Chapter 31: Prom Night

“You girls almost ready up there?” Rick called, leaning forward to look up the stairs. Zander had been ready for ten minutes already and had been patiently standing around the family room in his clean polished tux, still looking like he expected the girls any second. Lance, meanwhile, had taken a more relaxed approach in spite of his immaculate attire, chilling on the couch with one leg across his knee while he casually watched Keiko’s news report.

“Just a few more minutes, Dad!” Paula’s voice shouted back from behind her bedroom door.

“They’re girls, Rick,” Dana said in explanation from where she sat on the couch. “They need their time to doll up.” Then she turned to Kenneth sitting next to her and asked, “Don’t we?”

Kenneth chuckled. “That’s for sure,” he moaned. He looked at Rick and pointed to his wife saying, “You wouldn’t believe how long she takes just to get dressed for a simple dinner date!” He chuckled again as Dana playfully smacked him, and then turned his attention to the TV where Keiko was giving her evening report. “And I’m not even the one who’s married to a TV star,” Kenneth added.

It was unfortunate that Keiko had to work tonight and couldn’t be here to see the twins off to their prom, especially since Dana and Kenneth had both driven Heather over to the Greenfield house so she and Paula could get dressed together. Keiko had insisted on pictures of the kids in their formalwear being sent to her the moment they were taken, and Rick was happy to oblige. While he knew they were still a long way from being happy together again, he had to admit that he’d been starting to remember what he’d once seen in his wife ever since their night out on the twins’ birthday. Having the TV on so they could watch her report, something Rick had been doing less often the last couple years, seemed the least he could do.

Although ... as Rick took a good look at Keiko sitting there at her desk, giving a report on an oil company merger, he wondered if she’d always looked as tense during her broadcasts as she did just then. He hadn’t seriously watched her on TV in a while, unlike when she’d first gotten the job and he used to watch her every night, but he didn’t remember her seeming so flushed or on the verge of bursting. It was subtle; Rick suspected it wouldn’t have been so noticeable to someone who hadn’t shared a bed with her for the last twenty years, but he knew his wife’s tells and she was keeping a lid on something.

He also noticed something else. When Keiko handed off the report to her co-anchor, there was a very brief moment before Barry turned his attention to the teleprompter in which he caught the man giving Keiko a look that made the hairs on the back of Rick’s neck stand on end. It was quick enough that he wasn’t completely sure he’d really seen it, but the cold feeling in his gut when he looked at the man wouldn’t go away. Maybe it was just that he’d never liked Barry Capper, ever since he’d met him at one of Keiko’s office parties; the guy had the most oily demeanor Rick had ever seen, and he’d long suspected the guy of being the chief perpetrator of the hickeys and rumpled clothes that Keiko kept coming home with. But whether it was his imagination or not, Rick couldn’t deny that the more he looked at Keiko’s co-anchor, the more tempted he was to bludgeon the man with a bowling ball.

Dana sighed thoughtfully, appraising Zander in his formalwear. “I’m still having to get used to the idea that Heather’s dating you, Zander,” she said. “You’ve always just been her friend’s brother in my eyes. When I pictured the boy she’d be going with tonight, I never imagined it’d be you.”

Zander cocked his head and lifted an eyebrow, trying to decide what to make of this. “Are you disappointed?”

“No!” Dana blurted quickly, looking embarrassed, like she suddenly realized she’d said something wrong. “No, not at all! I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen Heather so happy. I think you must be good for her. I just wouldn’t have expected that.” Then she looked Zander up and down as if admiring a sculpture and added, almost under her breath, “She could do way worse.”

“Ooh hoo hoo hoo,” Lance chuckled mischievously, getting up from the couch and clapping Zander on the shoulder. “Better watch out, bro, it looks like your girl’s got competition!”

Zander looked at Lance like he couldn’t quite believe the guy’s boldness. “Dude!” he muttered. Dana meanwhile just blushed, while Kenneth gave her a teasing smile.

A pair of running footsteps on the stairs heralded Bobbi and Andie’s appearance, their eager smiles and bubbly energy seeming more akin to 11-year-olds than the 16-year-olds they were (an image that wasn’t hurt by Andie’s pigtails, either). “They’re ready!” Bobbi announced.

