A/N: Shout-out to all the people who DON'T tan or do spray-on tan before prom!

Update: Due to Content Guidelines, the lyrics have been removed; it was either this, or I delete the entire story out of frustration. Full version now on Wattpad.

Love's Last Dance

At first, I thought prom was going to a pain. How fortunate I had friends to go along with or I wouldn't have bothered. I could have enjoyed the night on my own, however my friends insisted I came with them. I love them. It's hard to say no to them, even if I could smell trouble.

"Alright folks," the DJ said. "We're going to have one last slow song before we close up."

One last slow song? From what I heard, the first slow song was See You Again. Absolutely in no way is that a slow song! My friends and I were taking pictures at the photo booth while it played. That was where we were when Prom King and Queen were announced as well. Dammit Bianca!

I looked around the room. Everyone came in four hours ago and more than half of them left an hour ago, the time when we could leave. There were two sets of doors we could exit to; in front of them were tables where everyone sat, with the dance floor in the middle of the room. The front of the center was a table holding a chocolate fountain—which was really cool to have. On the back was the DJ set; nothing too special. Speakers stood on the sides of that table. On the back wall was a bar which served soda and Shirley Temples (no alcohol) and what I imagine would be the doorway to the kitchen that prepped our meals.

The song began to play and I could hear the instruments playing. I muttered the name of the song to myself.

"Careless Whispers."

"Hey N."

I turned to the voice that called me and saw my friend, Hilda. She was one of the few girls who wore a tuxedo instead of a dress. She had a white bow tie, white buttons and cufflinks, and a white shirt; everything else was black. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, like she usually keeps it.

"What's up?" I responded.

"We're going to leave soon. Ya ready to go?"

I nodded. "Yeah, let me get my stuff." I walked to the table where we sat. There laid the photos that we took at the booth; each slip had three photos and we took about five of them. There were also accessories on a table nearby and we definitely took advantage of them.

I put them in my pockets as I grabbed my black vest and black jacket. As I put them on, I turned to the dance floor. Very few stayed for the slow dance. The ones I recognized were two couples: The Prom King and Queen Drew and May, and Ash and Dawn.

I'm surprised Ash and Dawn weren't Prom King and Queen. They're both really loved by all of the students. Then again, they were acting a little strange with each other the last few days. My friends said that there were rumors about them, but I didn't listen. Rumors are rumors. They looked happy dancing there, along with May and Drew.

"N!"

It was Hilbert who called me. He had a tux that had black buttons and cufflinks along with a black tie. I'm still not used to see him without his hat on, showing his brown hair. I suppose I could say the same about Ash, except his hair is more on the darker side.

"Let's go."

"Right. Sorry."

As we were about to leave, Bianca spoke up.

"Couldn't we dance some more?" she asked.

I'm pretty sure we all doubted that she would enjoy the whole session. It's going to be too slow for her. She wore a yellow dress with white, curvy edges. Green clips hung on her blonde hair.

"To a slow dance? No thank you," Cheren said. He wore his usual white shirt and red tie, but a vest and tux covered it. Also, he had black hair, which was combed for tonight, with his blue eyes now visible due to contacts replacing his usual red glasses.

"Hilbert?" He simply shook his head at Bianca.

Bianca turned to me. "N?"

I turned to the dance floor again. A few more people left but the four I knew were still dancing.

"Sure," I responded. After saying this, I was pulled into the center of the room, placed our hands into position and danced along with the others.

At some point, the King and Queen walked off the dance floor and exited through the doors away from my friends. As they left, I noticed a purple haired, guy stand by the doors. He wore a dark blue suit and a crimson bowtie along with a serious face as he stared towards the dance floor. I looked around to see that it was only me, Bianca, Ash and Dawn.

I didn't know him and if Bianca knew him—I would have known. He was either looking at Ash or Dawn or both. I looked back to the door, noticing that the guy turned around and left. I saw that Ash turned his head to look at the door.

Suddenly, Bianca broke free and walked back to where our friends were.

She stretched her arms as she said, "Whoo! Had enough of that baloney."

The blonde turned to me as I walked towards them.

"Thanks for dancing with me," She said. "I was pretty sudden with that and all."

