Suffocated

Chapter 3
Decisions, Decisions
Over the next few weeks at school, Johnny wouldn't talk to me or even sit down with me & Zack at lunch. Needless to say, I didn't care. I actually felt a little relieved. Finally, it was a week before prom. I still hadn't picked out my prom dress yet.
"Ya know what's a little odd?" Zacky asked me after History class one day.
"What's that?" I replied as we walked to my locker.
"I've had I don't know how many girls asking if I had a date to the prom yet."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I'm still glad I asked you to go with me, though. I don't really want to go with anyone else." he grinned, nudging me.
"Have you even picked out your suit yet?"
"Ha ha ha. About that..." his voice trailed off.
"I'll take that as a no." I laughed.
"I don't think Matt's picked his out, either. Maybe me & him can get together today to go do that."
"Don't feel too bad. I still haven't picked out a dress. I'll ask Valary if she'll go with me. I'm sure she's picked out hers weeks ago. She's always so prepared." I said, shutting my locker door.
"Well, hell, let's all go together. We can go to the mall or whatever & go our seperate way with Matt or Val & then meet back up later." Zacky suggested.
"Hey, that's a pretty good idea. I'll ask Matt on the way home." I said as we walked out to Brian's car. I brought up the idea & Matt agreed we should do it.
"Valary picked out her dress weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure she'd still love to help you pick yours out. Me & Baker will go pick out our suits while you two are being girly." Matt said. Johnny didn't even look back at us in the backseat, but you could tell he was pretty pissed off. Once we got home, Johnny walked inside, went up to his room, shutting the door behind him. Matt & Valary were going to pick me & Zack up in a couple of hours. In the meantime, I tried to figure out what color I really wanted my dress to be.
"I'll just figure it out when I get there." I sighed, giving up after a while. About an hour later, Zacky texted me.
"Hey."
"Hey Vengeance."
"Excited?" he texted me.
"Yeah. Of course. You?"
"Yeah. Totally. This is going to be pretty cool." We texted back & forth for a while longer & then I started getting changing my clothes. I slipped into some black pants with offwhite pinstripes, an Escape The Fate t shirt, & some black flip flops. I fixed my black eyeliner, grabbed my purse, & walked down the stairs.
"I'll be back later mom." I shouted to her in the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" she asked me, walking into the living room where I was.
"Well, Zacky asked me to the prom. Me & him are going with Matt & Valary to get his suit & a dress for me."
"Oh really? That's great, honey. Well, have fun. Do you need some more money?"
"I still have quite a bit from my allowance."
"Well, it's prom. You sure?" she asked.
"I have about $100 right now."
"Here's another fifty. Maybe you can get some shoes & some accesories or something extra to go with your dress."
"Mom, you don't have to do this." I told her.
"I know I don't have to. I remember my prom, though. I remember going shopping with my girlfriends. It was great. Just have fun & find something cute. Tell Matt & Valary I said hi. Zacky, too." she smiled as she hugged me.
"I will. Love ya, mom." I said as I walked out the door to see Zack already waiting for me.
"I thought Matt & Val were bringing you over." I said, confused.
"They were supposed to, but I couldn't wait to see you." he said in a shy, quiet voice with his hands in his pockets.
"You must like me a lot, huh?" I asked him, slightly surprised. He just looked at me & nodded with a grin.
"Why do you like me so much?"
"Do you want the truth?" he asked me, nervously.
"Well, yeah. Duh." I said.
"Because. I've always thought you were really beautiful. You're really smart & so funny. You're so much fun to hang out with & you're an awesome friend. You're always there when any of us need you to be. Especially me. You may not realize it, but I've had bad days before & when I saw you or talked to you, you totally made it all better."
"Zack, I had no idea that's how you felt."
"I always wanted to ask you out, but I always thought you were out of my league. Like way out of my league. I thought maybe the prom would be a perfect way for me to ask you out." he shrugged.
"Um, seriously? Dude. You're in a bad ass metal band. I've always thought you were out of my league." I chuckled, looking over at him.
"Come on you two. Get in!" Valary yelled, poking her head out of the window of Matt's car. I grabbed Zacky's hand & we ran towards the car & got in the backseat.
"So what color are you thinking about?" Valary asked me, referring to my dress.
"I thought about that. I'm not really sure. Maybe green."
"Go with green. That's Zack's favorite color." Matt grinned.
"Shut up, Matt." Zack chuckled.
"So what color is your dress?" I asked Valary.
"Sky blue. Matt's suit is black but has blue accents."
"Ooh. Maybe you can get something like that, Zacky." I told him, looking over at him.
