Lost In Purple
Chapter 18: The Fall Formal Part 2 - Slowly Symphonic
Melanie's POV
Faust stomps angrily over to the large dark pink monster and grabs her hand. She must be his date to the Fall Formal. I'll be the one to say that she looks kind of like a high school dropout that had a superiority complex and thought that she was the most popular girl in school even though she has the driest personality known to monster kind.
"W-what?" I ask.
"Don't. Talk. To. Us," He enunciates rhythmically.
"Faust I don't understand what I di-"
"Don't care. I hate the RORs and everyone who's affiliated with them. Just go back and worship them like the peasant you are," he snarls.
I feel like an arrow just soared into the sky and pierced my heart after that comment. It's totally not like him to say things like that too. For someone who considered me to be a good friend, he sure has a lot of hate for me.
"Um…sorry," I say while turning my attention back towards the ROR house.
Even though I feel a tear form within my right eye, I couldn't help but notice him in that tux. I've never seen him wear something like that, and it made him look really handsome. Seeing him look like this while being such a jerk makes me feel dejected. The tear runs down my eye and onto the pavement, but after that there's nothing else. I guess I've finally let him go without realizing it. I walk further down the sidewalk until I reach the front door of the RORs. I look back to Faust and see him turned away from me, making out with the dark pink monster with a thick layer of makeup on. I can't tell if I'm worried or jealous because I've never seen him talk to this monster, or even talk about this monster before. It's possible that he decided to keep his love interests a secret though.
I turn my head back around to the front door and ring the doorbell. It's makes the same sound as it did when I first visited a couple weeks ago, which brings some good memories flowing back into my head. I've thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the RORs and their spastic nature. I wish more monsters allowed them to be themselves rather than what they want them to be.
The door swings open and shows Javier who's already dressed in a black tuxedo with a red and yellow tie wrapped around his neck. He looks at me with surprise and can't figure out what to say.
I clearly have to be the one to break the ice, so I greet him. "Hi Jav."
"Oh Dios mío eres hermosa. Uh… come on in. Johnny's getting dressed so you'll have to wait," Javier says nervously while placing his head over his head and giving me a toothy smile.
"That's fine. I know he was supposed to come get me, but I wanted to surprise him," I smile.
"I'll be sure not to tell him then," Javier chuckles while signaling me to come in and taking my belongings.
I grasp the sides of my dress and pull it up so that I enter the house easily. Javier closes the door and offers an arm for me to grab onto. Man, he's really fancy for a bug that grew up in such ghetto conditions as a kid. Nobody would of expected him to turn out like this in a million years.
"Such a gentleman," I gasp while wrapping my arms around his.
Javier puts his other arms around his back and bows his head. "Only for you, dama de la luna."
I blush a little. I feel so spoiled when I come over here which is something I'm definitely not used to. I'm really starting to wonder what that nickname means though. He's been calling me that ever since we first met earlier this month, but I never really bothered looking it up or translating it. Javier takes me into the main room and lets me sit down on one of the red couches. "Please wait here for Johnny, I'll tell you now that he might take a little while since he wants everything to be perfect."
I try to look as lady-like as I possibly can when laughing. "He's such a rich boy isn't he?"
"Yes, and it's infuriating," he jokes while heading upstairs to put my things away.
Johnny's POV
Ok. Everything will be fine, Johnny. Just be yourself and everything will turn out fine.
I take my borealis purple, Victorian patterned tie I bought specifically for this Fall Formal, and wrap it around my neck. I tie it tightly and straighten it before I look into my mirror. God I hope she's not disappointed. I could never expect anything from Melanie, but I would expect the utmost perfection from myself. She's deserves the best, so I'm going to give her the best. I examine my black tuxedo jacket and my borealis purple, Victorian patterned waistcoat that also matches my tie. Everything looks good. I had them professionally fitted, cleaned, and ironed for this occasion which was totally worth it.
I take a breath but still feel uncomfortably nervous. With my hands, I turn on my bathrooms sink and scoop water into my face. I'm so tired, so tired of hiding my feelings from Melanie and being someone I'm not when I'm around her.
"You're going to end this tonight," I tell myself, "No more soft Johnny."
After taking one more breath I hear a knock on my rooms door.
"Señor it's time to go," Javier utters behind the door.
"Alright," I groan.
