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Her face falls and she sincerely asks, "Why not?"
"No one asked me and it's not really my thing," I shrug. Lies. All lies. It's totally my thing! I just don't want to go if I'm not going with Matt. But I can't tell her that.
"You can go stag, you know," she smiles. "I didn't have a date to my Senior Prom, and I still had a blast."
As hard as it is to believe someone as beautiful as Diane did not have a date to Prom, I'm not her. I don't have her confidence. And I definitely don't have her self-assuredness.
"You could always tag along with Matt and his date," Diane offers. My heart pounds restlessly in my chest when I think about how awkward that would be. Even if I wanted to, I just can't do it. Not after everything.
"I think Fallon and I are just going to do a girl's night instead," I tell her. Phantom of the Opera, lots of chocolate, and trash-talking Matt and Audra. That's most likely what we'll do.
Diane finally gets the hint, realizing I'm a hopeless case and she shifts her attention back to Mom. "Have you met this Audra girl that Matt's taking to Prom?"
Ugh. Can't we talk about something else? Anything else?
Mom shakes her head. "No, I didn't even know he had a girlfriend until Jenny told me yesterday."
Diane strums her French-manicured fingertips on the dark wood table. "He's picking her up right now. I'm kind of nervous about meeting her. I didn't know he liked anyone until I asked him what color to order Jenny's corsage in and he said he wasn't going to Prom with her."
I feel the floor buckle beneath me, a fresh wave of pain rushing through my chest. Even Diane thought we'd go together.
Audra.
Audra's going to be here. With Matt.
Everything fades into white noise as my hands start sweating, my heart begins beating erratically beneath my rib cage. Audra's going to be at our Family Birthday Brunch. With Mom, me, possibly Dad, and all the Thompsons.
Nope, I didn't sign up for this.
Just as I'm about to push the chair back and flee, Kyle slides into the seat beside me, sets a ceramic mug with a generous helping of whipped cream on top in front of me.
The white noise fades and my heartbeat slows down as his dark chocolatey eyes come into focus. They look stormy and conflicted as he stares at me. Panic threatens to bubble to the surface and give way to the tumultuous emotions swirling in my head.
"Take a deep breath," he mutters to me. "I could see your deer-in-the-headlights look from across the room. What happened?"
"Did you know Matt was bringing Audra?" I quietly ask him.
He shakes his head and looks around, searching for them. "No. Is that why you're freaking out?"
I nod my head and breathe through my nose, trying to calm the ball of nervous energy humming in my chest. My knee begins restlessly bouncing before Kyle gently sets his hand on my thigh. Shocked by the intimacy of his touch, the way his fingers press firmly into my leg, my knee instantly stops moving and my eyes dart to his. Relax he mouths, letting his hand linger on the space between my knee and hip for a moment before quickly removing it.
I try my best not to dwell on the fact that he knew exactly what to do to calm me down. Or that he could tell I was freaking out from across the room.
What the hell is going on with him?
I reach for the mug. "Did you get—" but before I can finish, Kyle grabs the white paper-wrapped straw sticking out of the front pocket of his jeans and hands it to me.
"You're the only weirdo I know who drinks hot chocolate with a straw," he exhales, feigning annoyance.
"Hey!" I say a little too loud, earning a few perturbed looks from patrons at other tables. I lower my voice and continue, "I burnt my tongue really bad once on a cup of hot chocolate and I've never recovered. I seriously cannot feel that part of my tongue anymore. It scarred me for life."
Kyle rubs a hand over his face. "You're so dramatic."
Rolling my eyes, I pierce the straw through whipped cream and into the milky chocolate below. "Doesn't seem to stop you from hanging out with me lately."
I take a sip of my drink, relaxing instantly as the warm, sugary concoction slides down my throat. Kyle leans in close, his lips inches from the hair covering my ear. His hot breath tickles my earlobe when he says, "You know why."
My heart starts pounding violently as a shiver works its way from the top of my spine all the way to the tips of my toes. I swallow hard, willing the strange sensation vibrating through my body to stop before I combust right in front of him. Why is my body suddenly reacting to Kyle this way? It's Kyle.
