Love Can Stop Time

The days came and went and then homecoming came around. It was about two weeks before homecoming when Paul stopped Elizabeth in the halls right after school before she began he trek home with Kevin. "So," Paul said placing his hands in his pockets. "Are you going to homecoming with anyone?" "No," Elizabeth said, not quite sure what homecoming was but pretty sure that she wasn't going to it. "Well, do you want to go with me?" Paul asked eagerly. "Sure," Elizabeth replied with a shy smile as she waved to Paul and went to find Kevin. "Hey Kevin, what's homecoming?" Elizabeth asked on the way home. "Well, it's a dance. Why?" Kevin said turning towards her.

"Paul asked me," Elizabeth said looking at Kevin to see his reaction. "Oh, that's cool," Kevin said with a fake smile, hiding his jealousy. "We'll have to get Emily and Andrea to take you shopping for a dress." Seeing that Kevin was fine with it Elizabeth smiled and walked with a little more joy in her step. Kevin watched her and smiled. "If only she knew," Kevin whispered to himself. "If only she knew."

The next day Elizabeth was the talk of the school again. "Did Paul really ask you to homecoming?" Anna asked in astonishment at lunch. "Yeah, he did," Elizabeth stated slightly annoyed, Anna had been the millionth person that day that had asked. "Oh my gosh! He just happens to be the coolest guy ever!" Andrea exclaimed with stars in her eyes. "He's not that amazing," Mariah said as she placed a chip in her mouth. Anna and Andrea both stared at her in disbelief. "Ok, maybe he is to you," Mariah said with a chuckle.

"When are you getting your dress?" Anna asked Elizabeth quizzically. "I don't really know," Elizabeth said looking at the girls. "I think I'm going to ask Emily today." "Good, well I'm coming with," Andrea said with a big smile. "I haven't gotten my dress yet." "Who are you going with?" Anna asked. "Kevin Fitzgerald asked me this morning," Andrea said with a blush. Elizabeth felt a small pang in her heart but smiled at Andrea. "That means that we can go together," Andrea cried joyfully. "It'll be so much fun."

That Saturday Emily, Elizabeth, and Andrea were inside the mall looking for dresses. Emily had already gotten her dress weeks ago because she knew she was going with Jason and was all to happy to find a dress for Elizabeth. Andrea found a semi-long brown dress with aqua accents. It swirled around her body and began at her mid thigh on her left leg and lengthened as it went around until it ended at her mid calf on her right leg. Emily was the one that found Elizabeth's dress. It was a white dress with a corset tie in the front. It went to her knees so Elizabeth was comfortable enough with the length and Emily was happy with the skin that Elizabeth was showing.

"How was the shopping?" Kay asked when Elizabeth came inside the house after Emily had dropped her off. "Good, I found a dress," Elizabeth said walking up the stairs. "Well, I want to see it so I'm coming with you," Kay said getting up from the couch and following Elizabeth up the stairs. "Ok, just let me change," Elizabeth said walking into her room. Elizabeth changed into the dress and opened the door for Kay to see. "Oh my gosh," Kay whispered excitedly. "Kevin is going to flip when he sees you." Elizabeth blushed and shut the door to change again. She didn't want Kevin to see her unless he had to.

Two weeks went by and before Elizabeth knew it was homecoming day and Elizabeth was playing with her hair and pakeup for the dance. "How do you want your hair, Elizabeth?" Emily asked as she began placing the tools of her trade on the sink in front of her. "I don't really know," Elizabeth said, combing her fingers through her hair. "Surprise me." "Ok then, I think I'm going to straighten it," Emily said, pluggin in her straightener. As the straightener was heating up Emily began applying Elizabeth's makeup. Emily placed dark eye shadow and eyeliner around Elizabeth's eyes. This brough out her blue eyes. Then she placed red lip-gloss on Elizabeth's lips. By then the straightener was warm enough and Emily went to work on Elizabeth's hair.

About forty minutes later Elizabeth's short curls had straightened and lengthened to just below her shoulders. Elizabeth looked at her reflection in the mirror with amazement, she couldn't believe that she could look like that ever. "You look fabulous," Emily said, placing her hands upon Elizabeth's shoulders. "Can't wait to see his reaction." "Paul's?" Elizabeth asked as she stood from the chair to go back to her room and place on her dress. "Sure," Emily said with a smile. Elizabeth smiled back and shut the door to her room. "And, to see Kevin's face as she walks into the room," Emily added under her breath as she walked down the stairs to wait with the rest of the group.

After Elizabeth had changed she walked out of her room and descended down the stairs. As she did Paul, Andrea, Jason, Emily, and Kevin turned to look at her. They all stood in awe at her appearance. "And the angel appears and descends upon us mere mortals," Paul said as he took Elizabeth's hand. "More like a goddess," Kevin said under his breath as he stared at her. He had never seen her so beautiful, her eyes looked like stars in the night sky, her lips like red roses, and her hair like fine silk. Elizabeth noticed Kevin's stare and blush, she was afraid of what he was thinking. "Well, I think we're all ready," Jason said as he placed his hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Let's go party." Everyone nodded and walked to Jason's SUV and hopped in.

