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Prom Night Realizations by April Ball Prom night. Every girl’s fantasy. Every girl dreams of the night that she gets to spend with the boy of her dreams. The day she gets to be pampered. She gets her hair done, her nails done, and she slips on her dress. Every girl loves her dress. It fits the personality of the one wearing it. My prom night was memorable. Feelings were realized. Doubts were put to rest. br “Are you excited?” My best friend, Gracelyn Stephenson, asked me after school.br “About what?” I asked.br She rolled her eyes.br “Prom,” she said, saying it slowly.br “Oh,” I said. “Yeah… Not going.”br “What!” She exclaimed.br “I’m not going,” I said again.br “Ryann,” she scolded.br “What?” I asked. “I don’t have a date. What’s the point of going?”br “We’re seniors,” she told me. “This will be the last dance we go to.”br “Good riddance,” I said, walking to my kitchen. br I heard Gracelyn sigh. She stood up and came into the kitchen. There was a knock at my door. br “I’ll get it,” she said, leaving me in the kitchen.br When she opened my front door, it revealed Gracelyn’s boyfriend, Gabriel Moran and our longtime best friend, Liam Brown. Gabriel leaned in to kiss Gracelyn but stopped when he saw her face.br “What?” He asked.br “It’s Ryann,” she said.br “Is she okay?” Liam asked.br Everyone knew that Liam had a crush on me. He never acted on it and to tell you the truth, I respected him for it. I think it made us better friends in the long run. I do love that boy.br “She’s fine,” Gracelyn answered. “She just doesn’t want to go to prom.”br “What?” Gabriel asked. br “I know,” Gracelyn said. “That was my reaction.” br Gabriel rolled his eyes and made his way into the kitchen. Let’s just say he caught me totally off guard.br “What’s this I hear about you not wanting to go to prom?” He asked.br I nearly dropped my drink as I turned around to face him.br “Gabriel!” I exclaimed. “You scared the crap out of me!”br He laughed.br “Sorry,” he said.br Then, he got serious.br “Why don’t you want to go?” He asked.br “No date,” I simply answered.br “You can go with Gracelyn and I,” he said.br I rolled my eyes at him.br “And be what?” I asked. “The third wheel?”br Gabriel shook his head.br “No,” he said.br “Why don’t you go with Corbin?” Gracelyn asked.br “One… He’s my twin. Two… He already has a date.” I said.br “Do you want to go with me?” I heard Liam speak up from the back.br “I thought you were going to ask that one girl,” I said, walking to him.br “I was but if it means that you’ll go to prom, then I’d be happy to escort you,” he said, smiling.br I smiled and sighed. Gracelyn, Gabriel, and Liam were all looking at me. I fought with myself for a few minutes before I gave them an answer. I looked at Liam.br “Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”br All three of them smiled. It was official. I was going to prom. The days until the prom went so slow, but it finally arrived. I had went dress shopping with Gracelyn a few days prior. I hate to admit it, but I had a lot of fun. It took three hours, but I finally picked out my “perfect” dress. I had sent a picture to Liam, and he had dubbed it perfect. It was a royal blue halter dress, and it went down to my ankles. There was blue silk gloves that went with it. I felt gorgeous.br I spent the first half of prom day getting ready. Corbin, acted as my chauffeur. He hung out with me while I got my hair done as well as my nails. We were close for brother and sister. People said it was scary that we got along as well as we did, but that was just the way we were. br “Do you like?” I asked Corbin once my hair stylist, Hannah, finished on my hair. br He looked up from his book that he had brought along to keep himself occupied. br “Wow,” he said.br “I guess that’s a yes,” Hannah said as she spun me around in the chair to finish my style.br After my hair, came my nails. Corbin buried himself in his book while I got my French tip manicure. I felt bad for him. He handled it well. I love him for that. After my manicure, Corbin and I headed for home. When we got there, our older sister, Juliette, was waiting for me.br “Juliette!” I exclaimed.br I hardly ever got to see my sister or my two older brothers because they were considerably older than Corbin and I. I guess you could say that Corbin and I were the surprises. At least that’s what our parents call us. Juliette was twenty-five. Our brother’s, Dillon and Trace, were twenty-seven and twenty-nine. br “Hey, Girl!” Juliette exclaimed as she embraced me in a hug.br “What are you doing here?” I asked.br “Make-up extraordinaire,” she answered.br I smiled.br “Sweet,” I said.br We quickly went into the house and up to my room. When I got there, I changed into my dress, and Juliette zipped me up.br “It’s beautiful,” she commented as she finished zipping it.br “Thanks,” I said, turning to face her. br She looked at me. She smiled.br “What?” I asked.br “I was just thinking about how much you and Corbin have changed over the years. You guys are eighteen years old,” she said. “It seems like just yesterday that mom and dad were telling us about you.”br “You sound like mom,” I told her as she started to apply some make-up to my face.br She smiled as she kept on working.br “That’s because I am a mom,” she said.br After what seemed like an eternity, Juliette announced that she was done.br “There,” she said. “Look in the mirror and see if you like it.”br I walked over to the mirror in my room and