Erik and I hang back, and he pulls me closer, leans in close enough that his lips brush my earlobe. “This is amazing,” he says, as the air around us crackles with a thunder boom.
I nod. “I know.”
A bolt of lightning streaks across the ocean.
“I meant us,” he says, his voice lower than ever.
I smile, then turn to meet his eyes.
“I know.”
If it seemed like the atmosphere at school a few weeks ago had shifted, today it feels like the entire world flipped around, turned inside out.
I walk in, and Nikki smiles and waves at me. “Last night rocked,” she says, rushing by. She twists around and walks backward so we can maintain eye contact. “We are so doing it again!”
I grin at her as she dashes out the door toward the gym. She has first-period PE. I know, because she’s bitched about it for two weeks straight. It ruins her hair or something.
I head to my locker and am inches away when Brian, one of the guys from last night walks by. He nods at me, a happy, slightly tired smile on his face. “Last night was epic!” he says, giving me a fist bump as he passes. “Next time we’re staying overnight!”
I laugh. I hope by then, my curse will be gone. Every night I go swimming, I hope it’s one of the last times.
It’s hard to imagine, but it could happen. I turn back to the lock, spinning it twice toward the right when I feel hands wrap around my waist. Before I can react, a warm cheek presses against my face. “So this is what it’s like, huh?”
I turn at the husky voice and smile. Erik’s hair is wild and loose today, and like the others, he looks a little tired but happy.
“What?”
His grin gets bigger. “Being one of them. Being normal.”
I smile and nod. “Yeah. I guess so.”
“Pretty awesome, huh?”
I sigh, totally content inside these four walls for the first time in a long time. “Yeah. I’d have to agree.”
“And homecoming is this weekend?”
I grin. “Yeah. Saturday.”
“Great. See you at lunch?”
I nod, and before I can say a word, he brushes his lips against my cheek and disappears into the crowd.
I turn back to my locker.
Homecoming.
Something I thought I’d never have.
And now it’s mine.
I’m standing in Sienna’s bedroom, surrounded by her pale pink walls. Sienna is in the attached bathroom, clanging around in the cabinets, searching for the perfect shade of lip gloss. As if she ever wears anything but cherry.
I can’t stop staring at myself in the mirror, at the green silk dress I bought over two years ago on a whim. It’s knee length, with a sweetheart neckline and an open back that makes me feel a little exposed.
Fifteen-year-old Lexi didn’t mind being a little daring.
I remember buying this dress, the last weekend before school started for our sophomore year. Sienna talked me into it. Oh, sure, I loved it, would have jumped at the chance to wear it, but I only wanted to go to homecoming if Steven asked me. Sienna had no idea that’s who I was waiting on, and how could I tell her?
And it was too soon to know if that fantasy would come true. That camping trip had been a week prior, and it seemed as if he liked me, but I was afraid I was reading too much into it.
God, I wanted it to be true. I wanted to discover that he did feel for me the way I felt for him. And I was afraid buying this dress—beautiful as it was—would jinx it somehow.
But I can’t blame the dress for how all that worked out. I spin around, watch the fabric swirl around my knees, moving like the ocean.
Someone outside honks, and I take a few steps back to peer out the window. It’s the limo, shiny black, shimmering under the spotlights mounted over the garage doors.
I walk to the door. “Sienna! Are you ready?”
She steps out of the bathroom, and it’s hard not to stare. She’s wearing a red satin dress with a short ruffled skirt that has black streaks running through it. The top has only one strap, the other shoulder bare. Her platinum hair is pulled up in a French twist that would look severe on anyone else. On her it looks elegant, understated in comparison to the outrageous dress. Topping it off is the simple diamond pendant dangling on a delicate silver chain.
The only jewelry I’m wearing is the blue and teal bracelet, which strangely, seems more green when matched with the dress, and a simple pear of pearl earrings my grandmother loaned me. She was so excited about me going to homecoming, I think she wanted to give me every piece of jewelry she owned.
“Do I look okay?”
I grin. “You look hot as hell, and you know it. Patrick won’t know what hit him.”
She smiles back at me. “You look perfect.”
“Thanks.” I look down at my dress, smoothing out wrinkles that aren’t there. Tonight is about reclaiming what I lost, and I hope I can pull it off.
I slip on a pair of white strappy heels, unconcerned with their height. Erik is so much taller than me, it doesn’t matter how many inches they are. Sienna and I make our way to the front door, our high heels clicking on the hardwood floors.
“We have to pick up Nikki on the way,” Sienna says.
I nod, try not to wonder who she’s going to homecoming with.
When we step into the cool October air, Erik and Patrick are climbing out of the limo. Erik looks like something on the posters outside the Tux Shop. His shoulders, chest, and arms perfectly fill out a jacket that would look loose and bulky on anyone else. Down to the shiny black shoes, he looks every inch the gentleman.
I find myself beaming as I walk up to him. He fits right into my fantasies. In his hands is a clear plastic box, and inside is a white iris surrounded by baby’s breath. He’s beaming, and any trace of butterflies disappears as I smile back.
It might be supernatural, this connection we have, but it’s still real. He knows me in a way no one else ever has.
He pops the box open and retrieves the corsage. He secures it on my wrist, his fingers skimming along my skin. A different kind of butterflies spring forth. “You look stunning,” he says.
“Thanks.”
He leans down, tipping my chin back with his finger, and places a quick kiss on my lips. My jawline tingles where his fingers touched me. I’m smiling again. This can’t be real. It’s a fairy tale, something I thought I’d never have. But just like all the other fantasies—regular dates, visits to the lighthouse—it’s real, something Erik has given me.
We climb into the limo, and I slide over to let Erik sit next to me. He puts a hand on my knee, and I can feel the heat of it through the satin skirt.
“Thanks for coming,” I say.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He gives my knee a little squeeze.
Nikki’s house isn’t far from Sienna’s; it’s just down on River Walk Loop, a slightly less expensive version of Sienna’s street.
I’m spacing out a little bit—marveling at the way my life has changed in just a month—when the limo pulls to a stop. I look out at the couple standing just beyond the expansive tinted windows—I can see them, but they can’t see me—and what I see makes my blood run cold.
Nikki’s date.
It’s Cole. No. She can’t do that to me.
