Parker and I decided to sit in the hallway and talk. I hadn’t seen Claire or Jake try to find me, and Justin was nowhere in sight. Really, the night was nowhere near how it was planned, except for Parker being here with me. I enjoyed his company, and if he wasn’t here then I would be alone. 

I heard the DJ muffle through the beats in the gym.

“This is going to be the second to last slow dance everyone! Grab those partners and have the night to remember,” he said and the music softened in the gym, and so did the strobe lights. 

I grabbed Parker’s wrist and stood up. 

“Come on,” I said suddenly. I wasn’t hard on him, just only a small tug. Parker sighed and pulled his tall figure up and then followed me in the gym. “Let’s have a dance.”

“Oh, seriously?” Parker sighed. I giggled and dragged him to the back of the dance floor, where no one was. I thought it would help at least, to make him not as awkward. 

“Have you slow danced before?”

“Yes,” he laughed and looked down at me. 

“Alright, then it’ll be easy!” I said and suddenly realized that Parker was tall compared to my height. I had to almost get on the tip of my toes to set my hands on his shoulders, and luckily he slouched a little to reach my hips. Parker didn’t rest his hands on my hips, he rested them on the sides of my ribs. I wasn’t sure if it was easier to reach or if he was just being kind about my personal space. Though, let’s be real, I wish he would set his hands on my hips, they were big enough to hold them perfectly.

We stepped side to side and looked at each other for a second, and then looked away. It was somewhat awkward… I felt bad, I was being very impulsive and it led to these moments. Typically I was one to plan things out, but typically that was with someone who was on the same page as my feelings. I couldn’t tell if Parker liked me or not. I was afraid to ask and hear him say no. 

I enjoyed the moment I had that went somewhat right tonight. Everything else was shit, but this was something to remember. Parker’s hands around me as we slow danced together. That was something to remember. 

The song ended and Parker’s hands lifted off of me. He yawned and stretched some. 

“Surprised to say, but it’s getting somewhat late…”

“Yeah,” I pulled out my phone to see it was close to ten. “Oh, not too late. I see why you’re surprised, haha.”

“Yeah,” Parker said and began walking out into the hallway.

The dance ended at eleven. I didn’t realize how tired and done I was with the night, and so was Parker. I pulled out my phone and texted my dad to come pick me up, but there wasn’t a response or even a read left on my text. My eyebrows creased and I became worried. 

“What’s wrong?” Parker asked, noticing my slight distress.   

 “My dad isn’t responding to me,” I answered and bit my lower lip. Dad always responds…

“Did he fall asleep?”

“No, he said he would drive me here and back tonight. He knew to be awake to pick me up.”

“Well, catch a ride with someone else then.”

“No one is talking to me,” I muttered and pulled up my dad’s number. I dialed, it rang, and eventually went to voicemail. I tried again, and again, and still nothing. “What the hell?” 

“Is this something your dad would do?”

“No, it’s not. I’m gonna get in trouble.”

“For your dad not coming to pick you up as promised?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed and shoved my phone back into my pocket. 

“How far away do you live?”

“Not far, by car…”

“Well, maybe you could walk home?”

“At eleven o’clock at night? Alone? Being a teenage girl? No fucking way,” I began to raise my voice. I was frustrated and scared. Parker held up his hands. 

“Easy, calm down. I’ll walk home with you,” he offered. I calmed down instantly when those words came out of his mouth. 

“What? You’d do that for me?”

“Sure, I don’t blame you for not wanting to walk home alone at night. If it’s not terribly far, let’s go now.”

“It’s gonna be so cold.”

“Wear my jacket again, I won’t mind. I can tolerate the cold.”

“I feel bad though.”

“Don’t like handouts either, huh?” He chuckled.

“Oh shush!” I laughed and took his jacket. He smirked and then we began heading out. 

It was dark in the neighborhoods, and only when we got to busier streets could we see with the street lights. Parker and I walked close to one another. I wish I was holding his hand so I would feel safer, but that risked rejection. Again, I don’t know how he felt about me. We slow danced, but did that mean anything to him? 

We continued to talk to pass the time.

“Are you going to be fine going home on your own?”

“Yeah, I should be,” he muttered with a dread in his tone.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound too happy about it?” I wondered why, but he told me he didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to, I cared and wished I could help, but it was hard to respect his wishes as much as my curiosity ate at me. 

