Flames

Chapter 23: Prom

Hi! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. 

For this chapter, I added a video of Lauv's song 'breathe'. If you like reading with music, you should really listen to this song while reading the end of the chapter when Sam and Amanda meet each other at Prom.

I hope you really like this chapter.

XOXO

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"Are you ready?" Luke asks loudly from downstairs.

"I look ridiculous," I yell, looking at myself in the mirror. I feel uncomfortable in heels. Why did I let Sarah convince me to wear this? Ugh!

"I'm sure you're exaggerating," Luke shouts back. "I'm gonna come up if you don't come down now."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I say annoyed.

"You look like a princess," my sister tells me when I get out of my room. "So pretty."

I smile at her lovingly, "thank you, kiddo". 

I take a deep breath before heading down the stairs. I struggle to walk in this silver open toe heels Sarah blackmailed me into wearing. I'm wearing a one-shoulder mermaid navy blue dress with my hair loose in its natural waves. I convinced Sarah to keep my makeup light at least. When I get downstairs, Luke stares at me wide-eyed.

"You look beautiful," he compliments me, a grin plastered on his face.

"Thank you," I thank him. "You don't look so bad yourself." He's wearing a black tux with a navy blue, button-up shirt, and a black tie, and he kept his hair messy. I can't deny he's really handsome.

"Well, thank you," he says mockingly.

"Picture time, kids," my mom says, startling us. I roll my eyes but pose for a picture, so I can get over with this quickly. "Have fun."

We get in the car and Luke drives away. I'm amazed by the decoration of the Prom. Whoever did it is really talented. I don't know what the theme is, but I'm guessing it has something to do with stars and the sky because there are silver stars hanging everywhere from the ceiling and little sparkling lights. Everything is decorated in silver and blue colors. This is already crowded and the majority is dancing to the beat of some pop song. Jake spots us quickly. He walks towards us smilingly.

"You're beautiful, but damn, you look gorgeous today," he greets me with a hug. 

I laugh, "thank you. You clean up nice too."

"Oh My God! You look so beautiful," Sarah shrieks when she approaches us.

"Thank you," I thank her. "You're stunning too." She's wearing a long, tight, off the shoulder champagne dress with her gorgeous blonde hair pulled up in a side ponytail.

"Thanks," she mutters. "This is so great. All of us here together."

"I'm just glad I won't have to hear you talk about hair, shoes, and dresses for Prom anymore," I confess.

Jake and Luke laugh.

"Just wait 'till next year, at the Prom of you three," she reminds us.

We just laugh, shaking our heads unbelievingly. There's no way I'm going to dress up again next year for this.

Luke extends his hand and invites me to dance, "come on, let's dance."

"I'm not really good at it," I admit.

"Don't worry," he says. "All you have to do is sway." He grabs my hand and leads me to the dance floor.

A slow song is playing, Luke puts both of his hands on my waist and I wrap my arms around his neck and do exactly what he told me, sway. We dance like five more songs and then we head to grab something to drink. I've never danced so much in my life.

"Hi, guys," Lola greets us.

"Hi," Luke and I greet her back.

"You guys having fun?" Lola asks happily.

"Yes," we simply answer.

"You look gorgeous, by the way," I tell her smilingly. She has a shiny, strapless mermaid red dress. It fits her curves to perfection. Her makeup is pretty light like mine and her hair is in a waterfall braid, really pretty.

"Thank you," she thanks me. "You look beautiful too."

"Thanks."

"Ladies, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go greet some of the guys," Luke excuses himself.

"He looks good," Lola checks him out as he walks away.

"You like him?" I ask her.

"What? No," she lies. 

"You're lying," I tell her. 

"He likes you," she points out.

"We're never going to happen," I assure her. 

"I don't know," she mumbles.

"Go for it," I encourage her. "He's hot and I don't think he'll be single for long." I take a sip of the punch and spit it back. "This punch tastes weird."

"It's spiked," Karen, Sam's girlfriend says, standing next to Lola. She looks mad. I guess her night is not going so well. 

"Not having a good time?" Lola asks her.

"Your brother's a jerk," she answers.

I really, really try not to smile at hearing her say that, but I fail. I know it's not okay to be glad her night with Sam isn't going so well, but I can't help it. Lola too, smiles. Lola nudges my arm when she spots her brother in the crowd talking and laughing with his friends. I know she's trying to tell me to go talk to him. She distracts Karen as I walk away and head towards Sam. He has his back to me, so he doesn't see me approaching him. His friends go silent when I approach them. At this, Sam gets curious and turns around, to find me standing in front of him.

His green eyes stare at me with lust, but his mouth can't seem to get the words out. 

"Hi," I mutter, bitting my lower lip out of nervousness. He looks really handsome. He's wearing a black tux with a black vest underneath and a white button-up shirt with the neck opened just right. And his black hair is messy as usual. Damn! I can't help but smile at him. 

"Hi," he says softly, not keeping his eyes away from me. I guess the word 'hi' it's kind of our thing. 

"What happened with your girlfriend?" I ask him casually as if I already didn't know they had a fight.

"I kind of told her we were over," he answers, smirking.

"Seriously?" I say unbelievingly. I mean, I didn't like the girl, but dumping her on Prom night, it's kind of a hard blow.

"You look..." he struggles to get the right words out.

"I know, right?" I tell him jokingly, spinning to show off my dress. 

He laughs at me, his green eyes sparkling like emeralds.

A slow song starts again. Sam looks at me longingly and extends his hand for me to take. I take his hand and he drags me towards the dance floor. He grabs my arms and wraps them around his neck; then, he wraps his around my torso. Our bodies so close that, I swear I can feel his heart beating. We stare deeply into each other's eyes as our bodies move like flying birds under the fake twinkling lights. I rest my head against his chest and let him lead every step of the dance. I feel as if I'm floating. This is just perfect. I lift my head and our eyes meet. He leans down and kisses me intensely. He puts a piece of paper in my hand and then, pulls away and whispers, "goodbye". With that said, he walks away, leaving me standing in the middle of the dance floor, baffled.  I straighten the piece of paper he gave me as I walk towards Lola. As soon as I read the address, I know it's a 'goodbye letter'. In messy writing, the letter starts 'Dear Amanda'. Instantly, I know he is saying goodbye, meaning he's leaving today. I stare at Lola with tears streaming down my face and let the piece of paper fall to the floor. She looks around and when she doesn't see her brother, she realizes too he has left. I run outside, under the pouring sky hoping I can get to him before he leaves, but it's already too late.