"Can you please pick me up?"
I put the phone back into my purse and take off the fancy, high heeled shoes that's been killing me the whole night. The street is dark and empty, the wind makes me shiver out of cold and fear, but I don't dare getting back inside. I can hear the muffled sound of music mixed with young laughter.
I sit on the curb, not caring about the expensive dress enveloping my body. I didn't ask for this, I told my mother I wanted to stay home, but she said it would be fun, she said I didn't need a date to enjoy myself and have a good time.
Maybe she was right, but everyone else thought she was wrong. I heard them making fun of me for showing up alone, I saw the way they looked at me, none of them even thinking about come to sit with me so I wouldn't feel isolated.
The night was far away from being over when I decided to leave, not wanting to spend any other second of my life with those people. I didn't want to call my mom, I didn't want her to know what a sad excuse for a girl her daughter was. Jake was my only option, my savior.
High school had turned into hell after he graduated last year, leaving me alone in the middle of the crowd. He said it was a good idea for me to come, too. According to him, it's never too late to make a friend and prom could be my last chance.
Headlights wash the streets, blinding me for a moment. A red car stops in front of me, I look up from my place on the ground and watch the window come down, providing a clear vision of my knight in shining armour - or in his old pajamas, I don't even care. I stand up and grab my shoes, getting inside.
"You look beautiful," he tells me in a sweet tone, smiling, taking his time analyzing my royal blue dress as his hands come to play with the silk.
"For what? The only thing they cared about was the fact I was alone." I feel a single tear running down my cheek and falling into my lap. Jake looks up at me when it happens, watching as more of those tiny drops combine themselves enough to soak my face.
He brings my face to his chest, rubbing my back as my sobs fill the closed car. We just stay like this until it stops. He doesn't say anything, he knows me well enough to know crying in peace is all I want when I'm sad. When I feel like I'm in good terms with the universe again, I let go of Jake, seeing that at least half of my mascara is now on his shirt.
"How do I look?"
"Pink," he answers with a small laugh, which quickly turn into a hysterical one when I join him. "Come here." He brings his thumbs to wipe under my eyes, cleaning the black ink staining them on his already dirty shirt. "Done. Still beautiful." He offers me a small smile, which I accept without hesitation, as my thumb draw invisible circles on the back of his hand.
"We can go now." I turn my body to sit straight, pressing my head to the window, feeling its vibration as the car moves along the street. It takes me a few seconds to realize we're parked in front of my house, I take off the seatbelt when I do, but apart from that, I don't move.
Jake doesn't say anything, instead, he brings his hand to the radio and turns it on, letting the music make us company. The intro of a song I've never heard before starts playing. I don't give much attention to it until an unfamiliar voice begins to drop the lyrics on us.
Hold me close now, hold me tight
Don't let go of me tonight
You're all I want, you're all I need
I turn my body to Jake's. He does the same.
"What song is this?"
"Paradise by Tesla."
We keep staring at each other, feeling as the melody dances in the middle of us, bringing us closer like a rope tying our bodies together. My heart races, my body shiver. Jake's hand hold my face, taking it to his until the side of his nose is glued to the side of mine and our lips are slow dancing together to the music.
I allow my fingers to lost themselves in his hair like they did a million times before, but the action holds a different meaning this time. It feels so good, so right, that the whole time my head is repeating the same question: why is this the first time this is happening? It's like our lips were built to fit into each other one day, and I don't care how cliche this may sound.
He separates our lips way too soon, but he keeps our foreheads together as he smiles with his mouth and eyes. I feel like crying again, but this time it's good, it means there's too much happiness to fit inside my body and it needs to find a way out. But I don't let it go, I keep it.
"Why did you do that?" My lips almost brush on his as I speak.
"I don't know, it felt like the right thing to do."
"Do it again, you've been doing the wrong thing for way too long."
I feel his laugh through my teeth, the sound gets lost inside my throat. Thank God prom was awful, my misfortune has led me to this glorious moment.
My my paradise, my my paradise, yeah
To hold you in my arms, you're all that I adore
To see your smiling face as I walk through the door
I'll never say goodbye again, no
