Next oneshot! Takes place in an AU where Mari's passing never happened. Now, the gang have aged into their high school years with Mari and Hero well into their college years. Some Hero x Mari and Kel x Aubrey included
Song: Prom Night - Anamanaguchi
You're like the lighter to my cigarette
Can't set the flame without you
Nothing burns brighter than the flame of teenage love.
You could hear it coming. Down the sidewalk in Faraway Town, right inside a nestled entrance in Faraway Park, four teenagers emerged from the trees. The low-hanging tree branches snagged at their casual, breezy clothes and open skin, but the teens had gone back and forth too many times before to let it bother them.
Summer was teasing its head just around the corner, the wind had a softer, warmer touch to it, and the nights began to slow. It was May and you only had to open the front door of your house for a moment long enough to see students excited for the incoming break and the festivities rearing the school year.
Except for this particular group.
A week and a half before prom was scheduled, Sunny, Basil, Kel, and Aubrey were still set on not attending. They had never gone and something that seemed like a rite of passage for American teenagers all around just appeared like a hassle to the four.
Or at least, that's what they told themselves as they watched the promposals unfold before them.
"Will you go with me to the prom?"
"I'd love to!"
"Wanna go with me to prom? A-As friends! Not in a romantic way…"
"I heard xxx was planning on asking xxx this Friday-"
"Ew, I'd rather drop dead than go with you."
Aubrey slammed her lunch tray down on the circular table, startling her blond friend who was enjoying a salad. Sunny continued playing on his Switch, not batting an eye. Kel slurped down his spaghetti noodles and was the first to look up at Aubrey.
"What's got your panties in a twist?" he asked, inviting a glare from his friend for the crude expression.
"Nothing," she started, before biting her lips and sighing. She took a seat next to Basil. "Well, basically nothing. I had someone else ask me to that stupid dance that's happening next week."
"Y-You mean prom?" Basil asked, swallowing the spinach down and reaching for the napkin on his lap.
"What loser even goes to prom?" Aubrey grumbled and snatched her packet of cutlery, tearing it apart to access the fork. The quicker she could stab it into her mac and cheese, the faster she could relieve this hanger.
Kel shrugged and spoke with his mouth filled with food. "Hey, it's not that bad."
Aubrey shot a quick glare at Kel for his answer, and an even harsher one for how sloppily he was eating his spaghetti, getting sauce all over his shirt. "You only say that because you actually have a date to prom."
"Huh?" Kel asked, now confused.
Sunny interjected. "Wait, isn't this like your fourth promposal?"
"W-Who was it this time?" Basil joined in, noting with a small frown that Sunny was quick to join the conversation about Aubrey being asked to go to prom.
"I don't even know, that's the thing." Aubrey poked at her food now. "It was this classmate I apparently have in Chemistry. We're almost through with the school year and I didn't even know this kid existed? And he wanted to ask me to prom?"
"Guess you two don't have Ch-"
"Kel, I swear if you finish that joke I'm going to punch you like I did last week."
Kel just silently nodded to himself, making a silent agreement that no joke was worth not breathing properly for five minutes.
The group sat for a moment, letting Aubrey get a few bites in before Basil continued. "Still, four promposals… that's a lot. How come you keep saying no?"
She answered quickly. "None of them interest me. And I can smell the desperation off of them. I know they're only asking because they don't want to go alone. I'm not just a warm body."
Kel reached over to his side to place a comforting hand on Aubrey, perhaps a little too rough, as she swayed at his large hand and dropped the food from her fork. "Well, you could still always go and ditch the guy! Maybe we could all go and hang out as a group? See what prom is like for one time so we get the full high school experience?"
"Ew. That means I'd have to wear a tux," Sunny said from behind his Switch. He was always one to easily follow the conversation while still playing a game.
"But you'd look cute in a suit, Sunny!"
Basil looked away as Aubrey responded, just fast enough to miss the slight blush that ran across Sunny's features and caused him to lose focus and lose the round. He cursed silently and put his Switch down.
"That's a cringe idea, Kel," Aubrey said, making a face and shoving his hand off. "We haven't gone to prom any other year and I don't think we're missing out on anything important."
Kel shrugged and continued on with his food. It was only an idea, but maybe she was right. No one in the group was the kind to go out to big social events like that.
"Yeah, maybe you're right," he said at last.
Sunny had a secret, however.
It was a secret so well kept that no one in his friend group knew except for his very own sister, Mari.
"Are you sure he'd like something like this?"
Sunny positioned his phone against the books by his desk, looking at his sister through the screen. Mari sat in her dorm room, holding her phone close to her face so Sunny could see her full expression. She wanted him to really, really know how great of an idea this was.
"Of course! He's going to absolutely die when he sees it, Sunny."
"Well, I don't want that," Sunny sarcastically began.
"Ha ha. He's going to love it! I promise you."
Sunny chewed on the inside of his cheek before releasing the air he didn't realize he was holding in. He glanced at the bouquet, silently brushing his pinky finger on a petal.
