Darkest Day (21 page)

“Have you sat in that sucker yet?” I asked Caroline, pointing to her fully sequined blue mermaid dress. I couldn’t call it anything else since she could barely spread her legs apart to walk.

“No, and I’m not going to. I saved every bit of my allowance to buy this dress, and I am not going to waste one minute of showing it off.” She wiggled her hips, little tendrils of hair falling from her clasp.

“You look like a real girl tonight with your contacts instead of glasses.”

She backhanded my shoulder. “I always look like a girl.”

“Yeah, but I mean a real one. Like, not just a smarty pants.”

She snorted at me—an expression I realized she took from me. At the same time, her head drooped. “I miss Maddie, you know.”

“Sorry, you’re stuck with me.”

Caroline’s head whipped around. “I didn’t mean it like that.” One hand gripped my bicep.

I peeled it off banana-style. “I know.”

She turned away and wrapped her arms around herself. “This was something we talked about as kids. Like, when we were little, we planned every dance at every year right through to our weddings.”

I wouldn’t really say I understood since I couldn’t have cared less. Having lost Zoe, though, I figured Maddie’s disappearance from Caroline’s life hurt. “She’s going tonight, right? I thought Winn said he heard she and Ridge were … you know …”

Caroline spun to me, wobbling on giant heels. She grabbed the side of my wardrobe, righting herself. “Yeah, can you believe it? She hated that guy—I mean
hated
him—with passion.” Caroline made a first in the air. “Didn’t want anything to do with him with Senior projects, and now they seem … inseparable.” A small laugh left her. “I still can’t believe you yelled at her at Zoe’s funeral.”

I cringed. “I had a moment.”

“Yeah, you did.” She waved at me. “It was an emotional day. Anyway … tonight’s going to be so much fun.” With the soft chime of the doorbell through my house, Caroline’s eyes went from concerned to excited. “They’re here.” She shook her hands in the air and took off out of my room, as fast as two mostly-stuck-together feet could move.

“Ooh. Goodie,” I said and followed.

Walking down the stairs took more effort than it should have, but seeing Winn in his tux made me falter. Him in black made me want to jump him. Him in a tux made me want way more than I should have.

“Wow,” Pete said, and Caroline giggled as he put her corsage on her arm. She’d gone all girly the moment I told her Winn and I had decided to go to the prom.

“Whoa.” Winn’s gaze met mine and stayed with me as I continued down and reached the final step. He held out a hand as if I were some royal princess and needed his help to get down the stairs. “You’re gorgeous, Mac.”

“And I wasn’t before?” At his surprised-look, I punched him in the arm. “Kidding. Thanks.”

He held out the flower—the one Alina told me to tell Caroline to tell him to buy. One white orchid on a single silver strand that would loop around and up my arm.

“How the he—”

“Heck,” Caroline said.

“How do I put that on?”

“I’ll help.” Alina floated toward us, and a flash of light burst through the foyer.

“Whoa! No photos!” I said.

“Yes, photos!” Caroline grabbed my hand, slid hers behind me and said, “Smile, Mac!” At the same time, she pinched my side, in just the spot that made me laugh, and Alina gave me more spots in my eyes with another picture.

She wrapped the camera strap around her wrist and took the flower from Winn. In two quick moves, she tied the flower on me. “There.”

With the silver strings going up my arm, the flower almost seemed appropriate. “Thanks,” I said.

Alina leaned to my ear. “You are beautiful, Mackenzie. Lucas has promised to stay away tonight to ensure your friends are safe.” She pulled back but held me at arm’s length. “But he did want a photograph.” A tear built at the corner of her eye.

“Awe, your mom’s getting all weepy,” Caroline said.

Alina glided toward Caroline and laid a kiss on one cheek. “And you are beyond beautiful, Miss Caroline.”

The blush rose through her cheeks. “Thanks.” Her smile bloomed again and stayed.

“So … are we ready? Limo’s waiting,” Winn said.

“I am if you are,” I said.

He faced me for a second, unreadable expression in his eyes. “You already know I am.”

No way did he just mean the prom.

• • •

“
Disco? Seventies disco?” I asked as we stepped into a psychedelic room in a swath of colors, with at least three hundred other impeccably dressed teenagers.

