The Quiet of Compazine

Dinner was nice. They took me to some Italian place, but some other people from school were there, too. They kept coming over to our table and trying to talk to us. They didn’t know who I was. They were so surprised when they found out I went to school with them. I was beyond relieved when dinner was finally over and we got into the limo. Yeah. The limo. Pat and Garrett were too much.

“I’m tired and we haven’t even gone to homecoming yet,” I laughed, leaning on Garrett’s shoulder and closing my eyes. I wasn’t a people person.

“Porter, smile,” Garrett ordered, and when I opened my eyes, he was holding up his phone to take a picture of us.

“Garrett,” I complained, pressing my face to his neck while I heard the camera on his phone click.

It took him a while, but he finally got a picture out of me. I shocked him into pressing the camera button early by kissing his cheek. “That’s the last picture I’m taking, Garrett,” I told him as we got out of the limo upon our arrival to the hotel. I didn’t know homecoming was in a hotel ballroom. And I didn’t know said hotel ballroom would be so swanky and huge.

I danced with Pat and Garrett equally, but Garrett seemed pretty touchy after the kiss. I mean, he was holding me a little too tight, a little too close for my comfort. It was weird because he was my best friend. Now, if it was John…Why did I think of John? “Hey, Garrett, I’m gonna grab some punch,” I yelled over the music.

“What?” Garrett asked, but I just waved goodbye and walked out to the hotel lobby.

I sighed and pressed a hand to my forehead, sinking down into the nearest hotel couch. I was exhausted. I felt like I’d been in a mosh pit for hours, but we’d only been at homecoming for an hour and a half. We had a ways to go, and I already wanted to go home. Unfortunately, Pat and Garrett were my ride, and they had big plans for the rest of the…early morning.

Homecoming would end at midnight, so then we planned to spend the rest of the early morning hours with mischievous shenanigans and then have breakfast at IHOP before crashing at Garrett’s place in the morning. I agreed to it, but now I know I shouldn’t have.

I took my phone out of my purse to call a cab when I noticed that I had a few text messages… from John.

[Don't forget, I want pictures of you in the dress!]

[Oh & I hope you have a lot of fun!]

[Hey Garrett sent me that picture; You guys are cute together.]

The first two made me smile while the last kind of…confused me. I couldn’t tell if he was being facetious or not. After making my way to Figaro’s, I put my phone on silent, stuffed it in my purse, and played games on my iPod instead. A few lattes and hours later, I was feeling a lot better and decided to head back to the hotel…only to find the ballroom completely empty.

Swearing quietly, I opened up my purse for my phone. Garrett and Pat had left me several text messages, but I had almost ten missed calls…from John. And he was calling me again right now. “Hello?”

“Porter, where the fuck have you been?” he asked, more relieved than angry but still obviously angry. “I’ve been – Pat and Garrett have been looking for you! Where are you now?”

“I was at this coffee shop for a bit, but now I’m at the hotel we had homecoming at and everyone’s gone,” I answered, just now noticing how late it was. The clock read half past midnight. Wow.

“Stay put. I’m coming to get you.”

“What? John!” He hung up before I could tell him I was just gonna call a cab. I walked back to the lobby, starting to call, when John shoved past the revolving doors really hard and tackled me into a hug. “What are you doing here?” I asked, trying not to enjoy the hug too much.

“Pat and Garrett called me a few times freaking out about you, and you weren’t answering me, so I started freaking out about you, too, and… What were you doing at a coffeeshop, anyways? Why didn’t you like homecoming?” John demanded as he held me at arm’s length and gave me the once over.

“I just wanted some time to breathe…I wasn’t really enjoying homecoming…I told you I wouldn’t… The music sucked,” I laughed, feeling self conscious of myself now. “What…?”

“Nothing. You just look absolutely gorgeous tonight,” he told me with a smile as he took my hand and led me out to the parking lot.

I had no idea what to say to that. Sure, Pat and Garrett told me I looked pretty tonight, but…coming from John, “gorgeous” meant a fucking lot.

John draped his arm around my shoulders. “Did you at least have fun dancing and stuff?”

“I’m not really a, uh, party girl… I dance just a little, with Pat and Garrett, but mostly Garrett. It’s just… I don’t dance well. And I certainly don’t dance the way that people, uh, normally dance at homecoming,” I explained, reminding the grind trains that snaked all over the dance floor. I felt too uncomfortable with my body to do that.

John nodded in understanding as we reached his car. “Well, Porter, on behalf of all the douchebags that didn’t ask you…may I have this dance?”

I stared blankly at his outstretched hand. “We don’t have music,” I pointed out, groping for excuses not to dance with John. I was going to crush his toes, I just knew it.

John whipped out his iPod, scrolled through for the right song, then put it down on the hood of his car. “Get over here, Porter,” John laughed when he saw the way my face lit up at the sound of the song. I’m not gonna make you grind on me. Just one dance, Junior high style.”

“What’s junior high style?” I asked with a soft laugh as I reached up to clasp my hands together at the back of his neck. Even though I was in heels, John was still significantly taller than me.

“This,” John said as he clasped his hands together in the small of my back. We just slowly swayed side to side to one of my favorite songs ever. “What’s with the smile?” John asked suspiciously, pressing his forehead to mine so I couldn’t look away. I escaped, though, and just buried my face in the crook of his neck, enjoying the smell of his aftershave.

“It’s just…This is…really nice,” I said lamely, knowing that if I voiced my feelings right now John would probably take off running. I know I’m not crazy. I just have more intense emotions than people are used to. Lower lows, higher highs. And right now, here in John’s arms, I was on the highest of highs.

“I didn’t have a good time at my senior homecoming, either,” John admitted, his hot breath grazing my ear. “Oh, man, let me tell you… It was like, two in the morning or something when we busted out the alcohol at somebody’s house. We were all drunk as fuck pretty soon and just partying and just – just doing some pretty stupid shit, you know? Because I – well, I don’t even remember it all exactly, but I knew I was being really fucking stupid because… somehow, I knocked out my two front teeth.”

“You’re kidding!”

“I wish I was… Not a lot of people know, though. My dentist is the bomb dot com,” John laughed lightly. “My point is…homecoming should be unforgettable, Porter,” John said softly before he stopped swaying because the song was over. “So…was it?”

I picked my head up off his chest to smile at him. “Only because of you.”

“Mission accomplished,” he muttered with a grin and a blush to match before his hands traveled up to the back of my neck so he could pull me into a kiss.