Right Now (A Short Story)

4. Right Now

I had thought about not going at all. The day of the prom had arrived and I hadn't spoken to Louis since that day. Was it affecting me? Yes. I had never realized how much Louis took up of my life until he wasn't there anymore.

But not like he cared about my feelings. I mean, he was ditching me- his best friend- to go with the girl whom he knew to be my arch nemesis.

How could he?

But either way, I decided that even if I would walk in alone, and even if I had to hang out with the guy serving punch, I still wanted to go to senior prom. I mean I was sure at least one of my other friends would at least take a break from their date and we could strike up a conversation.

But I was determined to forget about Louis if even for one night, in order to enjoy myself.

So I got dressed and as I was gathering my clutch purse I hesitated. Then I decided to put the item that was lying next to the bag inside it. Then I left the house alone- no one was waiting for my mom to take a picture of us together, no one was waiting for my dad to give him a lecture.

Simply no one was there. I drove my stupid old car to school and got out alone.

At this point, this sounds depressing. It was.

I took a deep breath and entered the gym to a crazy disco night themed party. The music was blaring and I was sure the ground must have been shaking with all the dancing going on.

I tried to scout for someone I knew but the effort was useless. The combined fog, laser lights, and moving bodies made it impossible to distinguish anybody.

I sighed and walked over to the punch table.

"Are you okay?" I looked up to see the guy working the table offering me a cup.

I took it gratefully and gave an empty smile. "Just fine..."

"Are you sure?" He asked and it was a little annoying but hey- at least I had someone to talk too.

"No... I'm not." I sighed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked a little louder as the music raised its volume. I tried not to think of Roxanne dancing with Louis.

I sighed again. "You know what.. why not? It turns out that I'm in love with my best friend in the entire world. I mean I've known him since I was like 3! And then the other day he brings up a memory that I don't remember. And I finally do remember it! And then the next day I find out that he is taking my enemy to prom as a date completely ditching me and here I am." I gave a dry laugh.

"That sucks." He said and I nodded.

Suddenly there was a scream right next to us. We turned to look and I true to suppress a laugh from escaping my mouth.

There was Louis dressed in his tux with an aqua tie and his Mickey Mouse ears on his head. He had a surprised look on his face as he looked at the funniest thing of all.

Roxanne was squealing and crying as mascara dropped down her face because her light pink tutu dress had apparently been ruined by fruit punch that had been dropped down the front.

The people around us that could hear her over the music were laughing at her and she yelled, "I hate you, Louis! Your such a loser! Don't ever speak to me again, idiot!!" And with that she stormed away.

Louis looked up and our eyes met.

Then he walked over to me. "That was weird." Is all he said.

"What happened?" I asked bewildered by what I had just witnessed.

"Well I just got here and Roxanne got upset that I told her to meet up here instead first of all." He explained.

"What do you mean meet up? You didn't pick her up?" I set down my cup.

He shook his head. "Nah, I didn't want to meet her family. So I just said to meet up here instead, but I couldn't find parking for awhile so I got here after her. Then she got mad at me for wearing a tie that didn't 'compliment' her dress." He shrugged. "Then I put on the ears and she got, ah, quite enraged." I smiled a little. Slightly only.

"Why did she storm out?" I asked.

"Because apparently the last straw was when I offered to get her punch from the second table over there," he pointed. "And when I came back I 'accidentally' crashed into her and spilled everything."

"'Accidentally', Louis?" I looked at him and smiled shaking my head. "I can't believe you did it on purpose!"

"How did you know?" he smiled back.

"Because I know you, Louis." I said.

"Well she was really irritating," he sighed. "She couldn't even joke around or anything. She just kept looking at her ex-boyfriend to make sure he was watching."

"Well I can imagine that what he saw was funny then..." I fumbled with my clutch.

"Look, I'm sorry-" we both said at the same time then stopped. I blushed a little.

"You go." I said.

"Okay," Louis nodded. "I am so sorry, Luna. Honestly, I don't even like Roxanne... I only said I would go with her because.... well... You didn't remember."

"What does that have to do with it?" I asked bemused.

"Have you remembered?" he looked me in the eye. Those blue irises sucked me in.

I nodded. "That is actually what I was trying to tell you the other day. And I'm sorry too by the way. I should not have reacted like I did. I mean it's your life so..."

"Its okay," Louis smiled shyly. "But er, do you remember what we promised?"

"That we'd always be together forever?" I smiled.

"Exactly..." Louis looked down. "Luna, for awhile now I didn't want to ruin our friendship or jeopardize what we had. But now I see that even just for the few days we weren't speaking, it didn't feel right. Like I'm not saying we have to talk like every second, I just mean I was worried I may have lost you as my best friend."

"Louis," I felt elated. "Your never going to lose me as your best friend. Honestly, I felt the same way."

Then I pulled out what I had stuffed in my bag last minute: the Mickey Mouse ears. I put them on my head.

"We promised this too remember?" I said as I adjusted it. He grinned.

"Would you care to dance?" he grabbed my hand just as, yes, a slow song came on. He pulled me on the dance floor and put his arms around my waist, my arms around his neck.

"I didn't get to finish earlier by the way," Louis whispered. "I love you."

I smiled feeling like my heart would burst with joy at those words.

"I love you, too, Louis." I said and next thing I knew- Louis's soft lips were on mine and my eyes shut. I'm kissing my best friend. I thought. I'm kissing Louis!

We drew apart and I bit my lip smiling. "So why did you wear that color tie?" I asked.

"To match you." he grinned and we spun around. "By the way, I wrote a song for you while we were apart. I need to show you sometime."

I nodded. "I would love that, Louis."

And I had the time of my life.