“Yeah,” Caroline said. “That was the theme voted on by the senior class. You did vote, right?”

I scratched at my ear. “Um …”

“Well, then, you have no say.” She winked right before she and Pete walked away toward a big group of guys in tuxes and girls in a variety of colorful dresses.

“My dad wants a formal photo.” Winn tugged me in the opposite direction.

“Do we have to?” Even I realized my question came out a whine.

Winn laughed. “Yes. For him. For Zoe.”

With a head roll, I made my way to the massive line of couples all hanging onto one another. “We’re going to be here forever, you know.”

He slipped his hand behind my back and pulled me up against him.

With some unnatural instinct, my hands went to his chest as if to push him away but, instead, I grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him in, offering him a long, deep kiss.

“Ahem,” a voice said from behind Winn.

We separated—or our lips did.

Mr. C stood there, one eyebrow up. “That’s better.” He walked away as nonchalant as ever.

“There are rooms for that.” The voice, the one that grated on my every last nerve, came right behind Winn.

We both turned. “What do you want, Ridge?” Winn and I asked at the same time.

Ridge crooked a smile at me. “What’re you … twins? Separated at birth? Do you suck each other’s thumbs, too?” He laughed as his groupies joined him.

“And you need an entourage to go anywhere?” I craned my neck around Winn. “Where’s Maddie? She dump you already? Can’t keep a smart one for more than a day?”

Winn stepped between Ridge and me. “Just leave, man.”

“I have as much right to be here as you. In fact, I’m just holding this spot for when Maddie comes back from the restroom. She had to powder her nose, or some shit.”

A shiver went up my spine.

Ridge moved right behind us as two other Seniors, Amie and Sophie, showed up and linked their arms with Joe and John. “Where’s Maddie?” Ridge asked.

Amie rolled her overly-blue-eye-shadow-painted eyes. “She told us to go on without her.” Those same eyes turned toward me but changed from annoyed to friendly. “Hi, Mac.” She gave me a little wave. “Love the dress.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“I agree,” Sophie said. “That color is rockin’.”

My own smile won over the constant frown Ridge brought out.

“So … Mac. I heard about your sister. Really sorry.” Sophie touched a hand to my arm. “I lost my grandma last year, and she was really special. I know it’s not the same, but just wanted to tell you.”

Emotion caught in my throat and forced me to nod instead of talk.

“Enough of that crap.” Ridge spun around, rising up as if searching for Maddie. “Where is she? Why does it take you so long in the bathroom?” He directed that question toward Amie and Sophie.

“Get a grip, asshole.” Amie took Sophie by the arm and led her away. With a sheepish expression, Joe and John followed.

Ridge’s lips formed a circle, looking on the verge of releasing an expletive, when Maddie appeared from around the corner. Her silver shimmer of a dress floated along the floor, blue satin pumps peeking out with each step. Her hair had been put up with tendrils falling all around.

‘Ice queen’ came to mind, but since I’d promised Caroline, and I didn’t want to lower my standards to Ridge’s level, I didn’t say it out loud.

“Mac. Winn.” Maddie clipped her shoe-matching blue bag shut and slid her arm through Ridge’s bent one. “You’re looking lovely. The both of you.” She smiled, a grin that didn’t take her lips all the way up like when she’d been nice to me.

“You, too, Maddie. Nice dress.”

The smirky-grin remained. “Thanks.”

For some reason, I didn’t want to turn around and face the front. Not with Maddie right behind me. Backstabbing friends didn’t need the perfect target within their grasp.

The four of us stood there, frozen in line, obviously not wanting to move out of each other’s peripheral vision. Winn and I backed up. Maddie and Ridge moved forward. Step. Step. Step. Step. We’d smile in that polite ‘I-know-you-hate-this’ way and keep moving.

When we reached the front, Winn and I zipped our way to the disco-infused photographer’s setup, complete with black and white checkered floor and an array of silver and gold balloons, and turned toward each other. Our hands placed, we faced the camera and gave the fakest smiles ever until Mr. picture-taker-extraordinaire, who couldn’t have been any older than us, waved us off his set.

“Crisis averted,” I said when out of Maddie’s range.

“What?” Winn asked.

“Back there. With …
her
.”

“What about …
her
?”

