Are You Locked Up in a World That's Been Planned Out for You?

“So, what did you want to do now?” Eric asked me, after we got into his car and had just navigated our way outside the car park.

“Um, you still want to hang out with me? You’re not bitter about your team losing?” I asked Eric, blinking. I was surprised he wanted to hang out; I thought he wanted to take me home.

“Of course! I mean we watched a basketball game, we barely got to talk.” Eric chuckled, but then grew serious “Unless you wanted to go home?”

“No of course not, I’m having a lot of fun. But I don’t know what there is to do in Miami at this time.” I smiled at Eric.

“Well, what would you be doing if you were home in New York right now?” Eric asked me curiously.

“Um, well, anything I want really. It’s the city that never sleeps, remember? I could go bowling, I could go roller skating, I could go anywhere I want to eat, I could go to an arcade, list anything someone can do for fun and I most likely would be able to do it.” I smirked.

“Oh right, sorry stupid question. Must be pretty sweet living in New York.” Eric replied.

“Um, I guess. I hate to sound like a spoilt brat, but as I’ve never lived elsewhere I don’t know what I’m missing out on, so it may seem like I take it for granted. It’s why I like coming to Miami, it’s something different. I just usually get bored easily because I usually don’t have anyone to hang out with.” I shyly said to Eric.

“Did you have your boyfriend last time you were here? How did he take it that you were going away without him?” Eric asked me.

I cocked my head to the side. In all of our conversations, he hadn’t asked about Mike. I hadn’t offered any information about him so I don’t blame him, but I just found it a little odd that all of a sudden he bought up Mike out of nearly nowhere.

But maybe he was just curious; it was sort of on topic.

“He’s not my boyfriend, he’s just a guy I’m seeing, and it’s nothing official. He’s the one that declared it non-official, so I don’t think he cares I’m here this time. But we’re fairly recent, we only started dating Valentines Day, so this is my first Miami trip since I’ve been seeing him.” I smiled at Eric.

“I bet he misses you a lot.” Eric said to me.

“Apparently so. I spoke to him on the phone tonight, first time I’ve spoken to him since last week. He said he misses me a lot, and Jessica my best friend I told you about, she said he’s been acting weird.” I replied.

“So you’ve been calling me more than him? I feel loved. Did you tell him about me?” Eric asked me.

I hesitated for a moment, and even though it was obvious the answer was ‘no’ Eric was still sending me over a cheesy grin as he continued to drive down the road, to wherever the hell he must have had in mind.

“To be fair, I knew he’d take it the wrong way, so I decided to tell him when I get home so he can’t get angry over the phone, sorry. I’m not hiding you though, like obviously my family here know about you, and I told Jessica too. In fact, more people know about you, than they know that I’m dating Mike.” I said to Eric, and immediately regretted blurting the last bit out.

“…really? Please do elaborate.” Eric smiled widely, as we pulled into the parking lot for some kind of diner, and switched off the engine.

“Um, yeah. Only Jessica knows. Basically, he’s just a bit older than me and works down at the police station, so dad would lose it if he knew. Which is probably another reason why we’re not official also. What’s the point? It’s not like our relationship can ever really progress.” I explained to Eric, going quiet and immediately looking down after I finished my statement.

Luckily Eric was able to read my body language, and dropped the subject. From his body language I could tell he did want more information and would probably dig for more at some point during my vacation, but for now I was safe.

“So, this is the only place to go after ten, that isn’t a fast food chain. There’s probably a high chance of me seeing someone I know in here, but I’m fine to sit by ourselves if you’d like.” Eric said to me.

“No, it’s cool. It’d be pretty cool to meet some new people. I don’t really mind either way.” I smiled at Eric, letting the atmosphere go back to normal as I got out of Eric’s car.

We both walked into the diner, and before we could even wait to be seated, a large group called out to Eric and I, well, Eric.

He sent me a weak smile, and I smiled back to let him know it was okay for us to go over and sit with them. As the booth was round, we both took seats at both ends of the booth, and were facing each other.

“Hey everyone, this is my good friend Emma. She’s visiting here from New York, she’s the one who stood up for me in front of that bitchy customer I always had trouble with, who in fact has not come in since.” Eric introduced me, and then proceeded to introduce me to the group of eight, the only names I remembered were Carlos, Alice and Blake.

“Wow, you’re really pretty Emma. Hey Eric, you were going to stag at prom weren’t you? Why don’t you just bring Emma? She’s a stunner, so you can always brag you had a hot date to prom, it would be a nice experience for her to experience a Miami style prom.” The girl named Alice bought up.

As Eric was completely silent, I bought it upon myself to make conversation before it got completely awkward.

“Miami style prom? What’s your school doing? Mine’s just having it in a high-class ballroom somewhere in the upper east side of Manhattan. Yours sounds a lot more interesting.” I smiled at her.

“As someone who’s only been to New York once, that sounds better than ours! Ours is going to be at an outside venue in Coral Gables that faces the beach, should be a lot of fun. Which is why Eric should invite you.” Alice said again, hissing at Eric by the end of her statement.

I blushed and looked down. It was fairly obvious Eric didn’t want to take me to prom, and that was fine. I probably wasn’t even going to be here when it was on anyway, but it was awkward that Alice kept flogging a dead horse.

Then Eric finally spoke up.

“Well, I was going to ask Emma later as a friend as we had such a fun time tonight when we were alone. But Alice, you just had to ruin the special friendship moment. Emma, will you go to the prom with me?” Eric asked me, and the entire table went completely silent.

“When is it? I fly back home next Sunday morning.” I asked Eric.

“It’s next Friday night, so it’s before you go home. Of course I understand if you don’t want to go if it would be too weird, or you think Mike get angry or something, but yeah, my dad really wants me to have a dad so he’d pay for your ticket and your share of the limo and stuff, hell he might even chip in for your dress. It’s up to you.” Eric said, and I could hear his nerves in his voice.

A big smile on my face appeared, and I decided not to let Eric sweat about it for too long.

“I would absolutely love to accompany you to the prom.” I smiled at Eric, who sent me a big grin back.