Rollercoaster Ride

I took a one last look of my reflection in my mirror. I didn’t do anything to my hair; I just let it flow past my shoulders. I just did my make-up naturally; a bit of peach blush, a small amount of eyeliner framing my eyes and a little bit of transparent lip gloss. I grabbed my purse on top of my drawer and went downstairs to wait for John to arrive.

I found Kennedy in the family room, flicking through channels on the TV while eating potato chips. He wasn’t dressed at all.

“You’re not going?” I asked.

“Nope,” he answered simply.

I sat next to him and grabbed a chip. “Just because Neyla doesn’t come, doesn’t mean that you don’t go to homecoming. You can come without a date.”

He only shrugged. “I’m just not in the mood for it.”

I laughed a little. “When are you in the mood for something without her around?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know, sister, I don’t know.”

I stared at him for a while. “Are you sure you’re not coming?”

“Yep.”

I sighed. “All right.” And then the door bell rang. I smiled at him a little before getting up to open the front door.

John stood there on the porch, holding a spray of white Gardenia flower, one of my favorites. I couldn’t hold back my smile. He looked so good tonight.

He replied my smile as he handed out the flower. “For you.”

I gladly took it and asked, “How do you know about my favorite flower?”

He shrugged. “I actually don’t. I only pick out the prettiest one in the flower shop.”

“Thanks, John.”

He nodded and I could see his cheeks blushed, only a little. It was cute.

“Kennedy, I’m going now!” I called out.

“Alright!” he replied.

John and I went to his car that was parked in the driveway, right behind Kennedy’s car. He opened the door for me. I sat on the passenger seat; he shut the door and went around the car to sit on the driver’s seat.

During the whole journey to the school, he was holding my hand all the time. He never held my hand in the car for a whole journey, so this explained why I was confused. But as usual, his hand was warm and gave me comfort, so I didn’t say anything about it.

He pulled up at the parking lot and got out first, before going around the car to open the door for me. I got out and we went to the school’s auditorium where the homecoming dance was held.

Inside, the auditorium was decorated with many kinds of ornaments. The stage was filled with a few people from Jared’s year, singing a song acoustically. We found Pat and Jared by the drinks table.

“Where’s Kennedy?” Jared asked.

“He doesn’t want to come. I thought Morgan is coming,” I replied.

“She is,” Pat answered, pointing at the dancefloor. Morgan was there, dancing with Garrett. “Garrett asked her to come with him.”

John laughed. “It sounds like Garrett was desperate for a date.”

“He was,” Pat laughed. “He asked her for a few times. She wasn’t actually interested to go to homecoming, but seeing Garrett’s desperation, she gave in.”

The four of us laughed. My stomach suddenly growled, stopping the laughter. I blushed a little, embarrassed.

“Grab some eat, Young Brock,” Jared said, ruffling my hair.

“I will, I will,” I said, slightly annoyed at Jared’s action. I went to the table of foods, grabbed a plate and filled it with fettuccine. John was copying my action beside me. He grabbed my free hand with his and pulled me lightly with him to find an empty table. When we found one, we sat down and started to eat.

We spent the next hour socializing with our friends, but John never left me alone. He was always there, standing by my side, either holding my hand or having his arm around my shoulder or my waist.

And I was very confused why he was doing it.

A few moments later, the music onstage stopped, earning attention from all of us. The person that I knew as Eric was standing by the microphone. He cleared his throat before speaking into it.

“My friend John has an announcement to say,” he said, staring at John that was standing next to me.

John removed his arm that was around my waist and walked to the stage. We were all clueless of what he was going to do.

When he was on the stage, Eric patted his shoulder and I heard his voice faintly speaking, “Good luck, man” which was replied by a ‘thanks’. Eric left the stage and John took over the microphone. All of the people in the room went silent, wondering of what he was going to do next.

John cleared his throat. “There is something I gotta say to you. All of you.” He hesitated. “There’s a girl I know,… ever since I was 8. We knew each other through her brother, and we basically did everything together. And without realization, she’s become a part of me.” He chuckled to himself as if a memory hit his mind.

“But not a long time ago, I hurt her. Badly. I feel like a jerk because of it, and I would never forgive myself for hurting such an amazing girl. And… now I realize that I start to fall for her.”

He cleared his throat again, this time locking his eyes to mine. “Daphne Carristen Brock, the least thing I wanna do is to protect you,… and be there for you whenever you want me to. Would you be my girlfriend?”

My mouth collided to the ground. People turned to stare at me anxiously, waiting for my answer. Silence filled the room for quite a long time, and John started to chew his lower lip.

I couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t move my legs. I couldn’t believe myself. Was this just a dream?

Noticing the impatient look that everyone was giving me, I knew this wasn’t a dream.

I nodded slowly, speechless.

And everyone was cheering and clapping for us.

I saw John spread a wide grin across his face. He jumped from the stage and ran to approach me. And when he did, he engulfed me in a tight hug, repeatedly kissing my cheek, a huge smile never left both of our faces.

A slow song then played, and then he pulled my hand to go to the dancefloor. He placed his hands on my hips and I wrapped my arms around his neck. This was our second time slow dancing together.

Our eyes didn’t leave each other for the whole time. And then he decided to lean in and I closed my eyes right before his lips softly touched mine.

If this is a dream, please don’t ever wake me up.