"Can you take a picture of the bouquet and send it to me so I can show Hero later? We're meeting up for a little study sesh in a bit and he was excited to hear about your idea."
"Sure," Sunny agreed, mentally noting to do so right after the call or he'd forget.
"Great! And take lots of photos afterwards, okay? I'll be waiting at 4 PM on the dot for a call from you giving me each and every detail."
"Maaariiiii-"
"Sorry, sorry! I'm just so happy that my little baby brother is asking his crush out to prom! Forgive me if I've been looking forward to this forever."
As his sister squealed, Sunny couldn't help but heat up again and share a small smile with her. It had been so relieving when Mari noticed his feelings for the blond. He wondered when she first learned, or if she knew before he even did.
A ringtone went off in the background and Mari's eyes scanned above.
"Oop, that's Hero. I'm going to go ahead and head out for now. Tell mom and dad I love them and good luck tomorrow, champ! It'll be great!"
"Thanks again, Mari," Sunny said, waving his sister goodbye before ending the call. Great, now everything was in place. Now he would just need to come up with a good enough excuse for Basil to meet up with him after school without raising any alarms.
And if you want me to come over, baby
Then that's what I'm gonna do
How Basil landed himself in front of Sunny in one of the school's few music practice rooms, he didn't know. Well, scratch that, he did know. Sunny had texted him the night before asking if Basil would be down to stop by a music store to pick up a vinyl he had his eye on for a while. Basil quickly agreed and asked if the rest of the group was coming. Sunny said no, that it would be a short trip and he just wanted to bring Basil along since he hadn't been to that shop before and seen the cool plants they had for decor as well.
But how it came to be that Basil held his shoulder bag in front of the open practice room door with Sunny thrusting a bouquet of sunflowers with chamomiles at him…
Basil paced back and forth in his room as Aubrey swung his bedroom door open, once again startling the boy.
"A-Aubrey!"
"Spill. All. The. Details." she squealed, throwing her backpack on the ground and taking her usual place on his soft rug.
Basil took a deep breath in. And so the story of Sunny's promposal came to unfold.
"I-I got a text from Sunny to meet him after school. He said something about wanting to check out a vinyl from this new music store and asked for us to meet up by the band hall in one of the practice rooms. I guess he was practicing the violin for their end of the year performance. When I entered the hallway, he called me over to a room. T-Then when I walked in, he thrust this vase of flowers at me to hold and positioned his violin against his chin again."
"Oo, how sneaky. Continue."
"A-Anyways, he began playing this song…"
"What song?"
"Claire De Lune, by Debussy. It's a song based off a poem by French poet Paul Verlaine. I-It's French for 'moonlight,' and is used in the third movement of Debussy's–"
Aubrey cut him off before he could begin one of his famous Basil rants. "Blah, blah, let's skip poems and songs from dead people and get back to the action. So, he plays you this song, then what?"
"Well, it was very sweet. A-And as he comes to the end, he lowered his hands and stepped forward. He said, 'B-B-Basil-"
"He was stuttering?!" She was just eating this up.
"N-No! My heart's just still beating like crazy and each time I think about this part I can't speak straight!"
Aubrey laughed and waved him off. Basil groaned in embarrassment and turned away, but continued. "Okay, so, he stepped up to me and asked me, 'Basil, d-do you want to go to prom with me?'"
"Aaaaand you said?"
"Yes, of course!" She squealed again in response and clasped her hands together. Basil groaned again and held his overheated cheeks in his hands, trying to cool himself down.
"But, I'm just confused," he continued, starting to frown. "Why would Sunny ask me to the prom? I thought he wasn't going. Just yesterday he told us he hated the idea of having to wear a tux."
The young boy now sighed and sat down at his bed, letting his mind continue to roll.
"A-And, even if he did change his mind, why did he ask me? Are we going as friends? I'm sure that's why he asked. Maybe he saw that I did want to go and pulled this together last minute to ask me. And he'll probably text the group chat asking everyone to join. Yeah! That makes more sense."
"Basil."
Basil looked over to his pink-haired friend and the deadpanned expression she was giving him.
"A bouquet as beautiful as that and being serenaded by some fancy French song? That's not last minute."
He shook his head and straightened his back. He wanted it to be true, oh god he wished for it, but-
"B-B-But there has to be a reason! He wouldn't just ask me this out of the blue!"
"Uhhh, I think the reason is obvious enough here, Sherlock."
Basil blushed deeply, letting the thought sink in. Was this a romantic promposal? Did Sunny want to go as his date, not as a platonic friend? Was he hinting at starting a relati-
"Aaaaah, I can't think about it!" Basil wailed, throwing himself onto his bed and smothering his hot face with a pillow. Aubrey listened to him whine and roll around in his bed, laughing to herself and shaking her head. She pulled her phone out of her backpack now that the story was finished, beginning to mindlessly scroll.
"Wow, Sunny's even cheesier than I thought," she said. "Who would have known that he could pull off something like this? He didn't even tell any of us about it. Even the flowers look pretty together."
