How You Get the Girl

We Have a Song?

Maria, Beth, Kenzie and I all got ready for prom together at Kenzie's house. Kenzie had laid down the law with Ben and told him he was not allowed to be upstairs while we were getting dressed, so he had had to get ready downstairs. He had not been happy but their mother had backed Kenzie up.

"The girls will be running around in getting dressed, doing their hair and putting on make-up. You cannot be upstairs. You have to be in the basement," she told him when he had complained about it one day when we were all working on homework at their kitchen table.

Kenzie grinned in victory. "You can always go over to Miles's house to get ready if you want to," she said.

"I'll use the basement," he conceded, grudgingly.

After his mother walked away I leaned over and whispered to him, "You wouldn't have wanted to see me in the special lingerie I bought to wear under my dress, anyway would you?" I actually hadn't gotten anything really outrageous to wear, just a standard Victoria's Secret bra and panties. I had a strict curfew after prom. Ben would not be seeing my lingerie. Still, I couldn't resist teasing him.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything back Kenzie said, "I'm going to pretend I did not hear you just say that to my brother because that would just have been gross."

I blushed, at looked back at my computer screen. There were some downsides to being good friends with my boyfriends' sister.

. . .

We all crowded into Kenzie's bathroom. Fortunately, it was large, with two sinks and plenty of space for us to get ready. Maria did theater at school and was the best with makeup so she helped the rest of us. She made sure I had perfect 1920s smoky eyes and red lipstick.

My dress was inspired by beaded 1920s flapper dresses. Its dark blue with darker blue beading and was form-fitting through the hips with a floating chiffon skirt lower down. Beth had put my hair back in a loose wavy 1920s updo, gathering it at the nape of my neck. I felt like I had stepped out of the Great Gatsby. I had decided to wear low heels so I could dance all night.

When I was about to just downstairs with the rest of them, Beth, Kenzie, and Maria all pulled me back.

"No, you are going down an after the rest of us, once we make sure Ben is at the bottom waiting. You are going to make an entrance," Beth said.

"Beth, this isn't the movies. I can walk downstairs with the rest of you," I told her.

"You have maybe two or three times in your entire life you look this beautiful. You have a handsome guy waiting downstairs for you. You will regret it later if you don't seize the moment. If Maria had not already seen me I would do it," and she put her arm around Maria and gave her a kiss.

"Give us two minutes and then come down," Kenzie told me.

"I feel stupid," I told her. "Ben is going to laugh when he sees me making such a production of walking down the stairs.

"Trust me, he is not going to laugh when he sees you," Beth said.

I waited for two minutes and walked down the stairs. It was a good staircase for making an entrance. The front hall was two stories and the staircase was long. Ben was standing at the foot looking up at me as I walked down. For once his expression was not hard to read, he looked stunned.

"You look beautiful," he said.

I blushed, feeling self-conscious. "Thank you," I said, and smiled up at him.

. . .

Ben's parents, my parents, Maria's parents, Beth's parents, and Miles' parents insisted on taking what felt like millions of photos of us all.

But we finally managed to get away from them and into our limo to head off to prom, which was held at the local country club.

It was the best prom ever. I had gone to prom last year with a guy from the baseball team. He had spent the entire night ignoring me and secretly drinking with his friends. He had ended up throwing up in the bushes. Very classy. Sasha and Julia spent the whole night criticizing what everyone was wearing. It was kind of funny when someone was really wearing something awful but they were also really mean when someone was a little heavy or just picked something not that flattering. And no one had wanted to dance. It had been long and boring. This time we danced. We all stuffed ourselves into the photo booth and took silly pictures. And this year I was with Ben. It was magical.

I was talking with Kenzie and Miles, taking a break from dancing when Ben suddenly appeared next to me.  

He took my hand and said, "They're playing our song."

I listened.  The DJ was playing Don't Give Up on Me.  "We have a song? I asked.  It was news to me.  Not that I objected to having a song but I did not know about it.

"We do.  It was playing everywhere I went the week after we broke up.  I would walk into a store and it was playing. It was on my mom's and Kenzie's playlists constantly.  It followed me around."

"Really?" 

"Yep.  I think it must have been a sign."  

"There is no way you believe in signs," I said.  I mean, Mr. Math and Science believing in something that superstitious?  No way.

"I don't but every time I heard it I thought of you and how I could never give up on you."

"You are a romantic Ben Ryan."  

"Only about you."  

. . .

My parents have not changed my curfew, even for prom.  So, I was back on my doorstep at 1 AM on prom night while everyone else went off to an after-party.

Ben walked me to my door.

"You look beautiful," he said and kissed me goodnight in a very G rated way since everyone was in the limo just a few feet away.

. . . .