What's Your Status? (33 page)

I wondered what it was about the Pearson girls’ DNA that caused guys to get all crazy and protective around them. “Travis,” I said, “you have to trust her. Why would she lie about that?”

“I dunno,” he muttered. He reached out absentmindedly to play with Nate’s boutonniere, and I moved it before he could accidentally destroy it. “But listen, Mad,” he said, suddenly looking grave. “You’re not going to say anything to her, right? About any of that stuff that you said you wouldn’t? And you won’t send her that picture, right?”

“I promise,” I said. “As long as you promise that as far as Mom and Dad are concerned, I came home from the prom and stayed here with you tonight.”

“Deal,” Travis said. He held out his hand and we shook quickly, just as the front doorbell rang.

I could feel my heart start to beat more quickly. It thrilled me that Nate had come to the front door. He always knocked on the side door when he picked me up.
But it was like he had somehow known that the front door was reserved for special occasions. I started to hurry toward it, and my heel slid slightly on the kitchen floor. I slowed my steps, smoothing down the fabric of my dress, hoping that Nate would like it.

I got to the front door and smiled involuntarily. Nate was standing on the top step, a clear plastic box in his hand. He was wearing his tux easily, as though he wore one every day. It looked like maybe he’d just gotten his hair cut—the curls seemed a little more under control than usual. I noticed that the tux wasn’t black—it was a very dark blue and it brought out his eyes. I had never seen him look more handsome. I unlocked the door and pulled it open.

“Hi,” I said, smiling wider.

Nate looked at me in silence for a moment, then stepped inside, his slightly crooked smile appearing. He touched my hair and then the waist of my dress carefully, as though he was afraid of messing them up. Then he touched my cheek lightly, his smile growing. “You look so beautiful,” he said. “This dress is incredible.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re my girl.”

I was thrilled to hear that he liked the dress, but all the same, I felt my cheeks get hot. “
You
look beautiful,” I said. “I mean, handsome. I like this tux.”

“Oh,” he said casually, “it was just something I had lying around the house.” He opened the jacket, showed me the cummerbund—which was a slightly lighter blue than the rest of the tux—and pretended to model it.

“Ooh, very nice,” I said, laughing. I stepped close
to him, reaching my hands inside the jacket and stroking the fabric of his tuxedo shirt. As I did so, I could feel the muscles of Nate’s stomach beneath the shirt, and I moved my hand around to his back. Suddenly, things didn’t seem quite so funny anymore. Under the pretense of straightening his already straight bow tie, I rested my hands on his chest, trying to get control of myself. Because suddenly, all I wanted to do was kiss him, even though we were ten feet away from my little brother, in my front hallway, and I’d just put on my lipstick.

I looked up at Nate. His expression had turned serious, and he was breathing a little harder than usual. He spanned his hands around my waist and murmured, “Mad…”

That was all I could take. I threw myself at him, kissing him hard, and Nate stumbled back a few steps before he bumped into the foyer wall, the plastic box in his hand clattering to the ground. He tightened his arms around my waist and kissed me back, matching the intensity in my kisses. He was backed up against the wall, and I leaned into him, and it was like I couldn’t touch him enough—running my hands inside his jacket, over his chest, up his back. He seemed to feel the same way, cupping my face in his hands, encircling my waist, tracing a slow line down my side that made me shiver.

We continued like that for…well, I actually have no idea how long. Not nearly long enough, in my opinion. I felt as if I couldn’t get enough of him, and rather than sating this, every kiss just made me want him more. This was a level of intensity we’d never experienced before,
and I wondered if it was the formal wear. If that was the case, maybe Bond had been onto something after all.

We broke the kiss, and I caught my breath, which was coming a lot more shallowly than usual. I tried to compose myself, suddenly scared of what I was feeling. The prom, the crown…none of it seemed to matter anymore. I just wanted to stay there with Nate, kissing him and…

For the first time, I truly entertained the idea of what it might be like not to have to stop. What it might be like if we decided to go all the way. Possibly tonight. The thought didn’t terrify me, as it usually had. Instead, right then, it seemed like an intriguing option.

“Wow,” Nate murmured, blinking down at me.

“I know,” I said, looking up at him. Neither of us was smiling. Something had just happened between us that felt…serious.

