Authors: Ally Derby
“Nice try, fat cat. I know what happens if I fall for that again.”
I go back to the task at hand and am spraying my hair when I get a text from Claire.
The limo is almost at my place. U coming?
Yeah, I’ll be right there! :D
I text back
I run downstairs and show Mom the text. She nods then grabs the keys to Dad’s truck.
“Mom, that thing is
ancient
. Can’t we just take your car?” I plead. I’m not usually embarrassed, but after seeing Lana’s bathroom and how it seems that the others are arriving in a limo…
“I’m sorry, Hadley. My car is in the shop.”
“Right, okay, let’s just go.” I smile convincingly.
We drive to Claire’s house on a private road, listening to the radio and chatting sometimes. When we arrive at the crossroad, I exhale.
“Mom, can you just drop me off here, and I’ll walk?” I ask.
“Sure, sweetie.” She smiles. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she sing-songs while laughing and unlocking my door.
“Love you, Mom.” I smile, then walk to Claire’s house.
I notice the music coming from behind the house and follow the Tiki torches lining the sidewalk that leads to a massive pool and outdoor oasis.
Wow.
The entire place has been transformed into a tropical paradise. There are raffia skirts circling the food tables and bar. Everyone is wearing leis; some people are sporting beachcomber hats and grass skirts.
I see Lana and Joey ‘Freaking’ White. He is whispering in her ear, and her smile is as big as the moon. She doesn’t see me. As a matter of fact, I am certain she doesn’t see anyone except him.
I look around, noticing it seems like it’s only couples there, and immediately feel out of place.
“Hey, new girl.” I look to my left and see Pax walking toward me. His hair is still styled like it was for the prom, but he is in a pair of swim trunks and a tank top. I have never seen him like this, never realized just how built he is. “You having fun?” he asks, breaking my stare.
I nod then shrug, fumbling yet again.
“Just got here.” I nod to Lana. “She have fun?”
“She seemed to have a great time. She and Claire even got along.” He mockingly gasps.
I smile. “I saw the pictures on Instagram.”
“Yeah, I have about had it with the number of selfies I’ve had to endure tonight.”
“The joys of Hashtag-BlueValleyProm.” I look up at him. “The pictures are great.”
He doesn’t say anything as he looks at me, and it honestly makes me uncomfortable.
“Teenage girls.” He smirks.
“Wretched creatures.”
“Hashtaggers.” He grins.
I smile and nod.
“Fine,” he grumbles.
“Fine, what?” I ask, as I watch him pull his phone out from his pocket.
“No, don’t try to stop me. I know, I know.” He throws his arm around my shoulder and holds out his phone. “Say cheese.”
“No.” I try to squirm away, but he holds tighter.
“You were just as much a part of Hashtag-BlueValleyProm as the rest of us.”
“Was not.” I cover my face as he snaps a picture.
“You were behind the scenes. Now smile, Hadley.”
“If I refuse?”
“I will keep taking them until you do,” he warns.
“You are impossible.” I uncover my face and smile to appease him.
He gets closer and pushes his face against mine, and my eyes automatically close.
“Hadley, open your eyes and smile.”
I do, knowing he won’t let up, and he snaps a few more.
“Now, your phone.”
“Not necessary,” I say, pulling myself away slowly and hoping it doesn’t offend him.
“Hadley, necessary. Hand it over.”
I hand him my phone.
As he snaps the first picture, I notice Claire behind us, making a silly face, and I laugh. Pax sighs, then lets go of me.
“Thanks for coming.” Claire smiles and grabs my hand. “Let’s get a drink.”
As she pulls me away from Pax toward the bar, I am oddly relieved.
“Selfies with Pax?” she asks, smiling, although something about her smile is less than genuine. I understand the feeling—a tinge of jealousy, the same feeling I felt when I saw the pictures of them at #BlueValleyProm, except for the fact that it doesn’t go away.
“Yeah, I guess.” I take the drink she hands me.
“He’s cute, right?” She waves her hand through the air. “Hottest guy here.”
I feel my face getting more and more heated. “Haven’t really noticed,” I lie.
She smiles and nods, seemingly appeased.
“That’s right; you’re a sophomore. You aren’t into boys yet.” She motions toward Lana. “She certainly is.”
I see Lana smirking and kind of swinging her hips as Joey ‘Freaking’ White whispers in her ear. I then look over to Pax, who seems engrossed in a conversation with the football players. I look back up to find Lana and Joey holding hands, walking toward the house, and I take a step toward them, but Claire’s hand comes up, stopping me.
“Leave them alone. It’s kind of sweet.”
“Just wanna let her know I’m here.”
“Well, I’m sure she’ll be right back. She’s probably using the bathroom.” I side-step her hand and she laughs. “My parents and brothers are inside. I’m sure they’ll help her find it. She’ll be right back out here, and I’m sure she’ll see you then.”
Her words put me at ease.
She waves to her normal group of friends and laughs. “Hey, before I go over there, let’s take a selfie.” She holds out her hand. “Your phone first.”
She takes several with mine and then hers before she walks away. Then I see Pax look over at me, and I shove my phone in my pocket while he looks away.
Awkward. It is awkward being here.
I decide to sit down at the bar and drink my punch. As soon as I take a drink, I know something is wrong. It smells and tastes nasty.
“Wrong punch,” Pax says, grabbing the glass from my hand.
“Is there alcohol in that?” I gasp.
“I would guess yes.” He smells it, and then I see him glare at Claire, who shrugs and smirks.
I am shocked. “Do her parents know?”