They now sat in the middle of the room on a small coffee table. He had placed it there so it was the first thing he would see when he'd wake up and the last thing when leaving.
"Y-Yeah, he told me that he chose sunflowers and chamomile specifically for me." Basil sat up and pulled the pillow to his chest. If Sunny was anything, he was thoughtful. He had always admired this gentle side of his best friend.
"So, sunflowers for you-"
"Yes, and chamomile flowers because they represent peace and calmness. They can represent energy in adversity and 'I hope your wishes and dreams are fulfilled.'"
"Sounds gayyyyy-"
"Aubrey!" The pillow went flying to her head, but Aubrey quickly caught it and placed it behind her back for support.
"I'm only teasing! You know I've rooted for you two since you opened up to me about your crush!"
Basil had thought he was being selfish when he came out to Aubrey, knowing that she was the real object of Sunny's desires. But she was the only one of the group that he felt comfortable enough coming out to and the only one who seemed to have a clue. If he told Mari, she would have let it known to Sunny sooner than later. Hero was always busy being head over heels for Mari, and Kel didn't have a clue when it came to problems of the heart.
The confusing thing though, was that, once Aubrey knew, she showed full support and began to push the two towards each other in every possible moment. And she kept insisting that maybe, possibly, Sunny might reciprocate the feelings–
But that was preposterous. Sunny had confessed to him about his crush on Aubrey. At least, the silent blush on his cheeks when he asked the question about Aubrey's photos did. And he always assumed people in Faraway town were heterosexual. It's just what happened to you growing up in a small, religious community. He felt like a black sheep.
Still. The idea that Sunny could hold romantic feelings for the blond was a soft spot to land on.
Basil reached for a soft plush of a flower that lay on the edge of his bed. It was nice to hug when he thought about Sunny. "T-Thanks, Aubrey. You know, I don't think I've ever told you, but thank you for all your support."
"Of course, Basil. Any time."
Aubrey continued to scroll, but Basil continued.
"No, I mean it. Back then, I didn't know how you would react when I came out to you, a-and you were the first person to know, and you treated me all the same. I was scared that for some reason you would hate me after I told you."
Aubrey looked up at her friend, realizing his eyes were actually on her.
"I could never hate any of you guys for something like that." She set her phone down on the table. "I know I've explored my spirituality these past few years, and while I'm grateful for everything it's given me, I know what people think of the church and the toxic values they continue to uphold and all the pain they've inflicted, especially on the LGBTQ+ community. But not all of us are the same. I'm not proud of those denominations and what they preach, but I acknowledge the pain they've caused and I understand why you'd be afraid to tell me."
"Wow, Aubrey, that was… well-spoken."
It was Aubrey's turn to blush and groan. She rolled her eyes and stuck up a playful middle finger as she grabbed her phone again.
"Ouch. I can speak eloquently like you guys too, you know!"
"I know, I know!" Basil said, his happy tone reappearing. "We just don't always get to see the soft side of Aubrey, especially nowadays that you and Kel bump heads more and more."
"Yeah, it feels like Kel only grew more of a thick skull over the years, huh?"
"Hm?"
"Nothing, you can ignore that."
Basil didn't press, but knew that she had been bringing up Kel's obliviousness more and more often.
Aubrey's finger hovered over Kel's latest post, something that would seem like a thirst trap to anyone else but was most likely just Kel posting mindlessly. The view of his bare chest as he held up a peace sign at Faraway Park's basketball hoop caused Aubrey to burn inside. "Can you imagine that that idiot's going to be going to prom with you guys too? Geez, now I feel a little left out."
"Oh, you know Kel's not going, right?" Basil pulled out his own phone from his pocket. "And if you really want to go, you could always ask him out–"
"Wait what?"
"Oh, you don't have to ask him as a date. It could be just as friends."
"No, not that," she said, leaning against the bed to get closer to Basil. "I mean, I have a problem with that as well, but before that. You said he's not going?"
Basil put down his phone on his lap. "Oh… yeah, as far as I know, he's not going yet either."
"I thought he was going with Cris."
Now it all made sense.
He blinked at Aubrey's… relieved… face? "Uh, no, I'm pretty sure he'd tell us if he was going to ask her."
"Huh." Aubrey turned back around, her voice no longer dripping with annoyance at the mention of Kel. "I figured he had already asked him or something. She's always fawning over him at practice, you know. And especially once she joined the cheerleading squad. She always gives him a wink and blows him a kiss during our pep rallies. Ugh, she's so annoying."
"And you know this because…?"
She could feel his smug face boring into the back of her head.
"I-I just watch out for you guys! I listen to you about your love-sick rants about Sunny, s-so of course I'm going to be protective over who could possibly be Kel's first girlfriend! And he doesn't talk to us about that kind of stuff, so I don't even know if they're officially dating or not…"
"Well, Kel's never expressed any interest in her to me. Or to Sunny either. But you know, any time you're not hanging with us, he finds a moment to bring you up."
Now it was Aubrey's turn to blush. "W-What?!"