Raven followed them down a moment later, her energy more restrained behind that enigmatic smile. She stepped to the side of the stairs, and with a graceful flourish of her hands she declared, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the belles of the ball!”

And then there they were, coming slowly down the stairs, letting everyone drink in their appearance. Paula was first, dressed in a dazzling hot pink strapless dress with a pair of white silk gloves up to the elbows, her normally straight hair styled below the neck with bouncy curls. Heather followed behind, wearing a shimmering periwinkle blue gown with a translucent blue stole wrapped around her shoulders, and a lock of her hair twined into a braid that rested neatly in the middle of the blonde curtain of her hair.

“Oh, baby!” Lance breathed, placing a hand over his heart before moving to take hold of Paula’s arms and drink in the sight of her. “What Christian saint’s puppy did I rescue from a burning building in a past life to deserve you?”

“Oh cut it out,” Paula chuckled bashfully.

Not possessing Lance’s gift for witty compliments, Zander just stepped up to Heather and looked her over. “Ah...”

“Well?” she asked nervously.

“Um...”

Heather suddenly became shy and looked away. “It’s my glasses, they kill the effect, don’t they?” she said, nervously adjusting the offending spectacles.

Realizing this was the time to be assertive, Zander gripped Heather’s arm and said, “You’re perfect.” And to prove the point, never minding the parents who were in the room with them, he lightly kissed her, and quickly felt her insecurities melt away.

Kenneth cleared his throat uncomfortably. “All right, kids, save it for later. Let’s get some pictures.”

They lined the prom goers up in front of the old fireplace while Rick and Dana snapped photos on their phones, annoying the kids with calls for a third and forth picture each to get them in different poses. Once that was out of the way, the kids started herding themselves out the door to the limo that was waiting outside for them. “Thanks for providing the limo, Dad!” Paula called over her shoulder once the door was open and she got a look at the long white vehicle parked in front of the house.

“Of course, sweetie,” Rick smiled. He’d insisted on paying for the limo service himself, an obvious attempt to make up for his prior inattentiveness. They weren’t sure it was a necessary gesture, but they weren’t about to complain.

They also weren’t about to mention the other favor they’d received for tonight in front of him. They settled for merely shooting Raven a conspiratorial glance that silently said, “And thank you for providing the hotel suite.” Raven smiled and jerked her eyebrows in acknowlegement. And then she turned her sly glance toward Bobbi and Andie, who were visibly squirming from trying to hold in the secret of what they were planning for tonight. It was fortunate that the parents were only paying attention to the prom goers, because Andie especially could not have had a worse poker face.

“Have a good time!” Dana called after them.

“We will, Mom!” Heather called back, before turning a salacious look at Zander, and practically licking her lips as she added in a lower voice, “We really, really will!”

The school had rented out the ballroom of a local hotel for the night’s event. The limo dropped them off in front of the lobby, where a few other teens in formalwear could already be seen milling about, and the faint pulsing of the music could just barely be heard from outside.

As they entered the lobby, finding the streamers and balloons that led the way to the ballroom, they were quickly spotted by Sheila, the hostess of the fateful party from the previous month. She excused herself from her date and quickly approached to greet them, to effuse about how beautiful Paula and Heather’s dresses were, and express how glad she was to see how well Paula had recovered from what had happened to her. Sheila definitely gave the impression that she still carried some self-blame over the incident, given that it had occurred at her party. But she was alone in that feeling, as they all received her warmly and took a moment to compliment her yellow chiffon gown before heading into the ballroom.

The evening proceeded in pleasant fashion. The music was good, apart from one of the speakers being a little too loud at times. The food being served was ... okay at best, but that wasn’t what anyone was there for. They posed for their photos, they met with other friends to shoot the breeze and admire each other’s outfits, and proceeded to the dancing portion of the evening. And who cared if they occasionally swapped partners so that Paula and Zander could dance with each other now and then, where everyone could see them? It might have gotten a few curious looks, but it was just a brother and sister dancing together; no one had to know what they were doing behind closed doors.

Things started to get interesting when Heather and Zander approached Paula and Lance at their table at one point during a break from dancing, looking down at their phone with big grins on her face. “Have you guys voted for the king and queen yet?” Heather asked. A paper with a large QR code printed on it was pasted to the walls and on the tables in several places around the ballroom, providing a link for prom goers to vote on the evening’s royalty.