Mom was beside herself with excitement when I went downstairs to get dressed, and kept checking on me every five seconds. After the fourth interruption I told her, “Just stop. Chill. If I need anything, I’ll call for you.”
But she had the camera ready when I finally came out of the bathroom, and immediately started snapping pictures.
“Mom, I’m not even completely dressed yet,” I said. “I need to put my shoes on.”
“I know, but-snap- this is such an exciting moment and I-snap-want to make sure I have pictures of everything.” Snap.
Ignoring her, I went to the couch and sat down to put my shoes on. But my dress was too tight to bend in, and I kept contorting myself at awkward angles. “Hey, Mom, I think I need some help now.”
She came right over. “I’m here. I’ll take care of it.”
I slid my foot into the shoe, using the edge of the couch for balance, and Mom buckled it. Then she did the other one.
Dad came into the living room as soon as she was done, and whistled. “You look beautiful, sweetheart.” Mom grabbed him and pulled him beside me to take some pictures as I glanced at the clock.
I still had fifteen more minutes of this until Ben would be here.
“All right, Mom,” I said through gritted teeth. “Let’s take some pictures.”
She posed me and Dad by the fireplace, by the window, in front of the fridge. Then she wanted some pictures of herself with me. We stood in front of the bathroom mirror, by a vase of flowers, in front of the steps …
I was never so happy to hear a car beep outside. Ben was early. By a whole minute.
“Oooh, good. He’s here! Now I can get some pictures of the two of you!” Mom squealed.
I glanced at Dad. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We’re leaving by seven fifty, so there won’t be too much more of this.”
“Yeah, thanks, Dad,” I said. “It’s already been too much of this.”
Mom ran to open the door when Ben knocked on it, and he stood there with a bashful look on his face. A dozen white roses were in his hands.
“Come in!” Mom said. “Don’t you look handsome?”
Ben was in a charcoal gray suit with a red tie, and I had to admit, he did look pretty good. It was definitely a “sexay” suit.
He stepped into the house. “Since you said no corsage, Abbey, I got you these.”
He held the flowers out to me, and I took them.
“If I may?” he asked, pulling one of the roses free. I nodded, and he turned and handed it to Mom. “This is for you.”
“Oh, well … I just … I …” Mom was ten shades of red, but she looked ecstatic.
“Awww, aren’t you just adorable?” I said to Ben.
He grinned.
“Let me get some pictures!” Mom said, taking the roses from me. “I’ll just put these in the kitchen.” Before I could hustle Ben out the door, she was back. “Okay. Let’s get some over here.”
She directed us to stand in front of the fireplace, and the stairs. Ben had no problem just smiling through all of it. We took pictures outside, in front of the house, by the limo, walking up the steps … until finally I told Mom that we needed to go pick up Beth and her date.
Mom started to get all teary, and that was when the hugging began. “Have fun,” she said. “Be good. Be safe and all that.”
She clung to me, and I patted her back. “Yeah, okay, Mom.”
“Your father and I are leaving tonight and we’ll be back Monday,” she said. “I’ve left some extra money on the dining room table. Don’t forget to take it with you. Are you staying with Beth or Cacey?”
“I’m staying at Beth’s.”
I made a mental note to tell Beth about our “sleepover” this weekend so that if Mom called she’d know what to say.
“Everything will be fine, Mom. You guys have fun too, okay? I love you,” I whispered to her.
Ben offered me his arm. “Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Browning,” he said. “I’ll take good care of her.”
“I bet you will,” I said, and snorted. But he just grinned at me again.
Stepping carefully, I walked down the front path to the waiting Hummer limo as Mom and Dad waved good-bye. Just as the car door was closing, I looked up. We were directly in line with my room, and I could see Caspian looking out the window.
Something wet ran down my cheek, and I brushed it away. Looking down at my fingertip, I saw it was a tear.
Hastily dabbing at the corners of my eyes, I told myself to stop. I’d be back in a couple of hours and everything would be fine. I’d get to see Caspian then.
But my heart still hurt when we drove away.
* * *
When we pulled up to Beth’s, she was outside, laughing and posing for pictures with Grant. “I guess she went with computer class guy?” Ben said, glancing out the tinted windows.
“Looks like it.”
“Hey, Abbey,” he said suddenly. “You know that séance at Cyn’s the other night?” His voice was low. “I thought that maybe you’d want to talk to Kristen. If you had the chance. But I’m glad you didn’t say anything. It didn’t feel right with everyone else there, you know?”
I was kind of surprised he was talking about that. And surprised that he’d felt the same way. “I thought the same thing about you, too,” I replied. “That you might want to talk to her. I was really glad that … didn’t come up.”
“I think she would have liked the fact that we’re here together,” he said.
“Me too,” I said slowly. “Me too.”
“I still dream about her,” he said softly, a faraway look in his eyes. “I don’t know what that means, but I think it’s a good thing.” Then he shook his head. “Hey, enough of this. Let’s go grab the final two members of our party and have some fun. What do you say?”
“Let’s do it!” I gave him a big smile, trying to push Kristen out of my mind. Trying to push away the fact that Ben was dreaming about her, while I, her best friend, only had nightmares.
We arrived at the Hollow Ball by eight fifteen, and the reception hall was beautiful, done in pale blue, off-white, and silver decorations. You never could have guessed that it was normally a convention center.
Beth looked amazing in her black dress, and Grant was adorable and funny. Between him and Ben, none of us could go longer than five minutes without laughing.
I caught a glimpse of Uri once, holding a can of Coke in one hand, and he gave me a brief nod. I smiled back at him, before catching up with Beth and Grant again. The only thing missing was Cyn, and I realized that I really was missing her.
“Hey,” I said to Beth in between songs. “Do you know where Cyn is? Did she come?”
Beth swayed to one side, with her arms up above her head as a pounding beat started. “Haven’t seen her.”
“Oh.” I cast another glance around. “I’m going to check outside. See if she’s smoking.”
Beth nodded, barely noticing when I left. She seemed to be having a ton of fun with Grant. It looked like she’d made the right choice.
The cool night air bit into all of the more exposed parts left behind by the skimpy material of my dress when I stepped outside, and I shivered. It didn’t look like anyone was out here.
I thought about calling Caspian. To see what he was doing, and see if he was missing me as much as I was missing him. It was almost like I was split in two. One part of me was having a great time being here with Ben and seeing Beth so happy, getting this chance to have this time with my friends was more than I could have ever hoped for.
But the other part of me longed to be home with Caspian. To be waiting as the clock turned to midnight …