Nate sighed and kissed my forehead, then pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning—okay, where I’d leaned him—against. “Well, if that’s what happens when we get dressed up, I think I should break out the tux more often,” he said, arching an eyebrow.

“That’s just what I was thinking,” I said, smiling up at him.

“Hey!” Travis yelled from the kitchen. “Um, shouldn’t we get going? I don’t want to keep Olivia waiting.”

I rolled my eyes at Nate and took a moment to straighten my dress and smooth my hair down. Nate retrieved the fallen plastic box, and I saw that there was a beautiful corsage inside.

“Sorry about Travis,” I said.

“He didn’t do anything,” Nate said, handing me the corsage box.

“Oh, he will,” I assured him. “That was just preemptive.” I opened the box and took out the corsage, which was a perfect white rose. “It’s beautiful,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Let me,” Nate said, and slipped it over my wrist. He held my hand for a moment, and I stretched up and gave him a quick kiss.

“Okay,” I said, squeezing his hand and taking a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

As we got close to Dave’s house, I could see a line of cars stretching down the driveway and onto the street. Parked a little way up the street was the white Putnam Pizza van, and the sight of it was enough to remind me that this was not going to be an ordinary prom night. We parked at the back of the car line and headed up the driveway, Travis walking a few feet behind us, as though he wanted to pretend he’d somehow gotten there on his own.

Everyone had assembled on Dave’s back lawn, by his pool and the rock wall that overlooked the Long Island Sound. My friends were lined up, with the water behind them, posing for pictures. I squeezed Nate’s hand, and we walked closer. Travis joined a petite blond girl who I assumed was Olivia, since she looked like a mini-Kittson.

I smiled as I took in the sight of all my friends dressed in their prom finery. Lisa was in a strapless black dress
that hit the floor and hid the fact that she was wearing four-inch heels. Dave was standing next to her, wearing a tux and looking a little bulkier than usual. Schuyler looked stunning in a tiered green dress with a Gerbera daisy corsage. She was next to Connor, but the two of them weren’t standing very close, and neither looked particularly happy. Jimmy and Liz were gazing into each other’s eyes and, as usual, appeared to be in their own world. Kittson looked amazing in a light yellow dress that almost matched her hair. And if it wasn’t for Turtell’s gazing at Kittson adoringly, I wouldn’t have recognized him. In his tux, hair combed neatly, he looked beyond clean-cut.

Brian was standing alone, looking down the driveway and checking his watch, presumably waiting for his internet mystery date. Lisa smiled and waved at me, then seemed to remember she was still mad, and lowered her hand and glanced away. I made it a priority tonight to talk to her, and do what I could to fix the fact that she was still upset.

“Amazing dress, Mad,” Liz said, tearing her eyes away from Jimmy for a moment and smiling at me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Where’s it from?”

“Um…the Vault,” I said, thinking quickly.

“I’ve never heard of it,” she said, frowning.

“It’s new,” I said. “Just opened.”

“Well, be sure to give me the info,” she said. “I’d love to check it out!”

“Absolutely,” I said as convincingly as I could.

“Is the limo here yet?” Nate asked Dave as they did their ridiculously complicated guy handshake.

“Any minute,” Dave said, checking his watch.

“It should be here,” Schuyler said, coming over to us. She looked beautiful, but also exhausted and worried. “I confirmed with them this morning.” Connor trailed behind her, and I saw that he had a daisy boutonniere to match her corsage. It looked like she’d had better luck putting it on than I’d had with Nate’s, which, after three attempts, still kept slipping to a forty-five-degree angle on his lapel.

“I’m sure they’re coming, Shy,” Connor said, smiling at her. “You were very clear on the address and directions.” Schuyler looked down and nodded, not making eye contact with him.

“Dude,” Brian said, seeing Nate and coming over. The two of them then did a different complicated guy handshake, this one involving a shoulder bump at the end. “Good to see you.”

“You too,” Nate said. “Nice to see you’ve been released into the world again. When do we get to meet your date?”

“Should be any minute now,” Brian said, his face clouding slightly as he looked down the driveway again.

“How was Young Investors?” I asked, trying to distract him.

“Oh,” he said, and his expression became even more troubled. “Not so good.”

Apparently, that had been the wrong topic to bring up. “Sorry,” I murmured.

“We were supposed to invest in something, and have a return by Monday,” he said. “But I kind of forgot. They’re meeting tonight to pick something.”