I open my door and see Javier in his tuxedo. "Are you going to be ok by yourself amigo? I won't necessarily be able to help this time," he asks.
"Yeah. I'll be fine," I reply. At least I think I will.
I pat all around my suit and realize that I don't have my phone. It would probably be best to have that just in case. Javier walks through the upper left hallway and down to the entrance as I attempt to find it. Fortunately for me, I find it underneath my beds blankets and don't end up going on a wild scavenger hunt for it. I shove it into the tux's jacket pocket on the inside and walk out of my room. A sudden burst of paranoia hits me once I walk down the hallway with my head down. What if I say something offensive? What if I embarrass myself while dancing? What if I'm…not enough for her?
I put my left hand on the banister and slide it down as I take each step slowly towards the front door. For some reason the house feels eerily quiet as I reach for the doorknob and turn it.
"Señor?" Javier asks.
I turn around and see Javier standing in the hallway that connects the main room and the kitchen. "What Rios?" I growl.
Javier turns to the side and takes a step back. A shadowy figure takes a couple steps out of the dark only to show their black and purple dress and astounding beauty.
"You look so handsome horns," Melanie whispers.
I feel my heart skip a beat as I observe the mesmerizing dress she's wearing. The black roses and the Victorian patterns on the dress make her look like a princess. Not just any princess, my princess.
"I can't believe we ended up finding matching formalwear," Melanie utters while walking up to me and studying my purple waistcoat. Huh, she's right, it's almost like we both planned on wearing borealis purple clothing. She takes her hand and presses it against my chest which causes an unanticipated wave of serotonin and dopamine to flow through my veins.
I see Javier maneuver around us to open the front door. He exits the house and peeks through the crack of the door to say, "Have a good night you two."
"Bye Jav," Melanie mutters while waving at him.
The door clicks closed and it's just Melanie and I alone in the dimly lit house. If I had a choice, I would ditch the Formal and just take her out on a date with me, but I know she's been excited to experience this with me so I quickly forget about that idea. It doesn't help that she has the most attractive figure of any monster I've seen.
"Melanie… I-I'm speechless. You look absolutely breathtaking," I divulge.
Melanie laughs while giving me one of her mood enhancing hugs. "Thanks horns. I hoped I didn't disappoint you."
"Didn't I tell you that you could never disappoint me?" I ask while putting my hands on her waist.
"Yeah, you did. I guess I just wanted to live up to your rich boy expectations," Melanie responds while putting her head on my chest.
"Well if it makes you feel better, you blew them out of the water," I add.
Melanie's grip gets a little tighter after I say that. I take my hands off her waist and wrap my arms around her to hug her back. I don't know why but whenever this happens it feels like everything in the world is perfect again. It feels like I don't have to live up to peoples expectations anymore, like I don't have to pretend to be tough and brave.
"Really though I can't believe we're matching," Melanie says breaking the silence.
I take my arms off her and look down. "It must be a sign that we're meant to be together," I say giving her a wink and a smile.
Melanie laughs. I'm glad I can make her feel happy during times where she hasn't felt her best.
"You ready to head to the banquet hall?" I question while raising my eyebrow.
Melanie's face becomes overwhelmed with anxiety. "Um… yeah I think so."
Melanie's POV
The banquet hall is surrounded by couples yet to enter. Many of them are conversing among themselves and gushing over how well they look. A lot of the boys are all joking with each other and a couple are getting somewhat physical with each other by pushing each other around. All the girls just gossip with each other, and ignoring the amount of makeup they all have on. Like seriously they're all drenched head to toe in makeup. Does that seriously make them feel good, to be social media beauty influencers? They're all going to feel like their power washing a driveway once this is all over and done with.
"You ready Melanie?" Johnny whispers.
I nod while trying to hide my anxiety. I've never really been to an event this big before, so I feel like there's several chances for me to feel like the odd one out tonight.
As we walk closer to the banquet hall, more and more monsters start noticing us. There are a few monsters who call out to Johnny as we walk by, and he responds to them in various ways. He points to them, laughs with them, talk with them a little bit, and waves to them. There's also quite a bit of girls that swoon as they see him walk by, most likely wishing they were in my place. I feel a bit jealous when he winks at a couple of them, but I guess that's a normal thing for him to do as the most popular monster on campus.
The further we go, the more the attention turns to me. While I know everyone's trying to keep their conversations to themselves, they don't know that I have really good hearing.
