"Ow, Vera!" I winced and held my head, to which she grabbed my wrist and pulled it off.

"Well, if you wouldn't let your hair get so bad, it won't get all tangled," she snipped, spraying more water into my hair and continuing to comb out all the knots.

"Yeah, what's up with that? You're always on my tail about my hair and you look like you crawled out of a dumpster," Benji huffed from the couch, his eyes still glued to the cartoons on the TV.

"That's right. You tell him love," Vera leaned over and gave him a fist bump. Of course they had to get along so well and gang up on me. "Ivan, how are we doing on time?"

Glancing at my phone, I told her we had an hour before Ethan came to pick us up. I jolted at the sudden feeling of a cold, wet, sensation on my head. Vera came around to stand in front of me, combing the gel through my hair and pulling it off to the side. Another figure appeared in my peripheral, but when I tried to see who it was, Vera scolded me for moving and turned my head to face her again.

"Vera, your dress is all ready hun," Mrs. Clarissa spoke from somewhere behind me.

"Thank you Mrs. Clarissa, that was so nice of you to iron it for me."

"Of course, that dress is going to look so good on you," she replied as Vera stepped back to admire her work. Mrs. Clarissa walked over to stand next to her, gasping as her hand came to rest on her chest.

"Oh Ivan, you look so handsome," she breathed, lips turning down dramatically as though she was trying not to cry, and a triumphant smile graced Vera's red lips. "Vera get your dress on, I want pictures of you two in the garden!"

I couldn't wait for Ethan to finally arrive, because the copious amount of pictures Mrs. Clarissa wanted of Vera and I was getting absurd.

"Okay, stand next to those flowers out front, they are going to look so great with the dark blue in Vera's dress. Yeah, that looks really good. Ivan, come on, you can stand closer to her for goodness sake, you're not going to catch cooties."

I rolled my eyes at Mrs. Clarissa, grumbling in displeasure as I smashed myself into Vera's side, looking like an absolute fool standing a few inches shorter than my date. In my defense, Vera's heels were probably tall enough to pierce through someone's head.

We were in the middle of another photo taking session on the porch when Ethan's car rolled up front. Anxious to get away from Mrs. Clarissa and the camera, we bid her goodbye and hurried down the steps to the car.

"Alright you two! Make good choices! I'm just a call away if you need anything!" Mrs. Clarissa yelled from the porch, Mary and Benji standing on either side of her, both waving obnoxiously. I felt my cheeks heat up despite the cool autumn air, seeing Chloe in the front beaming and waving back to my family, Ethan staring at me intensely from the driver's seat. He had a strange expression on his face that I had a hard time deciphering. It was contemplative, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head, but his eyes were slightly widened as though he was trying to take everything in.

"Hi guys!" Vera greeted cheerfully as we climbed into the back. I met Ethan's eyes in the rearview mirror, that odd, fiery gaze still dancing in his irises. I smiled stiffly, and that seemed to snap him out of it, because he turned around in his seat to give me a proper greeting. Once we finally got onto the road, Chloe was quick to take over the music, Ethan's car was soon booming with heavy hip hop music, the bass loud enough to make your rib cage rattle around in your chest. Even the car door rattled obnoxiously against the metal frame. It was less than pleasant, and definitely not what Ethan and I would listen to when we are together. Ethan never liked the music too loud, always making some comment that he still wanted to be able to hold a conversation. Vera, however, seemed to know all the words as she and Chloe screamed the lyrics, and although the external stimulation was a bit much, I was just glad Vera was having a good time. I could suffer through for her sake. Ethan's gaze settled on mine again in the rearview mirror, an apologetic and almost concerned look on his face, a silent form of communication that we've always seemed to possess. I hoped my eyes were able to convey that I was alright.

Pulling into the school parking lot, it was impossible to go any faster than a painful crawl in order to avoid hitting groups of students making their way into the dance. A few guys were knocking back beers in a pickup, girls hiking up their dresses to make the trek across the lot to the school, some students still sitting in their cars just trying to gather the courage to walk in, but everyone seemed to have their place in it all regardless. I still wasn't sure what mine was.

When we parked, I got out of the car to walk around the back to Vera's side, while Ethan walked around the front to the passenger seat, and our eyes met over the roof of the car. At that moment, life didn't seem real, like we had done something that went against fate and now the order of the universe was all messed up. Were we supposed to bring our own dates to the dance? Was Ethan supposed to fall for Chloe? Am I supposed to be doomed to live a life always on the edge of what's real and what's imaginary, only to die young because I jumped off a bridge like one of them told me to? Or maybe the sky was supposed to be purple this entire time.