"Yeah, that'd be kinda cool. I'm sure Matt & I will find something pretty cool looking to match your dress." Once we were at the mall, we went our seperate ways, agreeing to meet back up in a couple of hours at the food court.
"So are you excited?" Val asked me.
"I guess. I wasn't going to even go to prom until Zacky asked me to go with him."
"He really likes you a lot. He has for a while." she said as we were walking towards Deb's.
"I didn't know until right before you two came to get us. He had literally just told me."
"Well, do you like him, too?"
"Yeah. I've always liked him, but I've never thought of him in a dating kind of way. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I know. He's really excited about prom. We all knew except for Johnny. You know how he is. You're his sister after all."
"Yeah, unfortunately." I sighed, looking through the racks of dresses.
"What about this one?" she asked me, holding up a long pink strapless dress.
"Uh, no. I hate pink unless it's hot pink. Besides, if Zacky's going to match his accents to my dress, I'm pretty sure he won't want pink." I chuckled.
"Good point." she said, hanging it up & picking up another one. I shook my head. We both found a few dresses that seemed like good choices. The colors ranged from orange to blue to yellow to black. Nothing was working. I was beginning to get frustrated until I finally saw it.
"Oh my god! I want it!" I shrieked, walking towards it. It was a strapless lime green dress with a long, ruffled skirt & a gem covered corset bodice.
"Ooh, that is really pretty. Go try it on!" she said, handing me the dress. I walked into the dressing room & it fit perfectly. It was even on sale, too, for 50 % off. I changed back into my clothes & walked out, holding the dress, smiling.
"Is that the one?" she asked me, curiously.
"Yes, yes it is." I smiled, walking to the cashier, dress in hand.
"Hey, Taylor. Have you picked out a color for your dress yet?" Zacky texted me.
"Lime green." I texted him back.
"My favorite color. Awesome! I'm sure you'll look beautiful in it. ;-)"
"You & Matt almost done?"
"Just about. We'll meet you two at the food court in about twenty minutes. I'm still getting measured & stuff like that." he texted.
"Sounds good." I texted back. Before I paid for the dress, I remembered that I had to find some shoes. I left my dress at the counter for them to hold onto while I went to shop around a little more. It only took a few minutes for Valary to find me the perfect shoes. They were plain silver high heels. I also found a set of silver flowered earrings & a matching necklace.
"Are you ready now?" Val asked me with a chuckle.
"Yeah. Finally." I giggled. Grabbing my bag of prom goodies, we walked to the food court & sat at a table, waiting for the guys.
"How did Johnny react to Zacky asking you to prom?" she asked me.
"It wasn't good. He doesn't want me getting close to him. I don't think he likes the idea of me hanging around the guys anymore. I just don't know why."
"I'm sure he's just being protective of you." she assured me.
"Hey, there beautiful ladies." Matt said, walking up with Zacky.
"Where's your suit?" I asked him.
"Matt & I have to go pick up our suits the day before the prom." We hung out for a few more hours & then Matt & Val took us both home.
"I'll see you later, Zack. Text me."
"Will do." he grinned, giving me a salute. I shook my head, smiling & walked into my house.
"Let me see, let me see, let me see." my mom said, excitedly. I lifted up the covering over the dress & she was impressed.
"It's so beautiful. You did great, too. That's not bad for a dress that nice. Did you try it on?"
"Well, duh. Of course I did." I chuckled, looking up to see Johnny standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at me. I showed her my shoes, necklace & earrings & she thought I did great.
"Valary helped me pick out the shoes, though."
"Well, she has great taste." my mom hugged me.
"I'm pretty tired. I'm going to go talk to Johnny & then probably crash."
"Okay. Good night, honey. See you in the morning." she grinned, kissing my cheek. I walked up the stairs & Johnny was waiting for me outside his bedroom door.
"Hey." I said, quietly.
"Hey." he sighed.
"Johnny, look, I'm sorry. Zack asked me to prom & I really want to go with him. I just don't understand why you can't be happy for me. At least that someone who likes me is a friend of yours & not someone you don't know."
"I know, I know. I just don't want to see you get hurt. I'm just worried about you. Zack's a good guy. He's a great boyfriend. I've seen him in his relationships with girls before. I really don't want to see either of you get hurt, but if I had to choose, I'd rather him get hurt than you. You're my sister, you're family."
"Just loosen up a bit, Johnny. Please. Just be happy for me at least."
"You're right. I'm sorry." he said, running his hand through his short brown spiked hair.
"Thanks, dude. Well, I'm wiped out. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"
"Yeah. Sounds good. Night." he said, turning around to walk into his room.