The Enemy of Time, page 14
Lucas stood up, too, meaning that I also had to abandon the damp log I was sitting on to join them. Lucas, still tense, turned to Jamie. “What about you?”
“What about me?” Jamie asked.
“Are you going to prom with someone?”
“Why? You asking me out?” Jamie teased.
Lucas shrugged him off. “Come on, man, I'm serious. Don't tell me I’m the last dude to get a date.”
Jamie hesitated. It was quick. Barely there, but long enough for my breath to stop.
And in that half-second pause, I knew.
I knew before he even said it.
“Kind of, yeah,” he finally said. “I, uh … I have a date.”
The world around me began to blur. The fire, the voices, the music—everything faded into a white noise. I could barely make out Lucas’s frustrated, “Damn,” and Kayla’s incredulous, “Seriously?” All I could hear was the rush of blood pulsing in my ears. Then, in a voice that didn’t sound like my own, I heard myself ask, “With who?”
Jamie's eyes darted away from mine, and his legs shifted uncomfortably from where he stood. “Actually … um, you know Bethany?”
No … No! I was going to kill him if he said what I knew he was going to. “The bitch who butchered my hair? How could I forget?”
Jamie sucked in a breath. “That was a long time ago.”
“Demons can't change their scales,” I snapped back.
“I think you mean tigers can’t change their stripes.”
“Nope.”
Jamie bit the inside of his mouth. “She and Emmett broke up because she caught him making out with the new girl. To get back at him, she asked me to the prom. When I used to hang out with the Donahues, I keyed his car, and he has held a grudge against me ever since. She thought I would be a good way to get revenge.”
My head and heart ached as if my body had fallen from the Empire State Building and landed on silver spikes.
“But if you have a problem with me going with her—”
“Take her.”
Why did I say that?
“Really?”
Stop talking, Alex!
“Yeah. Why not?” I paused, hoping he would stop me from pushing him into the arms of another girl. “Unless there's a reason you don’t want to go with her…?” Here it was, my only attempt at giving him a ‘get out of jail free card.’
He nodded his head as if there was a side conversation chattering in the hollow space between his ears. “… well then you’d be all alone.”
The fuck I would! Screw him! Did he think I was so pathetic that I couldn’t get a date?
“Emmett Thompson asked me out.” My mouth blurted this out before my better judgment could stop me. It was technically accurate. The previous week, Emmett made a distasteful pass at me, joking about taking my fine ass to the prom. Disgusting, I know. I smacked him, which only seemed to turn him on more. It would take some serious groveling, but I was sure that if I explained the situation of Jamie and Bethany being together, he would want just as much retribution as I did.
“Emmett? Bethany’s Emmett?”
“Yup, that would be the one.” I snarked back.
His nostrils flared as he let out a deep sigh, and his eyes narrowed with seething anger. “Wow, you're so jealous of Bethany that you'd go out with Emmett just to spite her?”
Did he just call me jealous?
I clenched my fists, feeling a surge of heat flush my body from my head to my toes. “You know what? You kissed me.” I slowed it down for him. “You. Kissed. Me.”
I must have said that really loud because Lucas and Kayla stopped whatever conversation they were having to watch my next move.
“You’ve kissed me not once. Not twice. But three times.” My tone escalated. “And then you pretend like they never happened!” I pushed his chest with both my hands, setting him three inches back. “Why! Why would you do that!”
Jamie’s eyes went from anger to pleading as he placed his hand on my shoulders,
“Alex—”
I threw his hand off me. “No, Jamie, tell me!” My voice was shaking. “Tell me why I’m good enough to kiss but not to date?” I needed an answer; any answer would be better than this aching uncertainty.
His face was frozen. “I don’t—I don’t know how to answer that.”
Somehow, that answer was worse.
“Wow,” I took a step back. “She was right.” I had no words. Nothing to say except: “You’re just like my dad.” It came out like a whispered confession.
Jamie said nothing for a complete second. It was surprising how long a second could feel. “You're right.”
