...
He regrets it. He immensely regrets it. He knows there's nothing he can do or say to make things any better.
Even if he apologizes, she probably still won't forgive him.
Why did he ever get so caught up in that stupid bet?
His parents tell him that the college acceptance letters came in the mail that day from the one college he's hoped most to hear from (he's studying business), which makes him temporarily happy, but the moment is fleeting after he remembers what happened at school earlier with Lizzie.
His parents, clueless of the events that happened today at school, are happy for him but not completely pleased, mostly because they aren't as fond as the college as Don is.
He should feel amazing about getting into his dream school and the fact that he'll be graduating with a eighty-eight percent average (eighty-four in math after working harder and finally bumping his marks up, with a bit of Lizzie's help), but he can't anymore, not with knowing that he had completely broken someone's heart and hurt her indefinitely.
He barely does anything that weekend except finish his homework and play video games, anything to take his mind off of Lizzie. He doesn't even speak to his parents about his college acceptance, but they don't bring it up.
Don sees her on Monday in calculus class and he wants to say something to Lizzie as he passes her desk, but she simply turns her head in the other direction so he thinks better of it and walks to the back of the class to his seat.
For most of the class he barely pays attention to what Mr. Reddington is talking about, math scholarships or whatever, and instead stares out the window, deep in thought.
Screw that one-hundred dollars, screw Tom, screw Audrey, screw everyone, he's done, he's so done.
Mr. Reddington calls on Don at least three times to make sure he's been listening, and he nods absentmindedly as Mr. Reddington looks at him disapprovingly, but he doesn't care.
He just doesn't care.
When class ends Mr. Reddington briefly congratulates Don on his college acceptance with a handshake. Lizzie gathers her books up as fast as she humanly can and races out of there before Don can stop her.
He notices this and feels his heart sink lower into his stomach and waits for the rest of the class to leave first before he does.
Football practice goes by like a blur, and he feels so distracted he is tackled to the ground and hit by the ball at least ten times.
Tom seems to be happy, because he's smirking throughout the entire practice, and just his mere presence reminds Don of Lizzie.
And Tom definitely notices this, because he tries to aggravate Don at every chance he has.
"Hey, pal, can't wait to see who you take to prom." Tom adds with a sneer as they leave the locker room. "But just remember that Lizzie's not an option. I'm taking her."
Don is tempted to punch Tom directly in that stupid smug face, but they're standing in the middle of a crowded hallway with teachers around, so that can't be an option.
So he walks away, fuming to himself.
"Sucks to be you, Ressler." Tom calls out after him, and half of the people in the hallway turn around to look at him.
Don just keeps walking, trying to ignore all the piercing stares.
On his way out of the school he bumps into Pete, who he saw at practice but never bothered to talk to.
"Hey, Don." Pete says, trying to sound sympathetic. "I've been meaning to talk to you all day, I'm sorry about how things turned out-"
"You know," Don interrupts roughly. "I don't want to hear it. What happened with Lizzie isn't your fault."
"Yeah, but dude, I kind of encouraged the bet, I didn't expect your girl to end up knowing about it-"
"But you weren't the one who had to look her in the eye for weeks and act like it wasn't all a lie, and then admit to her that it was. Thanks for being cool about it, though. I'll see you."
Don walks away from a silent Pete at moderate pace, trying to avoid any other human interaction.
He's had enough for one day.
...
He eats leftovers for dinner that his parents left in the microwave before leaving to visit Don's older sister Erica in college for a few days.
Erica is Don's only sibling and the person that his parents expect him to aspire to be. Erica is on her third year at Harvard on a full scholarship studying law (she's that smart and Don knows that he's not smart enough to attend Harvard on a full scholarship and he certainly doesn't have the funds to pay for it without one), and her boyfriend is a CEO of some big company, so she's basically got her whole life set out for her.
Don, on the other hand, isn't so sure on how good he's going to do in college and God knows he can't keep a girl to save his life.
