Apparition

Chapter 6: A Night to Remember
I was shaking so much that it felt like I was going to make the whole world have an earthquake. But not only was I shaking, but my hands were getting clammy too so I had to constantly go into the bathroom to wash my hands.
I smoothed out the beautiful dress and plunged back in the curling iron to do some touch-ups on my hair. This was the first time I’ve ever curled my hair since the Christmas play when I was in third grade. My mom helped me curl my hair in the back and I did the front, burning my fingers a multiple amount of times. My hair was in perfect Shirley Temple curls that went bouncing down to my waist.
“Ouch!” I cried quietly as I burned my thumb. I had to stop shaking. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
I blotted my face with some toilet paper because it was getting oily. Good thing I wasn’t wearing make-up because it’d probably already be messed up.
I inhaled once more and headed for the stairs. When I took my first step, I heard people downstairs shush each other and whisper, “she’s coming”.
When I was in sight of everyone waiting downstairs people started taking pictures of me. Mostly my mom of course.
“Please. No flash photography,” I said and laughed nervously.
“You look beautiful,” Nathan sighed and smiled, his eyes full of love as he looked at me.
“You look magnificent,” Lawren said.
I gave him a disapproving look.
“Sorry,” he mouthed.
Nathan and Lawren were both in tuxedoes. Both of their suits resembled each other. They were both well-fitted, both black, they both had white button up shirts inside, and they both looked designer. The only difference was that Nathan was wearing a black tie and Lawren was wearing a midnight blue tie.
After we all took a million pictures together, we got into Nathan’s car and headed for the city hall which was where Prom was being held.
Every minute while we drove, Nathan would look over at me, smile, and complimented me and how the dress looked absolutely stunning which was when Lawren would butt in and remind us all that he made it.
“You have talent, Lawren. Every girl would kill for that dress,” Nathan said.
“It runs in my blood,” he responded smugly.
“It’s my turn to compliment you two,” I said and laughed. “You two gentlemen look absolutely debonair.”
When we got to the hall, Nathan hooked his arm with my right arm and Lawren took my left. The vulgar theme of the prom was “A Night to Remember”. When we entered the hall, everything looked so great with the stars and the low lights. Everyone was on the dance floor having a good time. I spotted Chloe and Kevin dancing. When she saw me gasped and called Maddie and Alex over to come see me.
“That dress is just…. Wow!” Chloe exclaimed. “You look like a threat. Are you sure you aren’t going to steal the crown from me?” She joked.
“And your men look fantastic, too,” Alex said, eyeing Nathan and Lawren.
“Alex! That dress! Your hair! Your shoes!” I just realized how different she looked. Her crow-black hair was in sleek and perfectly straight her bangs sat above her eyes and she wasn’t wearing glasses. She was wearing bold eyeliner with classy red lipstick. Her dress went above her knees and it was crimson red with a three black strips going down the right side. She was also wearing black heels that looked like they belonged to Sarah. For the first time ever, her nails were painted black.
“Alex, I can’t believe this is you!” I laughed. “How’d you do this without your parents looking?”
“Well, I left all the things I needed at Chloe’s house and when my parents thought I was heading to Prom with that stinkin’ blue piece of crap, I sneaked to Chloe’s house to really get ready for Prom.”
“Doesn’t she look hot?” Chloe asked. “All the guys were staring at her, asking her if she was new or crashing our Prom.”
“Hey, Lawren. Doesn’t Maddie look beautiful?” I asked.
“Yes she does,” he said, looking her up and down with a smile on his face.
Maddie blushed and smiled. I winked at her.
“Well, what’re we doing just standing around?” I yelled. “Let’s dance!”
The six of us all danced together in the middle of the dance floor. It was a good thing they turned on the air conditioning because with all these bodies loosing a copious amount of calories we would have all gone through heat stroke.
When it was time to announce who won Prom queen everyone turned around to face the stage where Chloe, Taylor, Lori, the principle, and the three nominees for Prom king stood including Chloe’s quarterback boyfriend, Kevin, a guy named Justin Barnes, and Gilbert Mars.
Taylor had a change in dresses. So far she worn two dresses tonight. One while she was dancing and another when she was up on stage. The dress she was wearing now was strapless and black and went down to the floor. It had rhinestones all over and made it looked sparkly.
I barely knew Lori but she did look fantastic. Lori’s brown hair was pulled back in a bun with little curls hanging out of it. She was wearing white silk gloves that went up to her elbows and a matching dress with a black belt that went around her waist.