They had decided to eat after the dance, so that the resaurants wouldn't be as busy, so they went to the dance later than everyone else. When they arrived many of the people were already inside the school gym dancing. Paul asked Elizabeth to dance, but when Elizabeth saw how the people were dancing she declined. She had no idea how to dance in her time and these "dances" were a little too complicated for her. Paul shrugged and walked off to talk to his friends that were standing in the corner. Kevin and Andrea then walked up to Elizabeth. "Did Paul just leave you?" Andrea asked, surprised. "Yeah, he asked me to dance and I told him no. I'm not the best dancer," Elizabeth said, blushing slightly. "He shouldn't have left you," Andrea said. "He should be here talking to you or he should have taken you over with him to his friends."

"Oh well, it doesn't matter now," Elizabeth said with a small smile. "Well, you can hang out with us. Right Kevin?" Andrea said "Right," Kevin said as he glared in Paul's direction. "Anyways, where are we going after here?" Elizabeth asked, changing the subject. "Oh, we're going laser tagging," Andrea said. As Andrea was telling Elizabeth about the laser tag place that they were going to Kevin turned his attention away from Paul and joined in the conversation. After Andrea had talked about laser tagging for awhile she saw Mariah and Anna standing off in the distance and waved to them.

"I'll be back after I talk to Mariah and Anna. Do you guys want to come with me?" Andrea said. "No I think I'll stay here," Kevin said with a smile. "I think I'll stay with Kevin," Elizabeth said. Andrea shrugged and walked over to Mariah and Anna. "Hey Kevin," Elizabeth said as she turned to look at the dance floor. "Hmm?" Kevin asked as he looked at her. "What's laser tagging?" Elizabeth asked. Kevin stared at her for a moment and started laughing. "Ok, I'll explain a little better than Andrea did," Kevin said as he smiled at Elizabeth. Elizabeth smiled back and listened intently while Kevin explained laser tagging to her.

"Hey Elizabeth," Kevin said as he finished explaining laser tagging, "would you like to dance with me?" "I don't know if I can," Elizabeth said but then a slow song began to play and the dance became simpler. "It's a slow one," Kevin said as he took Elizabeth's hand and led her out to the dance floor. "I promise that it'll be easy." Elizabeth nodded as Kevin stopped in an open area and pulled Elizabeth closer to him. He held her far enough away from him but close enough that it wouldn't be too awkward to dance.

Kevin placed his hands on Elizabeth's hips while Elizabeth placed her hands upon his shoulders, they looked like a couple of awkward seventh graders at their first dance. But, as they began moving to the music they became less awkward, Elizabeth's hands clasped around Kevin's neck and Kevin pulled her closer to him. Elizabeth rested her head on Kevin's chest and focused on trying to calm her rapidly increasing heart beat, she had never felt like this before. She moved her head to look at Kevin's face and her breath caught in her throat as their gazes met. Kevin's heart stopped when he saw her innocent eyes gazing up at him. Kevin bent forward and Elizabeth's heart fluttered when she felt his breath upon her face. Their breath mingled as they moved closer together when Kevin was pulled away suddenly.

"What are you doing with my date?!" Paul slurred as he pulled Kevin away from Elizabeth. His breath smelled of alcohol and he staggered as he tried to stand menacingly, facing in Kevin's direction, when he had gone over to his friends he had discovered that they had snuck beer into the dance and had indulged himself on Smirnoff and other alcoholic beverages. "Paul, you're drunk," Kevin said as he held up his hands. "Calm down, Elizabeth and I were just dancing." "Sure you were," Paul garbled as he staggered towards Kevin. "She wouldn't dance with me, but as soon as I left you asked and she accepted immediately." "Paul, think about what you're doing," Kevin said as he stepped back, but he ran into the wall and he knew that he had nowhere to go.

Paul swung at Kevin, but Kevin ducked just in time. Paul staggered and caught himself on a chair. He pushed himself up and turned back to Kevin. "Quit movin', all three of you," Paul said as he walked unsteadily towards Kevin. "I just wanna punch you." Paul swung at Kevin again, missed, and fell to the floor. He lay there, passed out. Kevin bent down to check his pulse. "He seems to be fine, he just had a little too much to drink," Kevin said as he stood up. "I think that if we have someone take him home to sleep it off he'll be fine." A couple of his sober friends that had been watching the fight came and took him to one of their cars. Elizabeth watched as they dragged Paul out of the gym until she felt someone touch her arm.

"Come on Elizabeth, let's go home," Kevin said in her ear as he pulled her along with the rest of their group out to the car.