He wishes he could live to his parents' and everyone else's expectations of him, but he can't.
He just doesn't know how.
He sits in silence for a bit after a few bites of lasagna, contemplating what to do next.
If he wants Lizzie to forgive him, he's got to try and mend their relationship, slowly but surely.
He's going to call her.
Don picks up his phone and dials her home phone number with uncertainty, then listens for the ring tone.
No answer.
So he hesitantly leaves a quick message, asking her to call him back, then hangs up without any mention of 'sorry'.
He sits patiently by his phone for another twenty minutes, then dials her number again and leaves a message, saying the same things. Then he continues to wait another twenty minutes.
Still no reply.
Don then decides that he should say something else, something more apologetic if she doesn't pick up again.
He tries it again, and sure enough, she doesn't pick up, and it goes straight to the message, and then the beep.
"Hey, um, Lizzie," he begins, stammering a bit. "How have you been? Look, uh, I just wanted to say that I'm-"
Suddenly someone picks up and Don stops short.
"She'd like you to stop calling, you jerk." a voice that is supposedly Aram's says harshly over the phone before hanging up.
The line clicks dead and Don shakily places the phone down on the table, putting his head in his hands.
He's messed this one up real bad, and now he's completely unsure of how to fix this.
…
The next three days pass by like a blur, and both Lizzie and Don don't have any interaction with each other.
Pete doesn't pester Don about prom anymore, and Lizzie has made a pact with herself not to even go.
Audrey has been texting Don every day and reminding him to pick her up on Friday night two hours early for prom preparations.
But Don's sure as hell that he's not going to take Audrey with him to prom. She's going to have to find her own ride.
He's just going to go and get it over with, and deal with whatever consequences there are of the bet.
Lizzie just isn't going to go. At all.
Nobody at school dares to talk about the bet, so Lizzie and Don both leave it at that.
...
Friday night finally arrives, and when it does, Don has a plan.
He's going with Samar Navabi.
As friends, of course.
It was actually quite easy to convince Samar to go with him, because she doesn't have a date to the prom either (apparently three guys have already asked her but she turned them down. "There's someone else I've got my eye on," Samar claims, but Don isn't sure who).
He picks her up with a smile. "So, anyone in particular you've got your eye on tonight? I mean, there's got to be a reason why you agreed to go with me that easily."
Samar elbows him playfully as she gets into the passenger seat next to him. "Shut up. But you're not too bad. I could do worse. And come to think of it, I actually may."
Don shoots her a good-natured glare, which Samar laughs off.
"Are you, um, going to do something with Lizzie? I mean, I highly doubt Audrey's in your plans for tonight." Samar asks carefully.
Don shakes his head, not lifting his eyes up from the road. "Nope. If she's not with Tom, she probably won't even show up at all."
"Aw, poor Donnie." Samar teases, patting his hand. "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."
Don shrugs it off, although he really hopes she does.
…
"Dad, I'm making a run to Target for groceries later tonight if you want anything-" Lizzie begins, sitting in the living doing her homework when the front door opens, and instead of her dad it's Mr. Reddington.
Lizzie blinks. "Um, hi, Mr. Reddington. I wasn't expecting you."
She wasn't, but Mr. Reddington and her father are very close friends (apparently they have been since high school), and sometimes her teacher decides to pop in for a quick visit whenever he feels like it, but since she's known him for that long, she's used to it and it doesn't feel as weird as it initially did when he first became her calculus teacher in high school.
Anyone else would have definitely called it 'creepy' (and Lizzie makes sure not to share the fact that her teacher is a family friend), but Mr. Reddington is like an uncle to her.
Mr. Reddington chuckles, stepping inside and examining the place. "Oh, I apologize. I was driving to the school and then I realized I forgot my hat when I was visiting your father earlier this afternoon."
"Oh yeah." Lizzie jumps up, remembering that she had found a grey fedora earlier that certainly doesn't belong to her dad in the rec room. She runs downstairs to the basement, grabs it, then rushes back upstairs and hands it to Mr. Reddington.
