The Day After Prom

Chapter-33

It took us roughly forty minutes to reach our high school. The limo dropped us right in front of the entrance and the first thing that came in view as we got out of the car, was the red carpet that was placed from where we stood till the main door of the school and I'm guessing it was approximately three meters long.

Both sides of the red carpet were covered with golden stanchions which had red ropes and just in front of the school entrance door, was a white backdrop which had, 'Eastwood high' written in capital golden letters. Just below our school's name, 'Prom' was written in the same way and the rest of the backdrop had the year of the batch written all over, in small font. This, my friends, was the photo booth.

"I feel like a celebrity!" Nicole shrieked.

"Yup, they followed the theme really well. I'll give them that." Claire added and we all proceeded towards the backdrop. A photographer was already there and clicking pictures of some students.

"Katelyn!" I heard a soft voice behind me.

I turned around, "Oh my God, Emma!" I embraced her in a hug.

"We all will wait for you at the photo booth and will call you as soon as we get our turn." Nicole told me and I nodded.

"You look great!" I complimented her. She was wearing a light pink, off shoulder and plain prom dress which was probably made of satin. It had a slit on the right side of the dress.

"You look amazing too!" She smiled, "You know I voted you for the prom queen!" She added.

"Oh, thanks a lot for doing that!" I gave her a bright smile and acted like I remembered about both Nicole and Claire signing me up for the prom queen.

"I voted Ryder for the king as well!" She winked, "Oh my date's here!" She continued and pointed towards Jace who was walking in our direction.

"He didn't pick you up?" I asked her because she was here before Jace.

"He did. He was just parking the car." She replied.

Now, I've officially run out of topics to start a small talk because to be honest, I've never really kept in touch with her after the last class we had together and a lot has happened since then.

I don't know what she'll ask me next, maybe she'll ask me about the Aubrey drama because let's be honest I've gotten pretty famous because of that.

Or worse she could bring up Debbie or Asher to the conversation and I should stop overthinking.

Suddenly I felt someone's arms wrapped around my waist and I knew in a second that they were Ryder's. I've gotten really familiar with his touch. He was standing right behind me, his arms were still on my waist and I could feel his eyes on me.

"Babe.." He started and I could feel butterflies in my stomach. Did he really just call me babe or am I tripping?

"Let's go, the photographer's free now." He stated and then looked at Emma, "Oh, I didn't see you there! Mind if I steal her from you for a couple of minutes?" He asked Emma with a winning smile.

"Sure!" Emma replied and looked like she was charmed by him.

"Is everything okay?" I asked Emma and shot her a serious look with my eyebrows raised. No one can see him that way, he's taken and I'm not afraid to tell her that.

Ryder obviously sensed my jealousy and kissed my neck right in front of her and started, "Let's go or we'll never get a chance to get our photos clicked."

"Okay babe, let's go!" I beamed before I shot another look towards Emma and gave her fake smile. God, I'm not like this and that was rude. But I guess I did what I had to do.

We made our way to the photo booth but it was already occupied by the people who were there before us and our whole friend group was still waiting.

"Hey! MOVE IT! Do you want to spend the whole night being obsessed with yourself and clicking another hundred pictures?!" Claire furrowed her brows and shouted at the group of four people who were actually taking forever to get done with their pictures.

"Clay, it's okay baby calm down a little." Ryan was trying to calm her down and Nicole apologized because she didn't want Claire to cause a scene whereas Josh was just laughing and enjoying the whole drama.

This sure is going to be a night to remember I thought to myself and chuckled.

"Claire just being Claire." Ryder smirked and shook his head.

"So, they're not done with the photoshoot yet, why'd you call me?" I asked, although I'm really grateful for him to do that.

I stood right in front of him and smiled.

"You looked miserable." He laughed.

I pouted, "How did you know?"

"Well, I was looking at you and you looked undisturbed."

"Stalker!" I teased him and grinned.

"If that is your way to thank me, you're most welcome." He bowed and gave me one of those charming smiles.

"Yeah, maybe it is my new way to thank you." I paused just for a second and added, "babe," to that sentence.

He put one of his hands on my waist and lifted my chin from the other and pressed his lips against mine. I pressed my lips against his and wrapped my hands around his neck. God, only I know the way my heart is fluttering right now.

I released the kiss and looked at him with a smile. As much as I wanted to kiss him, we were in a public area and I was pretty sure that if I lost the control I had; things would escalate quickly.

He was still looking at me smiling.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." He smirked.

"What was the kiss all about? Not that I'm complaining." I shrugged with a playful smile that came across my face.

"I just like the way you said "babe"" He kissed my forehead and I blushed.

"Guys! Let's go, those idiots have finally left!" Claire shouted.

"Shall we?" Ryder offered me his arm with a winning smile.

"We shall!" I beamed and we both chuckled.