Page 12

"O kay, everyone smiles!" Both Lily and my mom said. My mom captured our group photo while we held our poses in front of the foyer steps. I handed my camera to her and instructed her to capture a second photo.

After she snapped the picture, I approached to determine whether it looked good. "Ew. No. I look bad." I created a frown before rejoining my friends. "Take another one."

Elijah let out a groan while Kylie tapped him on the shoulder. Elijah has despised picture taking his entire life, yet I find great pleasure in photography.

My mom captured another shot while Lily along with the other mothers snapped several photos for themselves.

Everyone quickly headed to their cars when the short photo shot came to an end. The pre-prom gathering lasted longer than we initially anticipated.

But how could it not? Everyone looked so good. Despite most people not bringing dates we enjoyed watching Elijah and Kylie together.

Even JAMIE and Camden scored arm pieces. Tristan's news about attending the senior prom left me completely astonished.

The prior evening, he revealed his attendance plans but who he chose as his date shocked me even more.

Sasha Celes ranked among the most challenging girls for guys to converse with. Her true friendliness emerged after you got to know her.

After discovering her boyfriend cheated on her last year, she started ignoring every guy who approached her.

My awe for Tristan goes far beyond mere words. I am at a loss for words but now I understand how my brother can communicate so effectively.

But enough about me. Tonight was set to become the greatest night of my existence. And very picture-worthy.

I looked hot.

And it was the best nights so far. Everything had been going well. The music was loud while I and Hazel mixed with numerous guests and enjoyed an exquisite food selection. I couldn't identify half of the food, but it tasted amazing.

While attending the event I captured photos. Elijah was walking with Kylie when we found her and took her away.

We snapped numerous photos with funny shots among them which I received on my phone.

I'm getting these printed over the weekend.

Elijah agreed to take a picture with me. We accomplished the task through conversation with Kylie after a difficult effort.

More than two hours after I got here I took a break to visit the bathroom. I opened the door and found several girls in the middle of makeup touch-ups while drinking alcohol.

The inspectors evaluated the bags yet determined them to be unsatisfactory. The prom was enjoyable, yet one shot couldn't hurt at all.

Before taking a sip, I asked what the drink was.

"Pink Whitney." One of them said.

I gave an affirmative nod before taking a sip as the liquor scorched my throat before finally settling in my stomach.

While I was in the bathroom washing my hands someone approached me and asked "Emerson, have you seen Jaxon tonight?"

I sighed and shook my head. We haven't seen Jaxon since we departed my house earlier this evening. After drying my hands, I went back to the party. Principal Howards declared the Prom King and Queen to the crowd a few minutes after

I got back.

The sound of applause for Jaxon's Prom King victory filled the room while girls screamed ecstatically at the unsurprising result.

Their voices drive me nuts whenever I listen to them.

Principal Howards' announcement of Savannah Skye as Prom Queen made me feel increasingly irritated.

Oh. My. God.

The audience kept clapping but I responded with an eye roll. I discovered Hazel standing at the edge and walked towards her.

"Hey, Hazel," I said.

"Hi, Em." she smiled. "Are you even surprised?" she asks, referring to the winners.

"Not at all." I shake my head. The other competitors didn't have any chance against him.

She laughed but quieted down. After noticing her attention moving past my shoulder, I felt compelled to turn around. On his own Felix performed a slow clap while the rest applauded. Hazel's full attention was locked on him when I turned around to look.

"Go talk to him," I mention.

"What?" her head snapped to mine.

"I said go talk to him. It's the perfect time to." I repeat.

"Em–I can't–"

"Stop overthinking it," I cut her off. Keep your composure and you'll manage just fine. You two share a friendship so it's impossible for the interaction to feel awkward. I explained that you could simply talk to him as a friend if making a move isn't something you want to do.

She gives me a tired glance before she starts walking away. A smile crosses my face when she begins talking to him. I find no fault with the smile he shares with her during their conversation.

As I watch those two engage each other I understand I'm completely by myself. The location of Kylie is unknown to me, but it seems likely that she is with my brother.

I didn't want to disrupt Camden and JAMIE because it seemed like they were enjoying themselves with their dates.

I wander through the area, searching for something to entertain myself.

I recognize everyone present but lacks the depth of knowledge necessary for meaningful conversations. The school's venue was nice. The booths appeared comfortable with tables positioned in their centers while my feet suffered unbearable pain.

Note: I am unable to stay in heels for long periods. As I drag myself toward the booths, I realize most of them are taken while one empty space remains at the far end.

I move to sit but when I reach the booth, I discover Jaxon sitting by himself.

Doesn't he have six dates?

"Why are you sitting here?" I ask.

"Is it illegal?" he responds.

I roll my eyes. "No. But you have dates to attend to."

"No," he said through slurred speech stretching each syllable needlessly. I need to leave these dates as soon as possible.

I take in his appearance. He sat slouched over while completely lost and his speech slurred as if he were drunk.

His current state was unexpected because he typically remained cheerful and made a lot of noise when he drank too much.

But he looked exhausted. "What did you take?" I ask him.

He moves to sit up from his slouched position while laughing. I cannot recall what Travis gave me, but it worked right away.

