Resplendent (8 page)

I paused for a second to open my desk drawer and started to rummage through the pile of papers, looking for the invitation.

“No one,” I answered. The event of the year or not, I wasn’t going to go.

“Why? No one has asked you? Cause I’ll take you.”

I placed the phone between my shoulder and cheek so I could better search and laughed. “Andres Rivera! Are you saying that
you
want to take me just to get laid?”

“Nooo,” he said. I could just picture him wide eyed, feigning innocence. “I’m saying
I
should be the one to take you because I’ll be your safest bet. You won’t feel pressured to stay at a fancy hotel with me just to impress a guy. You’ve already impressed me.”

This time, I grabbed the phone again in my hand and shook my head.
He’s too much.
“I’m not going, dork.”

“Why?” he pressed.

I found the dark blue and silver invite underneath some notebooks and ran my finger over the date.

“I can’t,” I whispered.

“What is it, Peach?” he asked, all traces of the teasing tone gone.

“It’s the anniversary of my parents’ death. Five years already.” I sighed and covered the invite with the notebook again, closing my drawer. I stood up to walk over to the bed, glad that Carmin wasn’t home now because I just wanted to be left alone.

“That’s a big one,” he said. “You sure you don’t want to go though?”

“I’m not going to be in much of a mood to party. I’d rather stay home in my pajamas,” I answered.

“All righty, want to talk about something else?”

I leaned my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes. The tension in my body released. He knew me so well. “Yeah, tell me about your day...”

The weeks quickly flew by and prom night finally arrived. Although Carmin was a junior, she’d been invited by the senior jock, Evan.

“Stop blinking!” I scolded and held my hand back while Carmin’s eyes twitched. “The mascara is going to smear all over your face.”

She fanned herself to keep the moisture on the rim of her eyes from smudging.

“You’re doing it wrong!” she panicked and grabbed the tube from my hand. “I’ll just do it myself.”

I stood behind her and leaned against the wall. “Are you going to be home late?” I asked.

Carmin scoffed. “Not late enough, curfew’s at 1:00.” She turned her head and waved her arms. “Can you believe that shit? I’m going with the most popular guy in school, and she expects me to be home at a decent hour.” She mimicked her mother when she said
decent
and I smiled softly. Carmin should have been Drama Club President.

“One o’clock sucks, but the prom is over at eleven. You could always leave a little early and start the after party sooner,” I suggested. I wasn’t sure how these things worked, but it seemed like a good plan.

“That’s lame. That’s a telltale sign that you’re a kid with a curfew.” She glared at me. “You don’t know anything, Savannah.”

“It doesn’t take rocket science, Carmin,” I retorted. I hated when she made me feel dumb.

Carmin shrugged. “Whatever, you’re missing out.” She applied a pink shade of lipstick and blotted on a napkin before continuing. “I hope someone has some pot.”

I stayed silent. I knew she’d been ‘experimenting’ lately, but I wasn’t sure what to say that I hadn’t already said when she first started. She swore she didn’t do anything else but smoke weed and only during
special occasions
. What could I do? Be a tattletale? I hoped she’d outgrow this stage after high school. Lola would have a heart attack if she found out.

“Just be careful,” I said quietly.

Carmin said, “
Mmm hmmm
,” her usual response to me lately when I tried to be the voice of reason.

I helped Carmin get ready as much as I could, but an ache formed in my chest when the doorbell rang, and I sneaked into the shower. Carmin seemed really into her date, and I felt guilty for not waiting to shower till after she left, but watching Lola coo over her and take pictures would just send me on an emotional roller coaster. It had already been too hard to visit my parents’ gravesite that morning, as it was. The day crept up on me like a hurricane: slow, steady, and powerful. No matter how hard I prepared for it, it left me in a bad state with open wounds.

I put on my favorite soft cotton pajama bottoms and one of my dad’s T-shirts that I usually saved for days I felt despondent.

I grabbed the yearbook off my dresser and sat on the bed with my back against the wall. I smiled at the dedications my friends had left, when Lola walked into my room.

“
Nena
, can you help me move some boxes into the storage closet, please?”

I nodded and closed the book. Following her down the hallway, I turned and saw Andres standing by the front door with a book bag over his shoulder, a plastic bag in his hand, and a goofy grin. He was dressed in blue plaid pajama bottoms and a white cotton T-shirt. When he held up the plastic bag, his arms looked yummy.

“A girl’s gotta eat, right?”

My mouth fell open, and all I could do was gawk, while Lola stood smiling.

“Well, don’t just stand there.
Ven, entra
.” Lola motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen. I shook my head and stared at him incredulously. Before he could move, I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist, smelling the detergent off his T-shirt and soap from the shower; it was calming.

“You okay?” He kissed the top of my head.

I nodded against the fabric. “I am, now that you’re here.”

His chuckle vibrated in his chest before the deep, rich sound fell from his lips. He surrounded me in so many ways.

I reluctantly let go and we walked together to the dining room table. While we ate, I declared Andres had brought me the best Mexican food I’d ever tried. He even remembered the bottle of hot sauce, Cholula.

I gave him a once over again and raised my eyebrow. “Why are
you
in pajamas?” I asked once we were done eating.

“Because that’s what you wear for an Anti-Prom Night party,” he answered simply and stood up to help me clear the table.

I motioned a finger between the both of us. “Is that what this is?”

He nodded, his face devoid of any humor. “Oh definitely, we have a very busy night ahead of us.”

I caught the gleam in his eyes and felt warmth rush from my cheeks down to my toes. I hurriedly cleaned the table, while Andres threw away all the paper bags and plates. His planned surprise was driving me crazy. Once we finished in the kitchen, he grabbed my hand and we both yelled out goodnight to my godmother.

