Prom. The day every teenage girl- well, most teenage girls- looked forward to. A day of styling hair, painting nails, putting on makeup, choosing between earrings, and putting on that dress. Not any dress- the dress. The one parents spent hundreds of dollars on, that will only be worn once. The most important dress up until that particularly special wedding one. Whether it had a full princess skirt or a tapering mermaid, it was there to look gorgeous and make a statement. A statement of complete and utter beauty on the part of the young lady inside it, of course.
Once the dress was zipped up and the shoes slipped on, it was time to meet the dates. A good one would have brought a lovely corsage- that matched the girl's dress to a t, obviously- and perhaps even a matching flower to pin onto their tux. Either way, they would wander up to the doorbell, ring it nervously, and wait until the girl's father swung the door open and stared them down.
Except, in this case, Alice's father wasn't staring down at an anxious young man. He was looking at Amelia's beaming face. The young woman had her hair tied back into a stylishly messy ponytail, and nestled among the golden strands were little gemstone clips. Her bright red dress was formfitting and strapless, showing off her ample breasts, tapering in at her trim- not quite skinny, but very fit- waist, flouncing out at her hips, and stopping several inches above her knees.
Alice noticed all that very slowly, as she took in her date in from head to toe. Amelia… Amelia looked amazing. Alice suddenly felt very ridiculous in her slender emerald gown. It went all the way down past her knees, and barely showed off any cleavage! Not to mention her hair was up in a prim bun, with no decorations save for the small black butterfly on her barrette. She tried to muss her bangs as inconspicuously as possible. Her father sent her a questioning look.
"So, Mom's going to drive us there," Amelia chattered on, seemingly ignorant of Alice's problem. "Maddie's already waiting in the car." She grinned at Alice. "Are you ready to go?"
"I- I suppose so," Alice muttered, smoothing out a non-existent crease in her dress. After a quick goodbye to her father, and a promise to call later if she decided to go to any of the after-prom events, she found her hand wrapped up in Amelia's and her body being pulled towards the Jeep waiting at the sidewalk.
Amelia threw open the back door and hoisted herself inside, in the process giving Alice a very nice view of her inner thighs, and then gestured for her girlfriend to join her. Alice did so in a much more sedate fashion. Madeleine smiled at her from the front seat. Mrs. Jones- though she wasn't really a Mrs, because she wasn't married- asked cheerfully, "All set, girls?"
Amelia cheered, Madeleine piped out a yes, and Alice tried to prepare herself for what she was certain was going to be a very awkward night.
It was just as Alice had feared. The prom, hosted in one of the fanciest hotels in the city, was packed with girls and their dates- some men, mostly other women. That was to be expected from going to an all-girls school. Amelia dragged her through the crowd, stopping now and again to say hi to some of their friends. Though the whole ballroom was pulsing with excitement, Alice felt sicker with every step they took. She was so out of place. Her dress was wrong, her hair was wrong, she looked so stupid. Especially compared to Amelia, who was, in Alice's eyes at least, the most gorgeous girl there. Why would someone so beautiful settle for someone like Alice? It just didn't make sense.
Finally, they managed to find two seats at a table. Madeleine and her off-and-on girlfriend Fleur settled across from them, and then the final three seats were taken by the French girl's best friends, the narcissistic albino Gisa and airheaded Spanish Alejandra, and the latter's feisty partner Lorita. Alice found herself weighing the pros and cons of stabbing herself with the butter knife.
Dinner was awkward. There was no need to go into details, because Alice honestly couldn't remember most of it, what with how hard she was trying to ignore everyone. Once the dessert plates were taken away, she allowed herself to relax slightly. One step closer to the end of this torture.
Of course, she'd forgotten all about the dancing. Amelia actually asked her if she wanted to dance, in such a surprisingly sweet and ladylike way that Alice said yes before she realized what she was doing. It was only after she'd been led out into the middle of the bouncing, grinding mess of her classmates that she remembered. She couldn't dance like this. Sure, she was exceptional at the waltz, and knew a bit of ballet, and could even do the tango relatively well, but shaking her hips and rolling her shoulders like that? Not in public, no. Nevertheless, she did her best to dance a little with her date, because Amelia looked like she was having fun. She managed to last for almost a full hour.
"I have to go to the restroom," she muttered, not meeting Amelia's eyes. Without waiting for a response, she pushed her way out of the mass of bodies and hurried over to their now-empty table. She barely stopped to grab her purse before rushing out of the ballroom and towards the nearest bathroom. By some stroke of luck, it was empty, so she hurried into the farthest stall and slammed the door shut.
