I stared at myself in my bathroom mirror. I wore my dress, and I loved it! It complimented my slim figure so well. It was a great length that I showed some legs but nothing short enough to bend over and show my ass. I put on mascara and foundation, and that was it. I didn’t do eyeshadow, eyeliner, or lipstick, it was too much for such a dark dance. I debated putting on a necklace, but I chose not to. 

I exited the bathroom and walked to the front door, where my dad was waiting patiently. He smiled and pulled out his phone and aimed it at me.

“Let me get a photo!” he said and the camera flashed.

“Dad,” I whined.

“My goodness you’ve grown up,” he sighed and slipped his phone into his back pocket. “Ready to go?” 

“Yep,” I said and grabbed a tiny purse off of the coat rack by our door. Inside was my house key, my ticket, and my school ID.

My mom had dinner with friends, so dad was left to be my uber for the night. We agreed that I would let him know when I was ready to be picked up, and it was a rule that only dad would drive me to the dance and back home. I wasn’t allowed to leave the dance with anyone else or the dance in general.

The dance started at seven. My friends suggested that we arrived an hour late so the line into the building had died off. It was almost winter and already it was noticeably cold. I didn’t think to bring a small jacket, especially since the school didn’t have anywhere to place them. The dance was held in the gym and only the gym, no one could wander off anywhere else in the school. 

When dad pulled up to the side of the gym, where a small entrance was decorated and teachers were letting students in, he gave me a quick hug and I was off. I whipped my phone out to see Claire and Jake texted they were inside the doors already. Justin was still on his way. 

I gave the teacher at the door my ticket and ID, they checked the sheet, and let me inside. I walked down the hallway leading to the gym, everything had been decorated blue, gold, and white. There were balloons, ribbon hanging from the ceiling, and a small station of water and snacks. The sign said one per person.

Jake and Claire were right next to the doorway to the gym, where the music was pounding from and lights were flickering in the darkness. Claire was wearing a homecoming queen stash and a tiara, and Jake was wearing a homecoming king stash and a crown. They were cute. Claire in her maroon sparkly dress that dragged on the ground and Jake in a full tux. All the rest of the people around were wearing short dresses and formal button down shirts. 

Claire glared at me and her jaw dropped and her face reddened.

“That’s not the dress you were going to get!” She exclaimed abruptly.

“I wanted it!”

“Looks good to me,” Jake said and Claire rolled her eyes.

“We planned on the long sparkly dresses!” 

“We can do that for prom!” I shouted as I realized the music was getting louder by the second. Claire crossed her arms and pouted. “This wasn’t what we planned.”

“I want to have fun too,” I moaned. “I tried that dress and it didn’t fit me right and I didn’t like it.”

“I’m not comfy in this!” She said and pulled up her dress on her chest. It was strapless, only relying on her boobs to stay up. They were big but still, the dress kept slipping on her. “Pretty isn’t always comfy!” 

“This is pretty,” I said and gestured to my dress.

“You look like you’re going to a funeral,” she snapped back.

Jake stood quietly as he watched both of us argue. He knew better to keep his mouth shut, otherwise Claire would threaten to break up with him, again.

“Hey!” Justin’s voice shouted behind me. I turned and saw him in a simple black button shirt and slacks. He looked good.

“What the hell!” Claire shouted.

“What?” Justin said and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Where is your tux?”

“Don’t have one, sweetie,” Justin smirked. 

“Justin!”

“You guys match and so do we,” he said and wrapped his arm around my waist. Justin pulled me in and we both smiled at Claire. “Relax, Claire. Jeeze! It’s homecoming, we’re dressed up and ready to dance!”

“We were supposed to all be wearing matching sets! This isn’t what I want!”

“What about what we want?” Justin hissed and held out his hand in confusion. “This is our experience, right?”

“Whatever,” Claire said and stormed into the gym.

“Bitch,” Justin muttered.

“I’ll go find her,” Jake sighed and dragged his feet into the gym. 

“Justin, what the fuck,” I said and pushed him off of me.

“What? You think I would let you be the only one ruining Claire’s plans tonight?”

“I didn’t think -”

“You’re my bestie. We stick together, even if it means we break the rules together. Now, a guy has my name on his lips, so I am going to go find him,” he said and gave me a kiss on the cheek and darted into the gym. 

I laughed and rolled my eyes, but found I was left alone. Claire wasn’t going to want to dance with me, Jake was too busy kissing Claire’s ass, and Justin was finding some guy to stick his tongue in his mouth. I was left on my own.

Already, homecoming wasn’t going the way I expected, even with Parker not here. If I had gotten the dress Claire wanted me to get, I wonder if it would have gone better. I knew it wouldn’t have, because my plan was for Parker to be here. I didn’t receive a message from Parker that he was coming. I thought he would have, but there wasn’t anything. 

I entered the gym and in the center right at the entryway was the DJ. Top hits that were censored were blaring in the dozen sets of speakers all throughout the gym. There were strobe lights and tables set up in the very back. A white tarp was draped all on the floor to protect it. A mob was before the DJ and everyone was dancing and couples were grinding. I wish I had someone to grind my ass into them on the dance floor with the rest of everyone, but I didn’t.