Oh boy.

He demands that me not to make that face towards him.

"What face?" As I pose my question I decide to take my seat at the booths edge.

"That one." he points at me. You look bad now but Felix and your brother appear far worse.

My brother and Felix? They had it, too?

"How much did you have?" I asked with a sigh.

He was slow to answer. Just staring out into space. "Five...maybe six shots."

He tilted his head to one side until it settled against the leather cushion. I looked at my phone and saw we were at a late hour. During my roaming I discovered that the after-party had collapsed.

I find myself without any plans after this moment. It hurts me to think I must continue to spend time with him until morning.

I tell him to move on while I stand up and extend my hands towards him. He moves out of the booth and carefully grabs my hands. He gave me some assistance but then I had him rise to his feet.

I grabbed his arm to guide him outside. My shoulder felt the cool breeze which caused me to shiver slightly during my adjustment to the new temperature.

By observing the blonde hair of the two people on the steps I recognized them immediately.

Hazel remarks with a grin, "It's strange to see both of you here," as I take my place beside them. I offer Hazel a tiny smile and then lean forward to examine Felix. Felix showed the same level of disorientation that Jaxon displayed.

What the hell did they drink?

Has he shared with you what Travis gave him? I asked Hazel.

"No." she shakes her head.

"This prom is so lame!" Felix complains loudly from the opposite side where Hazel sat.

"I know Felix, I know." Hazel Calmly responds to his loud manner.

Jaxon muttered something beside me, but his words were too quiet to understand. I reached into my purse to retrieve my keys. "Here," I handed them to her. "Take my car. I'll drive him home."

Jaxon drove himself here and Hazel joined me in carpooling. He is aware that I must use his car.

"Thank you, Em."

"Don't worry about it." I sigh.

They rise from their seats, and I bid Hazel farewell. I observe them depart while a tap on my leg interrupts my focus.

When I looked at Jaxon his keys were visible in his hand. I grab the keys from him before turning back to face forward.

Our position remains fixed while we continue sitting here. The slight breeze combined with the lukewarm temperature made me hesitant to leave.

I spun his keys on my finger while I rested back onto my palms. I draw air into my lungs before letting it escape slowly into the atmosphere.

"Did you mean that?" Jaxon asks, leaning against the railing. "Mean what?" I answer him but find myself wondering about the direction of this conversation.

My behavior leads to you losing time through pointless disagreements. He reminds me of our conversation from the start of this week.

The situation surprised me until I noticed he was drunk and likely to speak nonsense.

I scoff. "All the fucking time."

Upon turning his head, I noticed the clear expression etched onto his face. He looks upset.

Why does he look upset?

"Uhm–I don't know." I find myself saying more. "Sometimes it's pointless."

"Okay, but why sometimes? He challenges me with the question, "Don't you think it happens more often than you believe."

I direct my gaze ahead and take a moment to reflect. Almost everything we bicker about is pointless. And that's way more often than sometimes. It's all the time.

I catch a glimpse of his profile as he straightens up while rhythmically tapping on the metal railing. Though, I look away just as quickly.

"Please understand that I'm unable to maintain a nice demeanor towards you," he explains.

I almost laugh at myself. "Who’s that?" I ask. He mutters "That's just how it works." "That's how we work, am I wrong?"

I start to feel my brows furrow. He demonstrated a surprising amount of wisdom despite his minimal sobriety. When did I ever treat you with kindness? he asks.

I've never been nice to you until recently.

"See? I knew I was right." he boasts to himself.

I almost laughed before rolling my eyes. Drunk but still managing to be cocky. Just great.

We stay quiet for a few moments. I move from my palms to wipe my hands on my legs while I sit up. I secure my heel strap, and he says something unexpected that surprises me.

"Why don't you look at me?" His voice carried more obvious inflection as he tapped my cheek.

"What?" With confusion written all over my face I ask as I pulled my face away from his finger.

He says that I didn't look at him after we began our conversation. My lips form a slim straight line. He was right.

He hasn't received my attention since I last glanced at his backside moments ago. The sky has been my focus during this entire time.

Making eye contact with those whom I speak to is something I prefer to do. Despite some gaps between his words, he maintains his clarity. As I sigh and turn towards him my eyes meet his gaze which softly illuminate his face while I acknowledge his subtle request to connect with him through eye contact.

The vibrant color of his eyes faded back to its typical dull grey and I found myself at a loss for thoughts. I wasn't sure what I should do with myself, but I gave him my full attention by looking directly at him. And we stayed deafeningly silent.

A few thoughts managed to form in my mind while this situation unfolded. Our interaction consisted of two people making eye contact, but the proximity made it appear more complex than it was.

I now understand that the act of looking at someone exists separately from the simple act of seeing them.

Watching someone gives you a scattered view because you take in multiple things at once. When you look at someone your gaze becomes intentional, and you direct all your attention toward them.

He's completely visible to me but my gaze remains fixed on him. The same is true for him. He has the ability to see me while he directs his gaze toward me.

Straight in the eyes. The artwork displayed simplicity, but he challenged the significance of maintaining eye contact.