I pulled open the car door for Vera, giving her space to get out and close the door before offering her my elbow to hold as we walked. What possessed her to wear such tall heels was beyond me. We walked close behind Ethan and Chloe as they talked vibrantly amongst each other. Chloe's long blonde hair was curled and cascading down her back, her lilac dress was just as pretty, and extravagant, as she described. Ethan's hair was slightly slicked back like mine, but I was glad that whoever did it still left some of his curls, they were one of my favorite features of his. He had a black tux like me, a purple tie to match Chloe, but on Ethan it didn't look like an ordinary suit every other boy was wearing. Nothing could look ordinary on Ethan.

The minute we stepped foot into the gymnasium, Chloe went off squealing and hugging some other girls, dragging Ethan off into the dark to be with the other half of the group. Vera didn't seem bothered to meet them, as she quickly hauled me onto the dance floor before I could protest. We danced on our own to the side, talking as much as we could over the music, and I watched as Chloe clung to Ethan like a parasite.

Vera tsked, bringing her cleanly manicured fingers to my jaw and moving it back to face her. "You are not going to watch them all night, it's just going to make you upset, and we're here to have a good time," her cherry lips pulled up in a smirk as she patted my cheek. I casted my eyes downward and agreed, I wanted to have a good time tonight. Chloe bounded over to us, dragging Ethan and the rest of the group with her. "Hey you two!" She smirked, "why don't you two friends come dance with us!"

I knew Vera was subtly rolling her eyes without even looking at her, but we agreed to go with the group regardless, and I conjured up as much energy as I could to keep up with the group and make it through the night.

~

Sitting at an empty table off to the side, I smiled watching Vera dance with Emma. She threw her head back and laughed at something Emma had said, and I couldn't have been happier for her. Emma was all I would hear about in some conversations, and the look on Vera's face when she asked for a dance was priceless. It was half an hour before ten, and I was ready to drop dead. Between maintaining conversations with people and the thumping music, I was drained, blinking heavily as I leaned back in my chair.

"Hey you," Ethan appeared at my side, offering me a cup of water and sliding into the chair next to mine. I greeted him and drank from the cup greedily, not realizing my throat felt like sandpaper.

"Slow down, Ivy, or you'll choke," he laughed, but he still grabbed the cup to lower it slightly. I glared at him playfully, swatting his hands away as I finished the water. Ethan had inched closer to me when he grabbed my cup of water, but I quickly realized he never moved back, and was now facing me and gripping the back of my chair. I cleared my throat awkwardly, desperately looking for something to say.

"So. . . where's Chloe?" I asked dumbly.

"Dancing with a friend," he nodded, flicking his eyes over to the dance floor before retraining them on my face, staring straight into my eyes. It made my skin crawl a bit, and I could only look at him for a second before having to look away again. My own necktie suddenly felt as though it was choking me.

"Oh. . . " I trailed off, the words quickly dying on my tongue.

"Are you alright?" His eyebrows furrowed, and I could see him biting the inside of his cheek slightly.

"Yeah, 'm just tired," I breathed.

He hummed, gently running the pad of his thumb across the darkness beneath my eye. I blinked out of my sleepy trance, and sat up straighter in my chair. "Why are you like this?"

Ethan's head reared back defensively. "Like what?"

"Like. . . I don't know," I huffed, shaking my head in exasperation. "Caring? Doesn't it get exhausting looking after everyone?" I cringed after I heard the words come out of my mouth, hoping he got my point.

"Who said I'm like this with everyone?" Ethan looked just as surprised as I was by what he said, so he stared at the table in front of us with red cheeks. "So, um, want me to take you home? I'm sure Chloe wouldn't mind if I left for a minute."

I looked across the dance floor, where Chloe was dancing with one of her friends. She suddenly grabbed her friend's hand as the two ran off somewhere into the crowd. Vera was dancing with her back to Emma's front, before some teacher came over to break them up much to Vera's protest.

"Oh come on! We're both girls," I heard her laugh.

"No thanks, I'm okay." Ethan looked over at me with apprehension.

"Are you sure? Really it wouldn't be that big of a-"

I stood quickly, looking down at Ethan. "You should dance with Chloe, it's the last song," I blurted, before walking over to Vera and Emma, who greeted me enthusiastically. Once realizing how bitter that quip sounded, I wanted to smack myself in the face. My first instinct to get out of any uncomfortable situation was to run away, but of course I couldn't think of any smoother way to accomplish that. There was a dreadful feeling gripping my heart, and I couldn't help but feel like things were about to take a turn for the worst.

~

Poor Ivan, not the best with words. Thoughts and commentary are always welcome, and vote if you liked the chapter :)