Police sirens filled the air before I could comprehend what Jamie said. Panic set the bonfire ablaze. Bodies scrambled, moving in every direction. Someone threw their drink into the fire, sending embers shooting into the dark sky. The speaker that had been blasting music moments ago was suddenly silent, replaced by the unmistakable sound of tires crunching over gravel.
I barely had time to process what was happening before Kayla grabbed my wrist.
“Alex, we gotta go. Now.”
But my feet wouldn’t move.
Kayla tugged harder. “Alex!”
Somewhere behind me, Lucas was shouting something, probably trying to round up the group—but my head was still spinning, my heart still raw.
The blue and red lights flashed against the trees, too close, too fast.
That was enough to snap me out of it.
The adrenaline hit my system all at once, sharp and electric, sending me weaving through bodies, through panicked voices, and slamming car doors. I turned on my heel and ran.
“Come on, come on,” Kayla muttered under her breath.
Lucas was ahead of us, yanking open the driver’s side door, with Kayla right behind him, sliding into the passenger seat. They barely made it in before a cop’s voice cut through the chaos: “Nobody move!”
“Go!” Jamie yelled at Lucas. “Drive.”
As they sped off, tires digging up the ground, a blinding flashlight rushed at me and Jamie.
My chest was heaving, and the cold night air was burning my lungs. Jamie cursed under his breath, lifting his hands like he was already surrendering. He turned to look straight at me.
Something passed between us, something sharp, something desperate.
Then, the officer stepped forward, and the moment shattered.
“All right,” he said, voice firm. “The party is over.”
That night, my heart was broken, and my hands were cuffed. Yet, that was just the beginning of the prom madness.
Chapter sixteen
They were hopeless romantics
Waiting on fate
That always came too late
April 17, 2016: (PART 1)
It was officially the big night, and we were all going to the prom with the wrong people.
Kayla was going with Marcus McCormick, Lucas was going with Lilly Sanders and Jamie, and I was stuck with two of the worst people in our high school. It felt like a teenage nightmare.
My fingers trembled as I fumbled with the hot rollers tangled in my brown hair. I was sitting on the floor, my thighs getting a nasty carpet burn, as I looked at my reflection in the floor-length mirror; I barely recognized myself. My red eyes were hazy and itchy from crying all night, my nose was red, and my cheeks were puffy. This cannot be happening …
Kayla’s laughter boomed through the room as she twirled in her sapphire blue dress, the excitement dripping off her. “I should never have let you use my makeup. Your moping is ruining my mascara,” Kayla stopped spinning and walked over to the closet, searching through my shoes, which were technically my mom’s shoes that I had taken over the years.
I turned my head back to her, the hot rollers lightly slipping, causing a distinct hot searing to burn my ear. That’s going to leave a mark. “Would it be such an awful thing if I didn’t go tonight? The flu is going around anyway. I could call Emmett and tell him I caught that,” I murmured, my voice dropping down to almost a whisper.
Kayla walked over and gently sat on the ground beside me, careful not to wrinkle her skin-tight dress; she reached out to touch my arm in support, yet somehow, it made me feel even more pathetic. “You can’t let Jamie ruin your night. Look at me; I'm not crying over Lucas going with Lilly. We deserve to have fun with or without those dumb boys tonight.”
“I know.” I sniffled as more tears threatened to ruin my makeup for the third time. “I just wish it were with them.”
I tried to brush the moment off and continued to get ready. Kayla helped me fix my hair and makeup, and I gave her a handful of forced smiles that allowed the minutes to pass by smoother than the previous ones.
I stepped into my dress and zipped up the purple fabric, the silk clinging to my body like a second skin. According to Kayla, this was a good thing, but no matter how much I fiddled with the fabric, everything felt wrong.
I walked over to my closet. “Do you think maybe we should bring jackets?” I asked Kayla as I rummaged through my closet, looking for something to give me more coverage.