"Do you think he's playing her?"
"She's going to be so sad when he forgets about her after tonight."
"Isn't she out of his league?"
"Oof, His family won't like her."
"She's definitely been paying to get in his pants."
I feel a whole range of mixed emotions. Anger, worry, embarrassment, sadness…pretty much all the colors of the rainbow. Is there something wrong with me? Is there something wrong with Johnny that I don't know about?
"Hey, is everything alright?" Johnny whispers with a worried look.
"Um…yeah. Just nervous," I reply keeping my head down.
"Are you sure? I know this is a big step for you, so I won't force you to do this," Johnny comforts.
He moves his hand down my arm and interlocks his fingers with mine. My nervousness causes me to squeeze his hand, which causes him to retaliate and squeeze back.
"I'll be fine," I mutter while giving him a fake smile.
"Ok, I'll trust you. How about we go get our picture taken and then we can have some fun," Johnny smiles.
I agree and we enter the banquet hall. The walls are lined with ivy laced with flowers growing off of them, and the ceilings shine brightly from the numerous amount of glass chandeliers. The archway that reveals the dance floor shows many tables with white cloths laid over them and bouquets of flowers on top of them. The venue is beautiful and nobody can tell me otherwise. After a couple minutes, we finally are able to take our picture. "Smile big Mel," Johnny whispers as we take our positions in front of a white backdrop. His arm runs around my back and his hand is placed on my hip.
The photographer grabs our attention. "Alright here we go. 3, 2, 1,…"
The flash burns itself into my retinas and I feel as if I've gone blind. I have to blink hundreds of times and give them a couple rubs in order for the lapse in my vision to go away. Johnny guides me further in the banquet hall and talks to the photographer to get us a couple copies of our photo. I hope I didn't look weird, I don't think I could live the rest of my life knowing there's a couple photos in this world where I look like a literal clown.
Speaking of looking like a clown, many people start looking at me as if I am one which sends chills down my spine. Everywhere my eyes trail off to I see dead stares drilling into my skull and I start to feel like this was a mistake with every passing second. I should have known that I would be judged heavily wearing this dress and going with Johnny.
"Looking pretty good princess," Johnny chuckles while looking at the photos.
"Ugh, I look bad don't I?" I groan.
"What? No! You look just as amazing as you always do," Johnny says pointing to me on the photo.
He wasn't lying, I look like how I normally do in every photo I've taken. Maybe even prettier.
"Seriously Mel, I'm more than certain you're the most beautiful person here," he declares while giving me a wink. "Come on, let's have some fun."
We end up finding all the RORs, the PNKs, and the HSS's within the back right corner talking with each other. Most of them are introducing their dates to each other and looking like they're having fun. We sit down with all of them, and have a couple drinks over the course of an hour. While Johnny starts conversing with all the RORs and his other frat friends, Carrie and Britney come and sit with me, followed by Rhonda and a HSS I haven't met before. Her name is Nadya, and she's a dark pink monster with short dark purple hair and three eyes. I try my best to get to know her a bit more after a somewhat rocky start. Rhonda had to encourage her to talk to me, and it turns out we have a lot in common. We think the same way and feel the same things. While I'm not actually goth, I could probably get away with acting like one.
That conversation shifts away from me, which makes Carrie and Britney take their opportunity at gossiping with me. They both ask me about where I'm from and what my childhood was like. I tell them pretty much what I told Johnny on that long walk we took a few weeks ago. I tell them about my parents and how they've never been able to hold good jobs, I tell them how I've been dreaming of being a scarer since I was a kid, I tell them that I used to play violin and that I'm somewhat of an artist. They find some way to change the conversation to fashion, but I don't really mind since I'm not the kind of person to talk about myself.
I tune out of their conversation after a while and end up being the wall in between two niches. I sit at the table with all the girls I've come to love over the past few months, but pay no attention to them as Johnny stands regally over by the snack table. I gaze at his lavish tuxedo and his princely handsomeness as he jokes with some of the Omega Howl and Gamma Roar Roar boys. I see Javier grab his shoulder and whisper something to him.
"He's strikingly gorgeous isn't he?" Nadya teases.
I snap out of my daydream to see her and Rhonda staring at me with large smirks. "Huh?" I say.
Nadya chuckles in an arrogant manner. "Don't be coy Melanie, it's obvious that you really like him."