I stood on the side and watched as everyone danced, including Justin who had hounded one of the recent gay guys to come out of the closet. He was cute and totally Justin’s type. Claire and Jake were sitting at the back tables and talking. I knew I wasn’t welcome to approach them, not unless Claire was the one to approach me. 

I stood brooding. Honestly, I shouldn’t have bought the ticket and stayed home. Let Claire be upset that I just didn’t show up because of not buying a ticket, but then she would have known it was because of not allowing Parker to come with us and she wouldn’t let me go on that one. Mom would have also complained about me not going. I don’t think there was going to be a good outcome on this night, ever. 

“A night to remember, huh?” A voice shouted beside me, but it wasn’t louder than the music. 

“Yeah,” I sighed and turned to see a leather jacket. I turned my head up more and saw Parker. His scruff was there, again, and he was in a simple black shirt and nicer jeans. Of course, he had his signature jacket. “Parker!”

“Sorry, kinda showed up at the last minute.”

“You’re good! I - uh - didn’t get a message from you saying you were coming! I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Neither was I. Let’s just say, I don’t want to be home right now,” he sighed and rolled his eyes. “So, here I am.”

“Oh, what’s going on?”

“Don’t want to talk about it. So, where are your friends?”

“Claire is throwing a fit over my dress in the back and Justin is grinding on some guy,” I said flatley.

“What’s wrong with your dress?” He asked and looked me up and down. My face flushed red and I stuttered. 

“It’s not the dress she picked out for me.”

“That sounds dumb.”

“It is.”

“Is it what you wanted to wear?”

“Yep!” I said and slid my hands down my sides to feel the smoothness of the silk fabric. 

“Looks good,” he said and smiled. 

“Thank you. You look good too.”

“It’s what I typically wear.”

“And it looks good on you,” I repeated. “It’s your style. I wouldn’t see you in anything else.”

“Thanks.” Parker scratched the back of his head and I barely noticed him blushing due to the poor lighting of the room, but I saw a glimpse in the strobe light. “So, what do people typically do at dances besides just dancing for four hours?”

“I mean, there’s those snacks out in the hall you could get, but really you just hang out and have fun with your friends.”

“Hmmm,” he hummed loudly and scratched his chin. “It’s really loud and hot in here,” he said and slipped his jacket off. He was wearing a T-shirt. Not a long sleeve like most of the guys wore tonight. I stared at his arms for a long moment, thinking about how it would feel if they wrapped around me. The warm embrace.

“Do you like dancing?”

“No, and I don’t know how.”

“Do you want to? Don’t have to be good at it, just do whatever to have fun.”

“I’m okay,” he said and held his jacket in his arms. “I’m good with just hanging out over here.”

“Oh, okay,” I said and leaned back against the wall with him.

Parker and I talked for a while. We both eventually slid down and sat on the floor. It was awkward for me because I couldn’t sit criss-crossed, so I sat with my legs out and crossed over my knees. We talked about artwork and video games. Parker showed me artwork of his favorite video games and I really liked them, and I tried my best to engage with games, but I really didn’t know anything about them. But, I listened. I really liked hearing him talk passionately about PCs and building one, and he really enjoyed being able to talk about it.

Parker eventually pushed himself up and pulled out his pack and gestured at me that he was gonna head outside to smoke. I chose to join him, since I didn’t want to be alone. No one else was going to keep me company.

We stepped outside and I began to shiver instantly. I was showing a lot of skin. Parker lit his cigarette and took a puff. We stood far out in the parking lot so we didn’t bother the teachers at the door. He turned and noticed me shivering.

“Here,” he said and handed me his leather jacket. “Why didn’t you bring a coat?”

“I forgot.”

“You’ve lived in Colorado for how long? You know it gets cold as hell in this region.”

“I know,” I shrugged and draped his jacket on me. It was really worn. The lining inside was torn or really thin. It smelled like cigarette ashes and cologne. I liked it though. I stared at Parker as he smoked. The light on the tip glowing, the smoke coming out mixing with his breath freezing in the crisp air. “What’s it like?”

“What?”

“Smoking?”

“Oh,” he said and faced me. “It’s like you feel really stressed and irritated. You take a deep breath in, it warms and settles down that irritation. When you breathe out, it’s satisfying.”

“Weird,” I said and squinted. “It’s like, really addictive and unhealthy for you, but it makes you feel good.”

“Yeah, it sure as hell does that. It’s why it’s bad, it feels good despite it slowly killing you.”

“Why do you do it then? Why do you use it despite knowing the consequences?”

“I’m gonna die anyways, why not live how I want to?” Parker simply said.

My eyebrows narrowed down as it confused me, not understanding living in pain but doing what you wanted to. It didn’t click with me.

“Can I try?” I suddenly blurted out.

“What?” Parker’s eyes widened. “Why would you want to try this?”

“Because I want to experience it.”

“No,” he laughed.

“What! Why! You’re doing it! Why can’t I?”

“It’s not good for you.”

“Well it’s not good for you either and yet you’re doing it!”

“Pffft,” he sighed and shook his head. “Trust me, you wouldn’t like it.”

“Fine,” I grumbled and pouted. 

I saw Parker still smile as he held the cigarette and flicked it until it wasn’t lit anymore. I didn’t want to try it for Parker, I wanted to try it myself. I really didn’t experience much in life and suddenly, being around Parker, I wanted to.