I don't even realize how long I've been standing in front of the truck when I feel two hands on my shoulder. In a jump I turn around to face Athan and his giddy smile. "So, wanna go out on a date?" 

My heart is in my throat - it's just too hard to breathe. I can't even look him in the eye as I try to steady my breath. "Yes." The words come out of nowhere, yet they're my words. My voice. And that part of me said yes without any consent from the rest of myself. Still, I don't that mind that fire inside me.

What I do mind is what comes out of me after. "How's tonight?"

A smile lights up against his hard-pressed lips. My teeth press down on my lower lip. I can already see his answer coming from a mile away. "Perfect." I squeeze my eyes shut. My eyes cry for me to awake, but this isn't a dream - this is real. 

A little late, but the great Keanna comes to the rescue. She pushes through the crowd and links arm with me just as she puts a foot in front of Athan. "Okay, the fun is done for now. I think it's best that we take a few hours to reflect upon what transpired." 

The wall of tuxedos disperses, but Athan stays put, that smile stilled glued to his face. The only difference between then and now is that Athan's gaze is currently trained on Keanna, who responds with scour. "I'll see you two later." With that, he retreats back into the building, as does Keanna. 

I follow Keanna inside without a word. Through the linoleum and into the hallway of endless glass cubicles. She pulls me into her cubicle and is already starting on my hair. She trims to look more like a pixie than a pageboy cut. She then proceeds into fixing me up with makeup. She brushes over with thin layers of espresso. 

When she finishes, I catch a glint of my reflexion in the glass panes. I look more like a remake of my mother that I see in all the pictures than usual. Like my mother, I share the shade of mahogany downturned eyes, and strangely, we share the same taste in eyeshadow. Just seeing myself, I feel the need to cry. Sadly, I don't. 

I draw the line when Keanna tries to apply lipstick to my lips. No matter how important the occasion is, no event should ever warrant the bearing of phony lipstick. Everyone knows that about me. 

"You're going on a date." Keanna enunciates the syllables ever so careful they're like daggers when they hit me. "With Athan Wellings. The guy who humiliated you at the pep rally." 

I bring myself back to remember that dark day. People have no clue why I keep to myself when it comes to this occasion. I just do. I don't want to reexperience that moment, but it's beyond my capability to close a Pandora box that Keanna opened in the first place. 

I'd never seen so many people together on one action. And for the new kid, he sure did give off a lot of influence - that day was one of his "successes." I almost thought someone would ask me to Wolfcoming last minute. 

So, just out of the blue, Athan came out into the floor, holding up a sign asking me to go to Wolfcoming. I thought it was real, but his words proved me otherwise when jaw opened upon the microphone. "If there is one girl who won't be asked ever to Wolfcoming, it's Betrys Wilson. Betrys Wilson" - feedbacked whined from the microphone, if remember clearly - "you have my nomination for 'Most Likely To End Up Matchless.'" 

So, thus began the tradition of an I Love Lucy binge-watching marathon whenever Wolfcoming came around. It's also the reason I never attended Wolf-Prom. No one ever asked me. Athan Wellings destroyed my reputation for high school, and yet, here I am, about to go on a date with him. 

"Well you're engaged to a vampire," I shoot back as I come out from my trance. I don't even mean to say it as if it's a bad thing. It just comes out that way by mistake. Keanna would know I meant no harm, but this time, a frown plasters onto her face when I say those words. 

"Caleb and I broke it off on Friday," she says. Her voice evokes a sulleness that has never been painted upon her before. It's almost heartbreaking to her in the cloud of gloom. "He told me that there would be no possibility of us working while being here. He said that there's way too many more important things happening for us to keep on going. He said that now isn't our time." 

"Kee." I reach out to her and she latches onto me with a hug. My lips press to her ear and I breathe. "I'm so sorry." 

"No need," she says. With that, she lets go and props down onto her bed with a loud and heavy sigh. "It's me, not him. I should've seen it from the beginning. I liked the idea of secrecy more than I liked Caleb himself. The realization that I might not end up with him kept me clinging onto our relationship, and when I found out he could be mine, I guess I realized how him and I could never work." 

"Kee - "

"Sometimes it's just a fact of life," Keanna says. Her voice is drifting off. It has become distant. Even her eyes show distance. Her mind is somewhere in anywhere but this world, I come to realize. "Some people can only love what they can't have. I am one of those people." 

Just then, I see Athan's dark silhouette cast into the room through the open door. I turn around to meet his eyes with a matching pleasant smile. His flannel suit seems to draw more attention than his eyes. "Beatrice Wilson, you look absolutely marvelous this night."

"Why, thank you," I remark. With a laugh, I place a hand over my heart as I fake a gasp. Everyone has first date jitters - sudden drollery is how I choose to cope. There's nothing wrong with that. "You don't look too bad yourself." 

I'm just about to link arms with Athan, when Keanna pulls him aside, but is loud enough for me to eavesdrop in on their conversation. I hear her say to him in a voice as sharp as a knife, "I may only be her best friend, but I love her as much as I love my own family. If you break her heart, I swear I will break your face. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replies. For a moment, I swear he chokes down a gulp. He then turns to me with a long, drawing breath. I get lost looking at him for a moment there. But his voice brings me back. "You ready to go?" 

My voice is gone, so I just nod.

~

Hey guys. Sorry for such a short chapter. The next chapter will make up for that. 

Anyways. If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. 

X Shay X