Chloe looked wonderful compared to the others. I wasn’t just saying that because I was her friend but because it was true. Chloe looked like a perfect Barbie doll with her perfect tan, white teeth, blonde hair, statuesque body, and pink dress.
“The Prom king and queen of this year is…,” the principle started. The DJ sounded off a drum roll as the principle opened up the envelope. “Kevin Dooley and Chloe Allen!” He yelled.
Everyone cheered and yelled except for Taylor who stood there with her arms across his chest.
The couple walked up front and center of the stage to accept their crowns. The principle placed the crowns on Kevin and Chloe’s head. Chloe’s face was glowing and her eyes were shimmering with a coat of water over her eyes. Kevin faced Chloe and he kissed her.
“Thank you so, so much!” They said.
“I can’t believe this is actually happening! This is the best night of my life!” Chloe said as she wiped a tear away.
“Everyone have a great night!” Kevin yelled. Once more the crowd cheered and the music began playing.
Maddie, Alex, and I pushed our way through the crowd to congratulate the new Prom queen and king. When we got to them, we did a curtsy.
“I can’t believe Taylor actually kept her dignity and stayed on stage instead of insulting me and stomping off stage in front of everyone,” Chloe said and laughed after we congratulated Kevin and her.
“But did you see the look on her face?” Alex asked and mimicked Taylor.
We all laughed.
“Now all we have to do is dance until we drop!” Chloe yelled.
It was weird for me to have the confidence to dance where everyone was able to see me. Before I’d probably stay on the sidelines as I watched everyone have a good time or maybe I wouldn’t even have came to Prom. I laughed as I thought about how much I’ve changed.
“Lawren, where’s Nathan?” I screamed out when I had enough dancing for a while. There was so may people that at times I would be separated from my group. I hadn’t seen Nathan for over ten minutes so by now he was probably deep into the crowd.
“Last time I saw him, he was near the snack table wandering around.”
“What is he doing there?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders.
I turned around and pushed my way through the crowd.
I spotted Nathan sitting down on one of the chairs against the wall. Next to him was Taylor she was talking to him but it didn’t seem like he was listening by the look of his face. He looked confused and stiff but when he saw me he smiled and loosened up.
“Nathan, what’re you doing here?” I asked and laughed.
He stood up. “I don’t know,” he responded with a grin.
“I was still talking to him,” Taylor cried. She pulled him by the arm to sit back down.
“Who do you think you are?” I asked rudely. “He’s my boyfriend, hence, my date so if I want to pull him away to dance with me, I will.”
Nathan stood back up. “Natalia, calm down,” He said in my ear. Of course he wouldn’t whisper because I wouldn’t be able to hear anything.
“Let’s go back out there,” I said and pushed Nathan back to the crowd.
“Stay away from him,” I snapped when Nathan’s back was turned to Taylor and I.
She rolled her eyes, stood up, and walked away.
“It looks like you all are pooped out!” The DJ laughed. “How about we slow this down before you ya’ll fall asleep?”
Everyone cheered.
“Alright then! Everyone find a partner and get out on the dance floor!”
In a couple seconds, Lawren was running to us. “Who’s going to dance with her first?” He asked.
“Why don’t we let her choose?” Nathan asked.
I looked at the both of them and bit my lower lip.
Nathan chuckled. “Let me make this easier for you. Lawren, you may have the first dance with the lovely lady.”
Lawren smiled and delight filled his eyes.
“Are you sure?” I asked him.
“Absolutely. It’s no problem,” he said and smiled.
I leaned in and whispered in Nathan’s ear, “I can’t wait for our dance.” I looked at him and kissed him on the lips.
Lawren tugged on my arm. “C’mon, Natalia,” he sighed with irritation.
I waved at Nathan as Lawren dragged me out to the center of the floor.
“I can’t dance very well so I’m sorry in advance,” I told Lawren and laughed. I wrapped my arms around Lawren’s neck and he placed his hands on my hips.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve seen you dance many times to Michael Jackson.”
We both laughed.
As we danced we were looking deeply into each other’s eyes. I knew it was wrong that I couldn’t remove myself from his melted chocolate colored eyes but I couldn’t help it.
For some irrational reason everything felt alright. Like nothing else mattered but this dance with my best friend. I felt like a princess as Lawren led the dance and all I had to do was feel beautiful. With every turn I took the dress would follow and create a Marilyn Monroe effect.