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. I’m here if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” he simply said and we then walked in silence for thirty minutes.

We approached my house. My neighborhood was lit since it was heavily populated and on a main road. I noticed my dad’s car was in the driveway, and one light was on in the living room window. 

“What the heck dad?” I hissed as I pulled out my house key. 

“This is your place?” Parker asked as he admired my basic suburban home.

“Yeah,” I said and dangled the keys by my face.

“Looks nice, especially the neighborhood.”

“It is, lot of families here. They’re all nice, even Justin lives down the street from me.”

“My neighborhood is shitty,” he grumbled lightly. “But this is nice.”

“Well, thank you for walking me home. It means a lot to me,” I said and faced Parker.

“No problem,” he returned and stood close to me. 

We both were awkward just facing one another, but we locked eyes. I couldn’t tell if this was it, Parker’s move? He smiled and I just went for it. I jumped up on my toes and pecked him on the lips. They were warm and plumpy, despite his lips appearing small and thin. There was some pressure back, but I couldn’t stand on my toes for very long. I retracted and blushed, but was blinded by lights.

I turned my attention to the car pulling up on the street. I realized it was my mom’s car. My heart dropped. She quickly got out of the car and slammed the door shut.

“Kim?” She called out. “Kim what are you doing!” She marched up the driveway.

“Who’s that?” Parker asked.

“My mom,” I said and quickly took off his jacket and shoved it into his chest. Parker looked confused as the blood dropped from my face.

“Who is this boy? Why are you kissing him!”

“Umm, hi,” Parker said as my mom approached both of us. “I’m Parker.”

“I didn’t ask you,” my mom said and then glared at me. 

“Okay then, I’ll just go,” Parker said and waved at me before walking away. That was it. He didn’t say or do anything after kissing - thanks to my mom… I got mad.

“Mom,” I began, but she cut me off.

“What the hell Kim? Why is there a guy at our house this late and kissing you? How dare you!” She grabbed my arm and pulled back instantly. “Why are you so cold! And why do you smell like -” she leaned in and sniffed me, “smoke?” She stood up straight and exclaimed. “Have you been smoking cigarettes!” 

“Dad didn’t answer my calls to pick me up! Parker walked me home, and Parker smokes, but I didn’t so -”

“What! Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I didn’t want to bother you! The plan was for dad to drive me home! You had dinner with your boss and I didn’t want to disrupt that!”

“I don’t care what happened, you always call me and you tell me what is happening. You could have texted me that you had to walk home, or waited for me to respond to you! You broke the rules! And especially having a boy over this late at night? What the -”

“Dad broke the rule!” I screamed back suddenly. “I had to walk home at night! If Parker hadn’t gone with me then I would have been alone!”

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me!” My mom shouted back. She grabbed my arm again and took me inside. 

When we opened the front door, the living room TV was on, the one light I saw through the window. Dad was asleep on the couch, and half a liquor bottle was drunk. My mom’s purse fell on the ground and she marched over to dad. She grabbed a pillow and slapped him across the head. 

“George!” She screamed. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

“What,” he growled and limply pulled himself upward. 

“You were supposed to pick up Kim from the dance! Where the hell did you get this!” She grabbed the bottle and shook it in front of dad's face. 

“Mom,” I said with a worried tone. 

“Go to your room. You are grounded!”

“But -”

“GO!” 

I ran up the stairs and into my room. I began to cry lightly as I listened to mom scream her head off at dad. I hadn’t seen him drink before. Mom banned it in the house for whatever reason. I ripped my dress off and scrubbed my makeup off my eyes and crawled into bed with only my undies on. I buried my head under my pillow, curled into a fetal position, and regretted the entire night. The only thing that felt comforting was smelling the slightest bit of cigarettes on me from Parker’s jacket.

Nothing was what I wanted. I didn’t get to hang out with my friends, I didn’t slow dance or kiss Parker, and I got in trouble over dad not picking me up as he planned. 

Why? Why is all of this my fault? 

I should have bought the dress Claire wanted, I shouldn’t have invited Parker in the first place despite my desires, and dad shouldn’t have drank and fucking picked me up. If only…

I wish I never had gone to that fucking dance, I thought and began to cry myself to sleep.