Last Train Home (24 page)

“So, your parents aren’t here?” I asked, looking around the room as if I expected one of them to walk in any minute.

“Nope.
  They won’t be home till tomorrow,” he said softly and looking at me deeply with those dark brown eyes of his.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.  They went to the casino down in Oklahoma for the night.”

I just nodded and smiled
, knowing we had the entire place to ourselves.  I felt myself relax knowing we wouldn’t be getting fawned all over by Clarice. 

“This is really nice, Alex,” I said
softly.

“I told you I
wanted tonight to be special.”

“This all just seems like so much work.  You didn’t need to go to all this trouble.  We could’ve gone out.”

“Yeah, like everyone else. How cliché is that?  It was no trouble, Riley.  I wanted to do it.”

“Well, it was really nice of you.  I’ve never had anyone do something so
special for me.”

“That’s because you’ve never met anyone like me, and I happen
to think you’re pretty special.  I told you I wanted tonight to be unforgettable and I plan on making that happen.”

****

When we pulled into the parking lot of the school, it was already packed.  Dinner had been delicious and I was still surprised at all the effort he’d put into getting the night off to such a romantic start. 

“Wait right here,” he said when he turned off the ignition.  He jumped out of the car and was opening my door a second later.  He offered his hand to me and I stepped out, feeling very much like a princess.  He was definitely laying the charm on thick tonight.

“What’s going on with you?” I asked suspiciously.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re…I mean…you’re being such a…gentleman.”

“Have
you doubted my chivalry?”

“Not really…” I
replied before he interrupted.

“
Like I said, I just want tonight to be unforgettable.” He smiled and then pulled me to him.  He stroked my cheek and then gently pressed his lips to mine for a moment before releasing me. “We should go in,” he whispered.

“Yeah, we should,” I said and I could’ve sworn my h
ead was spinning from the kiss.

He took my hand and we walked toward the old maroon double doors, that didn’t look nearly as bad in the darkness.  He held the doors open for me and we stepped into the hallway.  There were a few couples walking aroun
d and I could hear music pulsating from the gym.  Alex reached into his pocket and took out our tickets and handed them to Mrs. Davenport, who was sitting at a table by the door.  She was wearing a long green dress and her hair was pulled up.  I thought she looked pretty, for a teacher at least.

“Alex.  Riley,” she said with a smile as she took the
tickets. “You guys look great.”

“Thanks,” we
both seemed to say in unison. 

“I love your dress
, Riley.  You look beautiful,” she said and I felt Alex gently squeeze my hand.

“Thanks
, Mrs. Davenport.  You look really nice too,” I told her and her lips curled up in a shy smile.

“Yeah, you do.  You’re definitely the hottest teacher here,” Alex agreed and I turned to look at him, shocked at what he’d just said. 

“Alex,” Mrs. Davenport said with a warning to her voice. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

I could tell she was trying not to react to his compliment, but I knew it made her feel good.  She may be an adult, but there was
no denying that Alex was gorgeous, and only a couple of months shy of being legal.

“Sorry,” he said, but I knew he didn’t mean i
t and she just rolled her eyes.

“Have
fun,” she said as we walked past her into the dark gym.

Strobe lights were flashing and the music was almost
deafening.  The gym was nearly unrecognizable and I had to give the Homecoming Committee credit for transforming the dismal dungeon into something somewhat presentable.

“I can’t believe you said that to Mrs. Davenport!” I exclaimed when we were far enough away that I knew she wouldn’t hear me.

“Oh, come on.  You know she loved it,” he said, laughing.

“She’s our teacher
!  Totally inappropriate!”

“I brought some joy
to her otherwise dismal life.”

“Mrs. D
avenport’s life is not dismal.”

“Of course it is.  She lives in
Carver and teaches us jackasses every day.  That is the definition of dismal.”

“Whatever
, Alex,” I said, continuing to laugh as we walked further into the gym. 

I looked around for any sign of my friends.  I figured they’d be here by now, but I had yet to see any sign of them.  I did, however, notice Adrienne almost immediately.  S
he had ended up going with Charlie and I watched as she gyrated disgustingly against him in her skimpy, skin tight pink dress, with her crown perched perfectly atop her frizzy blonde hair.  The dress was strapless and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how she was keeping it on.  Her boobs looked like they were about ready to spill over like a pot of boiling water.  I had to laugh to myself though when I noticed Charlie’s eyes never left her chest, which was bouncing up and down like two trampolines. 

“I see you’ve noticed too,” he chuckled, ges
turing toward Adrienne and Charlie.

“How could I not?”

“Yeah, those things are kinda hard to miss.”

“Charlie
looks pretty happy though.”

“He’s been trying to hit that for years.  Maybe to
night will be his lucky night.”

“Do you have to be so crude?  I don’t need that picture in my head, thank you,” I said, but he just laughed. “I hate to admit it, but she is pretty.”

He gently touched my forearm and turned me to face him.  He looked even more gorgeous in the darkness.  The lights caused shadows to dance around his face in all the right places.

“She’s nothing compared to you,” he said
, looking at me seriously, but I lowered my eyes.  “She looks like she belongs on a pole, because that’s the type of girl she is.”

“That’s not
what you used to think,” I said.  Even though I’d never really been the jealous type, I still had a hard time accepting he’d dated Adrienne and did God knows what with her. 

“I was stupid.”

“Yeah, you were,” I said, grinning playfully to him.