“It’s a Saturday,” I said, shocked. “And it’s prom night.”

“Well, most of them don’t have lives,” Brian said matter-of-factly. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in Young Investors.”

“You are,” Nate said. “What does
that
say?”

“Listen, Ellis…” Brian said, and I had a feeling a guy insult-fest was about to begin.

“I need to talk to you,” Kittson said, taking my elbow and drawing me away from the rest of the group. When we stopped, I saw her take in my outfit, her eyes widening. “Nice,” she said offhandedly after a moment. I knew Kittson well enough to realize she’d just given me a very big compliment.

“Thanks,” I said. “You too.”

“I know,” she said, smoothing down her dress. “Of course, I hadn’t planned on spending my prom night with my sister.”

“I hear that noise,” I said, shaking my head. We both looked toward Olivia and Travis, who were still standing off to the side and appeared to be having an intense discussion.

“But listen,” Kittson said, leaning closer and lowering her voice. “It’s about what we got off Dr. Trent’s computer. The prom voting is seriously messed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you were right in thinking that whoever was running that site was rigging it. The election’s totally fixed.” Kittson looked furious, and I had a feeling that the election wasn’t fixed in her favor.

“How?” I asked as Turtell came over to us.

“Sup, Mad?” he asked.

“Hi, Glen,” I said. I looked at Kittson, hoping we could get back to our conversation, but she gave me a tiny, subtle shake of her head and smiled at Turtell.

“Something’s up with Olivia,” Turtell said, pointing toward Travis and Olivia, who were now standing apart from each other, both with their arms crossed.

“Ruh-roh,” I said. “Trouble in middle school paradise.” This did not look good. I turned to say something to Nate when I noticed someone walking up Dave’s driveway.

It was a very pretty girl in a beautiful light blue prom dress. She was very petite—she and Lisa, without heels, would probably have been around the same height. But unlike Lisa, she was curvy, and her dress accentuated this. Her hair was dark brown and glossy, and up in a perfect twist. Seeing this, I ran my hand over my own hair.

“Who is that?” Kittson asked, frowning.

“Brian’s date, I assume,” I said. The girl approached us, and I saw that she was even prettier up close, with bright blue eyes and porcelain skin.

“Hi,” she said, glancing at the guys in tuxes. “I’m looking for someone….” she said tentatively. Her glance
fell on Nate, who was still busy insulting Brian. Her eyes lit up and she smiled.
“Nate?”
she asked, sounding surprised and thrilled.

Nate turned to her and his eyes widened. “Mel?” he asked, sounding stunned. “What are you doing here?”

“Who’s Mel?” Kittson hissed at me.

“I…don’t know,” I said. I was hoping with every fiber of my being that what I was afraid was happening was not actually happening, that Mel was actually short for Melinda. Or Melvin.

As I watched, horrified, Mel and Nate hugged. It looked like she hung on for just a moment longer than he did. I saw Schuyler and Lisa take this in, and both immediately made their way over to me.

“I’m here to meet my prom date,” Mel said, laughing.

“I think that would be me,” Brian said, bounding forward and looking elated. “I’m Brian.”

“Melissa,” she said, and they shook hands.

“Melissa?” Schuyler whispered to me, appearing at my shoulder.

“
Sex
Melissa?” Lisa whispered, arriving behind her.

“Don’t call her that,” I murmured. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

“Why did you call her Sex Melissa?” Kittson asked.

“Yeah,” Turtell said, looking very interested in the answer.

“This is so funny,” Melissa said, turning back to Nate. She laughed and rested her hand on his arm. “I can’t believe this!”

“You two know each other?” Brian asked.

“Well, we, um…” Nate said, glancing over at me.

“We used to date,” Melissa said.

“You’re
Nate’s
Melissa?” Dave asked, sounding flabbergasted. He looked over at me, brow furrowed.

“Well, not anymore,” Melissa said. “But at one time…”

“Mel, you haven’t met Madison, have you?” Nate said, cutting her off. “My girlfriend. Mad?”

I pressed my lips together and walked over to Nate, who threaded his hand through mine. I smiled at Melissa, trying to pretend that she was just some random gorgeous girl I was meeting and not someone who might have slept with my boyfriend. “Hi,” I said, forcing myself to smile.