The minute prom season begins, Forks High goes from the calm before a storm to the chaos of a zombie apocalypse. If I thought the day after Valentine's Day was insanity for me, it's nothing compared to the upcoming teenage rite of passage that I call prom.
Dresses. Tuxedos. Limos. Disco balls. Ballrooms. It's all up in the air and to say it's a bit hard to keep up with it is an understatement.
Following the mini Tanya fiasco from the spring fair, I was surprised when Tanya dialed back from her insults since Edward and I began dating. In the halls, the most I got from her was a handful of glares and the occasional middle finger from behind her back. For me, it's a lot less drama I have to encounter on a daily basis, though I have to admit that I do miss a dose of saltiness from the salt queen herself.
Since I was a child, I had mixed opinions about prom. On one hand, I was excited about having one night where I could feel like a princess and be swept off her feet by her Prince Charming. I dreamed about dancing with my idea of a perfect boyfriend (if I had one by then), or at least be approached by a cute boy who's into cute bookworm girls. However, after reading a handful of novels and watching a bunch of chick flicks (courtesy of Aly and Rose), I dreaded the realities of what my prom experience could be like.
Excessive makeup. Getting my dress ruined. Being copped a feel by a creep. I may as well skip prom altogether.
But I'll go. For Edward. Edward is considerate not to prioritize the topic for us, though we've established the fact that we both want to go to prom. All that's missing is him asking, "Will you go to prom with me?" to make things official.
"Gah… promposals are the worst!" Alice groans. Alice, Rose, and I are laying down on Rose's bed at her house on a Saturday night. The girls are browsing through Instagram on their phones. I'm doing the same, only with Facebook instead.
With a week to go until the national decathlon, Edward has been spending late nights at school preparing for the competition. All week, we've only had time to see each other in the morning and during our lunch breaks. He doesn't get home until around 9 PM, and even then he has to fight his exhaustion so he could work on any homework due the next day. I'm amazed he hasn't given up our nightly calling sessions.
"You need sleep more than me," I advise him every night whenever my phone vibrates with a text.
"I'll sleep forever when I'm in the grave," he'd joke tiredly. Or, "I'd rather have you now than in my dreams."
I'm concerned for his health, but I appreciate his effort. At least he calls. His corny lines are a reason why I love him.
"Says the one who's waiting for a promposal from Jasper," Rose rebuttals.
"I don't mean it like that." Alice glances up from her phone. "I don't hate promposals. I just hate how guys approach them."
"Don't forget the ladies," I pipe in. "There's no gender boundaries for asking a significant other to prom."
"Always the wise owl, Swan."
"You're not wrong," Rose agrees. "Not to be harsh, but Forks dudes are lame in the romance department."
"I know!" Alice abandons her phone on the bed. "Tyler went the Bachelor approach to Lauren. Kneeling down with a rose in your hand and saying 'Will you accept this rose and my invitation to be my date to prom?' is so… when did The Bachelor first start airing?"
"2004? 2005?"
"I think so. Anyway, it's sweet when you see it the first few times, but it's done so many times that it's lost all meaning. If he did the same thing and they're doing something dangerous like bungee-jumping, then I'm listening."
Rose shrugs. "Guess that's Lauren's cup of tea if she was quick to say yes. I'm disappointed so many people thought it was cute."
I scrunch my nose. "Cute my ass."
"See? Even Bels understands, and she's the hopeless romantic."
"Hey!" I may read a bunch of romance novels, but I still have common sense when it comes to love.
"Sorry." Rose hugs my shoulders. "Am I forgiven?"
I pat her arms. "I wasn't offended in the first place."
Rose draws her arms back. "I thought… with Edward being MIA for the last few days, you might not be in the best spirits."
"Do I look sad?"
"No, but you might be and you're not telling us."
"I'm fine. The decathlon's important to him and I don't want to stand in his way of getting his team to win."
