[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
us. I could feel Matt behind me, doing everything but growling at Patrick, and I
tried to smile apologetically at him.
Hey, Wendy, Patrick said easily and gave me a quick look over. You
look really nice.
He was a bit surprised, but I think it was because he hadn t expected
me to dress up so much. If it had just been the two of us, without any
possibility of Finn, I wouldn t have, but I didn t want him to know that so I just
kept smiling. Patrick had just put on a white tee shirt with dark wash jeans, but
he looked pretty good.
You look good too, I nodded. Matt was still seething behind me, so I
opened the door farther so I could introduce them and then I could get out of
there. Um, Patrick, this is my older brother, Matt, and that s my aunt, Maggie.
Patrick didn t look the least bit intimidated Matt, who shook his hand much
more forcefully than necessary. Maggie got up off the couch and hurried over
to say hello.
It s nice to meet you, Maggie gushed, shaking his hand.
Likewise, Patrick assured her.
They re painters, I said when I saw him looking over their paint
covered clothing. Well, I guess we should get going.
Have her back by ten, Matt demanded, staring harshly at Patrick.
Midnight, Maggie said over him.
The dance doesn t go til midnight, Matt snapped incredulously.
I know. Maggie kept smiling and started ushering me out the door.
Have fun guys!
57
Midnight at the very latest! Matt amended as I shut the door behind
me.
Sorry, I smiled sheepishly at Patrick. Insanity runs pretty heavily in
my family.
Good to know, Patrick grinned as we walked to his car.
My only experience with dances was what I had seen on TV, but it
really wasn t that far off. The theme appeared to be Crepe Paper in the
Gymnasium, and they had mastered it perfectly. The school colors were white
and navy blue, so white and navy blue streamers covered everything, along with
matching balloons. For romantic lighting, they had strung everything with white
Christmas lights. A table to the side was covered in refreshments, and the band
playing on the makeshift stage under the basketball hoop wasn t that bad. Their
set list appeared to only include songs from the films of John Hughes, and we
came in the middle of a Weird Science cover that was quite a bit more
electronic than I remember it being. When the song ended, they announced
their name as Shermer, Illinois.
The biggest difference between real life and what films had taught me
is that nobody was actually dancing. A group of girls stood directly in front of
the stage, swooning at the foxy lead singer, but otherwise, the floor was mostly
empty. The refreshment table had a small crowd, and people were scattered all
over the bleachers.
The cool kids come later, Patrick explained when he noticed me
looking around.
So we re not the cool kids? I asked.
Nope. We re the punctual kids, Patrick quipped.
Like a gentleman, he got me a cup of punch, and then we went over to
the bleachers to sit. We sat on the first row because I had stupidly worn a pair
of strappy heels that I didn t trust myself to make it to the top in. As soon as we
sat down, I kicked them off anyway, because for the most part, I hate shoes. We
people watched and spent a lot of time mocking the other people that had
bothered to show up on time.
58
As the night wore on, I found myself getting increasingly nervous. Finn
still wasn t here. Patrick hadn t asked me to dance either, and other kids were
actually starting to. The band had moved onto some kind of Tears For Fears
medley about the time Tegan arrived, and she was arguably the coolest kid in
school. She had used a gallon of concealer and lipstick to try to fix her lip, but
she still looked like hell. I couldn t revel in this, though, because I was starting
to think that Finn had stood us up.
Okay, so maybe this isn t as much fun as I promised it would be.
Patrick misread the look on my face for disappointment with him and the dance
itself, so I forced a smile and shook my head.
No, no, it s fun, I insisted. I was about to suggest dancing, hoping
that would lighten my mood, but then Finn finally pushed through the
gymnasium doors.
Wearing a slim-fitting black dress shirt and dark jeans, he looked good.
He had the sleeves rolled up and an extra button undone on his shirt, and I
wondered why I had never realized how attractive he looked before. I m sure I
had a goofy smile plastered on my face, so I erased it as quickly as I could and
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]