway along to the song that was playing. They looked so happy together, like the people you see in those Romantic Comedy movies. The song changed to I’ll Be by Edwin McCain, one of my favorite love songs ever written, and my heart began to ache. Why hadn’t this night gone like it was supposed to?

I felt a tap on my shoulder, so I turned around with a sigh. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to my classmates right now. My eyes widened to find Jack standing there, dressed in a suit with a sheepish grin on his face. Part of me wanted to hug him, but then I remembered how mad I was at him. I punched him in the arm.

“Ow! Okay, I deserve that,” he commented, grabbing his arm.

“You’re damn right you do,” I replied. “Do you even understand why I’m so angry?”

“No...” He winced.

I let out another sigh. “All I want is something like in the books I read. I want a cheesy high school prom scene where I get to slow dance with the guy I love. I know relationships aren’t supposed to be perfect, but dammit! I just want the one moment.”

“I didn’t know it meant that much to you, Nora. I’m so sorry,” he said. “But, I’m here now, and I’m going to fix it.”

I knew I was overreacting, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a little. “And why should I even bother? You wouldn’t have shown up if Alex hadn’t of called you.”

“Sometimes I need somebody to kick me in the ass and get me moving,” he said, shuffling nervously.

I felt myself smile. “Isn’t that supposed to be my job?”

He let out a small laugh. “I guess so. I mean, if you still want it to be.”

“What, did you think I was going to dump you over something as stupid as a dance?” I questioned, and he nodded. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily, Barakat.”

He laughed, hugging me happily. “Good. I was afraid I’d already ruined everything.”

“Look, Jack, I get that relationships terrify you...but they scare me too. We need to work through all this couple bullshit together, alright?” I asked.

“It’s a deal,” he agreed, grabbing me by the hand. “Come on, we’ve got some dancin’ to do.”

Jack led me onto the floor near Alex and Luna, and we twirled along to the music. I think it was then that I made an important realization: Jack wasn’t perfect, nor would he ever be, but he was trying to make this work. That was the most I could ask of him. Both of us were bound to screw up once in a while anyway, right? Either way, it would be okay because we were together, and I couldn’t help but smile at that.