Their moment broke as Polly walked by the doorway, letting them know that dinner would be ready soon and asking if Aubrey was going to stay for it as well to set out another plate. Aubrey shook her head and thanked her. As his caregiver walked away, Basil realized the moment to pull more from her was gone, but he could still continue to press the prom idea.
"Look, all I'm saying is that it might be nice for all of us to go to prom together. Kel thought so too, he told us yesterday. He won't think of us as weird if you ask him, and then we can all go as a group!"
Aubrey rolled her eyes again. "Psh, yeah right. You just want us there as backup because you're afraid to go alone with Sunny."
"I-I am not!" he shot out again, and just like clockwork, his phone buzzed with a message from Sunny. Speak of the devil. "I just think that it would be nice to have a memory like this with my friends! Before we all part ways after high school…"
Aubrey stayed silent, taking in his words.
"And you never know, Kel just might surprise you."
Something unspoken crossed the two as Basil gave Aubrey a soft, reassuring look. However this time, instead of instantly rejecting the idea, Aubrey nodded.
"O-Okay. I'll see what I can do tomorrow. It won't be anything as extravagant as what Sunny pulled off, but I'll make it work."
Just give me all your loving and don't slow down
And don't you dare hold back at all
Literally the next day, during their lunch period, Aubrey asked Kel to prom.
Aubrey wasn't lying when she said it would not be anything special. She asked him midbite into his sandwich after they finished speaking about the answers to last night's math homework. Kel nearly choked in surprise, forming a fist and hitting his chest to get the piece down.
The half-chewed soggy bread landed on Basil's zucchini noodles.
"Dude," he said, grossed out and shoved the plate away from himself.
Aubrey took this as a bad sign. She almost began to backtrack and say they were playing a prank on him until Kel grabbed her hands and began eagerly agreeing over and over even with his hoarse voice. Aubrey just turned her head to the side, allowing for him to hold her hands because of the special moment before calling him an idiot and telling him to drink water already.
Shortly after, their conversation derailed to plans for the weekend. Now that all four of them were going to attend prom, they needed to arrange everything. There was a week before the big day came and none of them had placed any thought into what they'd need to do after asking their crush.
Kel agreed to snag their tickets afterschool that day and meet up with the others at the Faraway Mall later after practice. Basil and Aubrey began brainstorming color palettes for the group and ideas of what would best work with the prom theme of the year: outerspace. Sunny… well, Sunny was supposed to inform Mari and Hero about the new development, but he was zoned out trying to max out his character on a mobile game when that instruction was given to him.
They coordinated colors and split up, the three planning to carpool to the mall and then divide up with their respective pairs once Kel arrived. It was only a week away from the date, so they knew their pickings would be slim, but they were greeted with many of the shops posting sales on prom dresses and suits on their front displays.
They had agreed on a color between the four of them, rather than Basil and Sunny sharing a color and Kel and Aubrey doing the same. Aubrey used it as even more of an excuse to say that they were just going as friends. And Basil and Sunny, well, they were too indecisive to come up with a color.
Mint/Teal/Any blue/green combo that complemented.
Basil and Aubrey headed straight to a department store, flying past the perfume and older women's clothes and up to the back upper floor where they held all their glittery prom dresses. Aubrey's dress was their first objective.
Sunny and Kel slowly meandered to the first store that appeared like it could have suits. After two stores with nothing formal in them (why again did they look in Hot Topic and Aeropostale?) they resigned and facetimed Kel's brother for advice.
"What?! The gang is going to prom? Really! How come no one told me?"
A feminine voice came from the background. "Everyone's going to prom-?!"
"Hi Mari," Kel and Sunny said, waving as Hero pushed his arm further out so they would both be in frame.
"Guys!" Mari pouted. "I feel betrayed that you didn't tell me that Kel and Aubrey were going together, Sunny! That's another ship I've been waiting for!"
Sunny shrugged as Kel scrunched up his face in confusion.
"You've been waiting on a ship? I never pegged you as being into the sea, Mari."
All three of them stared at Kel. No wonder everyone considered him oblivious. Kel returned the same look at Sunny. What? How was he to know that his sister had gotten into such a strange hobby?
"...uh, Sunny, does Kel not know–"
"Nope."
"Okay. Well, even going to prom as friends is a step in the right direction!"
Using the help of their older siblings, Kel and Sunny set on the right path to order suits that would hopefully arrive before the big day. Kel took the liberty to try on suits with all different patterns before Aubrey sent him a text warning him not to embarrass the group or she would "accidentally" spill the entire punch bowl on his suit. Kel and Sunny shivered and placed the suits back. It was scary how Aubrey could read him so well.
