Love Me | Series Book #1

THIRTY TWO

Prom was in the air.

Literally in the air, spray painted across a white banner in the gymnasium. The ticket booth had been set up in front of the bleachers with a fifty foot line leading up to it. It was exactly a month away, but the ticket sales started here and now. After all it was a special occasion that had to be planned strategically.

Dresses were bought at least two months ahead, before options became limited and certain styles were declared last season. Then you had a month's period to decide on a prom date before tickets went up for sale. Once the booth was set up, your decision was final, so that said date could proceed to buy you tickets. After that, you could kiss goodbye to any refunds or exchanges, and that wasn't in reference to tickets.

I stood sandwiched in the line between Aly and Rachel who had their crisp twenties ready in hand, although we were closer to the back.

"I can't believe he's making me pay for my own ticket," Aly grumbled, shooting a glare at Seth who stood several places ahead of us.

"I can't believe he finally asked you," Rachel said. "And in the craziest way imaginable."

Aly spread her fingers to her temples. "Don't remind me."

He had pulled up in front of her house, with Johnny and Drew in the backseat of his jeep, blasting  'Sexy Can I' and interchanging the lyrics with:

Sexy can I, take you to the prom, then take you to the shack, know you like it like that.

Classy right?

"I know one thing," Aly continued. "And that's that he'd better buy me the corsage I deserve. If he doesn't I swear I'm ditching him during the dance."

It was a nice talk, but I knew she wouldn't do it. She liked him too much. After Seth and his crew pulled out of her driveway she put me and Rachel on three way to scream inscrutable words into the receiver. The repeated phrase sounding something like, "SETASKMETOPRA!!!"

I watched him joke with Drew and Johnny over god knows what. They threw their heads back in laughter, over something he said that probably wasn't half deserving of the reaction that it received. Before I had the chance to look away, I caught Mason slide into the line joining them. I couldn't look away now, dropping my gaze to his hands which held onto two tickets.

I felt a gaping hole in the pit of my stomach. 

Had he already asked someone? 

There was no need to even question it. The answer was right in front of me.

The better question was who?

Just as quickly as he'd joined the line, he slipped out announcing to his friends that he'd catch them later. My eyes followed him across the entire court to the double doors beneath the glowing red exit sign.

I should've been relieved. I should have felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, but instead it felt as though one had landed on me.

"Kaya?" Rachel waved a hand in front of me. I directed my attention back, a second too late for them not to notice.

"You were watching him weren't you," Aly stated. It wasn't a question. I found a sudden interest in my shoes.

"Maybe."

Rachel blew out a sigh. They had been lenient on me after our break up, mostly because I didn't talk about it. But, I didn't have to. They were my closest friends for a reason. I didn't have to say anything for them to piece it together.

"It's okay," Aly told me with a guilty face. She probably felt at fault for bringing up Seth. After all, he and Mason were friends which couldn't make it easy for me.