“I want the door open, you two! No making out!” she called out as we walked down the hall.

“
Madrina
!” I froze and pressed my face into Andres’ back, praying he wouldn’t turn around. He laughed, but I found nothing funny about the warning.

“She gave me the rules when I called,” he assured me and leaned his hands back to tickle my waist.

I groaned. Now I knew why Carmin would rather sneak away on her dates than let her mother know the truth.

I looked up and saw his face was turned to me. He winked. I scowled.
Not funny
. When we walked into the room, he glanced down at my bed. “Oh, the famous yearbook.” He grabbed it and plopped himself on the mattress, moving over so I could lie next to him. “Let’s make fun of people.”

I giggled and we flipped through the pages together. I pointed out the photos I had taken personally that had made it into the yearbook. Because I was president of the club, there were a lot.

“I love how you take all these fun, candid pictures,” he noted while turning each page.

I smiled at his compliment. “Those are my favorite. They aren’t forced, so they really capture the moment. You know?”

He glanced at me and ran his finger down my nose. “You’re really good at this, Peach. You’re going to be famous, and when I see your face in magazines, I’ll tell everyone ‘yeah, I know her. She won’t give me the time of day, but she’s too good for me anyway.’”

I rolled my eyes and poked his ribs. “You’re so ridiculous.”

“You’re so amazing.”

And all I knew at that moment was the feeling of warmth and sunlight in my chest that radiated all over the inside of my body. He’d kept his promise to be my friend, he came here tonight, and most importantly, he believed in me. I busied myself by putting my yearbook away. My soul was closer to him than anyone else I’d ever met, and I realized that our budding friendship had turned into something much more over time. He could be overwhelming at times, sure, but his heart was in the right place, and his goal was always to make me laugh. I had been floating, unattached to the earth, never fitting in. Somehow, he caught me in his net of laughter and I felt safe. I watched as he lowered his head and looked at the photos on my corkboard. He was in quite a few, seeing as I tried to take a picture with him every chance I got. I watched him walk around my room, he made himself at home, and I shifted nervously in my bed. Having put him in the friend zone had done nothing to stop me from daydreaming and wishing for a future. I inwardly sighed. Just when Carmin had moved on, I wouldn’t be living here much longer.

Andres reached into his book bag. “Okay, first we ate tacos, and now, we watch a movie.” He pulled out a movie case and showed me the cover.

“
Dawn of the Dead
. The remake, I just bought it,” he said and smiled. He walked over to the DVD player and kneeled down to press the eject button.

“Is it scary?” I asked, warily.

Andres shrugged. “Why? Do you get scared easily? You can always sit on my lap if you get too scared.” He smirked and I reached behind me to throw a pillow meant for his face, but he grabbed it easily.

“Slick,” I said.

He gasped and placed his hand on his chest. “Who? Me? I’m just being a good friend.”

I shook my head and pursed my lips before getting up to make popcorn. Once I returned to the room, I helped him grab both my comforter and pillows off the bed to place them on the floor. I immediately curled up against him with his arm under my head. Our bowl of popcorn rested on his belly to share and we were immediately hooked. I flinched within the first five minutes of the movie.

“Okay, that little girl is just way too creepy!” I commented and grabbed another handful of popcorn.

Andres nodded. “Yeah, not exactly how I want to be woken up from my nap.” He tilted his head and glanced over at me. “At least he got laid before he died.”

I smacked him playfully on the arm. “You’re such a guy.”

Andres squeezed my nose. “Proud of it, baby.”

He reached over my body and grabbed the remote, pressing pause.

“Where are you going?” I asked curiously as he got up for what I thought might be a refill of soda, but he reached into his bag and pulled out two shot glasses.

I rested my palms on the floor behind me. “You’re going to get me drunk?”

He smiled and kneeled down, handed me the glasses and pulled out a bottle of Aguardiente from a smaller bag.

My eyes widened. “Nice!” I said a little too excitedly, and we both laughed.

“Alcohol is the most important part of the Anti-Prom experience,” I held up the glasses for him as he poured the clear liquid, “and since we’re both home in our pajamas, I think this is our very best night yet.”

I giggled. “You can be very persuasive.”

He closed the bottle and looked at me, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “I’m only trying to convince one person.”

I swallowed before pressing the glass to my lips, and when Andres did the same, I stopped him by putting my hand on his arm.

“Wait! Let’s toast.” I smiled and held up my glass. “To the best Anti-Prom ever.”

“
Salud
.” Andres grinned at me and we clinked glasses.

After the movie, we decided it was imperative to make a list of survival strategies for the zombie apocalypse. I reached over to grab sheets of paper and a pen from my desk, and we sat back down on the floor to come up with a plan.

“Okay, the first thing we need to do is get in shape. Probably by running,” Andres said.

I huffed and threw my pen down. “That’s it. I’m dead.”

Andres laughed. “Why is that?”

“I hate running! I can’t run a mile to save my life.”
Running
and
I
shouldn’t even be in the same sentence.

“Well, maybe the zombies will be slow. Besides, you have me to carry you.” His lips curled up in a smirk. “Let’s move on to the next step.”

I agreed and paid attention to the empty glasses I was trying to refill with more liquor. “Okay, we need weapons — guns, of course.”

Andres said, “But guns are loud, so we should get sharp knives and silencers.”

I lifted up my now full glass. “To surviving the apocalypse.”

“With dumb, slow zombies,” he said and we clinked and drank.

“If we are the last two survivors and I get bitten before you, you have permission to shoot me in the head,” Andres said.

I shook my head. “No way, please just eat me.” My face immediately reddened and I pulled the collar of my T-shirt up to cover myself. Andres belted out in laughter.
Jerk.