They met back up at the food court around 8 PM, Aubrey snacking on a pizza pretzel and Basil picking away the cucumber from his sushi roll. They had settled on a pair of soft, mint pants for Basil, slim and fitting with a white collared shirt and a mint tie to match. Aubrey had tried on many dresses, but was continuing to be disappointed by the frumpy princess-style dresses and the short dresses with almost no detail. She wanted something more "grown up," secretly hoping that maybe something more risky would have Kel view her in a different light. In the end, she picked a tulle teal backless dress with a slit above her knee. Small, teal flowers started from the top of her dress, slowly fading out to the waistline to complement the flower clips Basil planned on wearing. They agreed they would be back later in the week to look for accessories and shoes.
Sunny and Kel took up a chair each with their bags in hand, both settling with a typical black and white attire and mint and pale blue ties in respect. Kel had decided to include a jacket in his purpose, even though everyone knew it would be instantly thrown off and draped on a chair as soon as he hit the dance floor. As for Sunny, he unintentionally matched Basil and went without a jacket, instead picking out a mint tie with a flower design pressed in that could only be seen up close. He figured the flower boy would appreciate the detail. The corsages and boutonnieres would be purchased later–Kel's mother had found a friend of a friend to create them last minute for the group.
The rest of the evening was spent laughing in the food court, completely avoiding the topic of the prom. Maybe they were all too nervous to speak on it and further their conversations with the questions they had in mind, or maybe the hours of shopping had tired them out and they just wanted to enjoy one of their last times where they would all remain "just friends."
Go down and take me up to heaven
Oh, how I live just to be next to you
Slowly, the days passed. Summer was pounding at the door with its risen temperatures and the excess of shorts, skirts, and dresses back out. Students were eager for their break to soon begin, but before that could happen, the end of the year ceremonies needed to wind down. Before they knew it, Thursday night fell upon them. Long after midnight, Basil woke to find a message from Sunny sitting in his phone.
"I'm looking forward to tomorrow ^^"
Basil laughed at the meme Sunny sent along with the text, a happy picture of Smudge the cat.
"Me too. I can't wait!"
He ended his message with a sunflower and a daisy emoji (the chamomile was close enough and in the same family). His message was sent with a 'swoosh' and Basil rested his head back down on his pillow. A smile still gripped his face muscles–he physically hadn't been able to lower his lips back down today. He was electrified with the thought of tomorrow night.
I need you here with me forever
I live for you to love me
Around 6 PM, the gymnasium was filled top to bottom with decorations, from blue and silver balloons covering the ceiling and taped to the walls to each table lined with a dark blue or black round tablecloth. The DJ sat in the back near the slightly raised stage, fixing up the stereos before beginning with the first song of the night. The snack tables were stacked high with plates that had cling wrap unraveled a few minutes before. The lights were dimmed and extra lighting was prepared by the DJ, shining around the room to illuminate the glow-in-the-dark space-themed centerpieces and shining an ethereal blue light on the dance floor.
"I can't believe so many restaurants were booked full," Aubrey said as they walked inside. They had planned on eating before they arrived, but they had had to wait for the school day to end before going home and getting ready for prom. From Basil and Aubrey rushing to Basil's house, forgetting makeup and having to do another trip, and quickly going from 0 to 100, they were surprised to be there when the gym was only half full. Sunny and Kel had waited at Sunny's place, chilling in their suits and waiting on a call or text.
"The snacks should be fine for now," Basil reassured her as they scanned for a table in the back. They passed by Sweetheart and Captain Space Boyfriend, the couple of the school that was known for their weird roleplaying antics. In broad daylight, you could see the two acting out an entire soap opera within the span of a class period or breaking up with each other and storming off in a crowded hallway. Right now, the two were cuddling side by side, Captain Space Boyfriend feeding a grape to his beloved.
"Aaaand looks like it's already started," Aubrey muttered, moving them further away from the two and taking a close seat near Kim's table. Mincy and Kim waved from the side and went back to their discussion with Mincy's sketchbook open in front of them.
Shortly after they sat down, as if on cue, another figure appeared before them. Cris.
Cris was gorgeous. Not in a way that you'd immediately notice and twist your head to watch as she walked by, but in the way she carried herself, her fluid movements, and the way her long, blue hair carefully curled into her soft frame.
"Hey, guys," she greeted, stopping at the group's table and setting her hands on an empty chair. The one directly by Kel, Aubrey observed. Cris directed her smile over at Kel. "Kel, I didn't know you were coming to prom. You should have told me!"
"Oh, this was kind of a last minute thing!" Kel explained, not noticing how Aubrey's eyebrows turned downward at his dismissive comment. Did her promposal not mean anything to him? Well, she did frame it as friends, and it was very casual, but–
Kel pulled out the open chair beside himself. "Wanna join us?"
Cris's smile spread wider as she hopped into the chair, like she was just waiting for him to ask. "Sure, thanks!"
Sunny and Basil shared a look as Aubrey gripped her cup tightly, spilling the juice over her hand.
"Uh, Aubrey–"
But she ignored Sunny, too focused in the new conversation Kel and Cris found themselves in. As she interjected to not be a third wheel left behind, Sunny stood up and tapped Basil's arm.
"Let's go get some snacks for the group and a different cup for Aubrey?"
