He’d been waiting at her porch for forty-five minutes, an additional forty-five minutes on top of the hour he had waited in his own house before he left.
She said she was almost ready, so he got into his car and drove to Peyton’s house. It took her an hour or so to get ready every time they go out. He should’ve know Prom would take at least twice as long.
He held the white corsage that Peyton had specifically chosen for him to bring because it will match her dress. His face was stiff from smiling too long while chit-chatting with her mom. Even her mom finally gave up the small talk and asked him to wait in the living room but he declined.
When the front door finally opened. She emerged like an angel descending from the sky in her pink champagne dress. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulders with some part braided on the top like a crown.
He stood up to put the corsage around her wrist. She smelled like a garden of flowers when he kissed her cheek and told her how beautiful she was. They’ve been together for almost a year but Peyton holds the kind of beauty that would surprise him every time she dressed up.
He bent his arm for her to loop around it, “Shall we go?”
Finally, he thought, it was worth the wait.
“You look handsome,” her lips grazed the side of his earlobe.
“You should see me an hour ago,” he teased her. They laughed.
They said their goodbyes to Peyton’s parents and got into his car.
“Oh … I forgot to bring my clothes,” she exclaimed.
They were planning to go to an after-party at Tony Milton’s house. She had packed some change of clothes in her backpack and left it in her room.
“Can you get it for me? I hate to go back upstairs with my heels,” she whined.
“Sure, I’ll be just a minute.”
He got back out of the car, he let out a silent sigh but manage to go up to her room in a few swift steps. He forgot to ask her which backpack it was. There were a few backpacks in her room so he had to open each one to see if it contains a change of clothes.
Something caught his eyes. It was lying around on a small desk by the standing lamp in the corner. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, he squinted to take a better look at it. His heart raced. He walked over to the desk and took the Harry Styles concert tickets that were not used, all five of them. He put them in his pocket, took the backpack, and rushed downstairs.
His thoughts were jumbled, skipping from one memory to another. Somehow he knew Peyton must’ve had something to do with what happened in Goldstone but that moment of truth still hit him hard. How could she have done something like that? And why? He flew out the door without glancing at Peyton’s parents, everything around him was a blur. He was drowning in rage but he didn’t want to burst out at Prom night.
“Aww thank you … you’re the best,” Peyton leaned over to kiss him.
He was cold as stone. His smile had disappeared completely, he told himself to just drive and hope the night will be over sooner than he had imagined.
“What’s the matter?” she felt the sudden change.
He didn’t answer immediately, he wanted to lash out at her and demand an explanation. The timing was really off. “Nothing … let’s just go.”
He was quiet all the way to the venue. Peyton definitely felt the cold vibe he was giving after that quick run to her bedroom. But she couldn’t figure it out, she had obviously forgotten to have put those tickets in plain sight. It was months ago, it didn’t matter anymore.
She clung to his arm from the moment they arrived. Everyone was praising how stunning she looked that night. All the while Theo was somewhere else but he managed to raise a brow or a half nod to what people were saying around him. He wanted so bad to confront her, and more than that, he was absolutely disappointed for being lied to like that. Whatever her reasons were, it was unacceptable.
“What’s with the long face? Here … have more punch … I just saw Timmy poured in a bottle of vodka in it,” Max chuckled as he handed him the glass.
“I don’t think I’m going to the after-party,” he said.
“Why not? I thought you were looking forward to it … it’s our last high school party, seniors only, we don’t have to worry about keeping an eye on my sister … we got out girls … come on,” he nudged his elbow. “What’s the matter?” he sensed there was more to it than just a sudden change of mind. Theo had been avoiding everyone the entire night, he even left Peyton to mingle with her friends while he stood in the corner by himself.
He shrugged, “You go ahead … can you take Peyton with you?”
Max was taken aback by his request, he had never asked him to take his girlfriend home. “Seriously, man, what’s wrong with you tonight? Something happened?” he sipped on his punch and ready himself for a serious discussion. But before Theo could say another word, they announce it was time for the final dance.
Peyton came over to grab Theo’s hand for the dance. She had been waiting the whole night for it and she was ready to be crowned as the Prom Queen and King so they have something more to celebrate at the after-party.
He put down his glass and sighed. Just one more thing and then this will be over, he thought.