looked in it. I smiled.br “I went with natural colors,” she said.br I looked over at her. br “I love it,” I said.br She smiled.br “Okay,” she said. “Put your gloves on. I’m going to go see if Corbin is done so that you two can walk down together.”br I nodded. I quickly put on the gloves that went with my dress and looked in my mirror one more time. br “You look great,” I heard a voice say.br I turned around to find Corbin standing there. I smiled.br “Thanks,” I said. “You clean up nicely, too.”br He smiled.br “Ready?” He asked.br I nodded. I walked over to him and linked my arm with his. We headed out of the room and to the stairs. We started to walk down them and when we got to the bottom, there was a ton of people there waiting for us. There was our mom and dad, Juliette, Juliette’s husband, Matt, my nephew, Christian, my niece, Alexa, Dillon, Dillon’s wife, Baylee, my nephew, Anderson, Trace’s wife, Catherine, Trace, my niece, Gabriella, my nephew, Tristan, my nephew, Joel, Gabriel, Gracelyn, Corbin’s date, Christine, and Liam. They were all smiling and telling us how nice we looked. Of course, my mom insisted on taking twenty thousand pictures. I was glad when we had to leave. We decided to go to dinner at the local diner instead of a fancy restaurant. It just suited us.br We sat at the diner and enjoyed being together. None of us knew how much longer we would be together with graduation coming up. br “Are you glad you came?” Gracelyn asked as I was eating my food.br I nodded and looked over at Liam.br “Yeah,” I said. “It’s been fun.”br He smiled. After we all ate, we decided to get the real party started. We drove to our high school and parked the car. We all walked in together. Gabriel and Gracelyn, hand-in-hand. Liam and I, arms linked. When we got inside, the music was blaring. We handed the girl at the door our tickets and walked into the gym. It had been totally transformed, and it was amazing. br “Have fun,” Gracelyn told me as she pulled Gabriel out to the dance floor.br I smiled at them. Liam and I headed for the dance floor as well. The advantage of being a dancer was that you never looked stupid at dances. Liam was more classically trained and I was more hip-hop trained, but we made it work. When the fast hip-hop songs were on, I was better and when the slow songs that contained slow moves came on, Liam was better. We evened each other out. br We were dancing to a slow song and having a great time when I heard a voice behind me.br “May I cut in?” I heard the voice ask.br I turned around to see who was there. I was shocked at who was standing there. An old “friend” of mine was there.br “Justyn?” I questioned. br He nodded.br Justyn and I had been friends since we were little kids. One day, he just decided he didn’t want to be friends anymore, and that was it. We never talked. We never made contact. We just avoided each other all together. His new friends weren’t people that I would hang out with at all. I loved him, and he walked away from me. Why now?br The song that Liam and I had been dancing to ended and another slow song called, “Still There For Me,” by Corbin Bleu came on.br “May I?” Justyn asked, looking at Liam.br Liam looked at me. He knew the situation with Justyn. He also knew that deep down I still felt the same way about Justyn that I had three or four years ago. Liam nodded his head. He leaned in to whisper in my ear. br “Make things right,” he whispered as he walked off, leaving Justyn and I there.br I swallowed. Liam was being so brave. Down deep I knew his heart was breaking, but he pushed his feelings aside and put mine before them. He was ten feet tall in my eyes. I smiled at Justyn. All of the familiar feelings came rushing back. He closed the gap between us, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.br “Why now?” I asked, looking up at him. br Justyn closed his eyes as if he were thinking of an answer that would even halfway make it up to me. br “I’ve been stupid,” he said.br His answer was right… I wouldn’t disagree with that. I shook my head.br “I don’t know,” he honestly said. “I saw you tonight, and it hit me.”br I looked up at him again.br “What hit you?” I asked.br He sighed.br “We’re not little kids anymore,” he said. “The way I treated you was uncalled for someone my age. Especially since we were friends. I let the wrong people decide my life for me.”br I smiled.br “That actually sounded genuine,” I said.br He rolled his eyes.br “It was,” he said. br “What about…” I started to say, but he stopped me.br “I dumped her,” he said.br My jaw dropped.br “At prom?” I questioned.br He shook his head.br “Two months ago,” he answered.br My head was spinning. br “So, who are you here with?” I questioned.br “Myself,” he answered.br “You don’t have a date?” I asked.br He shook his head.br “Nope,” he answered.br “I never pictured you as the type to come to a dance alone,” I said.br “I didn’t even want to come,” he said. “But I knew that there were some things that I needed to clear up and if I didn’t do it tonight, then I might never get another chance.”br I sighed and laid my head on his chest.br “What does this mean for us?” I questioned.br I felt him take a deep breath. That made me look up at him. I saw something in Justyn’s eyes that I had never seen before. Something that for the longest time, I wanted to see. I saw truth. I saw… Love.br “There are a ton of reasons why you shouldn’t want to be with me,” he said. “I lied to you, I blew you off, I stood you up…”br I reached up