All That's Left

Chapter 2 | Dorian

Present
2023
Seventeen years old

''Have you thought about who you're taking to prom?'' Max asks from where he sits across from me in the diner, clutching his glass of water close to his body like he always does.

Eliana, Max's stepsister, slides into the empty seat next to me, her arm draping over my shoulders with a familiarity that grates on me. ''Better be me,'' she sings, a flirtatious tone in her voice that I've reluctantly become all too familiar with.

I shrug, attempting to downplay the whole prom date ordeal and sidestep the awkwardness that Eliana's crush on me brings. Her arm around me feels like a weight, and it's no secret to everyone—except her—that I'm not on the same page when it comes to whatever she thinks is happening between us.

Ignoring her uncomfortable proximity to me, I focus on Max's question and the memories it brings up in my mind.

Vania Stanton.

She was the only girl I would ever take to prom.

I didn't think it was possible to express how much I missed Vania. Nothing has been the same since her dad died and she and her older sister, Paisley, moved away.

Getting up in the morning had lost its allure because the anticipation of spending the day with Vania was replaced by the cold reality that she wasn't around anymore. Our once-shared laughter, the everyday adventures—it was all gone.

Penasco felt lonelier, a place shadowed by the echoes of her laughter that had faded into distant memories.

Even worse was the fact that I didn't know where she was now. I hadn't heard from Vania since they left two years ago, and Paisley hadn't been in contact with us either.

Paisley's lack of communication was nothing new, however. She had never really been as close to me and my family as Vania and her father were, and so she never really talked to us. Vania's silence, on the other hand, is what worried us.

Before they left, communication was a constant thread binding us together. Vania and I had been inseparable—at school and at home. We were always together. Now, her silence spoke louder than any words ever could, a testament to the unsettling unknown that had replaced the once-unbreakable bond we shared.

I knew that Vania needed time after what happened to her father, and I also knew that if Vania came back right now, the two years of silence would have meant nothing, because that's how sure I was of our friendship.

But every now and then, I couldn't help but wonder if Vania wasn't ever coming back. I couldn't help but wonder if she had closed the book on our friendship and moved on to new friends and new family.

I wouldn't blame her if she did.

I wouldn't hate her for it.

But I would hate myself for ever letting her go.

''I'm not going to prom,'' I finally answer, fiddling with my glass of Coke in front of me. I notice Max watching me with a questioning look in his eyes, clearly picking up the sudden change in my tone.

Even though I've been friends with Max ever since he moved to town, I haven't yet told him about Vania. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell him; I just didn't know how.

''It's our senior prom, Dorian. You have to go!'' Eliana all but cries.

I knew if I told her that I had no reason to go, I would never hear the end of it, so instead, I said, ''Look, it's more than six months away. A lot can happen until then. So let's just live in the moment and enjoy this Coke.''