A/N: Thank you all very much for the kind reviews! I really appreciate them. Hope everyone is enjoying this. And a special thanks to Ren117 for your review. Coming from the writer of one of my favorite stories, that really means a lot. Enough from me, here's Chapter 8.
8.
Dinner went along rather safely. Louis smeared barbecue sauce all across his face during the meal, but spread so many napkins across himself so that he could keep the blue tuxedo clean. Other than the barbecue sauce and when Henrietta accidentally squirted Louis with some ranch salad dressing, the meal was somewhat uneventful. A lot more customers arrived and service got a little slower, but nothing too exciting. Louis picked up the check and the two were on their way and were set to arrive at the prom at 9:00.
Louis pulled the Nova into the parking lot adjacent to the Sacramento Outdoor Theater, the annual site of the Polk High Junior and Senior Prom. Louis and Henrietta's schoolmates were arriving in throngs and Twitty's Band "The Psychodelic Octopi" was blasting the best tunes. Louis started hopping and poking around, but he was actually only trying to dance. Louis made his way through the crowd until he got up towards the band. The band finished up the song and Louis sent a wave to Twitty. "Hey, man, where's Amy?"
Twitty pointed over to a corner where several girls were congregated. Then he motioned that he needed to get back to work. After all, Twitty was getting paid to be able to play at his own prom, with breaks of course so he could be with his date. The next song was "Unwell" as done by Matchbox 20. Louis worked his way through the crowd until he found the date he inadvertantly ditched. "Hey therrre, Henrietta."
"Hi, Louis."
So, they continued to go through the awkward motions and small talk. After about an hour of fast-paced, rock 'n roll songs, a slow one came up: "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. Sheesh, Louis thought. Louis danced with Henrietta at arms-length, but Henrietta clearly wanted to dance closer to the big, handsome senior. Louis groaned to himself.
But then he saw her. Tawny had just arrived with Corey. She looked gorgeous. Her hair was curled and hanging at her shoulders. Her blue eyes were simply sparkling. She had a huge smile where one could see the slight gap between her teeth on the left side of her mouth. She had a beautiful corsage adorning her wrist. She was sporting a full-length gown - dark blue with straps. Tawny would never go strapless, never go with the crowd. She needed to be different. She didn't even wear her hair up like almost all the other girls did. She was her own independent person. Corey was in a traditional black tux and they paraded down the steps. In Louis's little world, it was like the two of them were walking down the red carpet at the Oscars. Corey and Tawny went down the steps and immediately started dancing. Corey was a natural dancer, the opposite of Louis. The two of them brushed right past Louis who was struggling with Henrietta to maintain any sort of rhythm. They didn't even notice Louis and his date.
Louis tried to not let this bother him. He grabbed Henrietta by the wrist and really tried to dance his best. Still, Louis was tripping over everyone else's feet. The other couple didn't even turn an eye. Corey had a confident smile across his pretty-boy face. Tawny was smiling and laughing. It seemed to echo over the whole outdoor theater. Then the next song began, Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack." It was cruel irony for Louis Stevens.
The prom moved along. Song after song would play and during each one Louis would look over towards Tawny and Corey. Louis tried hard to pay attention to his date, but it was getting harder and harder. Henrietta was trying to carry on a conversation with Louis whose head was turned and staring at Tawny and Corey. "You look very nice tonight, Louis."
"Uh huh."
"I'm having a wonderful time with you here."
"Uh huh."
"It's been a lot of fun."
"Uh huh. Yeah."
"I'm really glad you asked me."
"Uh huh."
Sensing that this was not getting far, Henrietta said, "I'm pregnant with the child of Matt LeBlanc."
"Uh huh."
Continuing her farce, Henrietta said, "I'm pregnant with the child of Cosmo Kramer."
"Really?!!" Louis exclaimed, whipping his head around.
"Hmm, that got your attention, silly."
"Sorry about that. I was just a little distracted."
"Uh huh," Henrietta replied.
The prom mercifully came to its end. Tawny's mouth must have been in awful pain because she had been smiling and laughing for a couple hours straight. Louis was just plain depressed. Mr. Wexler approached the microphone on the stage with the band with an announcement. "Seniors, be prepared, be with that very special person, because this will be your last dance as students at James Knox Polk High School." Tawny was looking deep into Corey's eyes while Henrietta was staring at Louis while showing her braces which had food stuck in them from all the snacks they'd been eating. Louis moaned. Finally, it's the last dance of the night, he thought. Twitty pulled out his acoustic guitar and started strumming the beginning of Green Day's "Good Riddance - The Time of Your Life," a classic prom song. All through the song, Louis's heart was weeping. He could see Tawny's head resting on Corey's shoulder. Louis rolled his head back and finally focused on his actual date. The song came to its end with the words, "It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life . . . It's something unpredictable, But in the end is right I hope you had the time of your life."
Louis looked over one final time, this time in defeat. To himself he was thinking, Amen to that. This whole prom season was unpredictable, but Tawny, I hope you did indeed have the time of your life. I hope you did. Then Louis bowed his head and motioned to his date that it was time to go.