"No problem," I responded. "I enjoyed it." I noticed that Cheren left.

"Where'd Cheren go?"

"He went to get the car," Hilda answered. "You guys looked so cute out there."

"Mmph," Hilbert agreed. He had his hand on a water cooler next to the door as he drank some water. I simply rolled my eyes.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We got an Uber waiting outside and his name is Cheren." Bianca blew out of the room, heading for the main doors.

My last two friends followed her at walking pace.

Hilbert turned to Hilda and asked, "We're not paying him for the ride, right?"

I stayed for a bit to see the only two people dancing at the center. It was cute; a moment you would want to have with your partner; I smiled watching them. Dawn was wearing a purple dress with a V cut on the back. It went well with her blue, curled up hair and blue eyes. Ash was wearing a white tux and shirt along with a purple bow tie and vest that matched Dawn's dress.

As the song ended, I saw Dawn look at Ash with watery eyes while saying something.

"Ash" she mouthed. Her eyes closed as she expressed sadness with her face alone. Then the lights came on and I remembered that my friends left the building; I ran out to catch up to them. They were at the main doors when I reached them.

"Thought we'd have to ditch you," Hilbert smirked.

"Well, we might have if someone didn't have to go to the bathroom," Hilda stated.

"I tend to drink a lot when we're at dances." Hilbert replied. He turned to Bianca and said, "Don't even think about it." He knew she would have made some drinking joke. I smiled, but that didn't last long as a car beeped. We turned to the noise and saw Cheren in his car.

Hilbert ran to the front door and opened it. Then, Bianca yelled "Shotgun!" as she jumped into the seat.

"Hey, that's my seat!"

"Should have said shotgun!" She sung.

"Why yo-"

"I'll kick you both out if you're going to argue over a simple seat!" Cheren stated.

Hilda opened the door behind Bianca. "Come on Hilbert; it's only a seat." She moved to the middle seat at the back and left the door open for me.

Grudgingly, Hilbert walked around the car and into the seat behind Cheren. If he sat behind Bianca, he might have kicked her seat or something. It wouldn't have been the first time.

I got into the open door and closed it. As I turned to the window, I noticed Ash and Dawn walking out. Dawn seemed sadder than before; her eyes were red and puffy as she leaned on Ash who looked upset himself and on the verge of tears himself. I kept looking at them as Cheren drove off; I saw them go into a car with Brock driving.

"What are you looking at?" asked Hilda. She noticed the two and said "Oh. . ." before turning back.

I finally turned back and asked, "Why did Dawn look so sad?"

The car was silent for a second before Cheren said something.

"They must have broken up," he said.

"What! Why?"

"It's not for me to explain." I looked at Cheren at wonder. Did he know? How?

On my left, I could hear Hilbert mutter under his breath. I think I heard the name 'Paul' with all of that. I began to think about the purpled-haired guy. Hilda elbowed him to shut up.

"Hilbert," she quietly said.

"But it's true," he responded in the same hushed tone.

I turned around but I couldn't see them anymore. As I looked back, Hilda placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You know," she started. "A lot of people broke up before prom. They still went out with each other as dates; Ash and Dawn were probably no different. It's probably why May and Drew became Prom Queen and King."

"Why would they still go together if they broke up? Shouldn't they go with people that they actually want to go with?"

If any of them answered me, I didn't hear. I was too busy imagining all of the prom photos and all of the fake smiles they put on along with all the other stuff that they had to put a façade on as they did it.

I would never do that; I hate those kind of personas. How could I look at Ash and Dawn the same way again? How am I supposed to respond to them now? Am I not allowed to talk about this with them. I thought about this "Paul" guy. What did he do? Ash was looking at him angrily, assuming Paul was that person. Could he and Dawn. . .

I winced in thought. It all disgusted me. There are a lot of things I don't understand about people but this entirety topped them all.

I looked out the window towards the stars. Prom was supposed to be something happy right? Why would people pretend for the sake of a dance? I leaned back on my seat, taking comfort in the comfortable leather after such a long event. I could see that the sky was still dark as we whizzed on by through the road. My eyes were getting heavy and I didn't resist closing them; I was very tired in the end. Still, I couldn't help but think about those two and that last song before lulling into a deep sleep.