The Heaven I Found In Hell (23 page)

"You sadden me, oh lady."

"Ouch! That hurt!" I said, sending him one cold angry stare. "Watch the language! You know I hate History as much as I despise Calculus!"

He merely laughed at me, and soon after I felt the stretched car come into a stop. I inwardly grinned, and felt the excitement inside was going to burst out any second now. I knew my next statement was going to sound loser-ish, but you couldn't blame me for being home-schooled during my first, second, and third years of high school. This was my first High School dance.

The door opened as soon as the limo came into a halt, and the whole of us left the car eagerly as we entered the hotel. We made our way to the Grand Ballroom, signed our names on the Registration sheet, and joined the rest of our High School mates. We headed over to a table near the center, and took our seats, and without even half an hour passing yet, everyone in the table, except for Nate and I, were already on the dance floor moving to Akon's Don't Matter.

"Aren't you going to ask me to dance?" I teased, as I shouldered him lightly.

He returned my smirk with his own, before he cocked an eyebrow up at me.

"Why would I?" He asked, prolonging my excitement.

"Because I love Akon, so ask me now!" I said forcefully, and in response he laughed again.

"No, thanks." He said in nonchalance.

"Oh, come on! You're not going to tell me who yo-"

He cut me off. "I told you I'm going to tell you after 
this
 ends."

Was he annoyed?
 By the stern look on his face, I could see that he didn't want to talk about our deal, or more specifically the girl of his dreams. 
But why wouldn't he?
 I looked at him for a few seconds, and when his cold exterior didn't loosen up, I apologized. I thought about teasing him, but realized that that would be a hell-ish idea.

"Fine, I'll shut up." I said, turning my back against him, as I looked at my friends who were dancing and enjoying their time with such enthusiasm.

I frowned since I didn’t like the way Nathan was acting. I absolutely didn't know why he didn't want to talk about 'this' girl, and it isn't my problem that I’m curious as hell. I admit. I wanted to know (badly), but I didn't want to keep pestering him because it might give him this out-of-this-world idea that the reason I keep bugging him is because I have feelings for him. Oh. Hehe. I do. Anyway, back to the current situation, he turned his attention to me and I saw a look of worry in his eyes. Ha! He was feeling guilty!

"I'm sorry, okay?" He started. "You want to dance?"

"Why didn't you ask me a few minutes ago?"

"Because now, the song is about to end...so no more Akon." He said with a knowing smirk.

I was positive that he came up with that reason only now. I decided not to question him any further since I knew exactly how much guys like him hated being outsmarted. I hit him in the shoulder, and told him that he sucked for the nth time, but being the guy that he is, his obvious response was, "Whatever, I know you love me."

Yeah, I do.

"Very funny, but you should've told me you were going to tell a joke, so I could've prepared my laugh." I said, as I pinched his side.

He simply laughed at my comeback before he took my hand, and wrapped it in his, as he led me to the dance floor. We took our place in a not so crowded area, as the two of us started swaying to the music separately. Minutes passed, and we found ourselves closing the gap between our bodies, as we danced to Beyonce's Irreplaceable. It wasn't really slow-danceable, but it was more than enough for him to wrap his arms around my waist, and for me to put my arms around his shoulders. We swayed to the beat, looking away from each other, until he opened his mouth.

"You're a pretty good dancer, you know that." He complimented, as I felt his grip on me tighten a bit, and sad to say for my purity, I liked it.

"Well, that's what you get for partying too much."

I saw a spark pass through his eyes, and for a moment I saw...anger? It couldn't be. I started questioning what I said, but found nothing wrong. Maybe I was thinking too much...Yeah...that was probably it. After a few minutes, the song changed into a much slower one, and I found my insides tightening by the idea of slow-dancing with no-one other than Nathan Adams.

"Is this what you've been waiting for?" He asked, about to start another one of our tease-fests.

He cocked an eyebrow at me, before he pulled his lips up into a grin. We slowly moved to the music, and a while after, I found my hands resting on his upper back, my arms beneath his underarm. I leaned my head on his shoulder, and against the fabric of his tuxedo, my lips curved up into a smirk.

"I've been waiting to slow dance." I said to him. "But not with you."

He patted my back, and somehow I just knew he was grinning. After a 'yeah, right' from him, we stayed silent...just dancing. Of course all good things had to end, and I found myself pulling away from him when the slow song came to a finish, but instead of sulking because the embrace ended, I smiled so wide because Smack That, another one from Akon, blasted through the stereos. I turned my back to him, and started dancing like crazy, as were the rest of the people in the room. Even though there were a few teachers present, most of us, if not all, started dancing the way we'd probably do in a Cabo Trip during Spring Break, just scrap the bikinis and board shorts part.

"Damn Alex, chill! We got all night!" Nathan screamed, trying to beat the loud music. I continued doing my 'thing,' and ignored his 'suggestion.'

"Come on Nate!"

