Chapter Ten

The Prom, continued

Right now, staring at her.

Avery carefully steps down the stairs and into the front hall. As she approaches, she hears Nathan again, before she sees him.

"So you're Adam?" she hears her father ask him.

"Oh…no, Mr. Huntzberger. Adam's a friend of mine. He's waiting in the car. He's feeling a little car sick."

"I'd like some pictures of my daughter with her date."

"I…" Avery starts to say.

They turn around and Avery swears she hears him suck in his breath.

"You look amazing, sweetie," says her mother.

She thinks she also hears Nathan whisper beautiful, but she can't be sure. He seems mesmerized by her beauty, which is weird since he's never really seemed to care that much before. After that day, he completely ignored her. It was their second year of high school and she hadn't talked to him until that day in the hospital.

Avery twirls for her grandparents and her parents. He watches her twirl in her sexy red dress. It is strapless, flowing and ends just below her knees. Her red pointy heels compliment her beautiful legs, and her two little brothers run around, chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse. But the most amazing part was her beautiful, thick, wavy brown hair, and her electric blue eyes that sparkle when she laughs.

He steps forward and pulls her into his arm. She giggles as her father takes an impromptu picture of the two of them. He twirls her around and she can hear more clicks of the camera. This was how she imagined her prom to be, but never in a million years thought that it would actually be like this. She figured that this must be a dream she's having conjured up by Queen Mab. Finally, after what seems like a million and one shots of the two of them, they leave the house and enter the limo.

"What took you so long?" Elle asks him.

"Hi Adam," Avery says, sliding in beside him. "Are you feeling better?"

"No…"

"You really look…green. Maybe we should take you home."

"And you miss your big date? I think not," Adam replies.

"What's a cover letter?" asks Blair to Arabella.

"Umm…I think its when you…umm…"

"You have no idea, do you?"

After he saw his son tonight dressed in his old black suit, it brought him back to the days of Chilton and watching Rory dance in her beautiful blue dress. He leans back in his chair resting his feet on his desk, loosens his tie, opens his bottle of expensive bourbon (he was planning on saving until he retired), and took out his old pictures of Rory.

As the limo starts to move again, Adam leans across Avery to give her a peck on the cheek when he throws up into her lap.

"Gross!" exclaims Elle.

The limo starts to smell and Adam looks so apologetic, Avery couldn't help but forgive him.

"I'm really, really sorry," he apologizes profusely.

"It's okay."

"I've ruined your night."

"No you haven't."

"Oh my God, I have."

Avery cups his face with her hands, and staring into his earnest green eyes says, "Adam, you have not ruined my prom. Just get better, okay?"

He could only nod, as he climbs out from the limo, and into the cool night hair towards his house.

Avery turns to the other two. "I'm sure you want to get to the prom, so if you could just drop me off at home…"

Nathan turns to look at her. "We aren't going to the prom."

Elle's eyes widen in shock. "We aren't?"

"No. I'm dropping you off at the prom and then I'm going for a walk."

"What about me?" Avery asks.

"You can come with me if you want."

Elle looks angry. "You promised that you'd go to the prom with me! You promised!"

Nathan shrugs. "It wasn't meant to be, I guess."

And that was the end of that. He drops Elle off at the prom alone, fuming, but only for a second as she spots Joel, her ex-boyfriend, who was giving her the eye, and then they disappear together.

"So I guess it's just you and me."

"I guess so," Avery replies awkwardly.

"Do you want to go home?" Nathan asks her.

"Not really. Do you?"

"Not really." Nathan looks at her dress disgustedly. "Let's get you out of those clothes."

"I didn't bring a spare."

"You can wear my shirt."

It was awkward, but they managed to contain all of Adam's vomit within her dress and put it in a plastic bag. Nathan tells the driver to keep driving and rolls up the window between them. Avery feels completely naked in front of him even though she is wearing his shirt. She smells it.

"It smells like you."

"You mean it smells like my father."

"No. Like you."

Nathan leans the length of his body against her, making her wrap her arms around the back of his neck. He kisses the crook of her neck.

"We can't do this," Avery whispers.

"Why not?"

"Because we're in a limo."

"Relax. Have fun. Enjoy the ride."

"Is that supposed to be a pun?" she asks him.

"Do you want it to be?"

The clock strikes three am and Avery still isn't home. Rory makes more coffee and is tempted to call all of Avery's friends, but realizes how late (or early) it is, and thinks that she is probably still out with Adam having fun. At three twelve in the morning she hears the limo pull up in front of the house, and setting down her cup of coffee stands in the doorway as Nathan and Avery run up to the house laughing.

When they reach the door they see Rory, practically in tears, standing in front of them.

"Where the hell have you been?" Rory's voice becomes low and murderous.

"We've been around," Avery giggles.

"Are you drunk?" Rory asks incredulously.

"Maybe," Avery answers, giggling some more, "a little."

"Why are you wearing his shirt? Did you have sex?"

"God, mother, can't you be a little less like Great Grandma Gilmore for once. She may be dead, but her legacy hasn't been forgotten."

Avery pushes past her mother and steps into the house. Nathan looks like he was about to say something, but the laser eye glare that Rory is giving him makes him shut his mouth. She closes the door behind her and that is that. He is officially dismissed.