“She could never compete with you,” he said softly as he reached up and gently touched my hair, causing goosebumps to explode on my neck
as his fingers brushed over it. 

The music faded just then and was replaced by a slow country song that I, of course, didn’t recognize. 

“Wanna dance?” he asked and I nodded. 

He took my hand and led me out to the dance floor.  I wrapped my arms around Alex’s neck, while he slid his around my waist.  I’d never considered myself a good dancer, but I easily followed Alex’s lead.  As we swayed to the music, I’d forgotten how romantic dancing could be.  I hadn’t danced with anyone since Brody at our prom last year.  I’d dated Brody for a nearly a year, and I thought I was into him, but as I danced with Alex, I confirmed my feelings for Brody were nothing compared to how I felt about Alex. 

When the song ended and was replaced by a fast-paced rock number, he leaned down and kissed me softly before leading me off the dance floor.  We walked over to the refreshment table where we each got a glass of punch.

“I feel like I’m in fifth grade,” he laughed
, taking a swig. “If we can’t have booze, couldn’t we at least have pop?”

I started laughing and
he looked over at me curiously.

“What’s so funny?” he asked me.

“Did you just say pop?”

“Yeah, I said po
p.  What’s so funny about pop?”

“It’s soda, not pop,” I said
, continuing to laugh.

“No, Riley, it’s pop.”

“It’s definitely soda.”

“Maybe where you come from, but here, in Kansas,
it’s pop.  And I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you’re in Kansas now,” he said, staring over at me with big goofy eyes, which caused me to laugh even harder.

“Don’t remind me,” I sighed
, taking the last drink of my punch and throwing the plastic cup in the garbage.

“You know you love it here,” he said
, reaching over and pulling me to him.  He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, basically pinning me against his body.  “If you were still in Boston, you wouldn’t have me and what kind of life would that be?”

“It’d be a fabulo
us life,” I shot back jokingly.

“Riley
Regas, you know you adore me,” he said as he began planting tiny pecks all over my face, causing me to burst out in hysterics as I tried freeing myself from him, but he just continued.

“Riley!  Alex!” Mandy’s voice called out over the music, which was definitely a feat considering how loud it was.  Alex’s grip around my waist loosened, but I still stood in his embrace as we both turned to where Mandy’s voice was coming from.  She was practically bounding toward us, with the rest of our group trailing behind. 

“Hey!” I said as she stood in front of us. “You look great,” I told her admiring her sleeveless black dress and her blonde hair, which was pulled up into a French twist.

“Oh
my gosh!  Thank you!” Her excitement was almost uncontainable, which was often the case with Mandy. “You look amazing, Riley!  And Alex…well, you always look good,” she said and then her hand flew over her mouth, obviously stunned at what she had just said.

“Thank you
, Mandy,” Alex said, but I could see a smug smile on his face as a result of Mandy’s compliment.

The rest of the group joined us a moment later and I looked around at each othe
r them.  Everyone looked nice, but my eyes were drawn to Jesse.  He looked handsome in a black suit with a maroon button-up shirt underneath the jacket.  It was such a different look than his usual jeans and t-shirts, I almost forgot for a second how country he was and I felt a smile spread across my face looking at him.

“Have you gu
ys been here long?” Laura asked me a moment later, bringing me out of my reverie. 

“Not too long.  We’ve
just had one dance,” I answered.

“We would’ve gotten here sooner, but we ran into some traffic on the turnpike,” Holly chimed in.

“How was dinner?” I asked to no one in particular. 

“It was great!” Mandy said, her excitement still brimm
ing. “We went to this great little Italian place.”

“Where’d you guys go?” Laura asked
me.

I looked up at Alex a
nd he was still smiling smugly.

“We had dinner at Alex’s house with candlelight and lasagna and tiramisu for dessert,” I said
, knowing I was babbling on like an idiot.

“Really?”
Mandy gasped. “That’s so romantic.  You’re so romantic, Alex.  You’re so lucky, Riley.”

I noticed Jesse reach over and lightly touch her arm and she stopped talking.  To be honest, it was kind of embarrassing how she gushed over Alex and me. 

“We were gonna get our pictures done.  You guys wanna join us?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I answered.  Alex released his grip on my waist and we took hands and followed the group into the band room where the photographers were s
et up.  Alex and I got a couples shot, as did everyone else and then we got a group photograph.  I smiled with a hint of satisfaction at the fact that even though Alex hadn’t really wanted to go with my friends, we had ended up merging into a group.

After the pictures, we returned to the dance floor.  We all went out during a fast song and somehow I let go of my reservations about my dancing.  I was having so much fun as I just let go and danced with Alex.  My friends all seemed to be enjoying themselves too.  The fast dances were fun, but I loved the slow dances even more.  Alex would hold me tight and it felt as if the whole world vanished for those few minutes. 

“Mind if I run off to the bathroom real quick?” he asked after one of those dances. 

“Sure, go ahead.  I’ll go get something to drink,” I said as we walked off the dance floor together. 

Alex left the gym, leaving me alone near the refreshments.  I stood awkwardly, like the girl who’d come stag and was praying for someone to ask her to dance.  I grabbed another cup of punch and waited for Alex.

“Having fun?” a voice said and I turned to see
Jesse standing next to me.

“Yeah, I
am.  What about you?”

“Yeah, it’s not too bad.”

“That doesn’t sound very convincing.”

“It’s hard to keep up with Mandy’s energy, if you know what I mean,” he said
, pointing to where Mandy was dancing enthusiastically in a large group.