Lies. It takes away the best of people. No matter what good she had done, how beautiful she looked that night, her lies were all he could see. As he felt her warm body in his arms, as they sway with the music and smell her scent. The girl that the boys in his school would gouge their eyes off to be with was his girl for nearly a year, but that night he felt nothing but repulse for her.
“I’m not going to the party, I think you should go with Max,” he can’t bear to spend another hour with her.
She looked up in surprise, “Really? Why? What’s the matter? You’ve been weird this whole night.”
He stared into her eyes, he contemplates settling the problem right there, and then, he might as well just tell her the truth. “I found the tickets, Peyton, you’ve had them all these times and you never said a thing to me.”
He could see the color drained from her face in an instant. She was caught dead in a lie and she didn’t know how to redeem herself. “I can explain,” she said.
But she didn’t say anything afterward, she was gathering her scattered brain to come up with something less damaging if it was even possible.
He scoffed and looked away, “You know what … I don’t think I need an explanation, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
She was immediately relieved by what he said, “I know … right? They must’ve slipped in my bag that night, I swear it wasn’t there when we looked for them.”
His heart pounded hard, another lie, he couldn’t take it anymore, “No, Peyton, what I meant was … it doesn’t matter because whatever it is … I know it’s a lie, you lied, you lost them on purpose or hide them for whatever reason that I don’t even want to know anymore.”
“What? Are you accusing me of something?” her tone was escalating.
“I don’t want to discuss this now, okay? All I know … we went all the way to Goldstone for nothing because of this, you had them all these time, this is not something we can just brush under the carpet, is it?”
“Why not?” she challenged him.
He closed his eyes, she had no idea how her attitude towards the problem had put him off like a swift air that blew out a barely lit candle. He lets her go. “I really can’t do this now, Peyton, I’m gonna go home.”
“What? You can’t do that … we have to wait until they announce the Prom King and Queen, you know we’re going to get it, right?” she almost shouted.
“Yeah … that’s the least of what I care about right now, I can’t believe that’s all you think about … don’t you care about anything else other than yourself? What was it Peyton? Why did you do it?” it finally burst out of him.
Their discussion was getting heated and people started to notice. Max who was dancing with Mia not far from them stopped to look. He pulled Mia to get closer to see what was really going on.
A quick slap on his face didn’t just leave a red mark on his cheek, it made everyone turned to look at them and Max held his breath.
“You know why … it’s Mickey … Mickey this, Mickey that … that was all I could hear from you back then? It’s like there was nothing else you could think about,” she finally confesses.
He touched his throbbing cheek, “So you took the thing she most cares about to get back at me? That’s even worse Peyton … you knew how much that concert meant to her.”
“Actually, I didn’t, not until you offered your ticket for her and yelled at me because I didn’t know she meant that much to you either,” she was screaming this time and Max heard everything.
“Picking her up in the morning, dropping her off, always looking over at the bleachers to see if she’s there … did you think I didn’t notice all that? You practically live at her house, sometimes I wonder if you’re just friends with Max because of his sister?”
Theo rested his hands on his waist, he wasn’t going to deny it, he looked over to his right and Max was standing there staring at him.
“You’re making a scene, Peyton … I’m sorry you feel that way … I tried … I mean I really did,” despite what he felt for Hazel he really wanted it to work with Peyton, but it was not possible after what he just found out.
Peyton lunged at him and pushed him hard, “Really? You’re not even going to deny it? You’re such a jerk!”
He let her blew out her steam, it was the last thing he was going to let her have from him. He couldn’t deny it, nor admit it, he’s a jerk either way. He was partly to blame for making Peyton so jealous that it pushed her to do what she did. It was an eye-opening moment, he should’ve done it a long time ago. He should’ve done it when he knew he was in love with someone else.
“You’re right, you deserve someone better … but what you did was unforgivable, I’m sorry … I can’t do this anymore.”
“You’re not leaving me in the middle of Prom, Theo … you can’t do that to me,” she was on the verge of crying.
“I’m not, let me take you home, we can’t stay here anyway, not after this.”
Her grip was tight on his collar, “You know what? Go … I don’t care, I don’t want to see you … just go … I hate you.” Tears were starting to fall on her cheeks. She ran out of the hall, everyone was staring at them and she was too embarrassed to be there.
Theo turned to find Max and Mia was still looking at him. “I am not friends with you because of Hazel … okay? That was just … I have to talk to her.” He ran past them to go after Peyton.
Max nodded, he knew that, but he never realized that Theo had been hiding his feelings for Hazel from him too.