It Had to Be You

twenty

AS I left him to finish his essay, I managed to bump into two familiar faces.

"Trouble in paradise?" Beau asked, a mischievous glint in his baby blue eyes. It had taken a month of free coffee to keep him from spilling about the other night, and he used every piece of it to his advantage.

I shrugged. "Something like that." I turned my attention to the boy standing on Beau's left. "Hey, Logan."

Logan Schneider looked a lot like his mother, from the mass of curly dark hair on the top of his head to awkwardly long legs that would've made him an asset to the basketball team. But too bad he prefers baseball.

"Hey, Norah." He grinned, flashing me his now braces-less smile. "How's rehearsals going?"

"Eh." I shrugged. "How's your arm?"

"Eh." He mocked and I smiled.

"You going to the dance this weekend?" Beau asked me.

"Yeah." I answered. "With me, myself, and I."

"Same." Logan said. "Both Beau and Lincoln have scored dates."

"Dude," Beau laughed, "no girl wants to slow dance with a guy with that giant cast on their arm. It's not something they want resting on their back."

"It's not like I went out that day saying, hey, let's snap my wrist in half just to see how it feels."

Beau slapped Logan on the back. "I mean, your mom did tell you not to—"

"Shut the fuck up."

Beau laughed as someone caught his eye. He waved a brief goodbye to the both of us, before chasing after the girl that looked his way.

Logan looked at me. "You said you weren't going with anyone, right?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, "why?"

"I bought an extra ticket for my date, but since I didn't get one, you should have it." He explained, digging into his wallet to fish out his spare ticket. "We can even go together, if you want. I know it would make my mom happy, especially since Lincoln is bringing a girl she hates."

I stared at the ticket in his hand. Due to my sickness, I hadn't purchased my homecoming ticket yet, and I had left my wallet at home, so I was out of money on hand. But I wasn't sure what possessed me to nod my head and take the ticket from him.

Friends go with friends to dances, and I've been close with Logan Schneider for most of my life.

But there was still this feeling inside of me that I couldn't shake.

...

"I still can't believe you're going with Logan Schneider to the dance." Ellie said for the umpteenth time since she arrived early this morning to prepare for the dance. She sat on my bed, applying a light coat of nail polish that matched her dress on her toes. "He's a fetus."

"He's a sophomore," I corrected with a sigh, "and I've known him my whole life."

"You've known Adrian your whole life."

"Yeah, well, Adrian didn't ask me to the dance. Logan did. End of story."

I'd spent the better half of rehearsal last night in between takes arguing with Caroline over my choice in dance partner.

"The only reason you said yes is because your pride was hurt." She had told me in a harsh whisper after completing Brand New Day.

Pride hurt? Maybe. But it wasn't a pity date.

"Do you think he'll get mad?" Ellie pondered aloud. "I mean, you asked him and then five minutes later you're accepting the offer from someone else."

"He said no," I shrugged, wishing that she would just drop it. Adrian has no right to get mad over me going to the dance with Logan; he missed that train at the station. "What I don't get, is that you pushed me to ask out Adrian, yet you didn't ask out Bryce."