“This is our last song of the night! Are ya’ll ready?” The DJ called.
My eyes widened and I pulled away from Lawren. I didn’t realize that time was passing by so quickly it only felt like a minute that I was with Lawren when really it was ten. I wondered why Nathan hadn’t come to claim me yet.
“It was great dancing with you, Lawren,” I said quickly. “But I need to go find Nathan so we can have our dance!”
I ran around looking for Nathan, asking people if they seen him. I felt bad that I was interrupting people’s moments but I wanted to have my moment with my other date. My boyfriend.
I sighed and slapped my hand on my forehead as the last song hit the chorus. I felt like I wanted to cry. How could he forget?!
“Natalia, what’s wrong?” Chloe asked as I ran past her.
I quickly turned around. “Prom is almost over and I haven’t had my dance with Nathan yet,” I cried in frustration.
“Do you want me to help you find him?” She asked and let go of Kevin.
“No, no, no. I can find him,” I said and ran to the doors that led to another section of the building, the front doors, and bath rooms.
There were couples here who were kissing instead of dancing. I ignored them and ran down the hall toward the doors. I pushed through them and looked around. Nathan’s car was still parked in front of the building. I ran back into the building and ran down the hall to the bathrooms.
“Oh, c‘mon Nathan,” I heard a girl say in a low voice.
“Do I know you?” Nathan responded.
I swung the door open that led to the bathrooms and found Nathan and Taylor sitting together in the waiting room on the couch. They were sitting close together and Taylor was twisted so that she was looking at Nathan while he sat there looking a bit uncomfortable. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened when I saw them holding each others hands. But that was only part of what I noticed. I also saw the back of Taylor’s dress zipped open and Nathan’s suit unbuttoned with his tie loosened.
“Ugh,” Taylor said in disgust.
Nathan had the same expression he had before. Lost and confused.
But so was I. I was also infuriated, hurt, and betrayed. I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out.
Nathan seemed to come back to life. “Natalia!” He exclaimed and jumped up. “What’re we doing here?” He asked.
“H-How could you?” I cried and slammed the doors open. I ran down the hall to the front doors as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. I pushed open the two front doors. I turned my head from left to right looking for a place to run. It was dark and cold but I didn’t care. I would run home if I had to. I wrapped my arms around me as I ran across the parking lot. I found and tree and slowly slid down the trunk as the bark scraped my back. I didn’t care about anything at the moment. Everything was blurry and my head was spinning. I clutched my head to make it stop.
“Natalia!” Nathan called. “Natalia, where are you?”
I squeezed my eyes shut and wrapped my arms around my stomach. I shook my head to try to wake up from this horrible dream.
“Natalia, please! Let me explain!”
I didn’t want him to find me but with my crying he was sure to.
“Natalia,” Nathan sighed when he found me. “Natalia, I’m sorry. I-I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand what happened,” he cried with agony.
I looked up at him and glared even though he wasn’t able to see. “Just take me home,” I mumbled.
He held out his hand to help me up but I ignored it and stood up without his help. I walked away from him and wiped the tears from my face.
He unlocked the doors and I got into the back seat and curled into a ball across the chair. My back was facing Nathan and my tears were dripping onto the leather seats.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered and started the engine.
We had a silent drive home. I refused to let Nathan carry me to my room. I was able to walk robotically up the stairs myself. The house was quiet and everyone was asleep. I didn’t consider changing out of my dress instead I curled back into a ball on my bed and faced my window.
“Do you want me to leave?” Nathan whispered from my door frame.
“You don’t have to,” I said instantly. Even though I was infuriated with him I didn’t want to go through a night without him. The hurt in me was enough. I didn’t need my dreams to come back once again to add to that.
He dug in my cabinet for an extra blanket and set it over me. I guess he knew that I didn’t want him to touch me and I felt guilty about that.
He laid down beside me but the gap between us hurt me. I shut my eyes tightly and pulled my knees closer to my chest as my tears spilled over.
I haven’t slept in this position since the night Lawren left me so many months ago. It was weird that I was reliving it but with Nathan which made it even weirder.
“Sweet dreams,” Nathan whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered and wiped more tears from the corner of my eyes that were soaking my pillow case.
I didn’t want to think about what else happened in the lounge room. I just wanted to forget and move on. Tomorrow would be a new day and I’d be over it because no matter what happened between us there would always be a way to get through it.