Soon enough it was Friday evening and I was standing in the entryway of Autumn’s home. She was running late—no surprise there. I knew she already had her semi formal dress on, but Autumn was applying the finishing touches to her makeup, and that can take forever. She’s the kind of girl that has to look perfect no matter what. I never cared about all of the glamour and dressing up all fancy. None of that really interested me. Yes these school events can be fun, but dear lord why did they have to make us dress up for them?
Finally I heard Autumn running down the stairs and soon enough she was standing in front of me.
“How do I look, Grace? Please be honest.” I took in her appearance. The satin dress she wore was short and sleeveless—typical of Autumn. There were a few small white polka dots down near the bottom of the dress, but the remainder of her outfit was a gorgeous royal blue color—which matched her eyes perfectly.
Compared to my relatively simple, dark purple gown, she looked ten times better than I did. And honestly it didn’t matter to me. I’m fine with the way I am.
I smiled. “Autumn I love it. This definitely looks fantastic on you. Nick is going to be sorry for turning you down. He is definitely missing out.” I raised my hand up and gave her a high five.
“Thanks girl. Now let’s get going!” We both giggled and headed out the door to my car.
——————————————————-
The event was being held at the high school’s gymnasium. Our town was so small that there isn’t a hotel ballroom we could rent out for a few hours, so the biggest available space was the high school gym. It was only a semi formal dance anyways-not like it was prom.
After finding a parking space we headed inside. I was a little nervous, big events like these weren’t my cup of tea. At least I had Autumn here with me, and I’m sure some of our other friends will be here as well. Shit, I realized I never actually asked them if they were coming tonight. I hope that didn’t make me a bad friend. Oh well.
When we walked inside I noticed how poorly decorated the gym was. There were some string lights here and there along the walls, but other than that it was pretty bland. I was happy to see that they at least had some a few chairs and tables near the back corner where the food was. Having food is always a perk.
“Hey have you heard from Katy yet? I texted her earlier asking if she was still coming but she never replied.” Autumn asked.
Oh crap, I guess I should tell her the truth about me not even asking Katy about the semi formal.
“I actually didn’t mention the semi formal to her. It kind of slipped my mind when I was talking to her the other day. So I haven’t texted her this evening either, sorry Autumn.” Part of me felt bad, but at the same time did it really matter to me whether or not Katy was coming tonight? No, not really. I guess I am a shitty friend.
“Okay, that’s fine. It’s not your responsibility to keep track of her life anyways. Don’t worry about it, I’m sure she will arrive fashionably late.” Autumn joked.
I laughed. “You’re probably right. I hope she does show up though. It would be fun to have us all together.” I was sincere about that. Even though the three of us still spent time together outside of school, our lives had gotten so busy with homework and Katy’s extracurricular sports activities. So that made planning our get together more difficult.
“Well, let’s go get some food and sit and wait for some others to show up.” I nodded and followed her to the food bar.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting and people watching, we saw Katy walk through the door. Autumn jumped up and ran over to her. I followed, but not as quickly.
“Hey guys!” Katy said with excitement. “Sorry I’m late. I couldn’t decide on what to wear tonight and I lost track of time. Silly me.”
Autumn giggled. “It’s okay girl, just glad you’re here. Now, let’s dance!” She grabbed mine and Katy’s arm and dragged us to where all of the other students were dancing.
I hated dancing. I was bad at it and had no idea how to actually dance. So, naturally I decided to just sway to the music and jump up and down when a song I actually liked came on the speakers.
We danced for at least half an hour before we all got tired. We took a break for a little bit and then once again Autumn dragged us back onto the dance floor. We were laughing and having so much fun. Overall I’m glad that I decided to come with Autumn tonight. This was much better than being stuck at home, having nothing to do, and hearing voices. Oh goodness I didn’t even want to think about that right now. Good going Grace.
Suddenly I noticed that I had been shoved into someone—it was bound to happen at a high school dance—and I started falling to the ground. But before I was about to hit the floor, a strong pair of hands caught me.
Thank goodness, that was close. They raised me back up and I quickly turned away from them—saving myself from the embarrassment. Crap, I really should thank them though. It would be rude of me not to. I let out a sigh and turned to face my savior.
“Thanks for catching me. That was really..” but I stopped mid sentence. The person I was now facing left me breathless.
I let my voice speak in a whisper. “Malum?...”
The golden eyes of the boy who broke my heart stared back at me. “Hi Grace.”
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