As we entered the room where the prom was being held, the first person I saw was my friend Phyllis with her boyfriend.
"Hey Monica," she said, coming over. Then she gasped, having just realized that I wasn't alone. "Monica??? You have a date???" Then she brought up something I was hoping she wouldn't. "Poor Randall will be heartbroken."
I could feel my cheeks burn. Randall was a guy who had been in my German class since seventh grade. In seventh grade, something had happened...I was playing games on his graphing calculator, and for some reason Phyllis found that extremely funny. Ever since, she had never ceased teasing me about him. And it would have been even worse if she knew the truth, although I had a feeling she suspected...I actually had a small crush on him now. That was why I was hoping she wouldn't bring that up, because I feared Taylor would be able to tell that it was more than just a joke. The crush had actually all but disappeared since I had met Taylor, but it had been there for years, and I was afraid Taylor would suspect that Randall was the "secret boyfriend" that I had pretended to have.
Now, however, I tried to blow it off like I always had. "Phyllis, stop it. I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Taylor. Tay, this is my friend Phyllis." I purposely left off Taylor's last name, since Phyllis was one of the many Hanson haters that I knew.
"Nice to meet you, Phyllis," said Taylor. He winked at me, letting me know that he recognized the reason for leaving off the last name.
"Nice to meet you, too, Taylor..." Then she did a double take, and I knew she'd recognized him. I shot her a look, begging Please don't say anything. Luckily, she just whispered, "...Hanson" and walked off.
As she left, Taylor immediately pulled me aside. "Okay, what was that all about? Who's Randall?"
I sighed. "Taylor, please don't worry. Randall's just this guy I know. He's in my German class."
"Then what was that all about? I saw you blushing."
Inwardly, I groaned. "It's just something Phyllis has teased me about since seventh grade. It has to do with a calculator. I was looking at Randall's one day, and for some reason, Phyllis took that to mean that I liked him, and now she teases me about that almost every day. That's all."
Still not convinced, Taylor asked, "Then you don't like him?"
"He's my friend, and that's all. I promise." Then I changed the subject. "Taylor, can we please stop talking about that? I hear music in there, and I want to dance!"
"Of course. Let's go!" As we were entering the main room, Taylor turned to me again and whispered, "I do believe you. I hope you know that. I trust you, and I really like you, Moni. I was just a little jealous."
"That's okay, Tay. I know why you were jealous. And I'm sorry for teasing you like that in the car. I just still couldn't believe that you actually liked me enough to be jealous."
"Well, now you know." Then the music, which had been between songs, started again. It was "Waiting For Tonight" by Jennifer Lopez. Taylor looked at me and asked, "Would you like to dance?"
"Of course I would!" I exclaimed. "I really like this song."
I was still just a little nervous about dancing to a fast song in front of all the people I saw every day, but I quickly got over it and started enjoying myself.
As the music ended, I stopped dancing and looked at Taylor breathlessly. He was also breathing quickly. "That was so much fun!" I gasped.
"Yeah," Taylor agreed, then, as the next song started, "Do you want to dance again, or do you want to sit down for a minute so we can catch our breath?"
Feeling brave, I said, "Let's dance to this one. I'm not that tired yet!"
As we danced, I took the time to observe our surroundings. The room was enormous, although not quite as large as the New Year's party had been. The lights were dimmed, although there were several different lights flashing on and off during the songs. I assumed that those would be turned off during the slow songs, if the dj ever played any slow songs.
Just as I thought that, Taylor asked me, "Are they ever gonna play any slow songs? I'm going to get really tired soon if they keep playing songs like this."
I laughed. "That's exactly what I was just thinking!"
We danced to several more fast songs. Taylor occasionally complained good-naturedly, but we danced to every song. Just as I was finally starting to get tired, I heard the beginning of "Heartbreaker" by Mariah Carey.
Taylor had been heading off the dance floor when the music started. He turned back to me and asked, "Do you want to dance to this song?"
"Oh, yeah! I love this song!" At Taylor's "complaining", I relented. "After this song, we can rest. I promise."
"No, that's okay. If you want to keep dancing, we can. I can handle it. Besides, isn't that why we came?"
"Actually, I'm getting tired, too."
Then we started dancing. Despite my tiredness, I was dancing like I had never danced before. I noticed Taylor, too, dancing better than I had seen him dance before.
At the end of the song, I spun to a stop, gasping for breath. I noticed with some satisfaction that Taylor looked even more tired than I was.
"Whoa, Moni...that was so awesome! I don't see how you can be standing up right now, after that!"
I laughed. "Taylor, did you forget that I've been in gymnastics for four years? I would hope I'd have more endurance than that by now! And that's not even mentioning my ten years of dance, either!"
"Well, yeah. I guess I didn't think about that, but who can really think about anything with you right there dancing?"
I blushed. Then I noticed a table with drinks. "Hey Tay, let's go get something to drink."
"Now that's the best idea I've heard all night!" Taylor laughed.
A few songs played while we were taking our much-needed break. Just as I was regaining energy and noticing that Taylor also seemed less tired, the lights dimmed. A slow song started playing. I turned to Taylor, but before I could say anything, he whispered, "Come with me for a minute."
I followed him to a deserted part of the room, wondering what was going on. Taylor turned to me and said, "Monica, I just wanted to tell you how special you are to me. You mean so very much to me, and I wanted you to know." He pulled out a small velvet box. "I want you to have this, so you'll always remember this night."
I took the box, wondering what was inside. "Taylor, I could never forget this night, no matter what." I opened the box, and gasped at what lay inside.
Chapter 43
Love Takes Time
Story Page
Back Home