“I should have said no,” Lexi muttered later, as she and Mia bounded up the stairs at the Farraday house to get dressed. “This has disaster written all over it.”
“I don’t get you,” Mia said, closing the door behind them. “I really don’t.”
Lexi immediately felt guilty. “Sorry. It’ll be fun. I can’t wait.” She went to Mia’s overflowing closet, where both dresses hung between sheets of plastic. They dressed and studied themselves in the oval mirror by the desk. Only occasionally could Mia’s black-and-white Converse high-tops be seen under her hemline.
“I think I look okay,” Mia said, turning to Lexi. Her green eyes held worry. “Don’t I? Will he think so?”
“You look gorgeous. Tyler will—”
A knock at the door interrupted them. There was a pause, then it opened. Jude stood there, holding a silver camera. “Tyler is here.”
Mia looked nervously at Lexi. “How do I look?”
“Totally hot. He’s lucky to have you.”
Mia threw her arms around Lexi and hugged her tightly. “Thank God you’re with me. I don’t know if I’d have the guts to go downstairs without you.”
Holding hands, they left the bedroom and walked down the big curving staircase.
Zach and Tyler were in the living room, standing together, talking. Both were wearing blue suits. Zach’s hair was still wet—the football game had just ended and he’d raced home to get ready.
He looked up and saw Lexi. She saw the way he frowned as she came down the stairs. Her heart started beating so fast she felt light-headed.
Be cool, she thought.
She’d say she was sorry right away, laugh it off, that stupid near-kiss. Maybe she’d say she’d been drunk and didn’t remember any of it. Could she pull that off?
As she neared him, Zach stepped forward, offering her a blue-tipped white carnation in a clear plastic box. “Thanks,” she mumbled.
“It’s got, like, a rubber band on it; it goes on your wrist,” he said. “Amanda says they’re the best kind.”
“Thanks,” she said again, not daring to look at him. He’d mentioned his girlfriend; she got the point.
“Okay, picture time,” Jude said. Miles came up beside her. “We’ll need fingerprints from you, Tyler,” he said.
“Dad!” Mia shrieked, blushing.
Lexi moved awkwardly into place beside Zach. He put an arm around her, but didn’t pull her close. They stood like images from an Old West photograph, stiff and unsmiling.
Flash. Click.
The photographs went on and on, until finally Zach said, “No more, dos amigos. We’re outta here.”
As they started for the door, Lexi pulled away from Zach. She stepped into the entryway, where she’d left a brown shopping bag by the table. Reaching inside, she pulled up a small green plastic container that held a potted purple petunia.
“This is for you,” Lexi said to Jude, feeling her face grow hot. It was such a little gift—she’d found it on the half-price counter at the local nursery. It was probably totally the wrong thing, but it was all Lexi could afford. “I know you don’t really need anything, but I looked … and you don’t have any petunias, so I thought … anyway, thanks for the dress.”
Jude smiled. “Thank you, Lexi.”
“Come on, Lexster,” Mia said from the doorway.
Lexi walked to the door with Jude, and then followed Mia out to the Mustang.
“One o’clock curfew,” Jude yelled from the doorway.
Zach didn’t seem to be listening. He walked on ahead to the Mustang, which was parked out front. He opened Lexi’s door but didn’t wait for her to get in. Instead, he walked around to the driver’s side.
When Mia and Tyler were settled in the backseat, Lexi took her place beside Zach. He started up the car and cranked on the music.
All the way to the high school, Mia and Tyler whispered together. Zach kept his eyes on the road. He seemed pissed off at Lexi, or at the fact that she was his date. She could hardly blame him. In the school lot, he parked close to the stairs, and the four of them merged into the colorful river of kids streaming into the gymnasium, which had been transformed into a tacky version of New Orleans, complete with streamers and fake moss. The Mardi Gras theme continued when they walked into the gym, where a chaperone handed them a handful of brightly colored bead necklaces.
The song playing was “Hella Good,” and the dance floor was overflowing.