Page 56 of Old Acquaintances

Tucker closed his eyes and sighed. He muttered to himself, “This is a bad idea.”

After I showered and Hattie curled my hair, I stepped into my dress. I planned to not wear a bra, but she insisted on a strapless one, saying, “For the sake of that poor boy who is doing you a service, wear the bra.” I wanted my hair up, but she argued against it. “Tucker likes your hair down.” I didn’t normally wear much makeup, but Hattie was always good with it. She used a light hand when applying foundation, saying, “You want him to be able to touch your face.”

I squirmed. “Hattie, this is not adate.”

She ran body shimmer down the length of my arms. “Look, you are going to prom with a gorgeous boy who thinks you are the hottest thing in the world. Do you know how many girls would kill to be on his arm?Relax. Enjoy it.”

I put small gold earrings in.

Hattie relaxed into a chair. “So, what’s the plan with your friend group?”

“Um.” I sat on the bed and slid my shoes on. “We’re meeting at Johnny’s for pictures and then going to dinner and then -” I stopped. “Do I have to, like, stand with Tucker for pictures?”

“Yes, he’s your date.”

“Is he going to buy my dinner?”

“Of course.”

“How do you know?”

She lifted her mouth in a half smile. “Because he’s Elijah Tucker. If you said, ‘Hey can you fly up to Saturn and steal me a ring,’ he wouldn’t hesitate. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you.” She started putting her makeup away. “I don’t know why you’re always saying that Johnny’s your best friend and you and Tucker are justacquaintances. Johnny would never do any of the things Tucker does for you.”

There was a knock at the door. It creaked open and my mom and Lori peeked their heads inside. Their jaws dropped and they started with the whole,oh my god you look so beautifulspeech. My mom spun me around to look at the spaces of exposed skin on my dress.

“Hattie said it was fine,” I argued.

My mother grimaced. “Well, Hattie dresses a little more suggestively than I would like.”

“Ella is worse!” my sister argued.

Lori snapped a picture of me with her phone. “Elijah’s downstairs. He’s actually very nervous. I’ve never seen him nervous for a girl.”

“He’s probably freaked out by all of this.” I gestured to their presence.

My mother and Lori exchanged a look. “Also, Ella, Lori had a talk with Eli about you two.”

I balked. “What kind of talk?”

“We want you to be safe,” Lori said. “We’re realistic. We can’t keep you two apart all of the time. Eli has protection -”

“Oh my God!” I covered my face. “Please stop!”

I marched toward the door and hurried out of the room, trying to get away from that conversation. I came down the stairs to Tucker standing by the fireplace in a dark suit, his hair slicked back, a box in his hand. My dad was helping fix his tie.

Tucker turned his head. He froze, his eyes staring me, watching me cross the living room. “Jesus Christ,” he breathed.

“You look nice,” I said brightly.

“You, um…” He ran his eyes over my dress and hair. Hattie was right about the hair. His jaw muscles popped. “You look beautiful.” He swallowed. “I mean, you always look beautiful, but you look really…” He trailed off.

I tapped the object in his hand. “Is that for me?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” He took the corsage out of the box. His hands shook. He dipped his head low - we had an audience - and mumbled, “I don’t know why I feel so fucking nervous.” I held out my hand and he slipped the flowers onto my wrist.

Hattie came up beside me and handed me his. “I picked this up on my way into town.”

Strangely, I didn’t feel nervous. Tucker’s energy shook and mine stayed calm. His eyes bore into mine while I pinned the flower onto his jacket. I squeezed the sides of his arms. “Calm down,” I mouthed.

---