Stupid prom. Stupid Fleur and Gisa and Alejandra. Stupid Amelia. Alice scowled down at her purse, taking in her tense white knuckles where she clutched at it. Even as she felt her grip tighten, though, her whole body seemed to slump downwards, and before she knew it she was sliding down to sit on the floor. The bathroom was fancy and rather clean, luckily, but at that point she didn't even notice it. She just sat there, staring at her hands.
It wasn't Amelia's fault, she knew. It was hers, Alice's- she should have said no when Amelia asked her to go, even if they were dating. Then Amelia would have been able to go to the prom and have fun and dance with other people, with people better than Alice, and maybe even meet that right person who would sweep her away on a white horse and carry her off into the sunset. Though that was Alice's personal fantasy, not really Amelia's, but that was not important. What mattered was that Amelia was here with the wrong person, that Amelia had settled for someone not worth her time.
A tear slid down and plopped onto her hand. Alice sniffled. Of course, as if this night couldn't get any worse, she had to go and start crying. Now her carefully applied makeup would run all over the place. She fumbled around in her purse for the tissues she had stuffed inside, finally finding one and pulling it out to dab at her face. She wondered faintly how long she had been sitting there in the bathroom, and how much fun Amelia must have been having out there, dancing away. That girl- that beautiful, ridiculous girl- had no reason to come looking for her, she knew. Not when there were so many other people she could spend her time with. But Alice couldn't help the small hope in her heart that maybe, maybe Amelia was worried, was looking for her, wanted to spend time with her.
The bathroom door opened. Alice's breath caught in her throat- was it-?
"Alice?" a quiet voice called out, and Alice felt her hope deflate like a balloon. It wasn't Amelia. It was Madeleine. "Alice, are you in here?"
"Yes," she replied, as primly as possible. "I- I simply needed to freshen up." She scrubbed furiously at her eyes, hoping she didn't look as horrible as she felt.
From the look on Maddie's face when she opened the door, she most certainly did. "Oh, Alice," she whispered. "You were crying."
"No, I-" But there was no use lying, not when Maddie could see all the proof she needed. Alice bowed her head slightly. "It doesn't matter."
She heard Maddie sigh, and then two hands settled on her shoulders. "Amelia's worried sick about you, you know," the girl said gently. "When you ran away like that, she tried to follow you, but couldn't find you anywhere. We've been searching for you for over half an hour."
"What?" Alice stared at her, wide-eyed and disbelieving. Amelia had followed her? She had actually been looking for her? She'd been- She'd been worried?
Maddie opened her mouth to speak again, but at that moment the bathroom door banged open again to reveal a frazzled-looking Amelia. "Maddie, I can't find-" And her eyes settled on Alice.
The girl in question met those blue eyes almost fearfully. She knew she looked a mess. Her mascara was probably smudged around her eyes, and her lipstick was partially gone, and her hair was coming out of its bun in a way that didn't look nearly as good as Amelia's did.
"Alice?" Amelia said quietly, moving over to touch her girlfriend's cheek. "Alice, look at me, please. What's wrong?"
"N- nothing," Alice sniffled, cursing herself as she felt more tears begin to gather in her eyes. She faintly heard the door click shut, and supposed that Madeleine had taken her leave, but all she could focus on was the warmth of Amelia's fingers. "I'm b-being foolish, that's all."
She felt Amelia freeze as the first teardrop rolled down to her hand, and then Alice was swept into a strong embrace, her nose pressed into Amelia's collarbone. "Please don't cry," Amelia murmured. "You know I hate it when you cry."
Instead of calming her down, the words seemed to release the floodgates. Alice wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist and sobbed into her shoulder. She felt Amelia's fingers rub gently over her back, up and down her spine, and once again she wondered how she had managed to get such a wonderful partner. "Why?" she whispered.
Amelia hummed lightly. "Why what?"
"Why me?" The words were muffled by Amelia's skin, but Alice couldn't bring herself to pull away. "Why, out of all those people out there, did you choose me? W-why didn't you go with someone else?"
There was silence for a moment. "So that's what this is about?" Alice nodded into her shoulder. "Oh, Alice, baby, you shouldn't be asking that! Why would I want to go to prom with anyone else? Why would I date someone else?" Amelia pushed Alice away, gently but firmly, and stared into her eyes. "You're the only girl out there that I wanted to ask."
Alice's chest felt tight with emotion- happiness, fear, others that she couldn't name. "Why?" she asked again.
"Why you?" Amelia's eyes widened in shock. "I- I-"
"See?" Alice hissed, pulling herself away from Amelia's strong hands. "You don't even have an answer. I don't want you to date me out of pity, Amelia. You should go back out there and find someone else to dance with. I'm sure Inga would love-"
"Stop it!"
