Page 59 of The Promposal

At that, she rolled her eyes and sighed. I really was rubbing off on her. “You won’t. And even if you did, it would make the prom super memorable. Which is what you want, right?”

Time-crunched Ella was no fun. I retreated back to my room and finished getting ready. “What shoes should I wear?” I hollered.

She came into my room, totally ready and looking much calmer. Her hair hung in perfect soft ringlets so that when the sun hit her hair, it made her look like she was glowing. “You’ve got those black heels you can use. It would have been better if we’d gone out and bought you, like, a pair of strappy silver sandals, but it totally slipped my mind that you don’t have a lot of appropriate shoes.”

Having big feet was kind of a hindrance to owning cute shoes. I found the heels in the back of my closet. “Got ’em! And it doesn’t really matter. I’ll just kick them off when we get there so that I can dance.”

She nodded. “Jake’s boutonniere is in the fridge, FYI. Deacon’s going to be here any minute.” She put a lipstick in my hand. “This is your color.”

“Wait, you got a boutonniere for me?”

“Don’t get too excited,” she said, giving me a silver clutch to put the lipstick and my phone in. “I just grabbed them from the grocery store. But the guys are not going to care.”

She was right.

The doorbell rang, and Ella let out a shaky breath. I realized she was actually nervous. “Deacon’s a good-looking guy,” I commented nonchalantly.

“Yes, he’s hot, and yes, I’ve noticed, and yes, it’s kind of freaking me out a little.”

“That just makes it more fun.”

She seemed to agree as she grinned at me.

“Ella?” my dad called out. He had insisted on inspecting our dates, but we had vetoed him interrogating the guys. He settled on answering the door when they came, figuring that would be enough of a show of force to make them behave.

I followed behind her and saw my dad standing there, arms folded, sporting a frown. Deacon didn’t seem even a little intimidated, which was probably helped by the fact that he had at least an inch on my father.

That, and all his attention was focused on Ella. “You look amazing.”

“Thanks. So do you.”

“We need pictures!” Jennifer declared, and started documenting Deacon and Ella’s entire interaction. Deacon opened up the plastic box and slid the wrist corsage onto Ella’s arm. She took her boutonniere and pinned it to the lapel of his tuxedo. They were so cute.

Her date wasn’t what she had originally wanted, but I could see that she was happy and excited. It was still good even if it was different.

Like me and my promposal. Because Jake was due to arrive any minute, and there was no way he was going to be able to ask me before the actual dance. I wasn’t getting a promposal, and I had really wanted one, but I was going to spend the night dancing in the arms of my adorable boyfriend. Which was even better than “still good.”

Then Jennifer had Deacon and Ella stand together and put their arms around each other while she took picture after picture with her camera. Like she was a professional or something and couldn’t use her phone like any other parent would.

“Okay, I think we’re good!” Ella finally decided, which got Jennifer to stop acting like they were models in Jennifer’s photo shoot. I sighed because I knew my turn was coming.

We told them good night and waved and watched as Deacon took her out to the waiting limo. “Good thing he brought that instead of the horse.”

“Why would he bring a horse?” my dad asked, sounding super confused.

“Never mind. I’ll be in my room.”

Since we lived in a one-story home, we didn’t have a staircase. Which I found especially devastating considering I couldn’t have a 1980s movie-worthy prom dramatic reveal. So I’d settled for walking slowly down the hallway to the front door so that Jake could admire me.

I’d been in my room for only a few minutes when I heard the doorbell. My heart leaped with excitement.

My prom was about to officially begin.

Well, not technically, since there was at least another hour before the prom doors officially opened, but I guessed that Jake had made reservations for dinner somewhere, and that would count as part of the whole prom experience.

“Uh, Mattie? I think the door’s for you.”

My dad still sounded confused. Maybe I should have explained the horse comment.

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