Basil nodded up at his friend, taking one last look at the three before following Sunny through the crowd. Sunny always walked a little fast and with everyone now filling up the gymnasium, it was hard to weave in and out from all the bodies on the floor.
The only solution was to quicken his pace enough for him to grab Sunny's hand, of course. There was a pause as Sunny looked back to see who had touched him, but his hold eased as he looked at his date bashfully kept his eyes on him, asking if it was fine. Sunny reddened and turned back around, continuing to walk on while keeping a tight hold on Basil's hand. Neither of the two paid attention to the whispers from the crowd. It was as if the music had dimmed down for the time being and all they could hear was their own heartbeats stinging in their ears.
On the way, they crossed by Mikhael, who was headed over to the tables in the back of the gym and searching for his next target. Sure, asking out Aubrey two weeks ago had landed him with a black eye (maybe asking her right after asking the girl beside her wasn't the brightest idea), but a little bit of concealer and corrector could heal anything for one night. And he hadn't secured himself a date for the night, but surely someone else was also going stag and searching to change their night. So here came Romeo, ready to bump into his Juliet and begin their forlorn romantic tale.
Love me like it's prom night
I wanna hold you close like it's the very first time
Love me like it's prom night
Wanna be this fantasy all night with you
After a short conversation with Kel, Cris realized that Kel kept trying to include Aubrey in the conversation, even turning to her after theirs died down. Were they here on a date? Their other friends had gone off to who knows where. There was only one way to check.
"Hey, Kel, wanna dance?"
Aubrey paused mid sentence, her face falling as Kel enthusiastically grinned and rose from his chair. "Sure! Let's go! I've been itching to get on the dance floor!"
Aubrey watched as Cris followed Kel over to the floor. He didn't even ask her if she had been okay with it. Kel really did think of this as just a friendly event, nothing more. If he had any feelings for her, if he had hoped this night was going to lead to something else…
"Hey Aubrey," Basil said as the pair walked back with some cookies and chips for the table. Sunny rested her juice beside Aubrey's hand just as she stood and slammed her hands on the table, leading the cup to fall and once again spill on the dark blue tablecloth.
"Bruh," he muttered, looking at his wasted effort.
"I'm going to go dance too. Stupid Kel's not the only one who can play this game."
And so she huffed her way over, grabbing the nearest boy she knew and dragging him over to the floor.
"A-Aubrey?! I was in the middle of chatting with these girls! I mean, I don't mind, but please b-be gentle-!" Mikhael yelled, trying to compose himself on the way over.
Again, Sunny and Basil shared a look, both wondering what was going on with their friends.
"I hope they talk it out…" Basil sighed, blotting the tablecloth with a thin napkin before folding it and placing it aside. "I'm assuming if Aubrey went to dance with Mikhael, then Kel doesn't know how she feels yet."
"Mhm," Sunny agreed, plucking a cookie from their tray and taking a bite. Yum, chocolate chip. Not as good as Mari's, though.
Basil took a sugar cookie from the same tray. "I guess I can understand why he'd be confused. She didn't exactly express to him exactly why she wanted him to go with her to prom."
Sunny nodded again. He wished he could help his friends out more, but advice and actions weren't necessarily his strong points. He felt better lending a listening ear.
Basil didn't mind the lack of response. Instead, he took this moment between the two to try to steer the conversation to them.
"S-Speaking of intentions, w-why did you ask me to prom, Sunny?"
Sunny turned and stared blankly at Basil, mid bite into his cookie.
"I-I mean, if you want to tell me! It was as friends, right?" he quickly added, reddening and waving his hands in front of his face. "T-That makes sense! You heard that Kel wanted to go so you asked me and–"
"No."
"N-No?"
Sunny shook his head. Now it was Basil's turn to be speechless. He waited a few seconds, wanting to hear if Sunny would divulge into his reasoning.
He reached over and placed a hand on Basil's thigh, grasping his nearest fingers. This demand of attention quickly brought their eyes together.
'He's leaning so close to me, d-does he not know how close he is-'
"Basil," Sunny started in an almost whisper tone. "Do you remember when I first showed you the song, 'Clair de Lune?'"
Basil shook his head and swallowed hard.
"We were hanging out in my room one day and had the door open. Mari was playing her piano and the song was loud enough to reach us. You asked what song it was and I told you about how Mari was practicing to perform for her senior recital. Clair de Lune, moonlight. The song makes you feel at peace, relaxed, almost in a dream-state."
Basil's bright eyes held Sunny's tightly, the music behind them beginning to disappear once more.
"You talked about how you had been hearing it play again and again every time you came over, and that it felt kind of sad and almost lonely. But as the piece kept growing, becoming more and more ambiguous, you felt a greater release of suspense and reflection. You think it'll end one way, play a certain note, but it doesn't."
He said all of that? And Sunny had remembered it all after all these years?
Sunny drew in more, the pale blue lights from above shining on the left side of his face. "That's how I feel about you. For years, I've been trying to put a name to these feelings inside of me. There were times I'd look at you and my heart was filled with so much confusion, so many feelings wrestling to get to the top. And when you'd hug me, when you'd hold my hand, it was like I hit a crescendo and everything became certain."