“Come on, Winn. She’s up to something.”

We sat at a table by ourselves, away from the crowd. “She is not, Mac. She’s just being nice.”

“Tell me Ridge isn’t up to something.”

Winn’s mouth opened and closed.

“See?” I asked. “See?” I poked him in the shoulder. “If you think Ridge is up to something, then I can think Maddie is up to something. The question is what?”

“The question is, will you dance? Not what,” Winn said.

“Dance? Wait. You mean, I have to actually dance? But I got dressed up!”

Winn stood and held out a hand. “All the more reason to dance with me.”

Staring out into the sea of bodies, not only did I not want to dance, I didn’t want to dance around them. Let alone near them. By them. In the same room as them. “Isn’t it enough that I have this thing on, which, if Alina didn’t tape to my boobs, would be one mega wardrobe malfunction?”

He chuckled. I frowned.

“Remember the other party? Where Ridge somehow sent an electricity ball into my middle, and we never got to dance?” Winn asked.

I tapped my shoe on the floor. “That could happen again. And you didn’t want to dance then. We were just people watching.”

“Come on, Mac. One dance.”

I pointed out toward the jostling crowd. “Not like that.” Of course as soon as I said it, the DJ announced a change in tempo.

Winn laughed as he took my hand and pulled me to a stand. “Just one. Maybe two. You and me. It could be our last time.”

20

Winn

I didn’t know of a better way to dance with Mac than to sway, our hips against each other, her arms around my neck, mine at her waist. We did nothing but move back and forth, spinning just a tiny bit with each movement so our perspectives and view changed a little.

We talked. We kissed. I wondered if she could tell just how much she affected me in certain key areas. Rather than reach down and make adjustments, I dealt with it, waiting for the moment I could duck away from her.

One song led to a second. It seemed the DJ made a set of ballads, so our first dance didn’t also come as our last.

Mac smiled. She laughed. She kissed me back. She made me love her. I had no choice.

Around us, others did the same, bodies way too close, lips closer, rocking back and forth, side to side, the music a slow cadence of love-infused intimacy.

As song number three came to a close, the DJ announced the next set would ‘take it up a notch’ and, at the first loud twang of a bass guitar from a classic rock song like the ones my dad played, Mac and I separated, racing back to our table before the rest of the crowd took over all the good spots.

I hadn’t expected so many of ‘my kind’ of people to show up. Just like at the party Mac had thrown, the chess club, math club, glee club—members from all of them wore tuxes or dresses. None of them had the beauty Mac did, though. Not even Maddie.

Mac and I held hands under the table as I surveyed the dancers, and she speculated on Maddie. She and Ridge held center-stage for a while, dancing with their bodies sliding up and down each other. Mr. C even went so far as to tap Ridge on the shoulder and said something I couldn’t hear.

Hips continued bumping and grinding as the song suggested they should. Shouts and cat calls came from the more outgoing and probably drunk-despite-their-age people. Caroline and Pete walked by, giving us each a small wave. Other friends did the same, several suggesting we get out with the crowd and show off what we could do.

Our standard answer remained, “you first,” to which they’d smile and walk away.

“This is almost getting boring.” Mac sipped on punch Caroline brought over. Mac had sniffed it first, even going so far as to shift into a witch for a moment to make sure the punch didn’t have any extras inside it. Luckily, the body-change came more as a mental one than anything physical. I even suggested she stay in it because I knew she’d prefer to be ‘something supernatural’, but she’d said ‘no’, she wanted to be human. For me.

We watched in sweet silence for at least fifteen minutes until the DJ called out yet another couples dance and asked everyone to find a spot on the dance floor.

I looked to Mac. She turned to me. At the same time, we rose and made our way to the closest corner of the tiled square that took up eighty percent of the room.

Hands on hips. Hand around neck. Hips attached. Our positioning reconnected as if made to be there. Her fingers played at the back of my neck not helping the growing appendage I’d managed to resettle before. The song carried on, taking us around, one step at a time as Mac’s stomach grumbled.

We both laughed though her sound didn’t hit me as normal.

Beat.

Step.

Another rumble.

Beat.

Step.

Mac stiffened.

“What?”

She didn’t move. The brief sound of a sniff had my eyes darting toward her nose.