“That would defeat the point of wearing a dress you can't breathe in. Have I taught you nothing?” Kayla applied her lipstick, admiring herself in a tiny, purple, rhinestone-covered hand mirror.
“Hurry up! Everyone is going to be here soon.” My brother's voice boomed from downstairs.
“We'll be down in a minute!” Kayla yelled back. She sat on my bed and laced up the straps on her sandals.
I slipped my feet into some silver wedges and then walked up to her. “Why did you let my brother say yes to Lilly? You know he’s hopelessly in love with you.”
Kayla’s face fell as if I slapped her over her blushing cheeks. “Lucas isn't in love with me,” she muttered. “He likes the idea of me, but he doesn't love me.”
My jaw threatened to smack the floor. “Kayla, this is Lucas we're talking about. The same boy who has been following you around like a lost puppy dog since the day he saw you skipping towards him in the cafeteria.”
"Everyone wants to date me until they have to deal with me.” It wasn't a secret that Kayla had some mood issues. She had extreme highs and extreme lows. One second, she was on top of the world, dancing naked on a table, singing “Party in the USA” at the top of her lungs, and the next, she wouldn't come out of her room for a week, hiding under her covers and wishing that the world would disappear. Kayla didn't like getting close to people because when she did, she risked watching them leave, and after her mom left, she refused to go through that again. But I wish Kayla had understood that, in Lucas's eyes, she wasn't some notch upon a belt or a stop along the way to the next fling. She was his destination.
I was ready to support my brother and convince the girl of his dreams that he was the boy of hers, but then he opened his damn mouth again.
“Alex! Kayla! If you're not down here in three minutes, we're leaving without you, and you'll have to walk!” Even when my brother wasn't in the room, he somehow managed to kick himself in the ass.
Kayla chuckled. “And that's what you're trying to set me up with?” she joked before hopping onto her feet. “Let's go before your brother has an aneurysm.”
The earsplitting doorbell announced the arrival of Jamie, Bethany, Lilly, Marcus, and Emmett. My moronic brother thought it would be an excellent idea if we all went together as one big group. Dread twisted in my stomach as I followed Kayla down the stairs. Jamie and Bethany were the first to step inside the front door, her arm looped possessively around his. Jamie’s gaze met mine briefly—guilt flickering before he quickly looked away, his attention turning toward my parents, who were already snapping pictures with their disposable cameras like it was the Oscars.
Lucas stared up at Kayla, looking like he had just swallowed his tongue. His eyes flickered over her as if she were some rare artifact he wasn't allowed to touch. Instead of saying anything meaningful, all he managed to choke out was, “Wow ...” It seemed like the guy had forgotten how to speak English.
Kayla began to say something in response, but before she could, she glanced at Lilly standing beside Lucas. She was giving both of them a thin-lipped smile, and it was evident that there wasn't a soul in the room who couldn't sense the attraction between Kayla and Lucas. Except for Marcus. Sweet, clueless Marcus, standing there grinning like he'd hit the jackpot by being Kayla's date. If he had any idea as to what was going on, it didn't show.
Bethany's voice cut through the air, dripping with her usual fake charm. “Alex,” she said, letting my name hang in the air. Her eyes swept over my dress. “You look so ... purple,” she said in the manner of complimenting a child's finger painting.
“Thanks,” I said, not bothering to mask my sarcasm.
I glanced at the clock on the wall; its swinging hands mocked me. Emmett was late. He was probably admiring himself in a mirror somewhere, lost in the gleam of his own reflection. The only thing worse than being stuck in a room full of these people would be being stood up by Emmett in front of Bethany.
My mind was filled with escape plans. Perhaps I could pretend to have food poisoning. I could make up an excuse to go to the kitchen and hastily gather some leftovers, then spill them all over the floor. Or maybe something miraculous would happen, like a meteor shower striking my house at that very moment. Just as I began praying for world destruction, the doorbell rang.
