[Open] Prom

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake had never gone to prom. It was one of those things you kind of gave up when you decided to do acting. It came with the whole tutor, home schooled deal. Jake hadn’t ever minded. Go to a gathering with a bunch of kids you were forced to learn with and dance around. Sounded awesome. But Jake was a guy, he couldn’t care less. It was more about the girls. If Jake had gone to real high school he imagined he would have taken Dani and all that. But Dani had never experienced prom either, and that bummed her out. Jake didn’t really care either way about going to prom, but he and Joel had talked it out and pulled some strings. Joel was going to perform at Tyler and Kayla’s prom, so Jake got himself and Dani invited. Dani just didn’t know. She thought her asshole boyfriend had just refused to go and that was the end of it.

She didn’t know that Jake had gotten a limo and the corsage, and talked to her costume designer from her tour about a dress. He knew Dani would like the dress, she’d practically picked it out herself for tour, it just hadn’t been one that made the cut. It was too fancy. But not for a prom. Jake had left the dress hanging in the bedroom with a note that said, “Put me on and go to prom with your asshole boyfriend! ” Jake figured she’d put it on and then go look in the mirror, so a note taped to the mirror said, “You have an appointment at the salon at noon for a massage, your hair and nails!” He then figured after she took the dress off to go get her purse and shoes, she’d see the new shoe box sitting in her closet that said, “Wear us later!” And he knew she’d be surprised when she went downstairs in their building and there was a driver waiting with a town car to take her to the salon and back. And when she got in she’d be surprised to see Libby waiting. And Jake had already fronted her bill at the salon.

In the mean time, Jake was working out. Then he planned on taking a shower and going and getting a haircut. He’d pick up his fancy guy clothes on the way home. Then he was meeting Joel for lunch, because he’d told Dani’s driver to take the girls out somewhere to get something light to eat to hold them over. Jake had picked up Dani’s corsage and had made it home now, Libby had texted him and said Dani was back from their pampering day. Jake had decided to put his fancy clothes on and knocked on the apartment door, shaking his head at his own silliness. He could just walk in his own apartment. But it was funnier to make her answer the door.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Jake and Dani had a tendency of fighting more than any other couple she knew. But then he would go and have these amazing sweet moments. There was a reason they clung to each other despite what some people had initially thought of their relationship – they loved each other. Which meant also finding happiness in making the other happy. She knew Jake could give a shit less about prom. And honestly she shouldn’t either. She wasn’t in highschool. But she had never gotten to go. And Libby, Joel, Kiersten and Lance were going. Those were there friends. She wanted memories too. Especially with Jake. She smiled to herself as she turned in the mirror to look at the dress. He’d gone to a lot of work to make this perfect. Her hair was straight except for a couple of messy braids that Libby had helped her with. And while her stylist suggested some strappy type red heels, she went with the ones Jake had picked out – she liked his choice better anyways. She had just finished pushing some of her hair behind her shoulder when she first heard the knock. Who the hell was knocking on their door? But she smiled slowly as it occurred to her that Jake might be the cutest person alive right now. She bit the edge of her lip before she picked up the sides of her dress and made her way to the front door, taking in a deep breath before she opened it to see him standing there. Dani broke into a huge smile, jumping forward to wrap her arms around the man she loved. Maybe they were weird for not wanting to get married right away. But at least they were on the same page. If you asked either of them if they planned on getting married, they would agree whole heartedly without even looking at each other. But did that have to mean right now? “ I love you, so much,” she said as she held onto him tightly before standing on her toes and pulling herself up with her arms around his neck to give him a kiss. He was sort of a tall guy compared to her. Dani rest her cheek on his shoulder, keeping her arms wrapped around him tightly. How could someone fit their arms around their entire world? Dani took in a deep breath and took a step back, doing a slight spin so he could judge the dress on her before she looked up at him. “ Do you want to take your car or mine?” she questioned, holding the clutch in front of herself. It was strange, but the way he had planned this out really did put butterflies in her stomach.

Dress

[Mikayla Laurel Garrity]

Kayla sat at her vanity, reaching up to place in her earring before she looked at her own reflection. It probably seemed silly that she was this set on getting the crown. But for her.. it meant more than that. She had always been ambitious, and sure she was on Broadway. For now. But someday the people around her, the people that were far more talented, they were going to leave her behind. She was going to peak in high school while they all excelled. She cleared her throat, trying to push the thoughts from her mind. Her and Tyler had already spent the day together; laying on the couch eating Cheetos and watching superhero movies. She’d done his hair, but she hadn’t seen him all dressed up. Her mom apparently wasn’t going to allow that. So even though he was just a few rooms away, part of her felt like he was an entire world away. He had no clue what he wanted to do; but the irony of it was that he had more options than anyone else. And every part of her knew that meant leaving her behind. It’s not like she was going to stop him. She wanted him to go on to bigger and better things. Even if that meant without her. She’d just drag him down. So all of it coming to a head felt like this was her last ‘hoo-rah’ of an evening with him. Kayla set her hands on the vanity as she stood up before she took one last look in the mirror. Picking up the sides of her dress she left her room and came downstairs, giving a nervous smile as Tyler stood up from the couch. “ Hi,” she said quietly as she approached him, hoping that he thought she looked okay. But she could already feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes before she placed on a bright smile and wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him so he couldn’t look at her face. After a moment she pulled away as she heard both of their moms demanding that they be allowed to take pictures. “ You guys make a beautiful Prom King and Queen,” her mom said as she was already taking pictures. “ Mom we have no idea if we are king and queen or not yet,” she said out of annoyance as she turned her body so she could pose with Tyler. When in reality, how many times had they been forced to pose for their parents. She let them take their pictures, not really focusing on what they were saying to them or each other as she looked at Tyler, whispering quietly, “ I love you,” before offering a small smile.