"Again, wise owl," Alice says. "Since we're talking about promposals, think the guys will do one for us?"
"Obviously. Do you know Em? I bet he'd do it Notebook style and ask me in the rain." Rose replies.
"If it's Em, he might do it in the with no clothes on and the entire block will have a view of his man ass," I tease.
Rose laughs. "I like the way you think."
Alice stares at the ceiling thoughtfully. "As long as Jasper doesn't do anything cliché, I'll say yes to him no matter what."
Rose raises an eyebrow. "Even if he pulls off a Bachelor final rose?"
"Boo, that's not fair."
"Would you still say yes if he did that?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"Hey, you brought up this whole discussion on promposals."
"Ugh…" Alice sighs. "Maybe… I don't know. I'm being impatient, okay?"
I gently nudge Alice's shoulders. "Hey… if it's any consolation, I'm okay with Edward just asking me. I don't need a promposal." I don't know what I'd do if I showed up to school one day and Edward made a big spectacle to ask me to prom.
"Yeah… but that's what you want. Damn, I wish I can be as simplistic as you."
"Don't try to have my mindset, Aly. I can't have you disappointed." I rest my head on her shoulder. "Jas will ask you to prom. He'll do it Tumblr style, minus any form of embarrassment."
Alice chuckles. "Thanks, B."
Rose moves so she could mirror my position on Alice's other shoulder. "Let's pray for us to get the promposals we want. Our first prom can never be redone."
˜:˜
Edward's gonna do a promposal is a thought that occupies my head once the weekend is over. I can't help the anticipation of what Edward has in mind. Has the thought of doing a promposal ever crossed his mind? What if he changes his mind about going to prom? A miniscule part of me feels dejected if he does. With all this thinking about prom, I don't want to be left with nothing if he wants to skip out on going.
But what if he wants to skip so you two could- Okay, not where my mind should be going. Double innuendos in my conversations with Edward isn't necessarily equivalent for us to be ready for that stage yet.
Don't lie. You want it.
I do. Badly. When Edward goes out of town over the weekend for the decathlon, I'll be consulting my secret stash of erotica.
Babe, gonna take a break from studying today! Where do you wanna go after school?
I throw my fist in the air in glee. It's Wednesday morning and I've walked out of the bathroom to find that Edward texted me while I showered.
Your place?
His response arrives less than 30 seconds later. That works!
Yes! An entire after high school with my rich bitch. That sounded cute in my head, but now the line seems like I'm a possessed girlfriend. However, I'm still excited. After multiple rainchecks for decathlon practice, it's nice to have some us time when we're face-to-face than two phones hundreds of meters apart.
The entire school day, I'm antsy for the final bell to get over with. I repetitively check my phone for the time, inwardly counting down to the end of my last class. My friends obviously notice. I tell it's due to my excitement to be alone with Edward, though my explanation is perfect grounds for them to tease me. Jasper and Emmett subtly joke that our "hangout" is for couple activities beyond PG-13. Alice and Rose, as dirty-minded as they can be, surprise me by suggesting that Edward is planning a promposal.
I listen to my girls than the guys. It's still a possibility. Even if there's no promposal, he might still just bring it up so he can formally pop the question. I'll appreciate any method he uses to approach the subject.
"You seem excited," Edward muses as he's driving us to his house. Boy, if I took my excitement any further, I'd be riding you in the backseat.
"Gee, I wonder why," I reply in a faux sarcastic tone.
"I'm really sorry for being MIA lately."
"You don't have to keep apologizing. It's fine. You can't let down the math team."
"I'm still letting you down. Out of all the people I can't disappoint, you're number one on my list."
"What about the boys?"
"They're second."
"And your parents?"
"You're tied with them."
I smile, squeezing his shoulder appreciatively. "So on the scale of importance, you love me just as much as your parents?"
Eyes still trained on the road, his lips curl upward. "Mmmm-hmmm, though my love between you and my family isn't the same. I don't have sexy thoughts about them."
