“You mean only one more year pretending my mother’s just in the other room? Or one more year before I can tell the people here to shove off? Or how about one more year lying to Jordan?”
“One more year of being with you all the time, Mel. One more year of pretending not to hear what people say just so you can make fun of them later. One more year of being a teen,” he offered, and as much as she wished that last part was true, it just wasn’t.
“You know I haven’t been a teen for a long time, Tate. Not since I woke up on my birthday and found myself completely alone.”
“Never alone Mel; I’m always right here. Me, Dad…and I’m sure Jordan would include himself in that mix, we’ll all be right here whenever you need us,” he assured her, calming the unknown anxiousness that’d been running through her since they stepped into the space.
“Thanks Tate, have I mentioned you’re the best friend a girl could ever ask for?”
“Once or twice…same goes for you Mel. Without you at school I swear I’d have burnt it down by now, you keep me grounded.”
Mel shook her head at their conversation. This was so not them even if she did know why he was trying to have it. He’d been trying to get her to admit to her feelings for Jordan and the rest of her situation for months and she’d ignored it, but here, surrounded by everyone else was definitely not the time for that. So the only way to stop it was to pull them back into their normal teasing space. “Oh my god, listen to us. We should be having fun not acting as though our lives are going to end tomorrow.”
“What do you have in mind?” he asked seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Well you know how good you are at hacking into computers, think you could get me into the hotel’s system?”
“What are you thinking?”
“A little water works for when the king and queen are announced. Oh come on Tate, wouldn’t you love to see everyone in this room soaking wet and furious?”
“What about my tux and your dress?”
“We’ll take them to the cleaners in the morning. You know you’re dying to see if you can do it.”
“Alright but we need a computer,” he stated.
“I have my laptop in the room upstairs.”
“Perfect, think we can escape for long enough to set it up?”
“Yeah, no one’s paying attention to us,” she told him as they slipped out the doors and headed towards the room that she’d reserved to change in, glad they knew her thanks to working with Henry and didn’t even ask for her id upon check-in or realize they were with the group here for the prom. The hotel wasn’t allowed to rent to anyone attending it which made it perfect for them to sneak away with ease.
They were laughing too much to notice the man on the other side of the lobby, but he recognized that laugh and his eyes were drawn to the couple.
“Junior/Senior Prom…” he read off the board outside the ballroom they’d come out of in shock. “What the hell are you playing at Mel?”
∞∞∞
“You’re sure no one can trace it?” Mel asked Tate as they waited on the far side of the dance floor. She’d set up the sprinklers to go off in five minutes, and she hoped they’d have the announcement done by then.
“Not a chance. The VPN installed on the computer will block any attempts to backtrace the hack if it’s even noticed.Don’t worry Mel I wouldn’t let them bring you down for this,” he assured her and she leaned back against him not caring that the entire school would soon be thinking they were more than the friends they truly were. She hated being touched by others, but she also loved physical touch, it calmed and soothed parts of her that probably didn’t have enough of it as a little kid. Letting someone else into her space though…that wasn’t easy for her, so she gladly accepted Tate’s hugs and holds, knowing it was entirely safe to relax into it.
“Good evening everyone,” Ms. Simmons said taking the stage. “It’s that time everyone…time to announce the king and queen of the prom.”
“Woo,” she said sarcastically rolling her eyes.
“Hoo,” Tate added in the like.
“And our King is…Brent Rackers,” Ms. Simmons announced and Tate poked her in the side.
“Ah just think you could have come to the prom with the prom king.”
“So not funny, I still maintain there was a bet and I’ll be damned if any of them win.”
“And our Queen is…Jennifer Neals,” their teacher announced and Mel checked her phone. The one that Jordan insisted on updating when he saw her ancient one on the charger most of the day the second week she’d been working with him. She pretended to take a picture, there was no point in drawing attention to them so close to the big event.
“Remember to act surprised,” she whispered turning back towards him to put her phone away. “Less than a minute now.”
