Speak Now

Chapter Fourteen - Seven Years Ago

I had always pictured Shawn's house in Ohio to be small, a one-story town home, with at least some of a backyard. I was wrong. 

His house was a large, white two-storied townhome, attached to other homes on either side, with a front door that opened right into a sidewalk. He was right when he told me there was no fresh air to breathe, no where to escape to; with the bustle of people and crowd of buildings, I felt smothered.

He was right about flying, too. It didn't feel much different from being on the ground, the only difference was the headache I got whilst ascending and descending. Otherwise, I could have been sitting on a chair in my room. 

As soon as I entered the airport, I felt what Shawn had hinted at, the sense of possibility that came with being in a plane. When I got in the aircraft, I could be anyone going anywhere, nothing on the ground seemed to matter much up there. I know what I felt can't compare to what he feels, but when I looked out the window over the clouds, I felt my understanding of who Shawn was grow more.

I had landed around noon the day of prom, and he took me to his favorite restaurant in town to celebrate my finally making the trip to see him. The ticket had been a gift from his Grandma, who'd been begging my parents for years to let me go. They had an irrational fear of airplanes, but since I turned eighteen a little over a month ago, I was free to make my own decisions about flying.

By the time we got back to his house and finished the tour, it was time to get ready for prom. 

I had opted not to wear the dress I had worn to my prom, and instead borrowed the dress Milly had worn to prom with Brett last year. It was a tighter fit than I was comfortable with, with a square neckline and long sleeves. The red with glitter accents on the dress didn't clash with my hair, like I had feared, but made it look like an extension of me. I was useless with hair tools, so I only did loose waves.

When I took a step back, looking at myself in the mirror, I didn't look like the Willow I was used to seeing. I looked grown-up, like a woman, and if I dare think it, a bit sexy. My dad wouldn't recognize me in this, and I don't think Shawn will either.

I opened the door of his adjoining bath, stepping into his room where he was waiting. When his eyes fell on me, they didn't have the same, innocent look of last week, he looked a bit like he wanted to devour me. It sent a shiver to my toes.

"You," he gulped, trying to find his words. "You look breathtaking." He was wearing the same suit and bow tie as last week, and I knew we would look like a classy pair.

Instead of thanking him or kissing him like my heart wanted me to, I decided a joke would be the best response. "Well, please remember to take a breath before you turn purple," I walk past him to the door, his eyes still on me. "I'd like my prom date to be living, I did fly all this way." And, that was enough to bring my best friend back.

We didn't take near as many pictures here then we did at my house, mainly because it was only his parents, him, and me, but we took enough to satisfy Grandma Parker. She told me if we didn't take a sufficient amount, I'd spend all summer toiling away in the garden to pay back the cost of my plane ticket.

"So," I asked Shawn, when we were finally alone on the sidewalk outside of his house, "are we taking your car, or is your dad going to let us drive his Mustang?" I was really hoping for the Mustang, I'd never ridden in one before. As far as I knew, Shawn had never been allowed to drive it, but parents are known to make special exceptions for senior prom.

He looks at his phone, reading a text. "No," I try not to let my disappointment show. "We'll be in something even cooler, a limo." My heart tries leaping out of its chest, but by some miracle, it stays in.