Dress

[Lance James Renner]

Lance made a face of confusion as he looked over at Riley. “ Do I need to repeat myself?” he asked and Lance sighed. “ I think so mate, I’m pretty bloody confused at the moment,” Lance said as he held the corsage container in his hands. “ I’ll straight up murder you… if anything happens to my sister. I will hunt you down. And I will murder you.” Riley said with his arms crossed “ You realize that.. I would murder for her as well, right?” Lance countered back. “ I’ve memorized that dress. I’ll know if it’s been tampered with,” Riley said. “ Tam..tampered with? Mate we’ve already slept together, we wouldn’t do it just because it was prom. We would because we wanted to..” he replied, making another confused expression. “ Watch it, punk” Riley said before he leaned down to pick up Lily. She had wanted to dress up too when she saw that Kiersten was, so here she was in a ballet leotard and pink tutu. She giggled as she leaned forward at Lance. “ You’re in trouble,” she stammered through in broken up kid language before she giggled to herself, putting her hands over her face. “ Wow you look so beautiful. I wish I had asked you to prom,” he said, leaning forward to take her from Riley as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug. “ Do you want to help me practice dancing?” he asked, smiling at the way she nodded her head. “ Oh, brilliant,” he said, setting the corsage down on the table as he waited for Kierste to come down. Lily might not be Mackenzie’s biological daughter, but you would absolutely never know that from the love that Mackenzie had for her. And any daughter of Mackenzie’s was bound to start dancing as soon as they could walk. So this little girl already had more experience than Lance did. He hummed quietly before singing ‘Over the Rainbow’ with her as he let her stand on his feet while trying to lean down and dance with her.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake waited patiently for Dani to open the door, taking in a breath when she finally did and he saw her. She looked beautiful. Aside from the fact that he'd put a lot of planning into making this day perfect for her, he was tempted to just close the door and skip the prom, that's how good she looked. He could find ways to spend the night that would be just as enjoyable, if not more so. But, no. Save that for later. Especially because he knew that would come later. Jake had a lot of good reasons for doing this, one being because he knew it was important to Dani, another because he knew he'd get laid. But, it wasn't like it was going to suck that bad, if he didn't give it any expectations they'd probably have a really good time at prom. Plus their friends were going. it'd be fun. "Hey yourself," he said smiling, "You look absolutely beautiful by the way," and he set her corsage on the table, wrapping his arms around her to kiss her. "I love you too." He knew she knew that. She had to. Even when they were screaming at each other, they loved each other. But he still loved telling her. Jake stood back to watch her show off her ensemble, "Mmm that dress," he laughed, taking her corsage out of the box and taking her hand in his, sliding it onto her wrist, "Umm... how about neither?" He smiled, leading her downstairs to the limo. They had a few stops, pick up Joel and Libby, pick up Tyler and Kayla, then had over to Riley and Mackenzie's for pictures. That was the most logical, Jake thought, then make the picture taking fanatic pregnant woman who was about to burst go anywhere that might suddenly cause her to explode. No one really wanted that.

[Tyler James Kingsley]

