Page 20 of Heartless Pucker in Love

He didn’t smile back, just stared. I figured that maybe he was nervous about revealing his identity. As we held gazes, all the insults we exchanged in the past, all the stupid bickering, all faded away. Clearly, we went at each other because we were into each other. Yes, I admit, I’d had a major crush on Julian since day one but I hid it well. Now, we’d be going to senior prom together. All of sudden, the misery of high school faded because it was going to end perfectly. Like a fairytale.

I nodded, yes. Hell yes, I’d go to prom with him! It took everything in me not to squeal like an idiot again. The corners of his lips curled upward, then two of his buddies started snickering and slapping him on his shoulders. He told his friends that he liked me? That meant he was serious about us. However, his smile disappeared and he frowned, looking a little troubled.

Wow, he’s more nervous about this than I am, I thought.

* * *

Prom night

“April, stop fidgeting,” Tessa growled.

“I can’t help it,” I whined. “I’m so nervous.”

“Well, if you don’t stop, Julian isn’t going to find you so cute when I turn you into a pincushion.” She held up the needle and thread between her fingers and scowled. Tessa was putting on the finishing touches on my dress. It was one of Mom’s...from when she still gave a crap about her appearance. Cass stole it from her closet last month when I announced that I got invited to prom by one of the coolest guys in school. Mom would never give me money to buy a prom dress. Tessa and Lucy both worked, but they were paying their way through college so I didn’t ask them to help me buy one.

Luckily, my fifteen-year-old sister had the biggest balls of anyone I knew. She marched into Mom’s room and told her she was taking a dress to play dress-up with our youngest sister, Ruby. Mom thought nothing of it because Ruby was the girliest girl on Earth. She was all about makeup and princess tea parties and whatnot. Cass was such a badass. Sometimes, I wished I could be more ballsy like her.

Getting me to prom was a huge mission and all of my sisters were in on it. If Mom found out I was going anywhere near a guy tonight, she’d freak and lock me in the attic like freaking Rapunzel. She’d loosened up a little with Lucy and Tessa because they were both in their twenties. The rest of us were still on pretty heavy lockdown. But I’d fight tooth and nail to make it to my senior prom.

“There. Perfect.” Tessa stood up and beamed proudly at her creation. I did a three-sixty in front of the full-length mirror and gasped.

“Tessa, you’re a freaking genius!” She got all the talent in the family when it came to cooking, sewing, and all things domestic. Mom’s white floral dress had been transformed into something out of a magazine. It was so...me. It was bohemian-chic, and I loved the flower print. It would go great with the flower crown I’d been working on for a week.

“Looking good,” Lucy sang as she walked into my room. She held a pair of silver strappy heels in her hand. “These shoes will go perfectly with that dress.”

Tessa and I gasped. She began, “Is that…”

“Your birthday present from Nic?” I finished. He’d worked after school at the repair shop for months to buy Lucy a fancy dress and shoes for her sixteenth birthday. She'd been bummed that Mom didn’t care enough to put together something special for her sweet sixteenth. But her best friend, Nic, had been planning a surprise date for her the entire time. She’s been so happy. Where could I get a best friend like that? Seriously. Lucy hadn’t been the same since Nic left town four years ago.

She shrugged and handed me the shoes. “Wear them and put them back in my closet. No big deal.”

I didn’t miss the sad look she gave the shoes before stepping back. Something happened between Nic and Lucy before he left, but she refused to tell us what. “Thank you, Luce. All of you, thank you.”

Cass was sitting on my bed, flipping through a magazine, and wearing her usual bored expression shrugged. “Whatever, princess. Now you can go to prom and play Cinderella. Just be sure to get back before the stroke of midnight before you turn into a pumpkin.”

We all sighed and shook our heads as we gazed at Cass’s deadpan expression. She was just too young to be so jaded. It was all Mom and Dad’s fault. Ruby ran into the room at that moment, breathless, her waist-length dark blonde hair flying. “April, you need to get out of here now. Mom is starting to ask questions. She’s wondering why Lucy and Tessa are still here, and why everyone has been upstairs for so long.”

“Okay, come on, kiddo. Let’s go before she sees you,” Lucy sighed. “I do not need to battle with her tonight.” Lucy was always the one to fight our wars when it came to Mom. She’d argue my case about going to prom if she had to.

Tessa gave me a kiss on the cheek, careful not to smudge my makeup. “Have fun.”

“Use protection if you plan on losing your skin-tag tonight, Cinderella,” Cass said. “Be responsible.”

“Ugh! Why are you like this?” Face burning, I grabbed a pillow from the armchair and threw it at her.

Sniggering, she ducked and flipped me the bird.

“What’s a skin-tag?” Ruby asked.

“Nothing,” we all chorused.

She snorted. “Please, you guys think I’m that clueless? I only ask to see if one of you would have the balls to tell me.” Giggling, she skipped to the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll distract Mom so you can slip out. You guys know I’m good at creating distractions.”

“We know, drama queen,” I grinned. Ruby was a precocious twelve-year-old and just as much a brat as Cass.

* * *

By the time Lucy pulled up to the curb a block away from school, I was nearly hyperventilating. I couldn’t believe in just moments, I was going to meet up with Julian. He’d said he’d pick me up at home, but I had refused. There was no way I could let Mom know about him. So, we decided to meet up at school.

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