Arcadia's Gift(58)

“Did Bryan ever tell you how he and I met?” she asked.
Bryan never mentioned you, I thought to myself. “No, he didn’t.”
“We were only about seven years old. Our fathers were both working for the same investment firm at the time, and his family came over to our Fourth of July picnic. He was this scrawny little thing who wouldn’t talk.” She laughed with her mouth open, showing her pearly teeth.
Bryan gave her a mock glare, but then smiled. “I told you,” he explained to me. “I was home schooled, so I didn’t have a lot of experience with other kids, much less with girls.”
“So, my sister and I thought it’d be fun to dress him up,” she continued. “We took him up to our room and made him put on this little yellow dress. We clipped barrettes in his hair and put on some of our mother’s lipstick. We wanted blush too, but couldn’t find any, so we smudged the lipstick on his cheeks. He looked like some warped version of a drag queen!”
“Don’t listen to her,” he said squeezing my hand lightly. “I looked hot.”
“I bet you did,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
“When we had him all dressed up, we wanted to make a big production about showing him off, so my sister, who was like ten at the time got out her portable CD player and her Grease Soundtrack —”
“Yeah, yeah,” Bryan interrupted. “They made me parade around the backyard in front of everyone to the song ‘Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee.’ Real hilarious.”
I had to admit, it was funny, and I giggled along with Monica.
“My brother never let me live that down either,” he muttered.
Aaron returned to our table just as the waiter appeared. I ordered the veggie lasagna which came in a slice almost as large as the plate. Monica got a Caesar salad with the dressing on the side. She would dunk her fork in the dressing before stabbing her lettuce. I guess I understood now how she was so thin.
After dinner, we headed over to the high school. The cafeteria was transformed by the magic of the school Spirit Committee. The tables had all been folded away, leaving only some folding chairs in different areas of the room for people to sit in when they got sick of dancing. The florescent lights were off, the only illumination coming from thousands of white Christmas lights laced around the ceiling and dripping down the walls. A long table at one end had punch and soda being served by some student volunteers, and a couple strategically placed bins of dry ice sent billows of fog rolling over the floor.
“Do you dance?” Monica shouted to Aaron over the up-tempo pop music.
He nodded, taking her hand and leading her out to the dance floor. I’d never seen my brother dance before, but he managed to pull it off without looking any worse than anyone else. Monica undulated next to him, a little too closely.
Across the room, I spotted a photographer taking pictures of the couples. “Let’s get our picture taken.” I suggested.
“Sure,” Bryan shrugged.
Walking across the room, I tensed up at the onslaught of emotions coming from the crowd. Luckily, most of the students were in good moods. When I got within range of the dancers though, the elation coming off of them made my head dizzy. I clutched Bryan’s arm. The direct contact helping to filter some of the emotional pollution out.
“You okay?” he yelled.
I nodded and led him away from the dancers.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “You looked like you were going to faint for a minute there. Do you want me to get you something to drink?”
My body was still a little woozy. “Just some punch, I think.”
“Be right back.”
Bryan threaded his way through the crowd, while I staked a claim on the wall. This was only the second dance I’d been to, and the only semi-formal. Lony had made me go with her to the back-to-school dance at the beginning of our freshman year. It was okay until she latched onto some cute boy and left me alone for the rest of the night.
I spotted Shawn and Angelique coming toward me from the dance floor. They were both breathing heavy and damp with sweat. Shawn was dressed like a 1920’s gangster and Angelique wore a vintage flapper dress, complete with the matching headband wrapped around her forehead.
“Hey, girl!” Shawn called out. “Where’d your hot date go?”
“To get me something to drink. You guys having fun?”
Angelique draped her arm around Shawn’s shoulders. “Are you kidding? This DJ is incredible! Every song he has played so far has been killer!”
“How’re your brother and the ex getting along?” Shawn asked, after Angelique excused herself to use the restroom.