Basil let out a breath. "Sunny…"
The two leaned in, closing their eyes and tilting in, until–
"God damnit, Kel! I told you to leave me alone!"
Their heads snapped up as Kel and Aubrey pushed past them to the entrance, Kel opening up the front doors and forcing them out to the hallway. The teacher monitoring the door had gone on a bathroom break, so no one saw the two sneak out.
"Let. Me. Go!" Aubrey yelled, forcibly pulling her arm to herself until Kel released as they walked further away from the gym and out to the courtyard in the middle of the school. "I told you I didn't want to talk to you!"
"Yeah, well, I want to talk!" Kel yelled just as loudly, turning and facing the pink-haired girl.
"We were just there dancing and having fun! Now you made it awkward!"
"It's been awkward this whole time! I know something has been up since we entered!"
This cut Aubrey silent as she noticed the tonal shift in Kel's voice. Kel was rarely serious, almost to the point that Aubrey would forget he didn't take everything as a joke.
The two stood face to face with only a few feet between them. By this point of the night, sweat spots stained Kel's white collared shirt and his jacket was long gone. But even with his messy hair and the misaligned tie, something inside Aubrey tingled with want. Maybe it was the fact that his shirt was of a thinner material and hugged his chest tighter. Maybe it was how he was unintentionally flexing his arms and had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows earlier. Maybe it was just… the intensity of how he was looking at her.
Aubrey stood at a slant, the slit on her dress riding up to show part of her top thigh. The blue color had looked so nice inside the gym with all the strobe lights the student council had arranged for the prom, but outside with the starlight and few posts still on around them, the darker color complimented her light skin even more. And the way she bit her lip at him, her brows furrowed downwards, how small her wrist had felt in his hands–
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play stupid, Aubrey."
"I should be saying th-"
"Cut the crap!"
Kel's loud outburst caused Aubrey to silence again.
"I know something's up. You've been acting weird shortly after we came in," he began. "I've been trying to keep you happy all night, and I thought everything was fine, I thought you were having fun dancing, and then you're glaring daggers at Cris, we accidentally bump into you and you shove her with your shoulder-like, what did she do to you?! Why are you so mad over dancing?"
"You think I'd be happy seeing my date dance with someone else?!" Aubrey yelled.
Kel retorted back. "B-But you're also dancing with someone else!"
"Only because you decided to go off with Cris first!"
Aubrey groaned and turned around, pulling at her bangs. "If you had wanted to go to prom with her so badly, why didn't you ask her?"
Something clicked inside Kel as she said this. Her voice was no longer yelling.
"What makes you think I wanted to be here with her?"
"I don't know!" Aubrey ran her hand across her hair again. "You don't see how she drapes herself over you and hangs on your every word? 'Oh Kel, you're so funny!' 'Kel, you look so good in those pants!' 'Kel, we should hang out next week at lunch!'"
"Wait, she didn't say the pants part-"
Aubrey's cheeks grew warm. "Y-You get what I mean! She clearly likes you, so why did you agree to go with me?"
"Because I don't see Cris the same way I see you, Aubrey."
She wasn't sure if this comment stung or not. She felt his warm hand on her shoulder and jumped, not realizing how quietly he had walked up behind her.
"H-How do you see me?" Aubrey whispered, refusing to turn around.
Kel paused, thinking of his answer. "Cris is cute, yeah. And she's a cool friend to have to talk about sports. But she's not you. Aubrey, you're one of my closest friends."
It hurt to hear herself being friendzoned right now. "So what, I'm just a better friend than her? You preferred for this to be a group thing?"
"What? No." Kel turned Aubrey's shoulder to face him, now only a few inches in between the two teenagers. "Listen to what I'm saying."
The courtyard slowed to a still with the sound of cicadas hiding around them. Kel forced a breath out, let it out slow, then grabbed more breath to drop his voice.
"I like you, Aubrey. Like, like-like you," he softly spoke. "I thought you knew."
She felt her ears betraying her. "You like me?"
"Like-like you."
"Like-like me?"
Kel sighed, squeezing her shoulder and letting go. He brought his shoulders up and shrugged. How could he better express it? "I have a crush on you. I have for a while now. I thought you knew from how often we fought and teased each other. And how often we hung out."
"But we've been doing that since we were kids," Aubrey pointed out.
"I didn't know why we did it all the time either. Then Hero said something weird one day and I found myself blushing like crazy. He said something like how we fought like a married couple. I thought, 'Huh, Aubrey, as my wife?' A-And as crazy as it was, it felt really nice to think of you that way. And as much as we argue, it's never in earnest. Back then we argued over the dumbest of things and never tried to get to know each other better, but nowadays I feel like you're the one person I can be most myself with. Yeah, we still argue a lot, but you're the only person I feel comfortable doing that with and the only person I'm okay with pressing my buttons like that."
Silence, again.
