Out of Step

xviii. totally an innuendo

Anytime Alana walked into practice the two weeks leading up to homecoming, she wanted to turn around and never come back. At first, she just thought maybe Emmett was waiting to ask her, going to do something elaborate, but anytime she tried to bring it up to him, he would kiss her or just completely ignore her.

"Homecoming's in like.... It's at the end of the week," Alana muttered, throwing herself back onto her bed. Arista followed her in, glancing at Jess who was laying across her own bed working on homework.

"Where's the rest of your gang?" Jess asked, chewing on the eraser of her pencil.

"Sectionals," Arista answered as Alana continued muttering about homecoming.

"What's crazy muttering about?"

"Emmett hasn't asked her to homecoming yet and I guess she's getting worried." Arista leaned back in the desk chair she had taken up residence in. "I dunno why though cause like she's gone stag the last two years I don't see why she can't go stag again. It's really just prom you should be worrying about someone asking you to. And that's months away."

"Can't she just ask him?" Jess finally looked up from her homework, her eyebrows raised. "It is the twenty-first century after all."

"Every time I bring up the words homecoming –"

"That's one word, but okay."

"–he just, doesn't acknowledge it or anything. It's aggravating."

"Don't just bring it up, actually ask him you dummy," Jess said, rolling her eyes and reaching for the headphones that were strewn on the floor next to her bed.

Alana sat up quickly. "That's a possibility. I mean, maybe it'll get me a yes or no at least." She sucked in her bottom lip, chewing on it for a second before standing up and heading for the door. "I'll be back."

Alana probably should've waited till she got a hold of Emmett before making her exit, but she hadn't, something she realized once she was sitting in the running car. Then maybe, she wouldn't have been driving around town aimlessly for nearly forty-five minutes, waiting for him to respond back to her.

By the time she got home again, even more frustrated than she had been when she had left, Eli had joined Arista, the two of them in the basement with Owen and Alex.

"How'd it go?" Arista asked, pushing the textbook Eli had been helping her studying from away and sitting up straighter.

She glanced at her brother and Owen, both of whom were muttering to each other, before nodding towards the stairs. Eli and Arista followed her to the kitchen, watching as she frowned at the countertop.

"He said, and I quote," she started looking up from the countertop, the frown still gracing her face. "I don't do homecoming."

"He doesn't do homecoming?" Eli said.

"He doesn't do homecoming," Alana confirmed. "Actually, he doesn't do any type of dance function."

"What does that even mean?" Arista leaned onto the counter.

"It means he's not going. It's not his scene." She was back to frowning at the countertop. "So, I guess I'll have to find something else to do this Saturday."

"What?" Eli's words came out as more of a gasp than actual words. "So now you're not going?"

"I mean, I don't have a date or a dress." She shrugged, turning to get something to drink from the fridge. "It's no big deal. I'm sure I can still hang out with him and whatever he's doing."

"You should still come to the dance." Arista said, her bottom lip sticking out. "You don't need a date."

"I don't know."

"Come on, we're all already going as friends and we can't be a complete friend group without you."

"Plus, it'll probably be fun," Eli sang. "And there's supposed to be cookies and brownies."

Alana seemed to perk up at the mention of desserts and she chewed on her cheek as she thought. "It would be fun to go to our last homecoming."

"Yes, it would!" Arista said.

"But I don't have a dress. I had to get rid of last year's dress."

Arista was already pulling out her phone. "We'll get Laila to come pick us up and go dress shopping right now. I'm sure there's still a few good dresses left somewhere."

Laila was answering the call before Alana could protest anymore. She quickly agreed to come pick the other girls up, stating she could finish studying tomorrow in study hall when Alana tried to make excuses for her.

And then they were standing in front of several racks of leftover homecoming dresses, many of them on sale, since many schools around them had already had their homecoming.

"What size are you again?"

"I don't know. Eight maybe?" She pursed her lips. "I usually just grab a bunch of sizes."

"Okay, well any particular color?"

"Not really. Red, blue, purple, yellow." She paused as she glanced at the puke green colored dress Arista was holding. "Pretty much anything but that color."

It seemed to take forever for them to finally find a nice dress in her size, but they finally settled on a silver, blue dress with a tulle skirt and lace flowers on it. It was actually an accidental find, wedged between two dresses that Laila had grabbed off the sale rack in a hurry.

"I'm honestly jealous of your dress," Arista said.

"Now if only we had dates," Laila chimed in, sliding her sunglasses off the top of her head and over her eyes.

"I was thinking about asking this girl in my class if she wanted to go with me." Arista twirled one of her bracelets around. "But I was kinda holding out that Lucas might ask me. Or that I should ask him."

Laila's steps faltered, her finger freezing just above the button on the key to unlock the door, before she continued. "Oh. I was kinda hoping he'd ask me too."

It was a rough subject, with both girls vying for his attention, and both knowing that the other was doing so.

"Well, he didn't ask either of us."

"Not yet."

They had reached the car now and Alana, who was worried an argument would start on the ride home, decided to chime in.

"I doubt he's going to ask anyone." She folded the dress in its plastic garment bag over her lap, smoothing it out. "He's not really a people person? Or a relationship person."

"What?"

"You guys – Okay, I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret," Alana said with a sigh, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Since apparently you guys don't already know. But Lucas is completely and utterly in love with his trombone."

"Is that an innuendo?" Laila asked and Alana sputtered.

"What? No!"

"It's totally an innuendo," Arista said from the seat next to Alana and even Eli, sitting in the passenger's seat, nodded in agreement.

"It's not an innuendo!" Alana cried out, scrunching up her face at the two. 

09.01.2020 Happy almost end of September 1st!!! I'm ready for this week to be over with. Luckily I'm like halfway there (almost)! 

Anyway, I think I'm gonna binge My Life as a Teenage Robot once I finish Danny Phantom!  

Alright, I'll see y'all later!!!