"What, you've never had a hot cousin?" I joke.
He chuckles. "There's my cousin Maria, but she's married and I never dreamed about fucking her."
"Well, when it happens, you can put those sexy thoughts into action any time you want."
He smirks. "Talk any further and we're doing more than just watching Netflix on my bed."
"I'm down to Netflix and chill."
At a stoplight, he leans to the side and pecks my cheek. "Soon, beautiful."
Soon better be soon in my standards.
When we reach Edward's house, I start to notice a different kind of excitement emanating from him. Aside from the lust, it's as if there's something at his house that we wants to show me. Maybe there's a TV series or movie on Netflix he's eager to see me get into. Maybe he bought me an impromptu gift he waited days to give me. Or maybe he really does have something up his sleeve for a promposal.
Stop thinking about prom for one day, Swan! Today's supposed to be a relaxing afternoon to make up for a bit of lost time. I have to pull it together and stop succumbing to anticipation so I won't be disappointed if he isn't going to mention anything prom-related.
As soon as he opens the door, I see a neon green folded piece of paper on the 'WELCOME' floor mat in the living room. I gesture to Edward, who motions for me to pick it up and see what it is. I do what he says, and when I unfold it, I reign in a gasp at the blue ink-written words.
BEFORE I ASK THIS QUESTION, SAY YES.
I raise an eyebrow. "Say yes to what?"
"You'll see. Just say yes first."
If he's making me say yes to marry him… "Only if you promise you aren't gonna pull out a ring from your pocket."
"No rings, but I might kneel."
"You sure you aren't gonna ask me to marry you?"
"I'm sure. I'm saving that question in ten or so years."
"And I'm not gonna die because of it?"
"Bella, I wouldn't be foolish to put you in danger."
"Define danger."
"Babe, don't overthink it. I promise on my tombstone that what I'll ask you is entirely harm-proof. And you're free to say no if you're uncomfortable."
The last bit still makes it sound like he's about to ask me to do something risky, but I decide to roll with it. "Yes, hon. Now what is it?"
"Let's go up to my room."
"You can't ask me here?"
"We have to be in my room for that."
We leave our shoes next to the front door. He holds my hand and leads me upstairs. It's Netflix or the gift. I'll be happy either way.
But it isn't. The moment I step foot in his bedroom, I'm stunned by what he has done. The large open area on the floor is covered with white cloth. Paperback and hardcover novels of various genres are arranged to spell out the question I've been waiting to hear for days.
WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?
"Jas told me you and the girls talked about promposals and how you didn't want me to go over the top if I did one for you. I was gonna do one for you anyway. I just had a bit of trouble figuring out how." Moving to stand directly in front of me, he takes my hands and kneels on the floor. "I knew my promposal had to represent you: something simple, but meaningful. So I got all my books and did this, because you're the most gorgeous geek I have the pleasure of being in love with. I even ordered a couple extra I'll lend you once I get around to reading them."
I glance at some of the novel titles. Safe Haven. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. The Heartbreakers. Fangirl. History is All You Left Me. Thirteen Reasons Why. I've read those books and loved each and every one of them. These are the books from the book list I once showed Edward on my laptop, the ones that I labeled with an asterisk because of how much I adored them. And he remembered all of them.
I'm touched. This is exactly the sort of promposal my bookworm heart is fangirling for.
"I take back what I said. What I meant to say was 'hell fucking yes, Cullen.'"
He grins, moving back to a standing position. He lets go of my hands so his palms cup my cheeks. "Yes?"
"Yes!"
He beams, and without hesitation, presses his lips firmly on me. Mesmerized by the familiar sensation of our mouths bound together, it's as if I'm in a trance when our lips momentarily disconnect so we can move to his bed. As soon as my back is on the mattress, we return to our heated moment. My hands explore the contours of his back muscles through his shirt, trailing lower and lower until it's at his waist. Lingering my left hand on his hip, my right hand slips beneath his shirt.
