It was a little after 1:00 when we entered the restaurant across the parking lot. The place was slightly crowded with the late lunch crowd, but it wasn’t too bad, and we were able to be seated in a booth right away. I slid in on the closest side quickly so I wouldn’t be forced to choose between sitting next to Melanie or sitting next to Raven. It made sense that either one of them would prefer to sit next to me, since they were both here because they were my friends, but I wouldn’t like to have to choose between them. Raven sat down next to me, and Melanie sat across from us. We decided to put the dress bags in the spot next to her.
Sam’s demeanor hadn’t changed much while we were shopping, unfortunately. I held my dress on my lap, my bag full of accessories and the shoe box by my feet. He was mostly silent, not asking us about how it had gone or anything else that would’ve made for polite conversation. I asked him where he’d gone, and he said a restaurant down the street. I asked him what he’d eaten, and he said, “Food.” That was about the extent of our discussion.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked Brice. I kept my tone in check. I wasn’t demanding or even rude, despite my choice of curse words, just inquisitive.He half shrugged as he leaned against the tree. “You brought a new wolf into our forest, and I wanted to know who it was.”
“What’s going on?” Ben asked me, his forehead furrowed as his eye locked on the area of the forest where Brice had just disappeared. “Why was Brice here?”I stood up and walked to Ben’s side, my hand on his arm to calm him. “He just came to see who the new wolf in the woods was.” It sounded like a legitimate explanation for B
Ben insisted on driving Melanie most of the way up the drive to Mr. Hudson’s house. With every inch he crept closer to the house itself, she grew more and more nervous until he finally stopped and let her out about half a football field from her front door, his truck obscured by heavy trees so that Mr. Hudson wouldn’t be able to see us, though it might be possible he could hear the engine if he happened to be outside. I was hoping he wasn’t even home, for Melanie’s sake, but if he was still out with his friends, that would make it one hell of a long day for an old man.
The weekend flew by, and before I’d blinked, I was back at school. I figured every day at school would drag, not only because it was my senior year and so many of my classes included people I didn’t want to speak to, but because I was looking forward to Friday night and the dance. Every time anyone even mentioned the dance, Sam got a smirk on his face, and Ben got a sour look, like he was sucking on a lemon and didn’t want to admit it was too much for him to handle. I considered trading the dress out after all, even though Ben said it didn’t bother him, but I decided I needed these two fellows to be honest with me. If they were going to tell me something didn&r
Normally, I get to drama class before Brice. I sit in the same chair nearly every day, on the end, so I don’t have to worry about more than one person sitting next to me, in the middle row, so that I’m not right in front of Ms. Piper. This time, I hesitated in the hallway, waiting for most of the other kids to go in first. I knew no one would take my usual seat because everyone essentially sat in the same place every day. Not that we were assigned specific chairs, but we were mostly creatures of habit. Brice was the only one who sat wherever he wanted to on any given day. Last week, the first week of school, he’d sat by me more often than I’d liked. This week,
I was going to a dance! With a boy--with a hot boy! With, dare I say, a man. Wasn’t Ben more or less a man? I mean, he was a senior in high school. He was almost eighteen. He lived without parental supervision. Yes, I thought that counted. I was going to a dance with a man, and I was so excited, I could hardly think straight.By the time we got home from school that
I felt like a princess when I walked down the stairs, wearing my new dress, my new heels, my new accessories, and Ben was standing at the bottom, looking like a movie star, a corsage box in his hand, staring up at me. It really was a moment out of a movie, I think. Maybe Titanic, when Jack is waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Rose, and he kisses her hand and says he’s always wanted to do that. It was kind of like that--but Ben looked so much hotter than Leo, no offense, and I didn’t feel as if we were standing on a sinking ship. No, I felt like we were getting ready to take off and soar through the air, like two birds in flight.