and softly kissed him to get him to shut up. When I pulled away, he was looking at me.br “You were rambling,” I said, smiling at the effect he had on me.br “Sorry,” he said.br I sighed. I heard clapping.br “Do you hear that?” I asked.br We both looked in the direction that we thought it had come from. I smiled when we saw who was causing all of the commotion. Standing about ten feet away from us was Corbin, Christine, Gabriel, Gracelyn, and Liam. I smiled at Justyn. br “Do you want to be with me?” He whispered in my ear.br “If you promise not to hurt me again,” I whispered back.br He leaned down until our lips were centimeters apart. br “I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said before kissing me again.br I was complete. Well, as complete as an eighteen year old girl can get. br “Give me a second?” I asked Justyn as the song ended.br He nodded and kissed my cheek. I walked over to my brother and friends. Gracelyn squealed while hugging me while the boys looked on. I broke away from her and looked at Liam. I gave him the biggest hug ever.br “Thanks for letting me go,” I whispered in his ear. br He pulled away. br “Justyn makes you happy,” he said. “That makes me happy.”br “Why didn’t you invite him over here?” Corbin asked.br “I didn’t know if he would feel comfortable being included yet,” I said, looking over to where Justyn was hanging and waiting for me.br “Let’s find out,” Corbin said. “Justyn!”br Justyn looked over to us.br “Want to join us!” He called.br Justyn walked slowly over to us. He was really shy around people he wasn’t used to being around. We shouldn’t have counted as that but with our past, that’s how it was. br “It’s okay,” Corbin said. “But if you hurt her again, I’ll have to kill you.”br Justyn smiled. It was a mix of worry and wonder.br “He’s kidding, Justyn,” I said.br He smiled again.br “Welcome back,” Corbin said, giving him a slap on the back.br “Thanks,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist. br The rest of prom went off without a hitch and everyone was happy. I knew that going home was going to be an adventure. I had left with one date and came home with another. I was relieved to see when Justyn and I pulled into the driveway that all of my siblings and their families were gone. That would have just been chaotic. Justyn stopped the car and looked at me. I smiled at him and he leaned in to kiss me. I started to speak.br “You can stall all you want,” I told himbr He pulled back. br “What?” He asked.br “You can stall all you want, but you still have to come inside and talk to my parents,” I said, smiling at him.br He smiled.br “They hate me,” he said, pulling me close to him.br I playfully punched him.br “No they don’t,” I said. “My parents hate no one.”br Justyn looked at me. br “If you say so,” he said.br I rolled my eyes and kissed him.br “Does that persuade you?” I asked.br He scratched his chin in thought.br “One more,” he answered.br I kissed him one more time and looked at him. He sighed.br “Okay,” he said. “You win. Let’s go.”br I smiled and opened my door to get out. Once I was out, I met up with Justyn and linked my hand with his.br “You don’t think they’ll kill me, do you?” He asked as we started to walk up the front walk to my house.br I shook my head.br “No,” I said. “They’ll probably just hurt you real bad.”br He looked at me.br “You need to calm down,” I told him. “Everything is going to be fine. You worry too much.”br He took a deep breath as we got to my front door. Before he could object, I opened it and pulled him through with me. I closed it behind me and called for my parents. br “Mom!” I called. “Dad!”br They both came from the living room.br “You’re home…” My mom started but trailed off when she saw Justyn. “Justyn.”br “Hey, Mrs. Upton,” he said, trying to find his voice.br “Where’s the others?” she asked us still in shock that Justyn Cummins was in our living room.br “After party,” I said. “Justyn and I wanted to come here.”br My mom smiled. br “It’s nice to see you, Justyn,” My dad said, putting his hand out for Justyn to shake and my mom hugged him.br I gave Justyn a look.br “See,” I mouthed.br He smiled as did I. Everything was perfect. Later that night, I was waiting out on our front porch in my pajamas while Justyn said goodbye to my parents. I had a cup of hot chocolate, and I was looking at the stars. br “What are you doing?” He asked, sitting next to me on the porch swing. br “Thinking,” I said, snuggling up to him.br I felt him sigh.br “Did you ever think we would talk again?” He asked, breaking the silence.br I shook my head up against him.br “No,” I said. “I always tried to convince myself that I was done with you and that you were never coming back. It was easier that way.”br “I’m sorry,” he said again.br “It’s okay,” I said. “You were young… and stupid.”br He laughed at the last part.br “Well,” he said. “This stupid boy has to get home.”br “Don’t leave,” I said, wrapping my arms around him.br He smiled.br “I have to,” he said. “I have to tell my parents the good news.”br I sighed.br “Oh, alright,” I told him.br “I’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning,” he said.br I nodded my head.br “Okay,” I said.br He leaned down to kiss me, and I was scared to let him go. It was like after he left he would turn back into the person that I at one time hated. Once he got into his car and was out of sight, I closed my eyes.br “Thank God for prom night realizations,” I said to one in particular.br I smiled. Life was great.