MY TEARS RICOCHET 𛲕 STRANGER THINGS

20. Crying In My Prom Dress

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of SH, suicide attempt

CHAPTER 20: Crying In My Prom Dress

Because I dropped your hand while dancing,
Left you out there standing
Crestfallen on the landing
With champagne problems
— Champagne Problems, Taylor Swift

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

June 8th, 1984: Hawkins High

PINK HAD ALWAYS BEEN DAPHNE'S COLOUR.

But standing in front of her full-length mirror, Daphne couldn't help but feel like a fraud. Perhaps because pink was such a happy, upbeat colour — whereas Daphne had broken down earlier that morning simply because she burnt her toast. It was far too late to get another dress; Steve was due to pick her up in twenty minutes. Besides, if she showed up to prom looking like she was auditioning for a horror movie, Steve would know something was up with her. Daphne couldn't handle any more questions from him.

At that moment, all she wanted to do was go to the Hawk Theatre, hide in the back row of a really bad movie showing and maybe share a Milky Way Bar with Robin. Robin - the same Robin who was hiding secrets of her own. Daphne knew nothing was going on with her and Mr Hauser, but that didn't mean Robin couldn't have an unrequited crush. And her 'friend' Dash? Daphne wouldn't trust him alone with her grandma. Dash was a creep and with the way he kept looking at Robin...

She didn't know why she cared. She and Robin were barely friends. Robin was weird — she was a band geek (and she played the French horn of all things), she had a godawful perm that Daphne and her friends used to make fun of, and she ate lunch with her English teacher (who she may or may not have a crush on). But still, Daphne couldn't help but feel drawn to her.

Daphne was just touching up her peach coloured lipgloss when she heard a honk outside her house. She took a deep breath and stared at her reflection in the mirror. The girl who stared back was a ghost of who she once was; smothered in makeup and hair products to disguise how badly she was disintegrating. It's just one night, Daphne, she told herself. You can do this. She grabbed her purse and headed down the stairs, her kitten heels pinching the backs of her feet already.

Steve was waiting in his BMW for her, looking handsome as ever. But Daphne didn't get butterflies like she used to when she saw him. When she climbed into the car and kissed him hello, her stomach didn't do somersaults. And when he told her she looked beautiful, her heart didn't beat any harder. She knew it was over; that she was clinging onto what used to be. Maybe because she couldn't handle any more change in her life. Maybe because she liked how much Steve cared about her. Or maybe because pretending was all Daphne knew how to do.

Hawkins High was teaming with brightly coloured students as Steve and Daphne pulled into the parking lot. Daphne had never seen so many tightly coiled perms or taffeta dresses in her life. She felt relieved that her own dress was sleek — no ruffles or feathers to be seen. Tonight, for once, she didn't want to stand out.

Steve opened the car door for her and took her hand, leading her inside the school building. As soon as the prom committee saw them together, they were gushing over Daphne's dress and ushering them inside, without so much as checking their tickets. The minute Daphne crossed the threshold of the gym, she made a beeline for the punch bowl.

One thing you could always count on with high school students was their uncanny ability to spike any punch bowl without authority figures noticing a thing. Daphne helped herself to a large cup of the heavily alcoholic concoction. She seldom bothered trying to guess what the hell was in these things, but tonight the sharp bite of tequila sang through. She had just taken a large gulp of her first drink when Steve appeared at her side, snatching the cup out of her hands.