He groans when my hand makes contact with his skin. Thrilled by his reaction, my left hand joins the right. Our kiss continues as my fingers touches him in a way I've never done before. As his shirt rises, he pulls back so he can gaze down at me.
"Do you want it off?"
I nod wordlessly. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Shirtless Cullen. If I die right now, lemme die with this sight being the last thing I see.
I bite my lip, watching as he removes his shirt. In my head, I'm screaming to the point that someone from a distant continent could hear me. Seriously, no hot shirtless male fictional character makes me want to do numerous amount of naughty actions. Well, except maybe for Brendon Urie.
"See something you like?" he teases.
"You trying to pull an Emmett line on me?"
"Is it working?"
"Perhaps…"
He moves so the lower half of his body touches the area between my parted legs. My face heats up at the feeling of his hard-on. "How about this?"
"Definitely working." It's working too well that I boldly reach down to rub him through his jeans.
"Jesus Christ." His mouth latches on my neck. I yelp when his teeth sinks onto my shirt-covered shoulder.
"Did you just bite me?"
He nips at my shoulder. "Wanted to do that for a while."
"Marking your property, I see."
"B, you're not a house, but you are mine."
Damn his smooth-talking. "Okay, Cullen. Bite me again and I won't be able to stop myself from taking the rest of your clothes off."
He sighs, lifting his head and giving me a comical smile. "I wouldn't want you to."
"Do you want us to do it right here in broad daylight when your parents could come home at anytime?" I internally cringe and snicker at the thought of Carlisle or Esme getting an inerasable angle of his bare ass.
"No." He rolls off of me so his back lays on the mattress too. "You're right. I don't want us to remember our first time as my mom and dad seeing you naked."
"Our patience will be rewarded. Prom isn't too far away."
He grins, shifting himself so he lays sideways. "You want this to happen on prom night too?"
It would be cheesy, but I can't currently think of anywhere and anytime soon that we can do this. "Don't you want us to lose our virginities in the backseat of a limo?"
He scrunches his nose. "A limo would be uncomfortable. I'd rather we book a hotel room."
"Isn't that expensive?"
"My parents won't mind. I'm worried your Dad won't be on board."
"He will." It'll take some heavy convincing, but I'm sure he'll agree. He likes Edward and he'd do anything to make me happy as long as it doesn't involve myself breaking any laws.
"Hotel and limo, leave it to me. Just focus on your dress, shoes, makeup, hair, and whatever else girls do for prom."
"That's not fair! Lemme pitch in a bit."
"Bella-" he taps my nose, "It's our first prom. I have the money. If you think this is too much, you can buy the condoms."
"Edward!"
He laughs. "That's the only condition I'll agree on."
"Condom-shopping? Fuck, do you know how mortifying it'll be to the cashier who's gonna know why I need those condoms? I'm not a YouTuber and the condom challenge is dead."
"You're protecting yourself from unwanted consequences. The embarrassment is worth preventing a teen pregnancy and STD's."
I wish I wasn't born this shy. I could use the confidence to walk into a store and purchase a box of condoms without wanting to crawl under a rock from a cashier's scrutinizing stare.
"Fine. I'll buy the condoms. You take care of the hotel and limo."
I'm briefly startled when he pulls me on top of him, but it quickly goes away as he hugs me close.
"I can wait till prom, beautiful. We're gonna have so much fun."
I'm back! How long has it been? Six months? *realizes how long it has been and accepts whatever is thrown at me* I hope my explanation for being absent from the last A/N was enough for you to wait. I wanted to adjust to writing a couple of chapters for my other multi-chaptered fic before I returned to OPR.
Except for Thirteen Reasons Why (I've been meaning to get to reading that book and watch the Netflix series), I've read all the books I mentioned. Fangirl is my personal favorite. As a fanfiction author, I relate to Cath so much.