Alice did, though she refused to meet Amelia's eyes, even when calloused fingers carefully lifted her chin. She heard the taller girl sigh.
"I do have an answer. I just- You caught me off guard there, Alice. I can't believe you don't know why I'm with you. I thought it was obvious."
"Well, it's not," Alice muttered.
Amelia chuckled. "I guess not for you, at least." She paused. "You know I'm not… that great with words, so I can't go all poetic like you can. I'm going to have to show you instead."
"Show me what?"
"Why I asked you to go out with me and to be my date to the prom. Ready?" When Alice didn't reply, Amelia rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm going to pretend that was a yes. So here goes.
"I like you. A lot." Amelia reached out to grab Alice's hands, lifting them up to her lips to press a quick kiss on each palm. "I like your hands, because they're soft and small and fit inside mine." Her lips slid down to Alice's wrist. "I like these, too."
"My wrists?" Alice asked, her mouth threatening to quirk up into a smile.
"Yeah, your wrists." Amelia grinned at her, before lifting Alice's arm and kissing the crease of her elbow. "And I like this."
Alice covered her mouth with her free hand to block the giggle that nearly made it out. Of course Amelia would go for one of her ticklish spots!
"I like these-" a kiss to her collarbones- "and this-" one to her throat- "and these!" Before Alice could react, Amelia cupped both her breasts and squeezed. Alice squealed with laughter, slapping at her hands, and Amelia's grin widened. She leaned in to kiss Alice's chin. "I like this, too. And these." She kissed the faint dimples in each cheek, the ones only a few people ever saw during these rare, joyful smiles. "I like these-" a longer kiss to her thin lips- "and I like this-" one for her nose. Amelia paused for a second, rubbing her thumbs across Alice's cheekbones.
"What?" Alice blinked at her, confused.
"Nothing. I'm just trying to figure out how to kiss your eyes. Because I love your eyes."
Alice flushed bright red. Amelia hadn't said 'like' that time- she'd said 'love.' "I-"
"Shh, let me finish." Amelia leaned down to kiss her eyebrows. "I like these, a lot. They're so… you." She rested her forehead against Alice's, staring deep into her eyes. "Since I can't kiss your eyes, I'll just tell you instead. I love how green they are, and how you have such pretty eyelashes, and I love how they always look so pretty even when you're wearing your glasses." She smiled. "See? I like you, I really do."
"Just the way I look?" Alice couldn't resist asking. Her heart was full to bursting, and she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around Amelia and kiss her until they couldn't breathe.
Amelia laughed. "Of course not! I like how smart you are, and all the poetry you write. Your voice is amazing. And you always know when I'm feeling down. And you come to all my ball games, even when you're busy." Her smile softened, and she pressed another quick kiss to Alice's lips. "I like you because you're moody, and because you can't cook, and because you're so shy, and because you hate Fleur's guts."
Alice raised her eyebrows. "You like those things?"
"Yeah, because they're a part of you." Amelia kissed her again. "I like all of you. You're perfect."
"All of me?" Alice whispered. What had she done to deserve such a wonderful girl in her life?
"All of you," Amelia repeated firmly. She wound her arms loosely around Alice's waist, their foreheads still touching. "When I went to pick you up today, and I saw you all dressed up like this, I was so amazed."
Alice's cheeks burned, and she knew her whole face was bright red. "I- I know, I'm not dressed properly for an American prom."
"What?" Amelia drew back to stare at her, surprised. "That's not true! You look beautiful, Alice." She nuzzled her nose against her girlfriend's. "Like I was saying, when I saw you, I was so amazed that I had managed to ask such a gorgeous girl to the prom. Compared to you, I looked like crap."
"No, not all," Alice replied, reaching up to loop her arms around Amelia's neck. "Next to someone as lovely as you, I may as well be wearing a paper bag for a dress."
"Even if you wore a paper bag for a dress, you'd still be prettier than me," Amelia retorted.
Alice rolled her eyes. "Silly girl."
They were both grinning now, breathing in tandem, their lips barely centimeters apart. And then that tiny gap was closed, and Alice did exactly what she had been waiting to do, and snogged Amelia senseless.
A/N- And there you have it. Definite proof that I am indeed a sappy romantic.
Anyway, this was written for the first day of the USUK Sweethearts Week. I wrote it really quickly in between classes, so it's certainly not my best work, but I still hope you enjoy it!
Oh and in case you can't tell, Amelia is America, Alice is England, Madeleine is Canada, Fleur is France, Gisa is Prussia, Alejandra is Spain, Lorita is Romano, and Inga is Russia. I have this fixation on the fact that the Nyotalia versions of the countries should have a name with the same first letter as their male counterparts. Anything else has a tendency to confuse me.
Thanks for reading!