"Oh… Um… yeah," I admit timidly, "He was one of the first guys to ever really talk to me and have fun with me."
"Like ever? God people are such elitists!" Rhonda hisses.
"Yeah, the only friend I had was Faust. But as you guys know, that friendship doesn't exactly exist anymore. So I guess Johnny's my new best friend," I mutter.
"Aww, our little babybat has a crush," Nadya says with a toothy smile.
"Her goth points are, like, totally flowing off the charts right now. I'd suggest you start doing something about that before you enter a disconsolate and bleak existence like us," Rhonda adds.
Just before I open my mouth, Johnny ambles over to our table and offers his hand. "May I have this dance, princess?" He asks with a smile and raising one of his brows.
"You want me to dance with you?" I answer with confusion.
Johnny nods and keeps his hand out for me to grab onto. I take his hand and hear the PNK and HSS girls all gasp in elation. I'm guessing they thought I would decline, but boy did I prove them wrong! As we take to the dance floor, I notice that many other girls have declined since only Johnny and I are the ones to take to the floor along with Javier, two of the Omega Howl boys, and their dates.
There's a pink, octopus looking monster who crawls up to the stage and puts on a set of headphones. I'm assuming he's the DJ for this party. Come to think of it, he might of been the DJ at the ROR party a couple months ago.
"Just follow my lead ok," Johnny whispers while taking both my hands and positioning them on his arm and chest. Oh…we're waltzing… I don't think anyone knows that I know how to do this.
The pink DJ flicks a couple of switches and an uplifting symphony begins. I hold onto Johnny's left hand tightly and move with him as he guides me in a large circle along with the three other couples. We slowly begin turning in circles within that circular movement for a few seconds and then we stop. We both twirl in place as the booming violins and cellos rise in intensity, and then he takes my right hand and places it at his hip. He dips me down and I graciously arch my back for a smooth transition back upwards. Johnny keeps my hand on his hip as he changes the direction we twist. He looks deep into my eyes, and I just smile at him. He gives me a large smile back and proceeds to flawlessly perform an underarm turn with me.
As I rotate back around to him, he has me turn another 180 degrees so that I'm facing away from him. He puts his right hand around my waist, holds my left arm out, and we begin opulently whirling around the floor once again. The music intensifies once more and we do a couple more underarm turns followed by another dip where I wrap my arm around his head and descend to the floor.
The other three groups suddenly surround us and put us in the center of a waltzing group. When I notice what's happening, he pulls me back up and we take a step back from each other. We step back into our normal positions and then perform a couple more complex turns where I instead hold my arm high in the air and rotate several times. Johnny takes my right arm and puts my left hand into his right hand, and we go back to a basic slow waltz.
The music continues to encourage us to dance for a couple more minutes. Once we're near the end, Johnny wraps my hand around his head and picks up one of my legs while twirling around the dance floor. I notice many monsters who are stunned by our performance choose to keep their eyes on us for the rest of the small dance Johnny and I are sharing. At the very last note of the symphony, he dips me down one last time and keeps me there for a few seconds until bringing me back up with a satisfied smile.
The lights pointed at the dance floor become bright again and many of the monsters in the banquet hall clap for the eight of us who took to the dance floor. My heart races due to the nervousness of performing on the spot like this, but maybe that's good for me. Johnny decides to pay no attention to them and speaks to me. "I wasn't expecting you to know how to waltz. Where did you learn to dance like that Mel?" He whispers.
I take his hand and lead him off the dance floor as the other few groups do the same. Although it seems like Javier and his date follow us slowly. "My dad taught me when I was little. Every now and then we would dance together cause I thought it was fun," I disclose while I laugh.
Johnny remains speechless and glares into my eyes. I've really enjoyed dancing with him and spending time with him in general. I've come to love it when he looks at me like I'm the most important person in the world, and wish he could stare at me like that forever.
"Well I know I… put you on the spot, so I'll let you rest for a little while. I'll be back in a little bit to check up on you," Johnny smiles.
He walks me over to the back right corner of the banquet hall with his hand in mine, and leaves me in between the PNKs and HSS girls who all look like they're starstruck. Before he leaves he takes my right hand and kisses it. I then watch him as he bows to me and goes to talk to Javier and the two Omega Howl boys that were on the dance floor with us.
I'm going to admit, it hurt to see him leave me alone again.