"Thank you very much, Lizzie, I tend to forget things far too easily these days." he says gratefully, putting it on and taking a quick glance of his reflection in the mirror by the door.
"Uh, Lizzie, if you don't mind me asking, are you going to prom tonight?" Mr. Reddington says suddenly, his face displaying concern.
Lizzie sighs. "No. I've got the calculus homework you assigned for-"
"I assigned it for Tuesday, not Monday."
"Oh. Well, I've got all this other homework too, and a project that due on-" Lizzie scrambles to find excuses until Mr. Reddington interrupts her with a sharp clearing of the throat.
"Lizzie, you've got to enjoy youth while it lasts." he says earnestly, stepping back into the room. "Sometimes, you have to let yourself catch a break. Do you know what your father told me this morning? That you've got three colleges across the country to choose from, and you'd rather stay back another year and help him run the auto shop. Because you're worried about him."
Lizzie closes her eyes, putting her pencil down. It was true; she doesn't want to leave her father alone here and move halfway across the country.
"I say, I was just like you when I was your age. I never let myself have fun. In fact, I missed out on my high school prom because I wanted to finish a project that was due a week from that day. My girlfriend was heartbroken." Mr. Reddington chuckles to himself reminiscently. "You've given so much to the world, why not let the world give something back to you?"
Lizzie thinks of Don, and how he probably is having a great time with Audrey at that moment, and how they are going to win prom court. . .
And with Lizzie it was all just a bet. Was it?
She wants to forgive him, she does.
But either way, it's too late. He's with Audrey now.
"I, um, I can't." she shakes her head sadly. Tom had continuously asked her to go with him several times and she never gave him an answer.
"What do you mean?" Mr. Reddington looks at her sympathetically.
"I can't go to prom tonight I mean. I don't even have a prom date for starters-"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Mr. Reddington glances out the window with a smile on his face. "Because there is a very handsome young man parked right outside, ready to take you out."
Lizzie's heart begins to race, and she closes her textbook. Don? He came?
"Have a good time tonight, Lizzie." Mr. Reddington smiles knowingly and steps outside, greeting her supposed 'prom date' as he passes him.
Lizzie straightens herself up as fast as she can, and sure enough, it's-
Tom Keen.
Oh.
She has to admit, he does look handsome, dressed up nicely in a suit and his brown hair neatly combed to the side.
"Hey, Lizzie." he smiles, walking towards her slowly. "Look, I know that you don't completely trust me. I've asked you out before, and you never gave me an answer, even after what happened with Don. I get it. It was probably because you were confused. Confused for good reason. But you need to know that you're more than a bet, Lizzie. And you're a whole lot more than that to me."
She looks up, her eyes wide and glassy. Is Tom really saying this?
"So, if it's not too late. . . Lizzie Scott," he says, closing the gap between them as he steps closer to her and takes her hands. "will you go to prom with me? You don't even need to wear a dress if you want."
They both laugh easily, and Lizzie looks up into his eyes, remembering what Mr. Reddington's advice.
Tom's shady. . . she thinks, but then he's looking at her with a kind, sweet expression. . .
Oh well. she thought. It's one night, I might as well make the most of it.
"Okay." Lizzie nods, smiling a bit. "I'll go to prom with you."
Tom grins. "Great, that's great!"
"Just, hold on a second." she races upstairs, then finds the sparkly sky blue evening gown that she bought a few weeks back and puts it on.
Lizzie begins to put on her makeup as carefully and efficiently as she can, suddenly realizing that the prom begins in forty-five minutes.
She's not sure how things are going to end, especially with Don.
But she's going to try to make the most of the night, not for anyone else, but for herself.
...
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been so busy this week! But I will certainly try my best to update between tomorrow and Tuesday. Also I plan to start another story soon, but it will probably be after this one is finished! Thanks to everyone who has been sticking with this story, and I promise you Keenler will happen very soon :)