For the fifth time, Tyler tugged on his tie, trying to get it to lay right. Finally, it looked the way a tie was supposed to look, thinking to himself no one could tie a tie without having to do it a few times anyways. Unless your name was Riley Collins, in which case, you were a completely different story. Still, Tyler sighed, stepping back to assess himself In the mirror. He cleaned up pretty well. His hair wasn't a complete mess, more like a controlled mess. He had nice clothes on. He was in a period of his life when he didn't have a cast somewhere or a sling, or stitches. So that was good. He felt hungry even though he’d been eating Cheetohs all afternoon, but figured dinner would be good, for what the prom ticket cost, it had better be delicious. He thought to himself maybe he could smuggle in a snack bag in Kayla’s purse thing. There was another name for it, but he couldn't think of it. Something without straps, you hold onto it, a grip, or something… whatever. Tyler made his way down stairs. Today had been weird. For as important as this prom was and Kayla wanting the crown so bad, you would think she’d have been more hyped up about it. But she had been just as lazy as him all day, until she had to go get ready. Which she did, pretty calmly. To be honest he kind of felt like something was bugging her, ever since that day in the guys locker room, but if something was up, she would tell him right? They told each other everything, good and the bad. He couldn't, however, shake the look on her face when she’d asked him to move into her apartment. Their apartment...? It had just been sprung on him so quickly he hadn't had time to process it. She hadn't really mentioned getting an apartment before then, so the idea was new to him. Hadn't wrapped his head around it yet. He probably could’ve reacted better. He just hadn't realized she was already planning that stuff. Sure he too pretty much assumed they’d be together during college, most likely living in the same place. But he still was getting college choices made, and she had her Broadway show stuff. He didn’t know she was taking time to do apartment stuff so early. If it was their apartment, why hadn’t she asked him to go look around together? Maybe he should start getting a head start on stuff. It looked like he was graduating. Maybe he should start college over the summer. Get a head start since he was notorious for falling behind. There was that yucky feeling again. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, the way Kayla had asked about the apartment, so unsure of herself as it was, like she half expected him to react badly. Had she expected him to say no? Maybe that was why she hadn’t included him in previous apartment plans. Or maybe that was because she wanted him to say no, but was being nice. Kayla had her shit together, Tyler didn’t. Maybe it was finally the truth, Kayla was going off to live her dreams and she’d leave Tyler behind. What successful Broadway person dragged a boyfriend along behind them that had nothing going for him at the moment other than barely graduating high school, and didn’t even know his college plans that were only a few months away? Yup, there was the sick feeling. He felt like he was going to lose her. And the odd way things had been lately, maybe he was already losing her. Maybe she already had a foot out the door, half expecting him to screw up and confirm that she needed to move on to better things.

Tyler had gone downstairs and opened the door when someone had knocked, but it was just his mom. “Tyler, look at you…” she said smiling and gave him a hug, “My handsome boy.” “Mom…” he groaned, releasing her. “Oh Tyler, can’t I hug my kid?” “For what, putting on a tie?” “No, don’t be a smart ass.” Tyler’s mom set her camera down on the table by the door, shaking her head and placed her hands on his arms, looking at him. “Tyler, I know you don’t think it’s much, but you have so much to be proud of. Dad and I are really proud, your sister too.” “I barely graduated-“ “But you did, and that’s what counts. You’re a smart boy, don’t forget that. And you’re dedicated to the stuff you like, that’s what matters. You’ll find something you love, whether it’s music, or skateboards, or filming, and you’ll be wonderful at it.” Tyler smiled, “Even though I still don’t know what I’m doing in the fall?” She shook her head, “That’s okay. You’ve always done things at Tyler pace, but you wouldn’t be yourself otherwise. You’ll figure it out, you always do.” “Thanks,” he laughed slightly, his mom squeezing him all too tightly. “Now who are you guys going with?” “Um, me and Kayla, and Joel is taking Libby, and our friends Jake and Dani are going, and Lance is going with Kiersten.” “Tori’s not in your group?” Tyler shrugged, yeah it was kind of weird that Joel had been sort of married to his cousin but he was with Libby now and apparently Tori was going to prom with Chace so… “No I think she and her date are coming separately.” Fucking awkward. Kayla’s mom had come in and greeted Tyler’s mom, sharing hugs and holding their cameras like a couple of paparazzi, “Tyler, promise me you’ll at least come home for dinner tomorrow, so I can hear about prom, you’re sister will be home for supper. We can have an actual family dinner for once.” “Can I bring Kayla at least?” “Well gosh, I thought that was just implied,” his mom teased, just as Kayla was coming down stairs. Tyler stood up from the couch where he’d plopped himself, looking at her as she came in. “Hi,” he said back, blinking a few times as he watched her walked over. The funny thing was he didn’t really get nervous around Kayla because they’d known each other for so long and were so comfortable around each other. But every once in a while when they were doing something really coupley like going to a dance or on a date, he’d feel really boyfriendish, like they were going out for the first time ever, and his stomach jumped around like it did just now. Like she just took his breath away a little bit.

Their moms insisted on pictures so Tyler stood beside Kayla, arm wrapped around her, crossing his eyes until his mom gave him a look that said to cut it out as Kayla told her mom they hadn’t won yet. There were a lot of pictures, and corsage and that flower thing Tyler couldn’t figure out how to pin on, and their moms were lost in conversation about kids these days and how prom was so different in their day and Tyler had tuned then out more most of it when Kayla looked at him. Tyler pulled her closer and kissed the side of her temple, whispering back, “I love you, too.” He took her chin and turned her to look at him, tucking loose hair behind her hair, “I do. You’re beautiful.”

After that it was a lot of have fun’s and Tyler’s mom lecturing him about not doing anything dumb and then climbing into the limo where Jake and Dani were waiting with Joel and Libby. Tyler greeted everyone, giving Joel a fist bump and climbed in after Kayla and took a seat beside her, holding her hand and giving it a squeeze. So prom had officially started, so why did it feel like the beginning of the end? Tyler looked over at Kayla, looking like a princess beside him, and decided right then he would not lose her. He couldn't. He knew he’d do whatever he could to keep her, because if he didn't, he wasn't sure what he’d do. It wasn't a possibility.

Kiersten and Libby's Dresses so I don't forget about them...