My mother quickly opened the door and snapped a photo of Emmett as soon as he entered. With a sick feeling in my gut, I braced myself for what was to come. The town's football star strutted into the living room with his usual air of arrogance, sending uncomfortable tremors down my spine.
His eyes scanned me from head to toe. “Dang, girl, who knew you had a body like that?” His voice was loud, and his hands slid around my waist as if we were already in some nauseating slow dance.
I tensed, digging my nails into my palms as I tried not to recoil visibly.
Before I could respond or before Julian could remove the boy's head from his body, Jamie's voice sliced through the tension. “Hey, watch it,” he snarled.
Emmett tightened his grip on me. “You don't run with the Donahues anymore. So, what exactly do I have to be afraid of?
Jamie stood there calmly, a subtle smile on his face, and his eyes gleamed with anticipation as if enjoying his chance to fight Emmett. “Wow, you strung together a whole sentence. Did the principal finally start making you attend classes, or are you just showing off because I’m going to prom with your ex?”
Julian stepped in before the punching could begin. “All right, boys, let’s calm down,” he said, his voice relaxed but authoritative. “We’re all here to have a good time. Let’s keep things civil tonight, okay?”
Both boys nodded slightly and backed away from each other, but the conflict still lingered in the air like a heavy fog. Swiftly, my mother gathered us all together, insisting on taking a group photo. I forced a smile for the camera, even as my insides crawled at feeling Emmett’s hands on my waist. After six more pictures, my parents finally released us, ushering everyone out the door, their voices filled with well-wishes and reminders to have fun. As the door closed behind them, I couldn’t help but want to run back inside and lock the entry, creating a perfect barrier between me and the rest of our group. Still, instead, I walked forward to the stretch limo that Lucas had rented for everyone, knowing that the night ahead would be filled with both headache and heartache.
The thumping pulse of the music reverberated through the gymnasium. Each beat echoed off the walls and vibrated through my body like a slap, reminding me that everyone was having the time of their lives while I sat alone at a round table covered in a cheap blue tablecloth. The blinding, colorful lights flashing around the room mocked me as they bounced off the shiny gym floor. The smell of sweat and thumping music caused my head to pound harder than the DJ’s mixing table. I stared at couples swaying in harmony, their whispers and laughter a stark contrast to the somber atmosphere surrounding my solitary table.
Jamie’s face caught my attention as he twirled his date in the corner of the floor. I had desperately tried to avoid his glances throughout the night, but Jamie’s stare caught mine just as I allowed my eyes to venture in his direction.
Shit.
I ripped my eyes from his and glued them to the empty cup in front of me. Before tonight, I thought the worst thing in the world would be going to prom alone while Jamie danced the night away with Bethany. I was wrong. Sitting alone all night while my date got drunk in the locker rooms with his teammates turned out to be the worst fate I could have written for myself.
There was a rough shuffling behind me that grew louder as it approached. I turned to the right to see my so-called date stumbling back to the table. He crashed down on the seat next to mine, his breath reeking of cheap beer and his words slurred beyond comprehension.
“Tommas and Corbin brought 500 Post-it notes!” I had to watch his mouth intensely to understand what he was trying to say, and even then, I was completely lost.
“Okay …?”
He ran his fingers through his sweaty blond hair. “We’re gonna tag the coach’s car.” He nodded and smiled as if genuinely proud of what he just said.
“With Post-it Notes?” My jaw hung low. I swear I could feel my brain cells shriveling from the conversation.
“Yup.” He raised his thick eyebrows up and down with a self-assured smile.
I was partly relieved that he was going to ditch me; this meant I wouldn’t have to endure the stench of his Mighty Men’s cologne mixed with the Bud Light oozing from his breath. But the other part of me wanted to duct tape his naked ass to the flagpole and watch everyone ridicule him until he begged for mercy.
Was I being dramatic?
Yes …
Did I care? No!
A slow song began to play, its haunting melody filling me with a blend of regret, rage, and the desire for blissful retaliation. My heart skipped a beat as I watched from across the room as Jamie cradled Bethany's waist.
