Good Enough |✅|

Pam

   I was frustrated on the day of the prom.
So much so that I couldn't even enjoy pizza for the first time in forever!

   I mean, how horribly terrible is that? I wondered if anybody else ever suffered such a thing. It's just unimaginable at hind sight.
   I had barely three hours left for putting on my prom dress, shoes and makeup and force myself to join the crowd hobbling to the school auditorium in excitement. But man was I interested!
   Time had somehow lapsed so considerably since the beach party, that I was surprised to the point of exhaustion. Moreover, the harder I tried to forget about what Kaedan had said, the more solidly carved did it get in my memory.

   "When has it ever been about me?"

"I wasn't good enough after all then."

And it irritated me so much. So much! When was it that I never screwed up?!
I looked at the slice of pizza on my plate. And then I looked at an overflowing bowl of doritos beside it, both kept on the table in front of me.

"You've reached a crossroad . . . . Choose."

Ahhhh! Seriously mind?! Seriously?! That's how you gonna play with my feelings now?!

If there was one person who could take my mind off Kaedan, it was the one who jumped in through my window right after that moment.

Pam : Raul! What's— aren't you gonna go to the prom?

Raul chuckled dryly.

Raul : You think?

Saying so, he flopped on the couch before my bed and started gorging doritos down his throat.

Pam : Then why are you here?

Raul : I can't be?

I stopped. Had I sounded that indifferent?
Why was I rejecting everybody around me now?!
When I didn't say anything more, Raul quite abruptly sat up straight, put down the bowl—now half filled with the snack and faced me.

Raul : Aren't you going to the prom? Isn't Kaedan coming?

Ah. . . Right. Neither of us had actually told anybody about anything that had happened between us. I felt quite guilty suddenly. With all the things that approached after that . . . mostly exams and important basketball matches, the frequent talks ceased becoming frequent.
And I realized another thing. With Daniel gone, this was a perfect opportunity to confess to him. Susan's advice. . . . had lingered in my mind all this time. But I never managed to gather up enough courage to actually play it out in reality and not just in my head. All of a sudden, I wondered why.

Pam : Well I don't think I'll be going to the prom anymore.

Raul : Huh? Wh—

Pam : You aren't going either, are you?

Raul : It's mostly because I don't have a date—

Pam : I don't either.

Raul : Wha—

It was now or never.

Pam : I love you.

He paused.
I paused. I bit my lip in utter anxiety.
The only sounds in the room were our breaths and the wall clock.

Raul : . . . . . . . .

Pam : . . . . . . . .