Part Seven:

Lori and Sean were a "couple" for a month or so when the dance was announced.

Winter semi-formal, senior high only.

Craig was, of course, planning to take Ashley. Beautiful, smart, talented

Ashley...but he was still thinking about Lori.

Stop it. STOP IT!!! But he couldn't.

Lori couldn't wait to go shopping for a dress, but there was one problem:

she didn't have anyone to go with her. She had a feeling that Joey and Craig

didn't want to spend the afternoon at a mall looking at girls' formal wear,

and what kind of help would little Angela be? So when Ashley offered to take

her shopping with her mom, Lori was quick to accept.

They spent the day at the mall with Kate. Joey had given Lori $200 to find

a nice dress, shoes, and accessories. Lori was grateful, and she didn't want

to spend all the money, so she searched the sales racks for her dress. Ashley

found hers right away: a long, black (shock!) dress, with silver shimmers.

But Lori's was harder to find. She found a nice red one for $40, but she thought

it made her ass look big. She found a black one that was shorter, sexier then

Ashley's, but she didn't have the boobs to work it.

After a couple of hours, Lori was ready to give up. She didn't want to waste

any more of Kate and Ashley's time: they seemed happy to help, but who knew

what they were really thinking?

At the fifth store, Kate was helping Lori look when she said, "Girls! Look at

this one!" Lori and Ashley rushed over, to see Kate holding up a long, midnight

blue dress with rhinestones. "It's only $55. What do you think, Lor?"

Lori knew it was perfect, but she wanted to try it on to be sure. And it was

perfect. Kate and Ashley seemed in awe as she modeled for them. "Oh, Lori..."

Ashley said. "It's perfect." Kate agreed: "Perfect."

Since it was unanimous, Lori bought the dress, and some matching shoes for

$30. Joey will be surprised when he sees that I have more then half of his

money left! she thought happily as they left the mall.

Kate took Lori home, and Lori carefully hung her dress in her closet. Things

in her life right then were the same as her dress: perfect.

Until the night of the dance.

It was a cold night. A little snow, but mostly just a cold chill in the air.

When the two couples of Ashley-Craig, Sean-Lori were dropped off by Kate and

walking into the school, Lori shivered. A bad omen, she thought.

Quit being stupid, she scolded herself. Have fun!

Sean was having a good time. Lori looked beautiful in her dress. But what about

Emma? He'd seen her when they'd walked in. She'd gone to the dance with a

grade nine boy named Travis Stevens. Sean couldn't help but be jealous when

he saw Emma dance with him. Even when he looked at his gorgeous date, he

was still thinking about Emma.

At one slow dance, Sean said to Lori: "Do you mind if I dance with Emma? It

looks like her date abandoned her for this one?"

"Sure," Lori said with a smile. She went off to get some punch.

Sean went over to Emma, who was sitting by herself on the side. He sat down

in the chair next to her. "Hi, Em," he said. Emma couldn't help smiling at

him. He looked weird all dressed up in a button down shirt and black pants.

"Hi, Sean," she said in a friendly voice, in spite of herself.

"So...where's your date?"

Emma shrugged. "Bathroom. Yours?"

"Punch break," he lied, not mentioning that he'd asked her away. "So...

you want to dance this one with me?"

"Okay."

Sean and Emma danced together, and she said, "How are things going with you

and Lori?"

"Great," he lied. "She's a great girl." He wasn't lying about that. "Yeah,

really great."

"Oh," Emma said, somewhat disapointed. She didn't seem to notice that he'd

said "great" three times. She'd believed him. "That's...great."

"She is," Sean said, for the fourth time. Shut up with that! he told himself.

"But...we're just going out for fun."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Sean said. "I don't really see it turning into anything serious, you

know?"

Emma nodded. "Like me and Travis. He's nice and all, but...I can't see myself

with him down the line."

There was an akward silence. Then Emma admitted her deepest secret: "Sean,

I miss you."

"Really?" Sean whispered, noticing the tears in her eyes. Emma nodded, and he

said, "I miss you, too."

And they kissed. It was just like at the wedding: they both saw sparks. It

was magical.

But Lori didn't think it was so magical. She saw them, as she came back from

the snack table. They didn't see her as she nearly dropped her drink and ran

out.

But Craig did.

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