Broken

Chapter Fourteen

I walked out of Nora's bathroom ready for the dance. I still loved my red dress just as much as I did at the store. I had put my hair up with braids and I thought that I looked good enough for the dance. For some reason, I was nervous. More than I normally would be.

Nora was standing near her desk. She was wearing the purple dress she had gotten at the mall, but she did nothing further to change her appearance. I put my makeup bag in my backpack that was sitting on the floor.

"Do you mind if I just leave my backpack here for now?" I asked.

"That's fine," Nora said casually.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my black clutch. It was one that I had used whenever I dressed up. I pulled out the chain strap and put it over my shoulder. I made sure that anything I could need would be in the bag. My phone, wallet, and a tube of lipstick were inside. I heard the doorbell ring and I looked over at Nora.

"Can you get it?" she said quickly. "I still need to pack my bag."

"Yeah, of course," I nodded. Nora's parents had not been in the house since I got here. Nora said they go out every Saturday night. I liked meeting her mom the other day, but I was really glad they were not here. Parents seemed to like to take pictures before dances and I had never had to do that.

I left Nora's room and walked to the front door. I opened it and found Justin standing on the porch. He was dressed up in the same suit he had been wearing for everything formal. This time it seemed different. Maybe because he looked a lot more mature this year. I hated that I let my eyes wander up and down his figure. I felt less bad when I caught him doing the same thing.

"Hi," I said.

"Hayley...you look..." said Justin shaking his head. "You look amazing."

I smiled and looked down, "Thanks. You look good too."

"No, Hayley," said Justin. He was shaking his head again. "You really look beautiful." I felt a blush creep up on my face. I felt a smile slip onto my face. When I looked up, I felt like Justin had gotten closer.

"Thanks," I said softly.

Justin let out a long sigh, "I wish I was taking you."

I looked at him with wide eyes. Had he really just said that or were my ears going bad? I saw Justin's eyes grow wide as if he had just realized what he said himself. He stepped away from me and looked away.

"What's going on here?"

Justin and I both turned to see Cody standing on the porch now. Why had we left the door open? I looked over at Justin, unsure of what I should say. I was still in shock from Justin's proclamation. I was trying to figure out if it was all real or just a strange dream. I quickly realized that Justin was not going to say anything.

"We're just waiting for Nora," I said with a shaky voice. I let out a long breath and hoped Cody would not question it. He nodded slowly and stepped in the house. His eyes set on Justin for a moment. Luckily, Nora came out of her room and took everyone's attention.

"Is everyone ready to go?" asked Nora.

With that, we all left the dance. Cody held the passenger door of his truck open for me. I climbed inside and buckled myself in. He was shortly behind the wheel and we were off. I was currently a hundred percent more nervous than I already was. I kept hearing those words in my hear over and over again. I wish I was taking you.

"This should be fun," said Cody.

"Yeah," I said. Did Justin really mean that? He must have misspoken. What if he didn't though? I wanted so badly to hold out hope for him. I wanted to move on, but at the same time I didn't want to. I wanted to know what went on in his mind.