Kel looked back up at Aubrey, her bangs covering her eyes.
"Aubrey–"
"I-I need a breather," she said, walking out to the side and rushing to the nearest bathroom. Kel watched her go. She went like the last few pieces of warm hope in his hand.
Later, back inside, Sunny and Basil had eased themselves back into conversation after the argument with their friends. Kel plopped himself back onto a chair beside them, turning around and picking up his jacket. "Oh, that's where I left it."
Basil glanced over at the boy. "K-Kel, is everything alright? Where's Aubrey?"
Kel sighed but nodded. "Aubrey's in the bathroom right now, I think. But she'll be out soon."
Basil wanted to ask what happened outside, but Kel continued, anticipating their questions. "I think she'll be okay. She just needs some time alone."
Everyone was always forgetting just how observant Kel was just like any member of the group, or how he knew Aubrey better than anyone there, even Mari. His quirky, silly personality that always looked on the optimistic side of things made them mistake his hope for naivety.
Basil and Sunny nodded, needing to trust in their friend more.
The front doors opened again as the first notes of a soft song played and Kel turned around to see who came in.
Sunny turned as well and rose when he saw who it was. He held out his hand to Basil. "Want to dance?"
Basil reached out and took his hand, smiling softly and rising.
Kel turned back around and watched the pair begin to slow dance on the outer part of the group, the two both shaking when trying to figure out where to place their hands on the other. Aubrey sat back down beside Kel, sighing and smoothing her lap out.
Neither said anything for a while, just letting the song play out. They heard soft sobbing on the side–Captain Space Ex-Boyfriend was covering his face with his cloak to shield the tears. Too bad his whole body shook so violently that anyone could still see how much of a mess he was.
"Geez. What happened to him?"
"Sweetheart, that's what happened."
Aubrey and Kel exchanged glances, laughing at the sight before them.
"Isn't that like, the fourth time they've broken up tonight?" Kel asked, offering her one of the cookies that Basil and Sunny had brought earlier.
Aubrey hungrily took the peace offering. "Yeah. I swear they were all lovey dovey when we were on the dance floor."
The two laughed again and shared a silence as the song came to an end, starting up another slow song. They watched as Sunny pulled Basil over to a darker part of the gym, conveniently away from teachers watching, and leaned in close. Well, it looked like not all couples were having a bad time. Kel had half a mind to ask Aubrey to a dance, but he figured she wouldn't be in the mood. Instead, Aubrey beat him to the punch.
"I'm sorry for being a jerk tonight."
"I'm sorry for being a jerk too."
"You weren't a jerk," Aubrey said, shaking her head. "I told you this was as friends, and then I got all mad that another girl was giving you attention."
"Still, if I knew it would make you feel that way, I wouldn't have said yes. I only agreed because I wanted to get up and dance, not necessarily dance with her."
"I guess we're both a little thick-headed sometimes," she mused, taking the last bite of her cookie. She scrunched up her nose and looked back at the plate. "Is that all they have here? Juice and cookies?"
"Yep. I guess everyone's already taken most of the fruits and cheese and looks like Vance ate all the good candy already."
Aubrey roughly wiped her hand on a napkin. "This sucks. We need some real food. I'm starving."
Kel piped up with an idea as Basil and Sunny made their way back to the table after the song was replaced with something upbeat. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"What are you thinking?" Sunny asked, pausing to stand by the table. The couple still held hands–Aubrey wiggled her eyebrows at Basil and he turned crimson.
"Hey guys, what time does Gino's close?"
And that's how the four found themselves at Faraway Plaza in Gino's, sharing two large pepperoni pizzas amongst themselves. Aubrey held up her phone against the napkin holder, in the middle of a video call with Hero and Mari to include them in the details of the night.
After all the angsty and confusing teenage hormones of the past week, greasy pizza was a good way to recover and feel like new.
Basil was blotting his greasy pizza slice when Sunny tugged on his hand from under the table.
"Wanna come with me to pick out a song?" he asked, pointing to the jukebox near the counter. Aubrey and Kel were covering their ears as Mari and Hero recounted how they had placed bets on who would confess first, and how Mari had won. Basil nodded and dropped his pizza down on the paper plate. The two walked over to scan the list, looking over the selection.
"Let's do something more modern," Basil said, skipping past a few decades and then clicking onto a genre. "Any suggestions?"
"Something electronic?" Sunny replied, clicking the button and scanning around. The two stopped at a familiar name.
Basil leaned in closer to Sunny, bumping hips with him. "Oo, I've heard of that group. I haven't heard that song before, though."
"Let's see what it sounds like."
Sunny pressed play on the screen and the two walked back over to their table. Turns out prom wasn't as grand as they had played it out to be. They had ditched and ended up in one of their regular spots. But even as the rowdy group settled into the cozy pizza shop, none of them regretted the events of the night.
And in the background, a song began to play:
I could be lying next to anyone
But I'm still thinking of you…
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was a bit of a longer one, but definitely fun to think of and write. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions with a review and I'll se you all in the next one!