It's only now that I've realized his tendency to maintain strong eye contact.

But not in a creepy way. His eyes demonstrate a relaxed state that makes him seem almost asleep.

Eventually I had to acknowledge the intensity of it to myself. I had no idea how much longer I would maintain this gaze, but I couldn't keep it up for much longer.

The contact of his shoulder with mine brings me back to reality. We had gotten closer.

And way too close for comfort.

I instantly sensed a feeling deep inside my stomach which caused my legs to go numb.

I moved backward while turning my head forward to face myself once more.

What the hell?

That's all I could think of.

My mind started an endless race of overthinking our actions and my inner dialogue unless I diverted my thoughts by going off-topic.

"You're weird." I ease out laughing.

Your interpretation of weird as being infuriatingly hot makes sense to me. He compliments himself, and I smirk. There we go, back to normal. Nothing has changed.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I roll my eyes.

"Okay, so tell me." he urges.

"Tell you what?" As I turn my head, I catch sight of him standing exactly where he started.

I will sleep better than I ever have if you tell me I'm infuriatingly hot. He gives me a lopsided smile.

I scoff and shake my head. Not. "Let's go home." I offer. I won't go home until you call me infuriatingly hot. he contests.

"I'll tell you in the car." I lie.

This persuaded him to start standing up. I moved quickly beside him while he used the railing to stand.

"Be careful," he warns me.

"Why should I be careful?" I ask him.

"You're terrible at walking in heels," he tells me as he takes my hands to lead me down the steps.

I scoff. Walking when drunk doesn't make you any more capable than me in heels.

I reach the steps' bottom and await an answer that never comes. Jaxon pulls me along until I stand beside him.

He mutters something to me, but I couldn't understand him like last time. We walked toward his car holding onto his arm and then get in.

We stay quiet during the initial minutes of driving from the venue until he finally loses his patience.

"Are you going to tell me now?" he asks.

"Nah," I tell him while focusing ahead on the road.

"I knew you were lying," he muttered.

"Yet I think you believed me." As the traffic light turns red, I take my chance to retaliate.

"So, you're not gonna tell me?" he asks again.

Taking a quick look, I noticed his head resting against the window.

He's not making it home awake.

"No," I tell him again.

"Your loss." His voice was increasingly lower than before.

"My win." A smile breaks across my face as I remember his earlier words. His best car sleep experience awaits tonight.

The moment the light switches to green I press the accelerator pedal. I hear the creak of his seat shifting and conclude that he's drifting off to sleep.

My journey home progressed with my exhaustion levels rising. The time was late and the heels I wore were causing my feet pain so I simply desired to rest beneath my bed sheets.

I wish I could be on the passenger side barely conscious while I had some more minutes to rest.

I parked the car outside his house before switching it of and approaching his door. I open the door and tap him to wake him before leading him outside the car.

I must support him as he staggers toward the door. My mom shouldn't see my appearance in this state. He pleads as I open the door.

"Then stop being loud," I whisper. "You're dragging your feet. Take your shoes off."

"Yes, ma'am." His eye roll at my command doesn't stop him from taking his shoes off as instructed.

I remove my heels and place them beside the doorway. I guided him upstairs while instructing him to walk slowly to reduce the noise from the wooden steps.

Our efforts proved effective throughout the main portion of the task. Despite creating a few loud creaks, we managed to succeed.

I guided him to his room and released his arm. I knew it was time to go after that moment, but I felt compelled to stay.

The exact nature of it remains a mystery to me but one thing remains clear.

I didn't like it.

I shut his door behind me and told him to change his clothes. I pressed myself against the wall while waiting for a few moments.

Before the door opened, I heard shuffling sounds inside and then he appeared shirtless next to me wearing only pyjama pants.

"You stayed?" he yawned, looking down at me.

I assure him he should go to bed and do something foolish which he doesn't normally do before getting off the wall.

I bypass him as I open the bed covers. He sits and lets out a groan once he climbs under the covers.

"What?" I pose the question to him softly while I pull the covers over his body.

"My head is killing me," he complains.

I let out a breathy laugh. I told him that's the reason why you always ask Travis about your drink before consuming it.

"Being in my shoes you didn't have time to do that," he contends.

I told him that if I were in his shoes I wouldn't bring six girls to prom because of his dating decisions. He turns onto his side with a groan and looks at me while resting his head on the pillow. "Shut up."

After smoothing down his bed covers, I stand up. "Goodnight, Jaxon." I shake my head and turn around.

He remained silent as I closed his door behind me. I fastened my heels while descending the steps and returned to my house with a bit of a stumble.

I burst through the door and ripped my heels off with such force that I had to carry them into my room. After entering my bathroom, I remove my makeup and get ready for bed.

As soon as I turn my lights off and place my head on the pillow beneath the covers my eyes close.

As my thoughts returned to the events on those steps, I understood why sleep eluded me.

The intensity of the situation surpassed what I found acceptable and thinking about it increasingly made me feel strange.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You're thinking too much about it. It wasn't even anything like that. So, stop pretending it was.

I shouted at myself continuously for five minutes until I understood that no event had occurred.

But deep down, I knew one thing.

This wasn't good.