Waiting on the Sidelines

20. Doing the Dance

I spent the rest of the lock-in holed up in the locker room. I didn't see Reed when I left, and that was probably for the best. My head felt so confused, but my heart wasn't. I never really stopped loving Reed Johnson. I was angry at him. There was a whole lot of anger. But there was always love there, too. That's why it hurt so damn bad.

I was dreading the homecoming dance. I was grateful that Sarah was taking care of my hair and make up. My dress was a short flirty black one with sparkles and no sleeves. It fit perfectly, and up until today I was desperately looking forward to wearing it.

Tyler was meeting us at Sarah's house, so I did a few final turns in the mirror before he got there. Sarah had tucked my hair up in a twist, and she spiral curled the small wispy hairs that didn't fit. My makeup made me look like a college coed. Sarah had a gift for this. My brown eyes against the dark, smoky charcoal colors made me look sexy, mature. She had forced me to try a deep red lipstick, which actually looked amazing. She gave me the tube to tuck into my small purse in case I needed to touch it up later.

My stomach was fluttering, both nervous about Tyler seeing me and about me seeing Reed later. I was also nervous about how I was going to sort things out. I knew what my heart felt, but being honest about it and putting myself on the line again was another thing.

The doorbell rang and Sarah's mom let Tyler in. Sarah's date, a senior named Jax, showed up soon after. Sienna was going to meet us there. She was going with a boy she had dated a few times from band, Micah.

Not wanting to put it off much longer, I finally stepped down Sarah's stairs into the living room. Tyler stood up and let his gaze start at my legs and make its way up to my eyes. He looked awestruck, which stole my breath a little. It was flattering to have someone look at me with that kind of wanting.

"Wow, you look..." he just stopped, raising his eyebrows. I blushed a little.

"Really?" I giggled. "Thanks."

He took my hand and kissed it and then pulled out a small corsage that he slipped on my wrist. It was a beautiful black ribbon with white roses. "Thank you, that's so pretty," I smiled.

We walked out to his car where he held the door open for me. I watched him walk around the car to the other side and admired how nice he looked in his suit. He had slim gray pants on with a straight, fitted gray jacket. His white shirt was open a little at the top, hinting at his perfect chest underneath. He was handsome, I admired.

When we were almost to the school, he leaned over and kissed my cheek, smiling. "You are gorgeous," he said.

I just blushed again and looked down at my fidgeting hands on my lap. "Thanks, I feel a little weird. This isn't my normal look," I admitted, shyly.

He just smiled, looking out the window and checking his mirrors as we pulled into the old barn house that was decorated for the homecoming dance. It was a tradition, one we'd kept up for 40 years. The homecoming dance was always held at Winter's Barn, which was really only used for special events now. Years ago, it was a working barn and students had to dance among penned animals. This smell was definitely preferred.

Before we got out of the car, Tyler turned to me, scrunching his face a little like he was thinking. "So, there's this party later tonight. It's by my school, with a lot of my friends. No desert," he joked. "Anyhow, I was wondering... do you think you'd be up to going after the dance?"

I was a little off guard. I thought about it, and it entirely depended on the direction my evening went. I decided to leave it open. "Maybe. I'd like to, but maybe ask me after the dance? You know... in case I'm beat."

There, that was good. He just smiled and nodded an ok.

We walked up to the door the same time as Sarah and Jax and we all went inside together. Everything was perfect. The seniors always get to decorate for the dance. They had strung white lights everywhere and lined the entrance with a twisted arch of black and white balloons. There were fiber strings dangling from the ceiling, too, making it look like sparkling stars were hovering above. Each table had a small, simple candle and white table cloths. The white chairs were tied with giant black ribbons. It was exactly as I'd want my wedding to be, I thought, minus the balloons.