“They took keys when people came in, so my guess is yes. As long as they’re staying the night, it’s all right with them.” He grabs me a bottle of water and sits.
“Are you drinking alcohol?” I whisper to him.
“Not my thing.” He smirks and shakes his head.
“Good,” I say, looking away.
“It is good. Apparently, I come from a long line of firewater drinking Iroquois Indians.”
“You’re Native American?” I should have seen it in his features: heavy eyelids, a slight almond shape to his eyes, and high cheekbones. He has a very chiseled look.
“Half. My mother was raised in the Seneca nation.”
His mother
was
, which means his mother is no longer.
He smiles sadly, “She’s been gone four years.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too.” He leans back in his chair and looks up at the sky. “She’s at peace now.” I have no idea what to say, and obviously, he catches on to this. “It happens, Hadley. Life isn’t a guarantee.”
“Pax, all I can say is that I’m sorry. I can’t imagine losing my mother, even though she drives me insane with her antics ninety percent of the time.”
He laughs, sitting forward. “And someday, you’ll have kids of your own who will say the same thing about you.”
“Someday, like twenty years from now,” I roll my eyes.
“You don’t want kids … in the future?”
“The world is a cruel place, and I’m not sure I would want to bring someone into it. I’m also not sure I would be a very good mother.” He looks at me curiously, and I force myself to laugh. “This is a very deep conversation, one I am sure shouldn’t be had at—”
“Hashtag-BlueValleyProm’s after event?” He smirks.
“Exactly.”
When we both fall quiet, I expect him to get up and walk away—I want him to, actually—but he doesn’t.
“Are you bored?” I finally ask.
“Am I boring you?”
I shake my head. “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to sit here. Go have fun.”
“Fun is overrated and so is prom.” He smiles. “But this is actually nice.”
“This?” I ask, realizing I sound like I am fishing for attention or affirmation.
“Conversation with someone who doesn’t seem to have to be the center of attention”—he points to the football team, who is now pushing each other in the pool—“or act foolishly for attention. You know, just sitting here, having a conversation, and breathing.”
“Breathing?”
“Yes.” He nods with conviction.
“Breathing is underrated”—I smile—“something we take for granted.”
“Something we don’t even realize we are doing,” he adds with a quick grin.
“Breathing is definitely underrated.”
“Exactly.” He sits back and looks around, taking in the scene with his feet under him. He then looks up at the sky, seeming completely at peace, comfortable, and content.
I decide to take his lead and do the same.
There isn’t a cloud to block the twinkling stars in the heavens as I put myself in Pax’s place for a moment. I imagine his mother looking down at him, smiling at the boy she raised and the calm, yet ever present force, he seems to carry with him.
I gasp when I see a shooting star, and he does the same. I look over at him and can’t help grinning.
He smiles at me. “Quick, make a wish, Hadley.”
A wish.
He closes his eyes, and then his mouth moves before he opens them.
“Did you make yours yet?”
I shake my head.
“You better hurry. A shooting star wish is like the five second rule; you have to hurry.”
“I guess—”
He covers my mouth with his hand. “You have to say it in your head and close your eyes.” He pulls his hand away.
“There certainly are a lot of rules to this wish making—”
“Four … three … two…” He stops when I close my eyes.
I have no idea what to wish for. None. What kind of girl doesn’t have a wish?
I internally battle with how utterly boring I am. I could wish for Gayle Forman to have woken up the day she killed off Mia’s entire family or that John Green could have let Augustus Waters live, but that’s not gonna happen. Then I decide to make my wish for him, to give him my wish, whatever he wanted.
Give him my wish
, I whisper to the universe.
I open my eyes to find him staring at me.
In the black of night, beneath the brilliant lights in the sky, surrounded by a tropical wonder in the middle of Blue Valley, Pax’s magnificent eyes are still the most effervescent sight I have ever seen. He is staring at me, and I am staring at him.
He squints his eyes shut and shakes his head. “Wish I knew what the hell you just wished for, Hadley.”
“Well…”
“No, can’t tell me—”
“Another rule?” I joke.
“Yeah, but damn if whatever it was didn’t look important.”
I smirk and nod. “I bet it is.”
“Pax, come on in. The water is warm, man,” Ryan, Pax’s best friend, yells to him.
He looks over at me, appearing to be contemplating his next move.
“
The waters warm, man
.” I smile as I stand up. “And I am going to see where Lana is.”
I don’t wait for him to respond, walking briskly toward the house.
“Wait up,” Claire yells from behind me, but I don’t stop, realizing Lana has been gone for more than half an hour.
I begin to wonder where she is.
“Do me a favor?” Claire says as she catches up.
“Sure,” I say, continuing to walk.
“Videotape me?”
“Okay?” I say as I pull my phone from the pocket and glance behind me to see Pax running and jumping into the pool.
Claire snaps her fingers in front of me, bringing my attention back to her. “Okay, I am doing a mock-umentary,” she says. “Let everyone who wasn’t invited to this kick-ass party see what they’re missing.”
Against my better judgment, I hit record.
“Hey there, Blue Valley, this is Claire, junior at Blue Valley High and your prom queen. I want to thank you all for the votes and give you a tour of my pad.” She throws the door open, and I follow her in. “My family’s kitchen.” She waves her hand through the air. “Dining room.” I continue recording as I follow her. “Family room.” She waves and continues walking quickly through the house until she throws open a closed door. “Guest bedroom.”
“What the?” Joey yells and throws a blanket over himself.
“Well, well, well,” Claire goads, “what have we here?”