Nathan continued dancing, and by the way his whole body moved, I couldn't help but smile and look at him in awe. He was definitely a great dancer, and that was saying something. Not many guys can dance without looking gay, and when Nathan started to just do it, it hyped me even more since it made me feel like I was a legend in swaying my hips because I had such a great partner.

"You aren't too bad yourself." I said with a sly smirk, as I referred to his moves.

Such an understatement.

After an hour of hips swaying and bodies grinding, Nathan and I got tired so we decided to head over to the buffet table to eat. He, being the incredibly fit pig he was, didn't leave an empty space on his plate, but I, on the other hand, decided to settle for a salad and a small sandwich. We made our way back to our table, sat ourselves down, and started eating. Due to the silence, I'd look at Nathan from time to time, and in one sad instance he caught me staring at him.

"Do I have something on my face or am I just really hot you couldn't resist?" He asked with a teasing smirk glued on his face.

I shouldered him, and before I knew it, I felt my heart do a somersault. Why did his smirk have to be so evil? The more I kept thinking about him, the more I wanted the dance to end so that he could already do his part of the deal and tell me the girl I was going to stab breathless. But no...it was only eight, which meant I had to wait for four more hours. Before I could further humiliate myself by staring at him, he brought me back to reality.

"Lexy! Are you alright?" He asked, shaking me back to the real world.

"Uh-huh." I answered mindlessly, unsure of what he really had asked.

He looked at me, and then gave me a cocky grin. In return, I placed my finger over his lips, and told him to put that grin of his away, but unfortunately for me, he was enjoying tormenting me with his hotness.

"I never knew my grin was so captivating..." He said pretending to look thoughtful.

"Yeah, just like my hand on your face is!" I retorted, but soon after I was wearing a crooked smile.

We ate and talked at the same time, and throughout our whole conversation, I had the privilege of keeping my eyes on Nathan without looking like a weirdo. 
Hey...it's important to keep eye contact. 
When we finished eating, we decided to stay at the table seeing as how we had the whole night until midnight to dance. We continued our oh-so random conversation, as we laughed, grinned, and snickered at each other. Something inside me told me I couldn't wait for the dance to end since my mask was being a nuisance that I wanted to take off no matter how beautiful it was.  My heart felt like its veins were clogged.  I wanted Nathan to rid me of my nervousness.

After a few hours of chatting the minutes away, we found ourselves listening to our principal announce the King and Queen of the night. Both Cindy and I, along with two cheerleaders went up the stage since we were nominees for Homecoming Queen, while Nathan, Anthony, Blake, and Erick (captain of the Basketball team) stood on the other side of the platform. Such suspense...

"This year's Homecoming King is..." Drumroll here. "Nathan Adams!"

"No surprise there." I said to myself in a tone inaudible to others.

I clapped my hands eagerly, as I watched my date take center stage. The spotlights turned to him, as the music grew softer, and I found myself anticipating the next thing that was going to happen. Nathan lowered his head, enabling the principal to place the crown over his hair, before he straightened up, and waved to everyone. He took a few steps to the side to leave space for his Queen.  After the cheers died down our principal stood behind the mic as he took out another small piece of paper from his pocket. Everyone immediately kept quiet, so as not to keep the suspense going any longer. I saw the principal move his lips and loud cheers erupt from the audience, but not registering what he had said since my mind decided to work overtime all of a sudden, I didn't know who had won, until I saw Cindy stand beside Nathan. She accepted the crown with such glee, and I couldn't help myself, but feel jealous. Even though she acted like an ass to most people, she still got everything she wanted. Oh right...except for Nathan, but still. She was the Queen and I was the commoner, and Kings go for Queens. To make it sound 2007-ish, Cindy fit Nathan, not me. I put the thoughts at the back of my head, as I continued watching the two royal-blooded eighteen-year olds smile and wave to everyone before them. After a few minutes, and much to my happiness, they separated, and exited the stage. The nominees followed suit, before we went back to our groups. I met Riley and the others in the middle of the dance floor, and suddenly, I felt nervous. Cindy appeared a few seconds later, as she showed off her tiara.

"I guess I’m a winner tonight!" She exclaimed proudly, and in return I hugged her (without any grudges), just to show that I was a sport when it came to losing. She loosely embraced me back, before she spoke up again. "...and someone here is going to be kissing Charlie!"

Did I hear correct?

I have nothing against Charlie, except for his hideous ways of dressing. I'm not being mean or anything, but with my background (speaking career-wise) and all, his fashion sense couldn't even be called one since to begin with, he looked like he didn't have a 'sense' when it came to choosing clothes. Before I could make myself gag by the idea of my hand on his back, and his glasses being in the way of the two of us kissing smoothly, I rid myself of my current thoughts as I gave Cindy the are-you-serious look. Apparently she was a hundred and one percent serious since her next words of; "You better do it now" reassured me.

I looked at Nathan. I didn't know why I did, but in that moment, he seemed like the right person to turn to, considering he was the other winner. I looked at him, and pleaded for some help. He nodded slowly at me, before he turned to Cindy and forced her to change her decision.