Well then...

[mitochondriaaya]

The unfortunate thing about senior year was...Aya was fourteen. Fourteen. Through most of it anyway. She'd be fifteen a week before graduation. Prom was...three weeks before graduation. It was suppose to be a big deal, and she kind of wistfully thought about going but...

Well.

She was fourteen.

She'd kind of resigned herself to a night of video games, especially when the day loomed closer and closer, when Tadyin had caught her at the lockers. He was in her math class, and yes, she'd beaten up his kid brother in grade school but the boy had deserved it and...

...well...

Tadyin was a good guy. He was still in the awkward adolescent phase where his knees and elbows almost seemed bigger than the rest of him, but his smile was real, and real nervous as he fiddled with his back pack. "Aya?...Um, Aya..."

She shut her locker with a soft click and waited, knowing he'd spit it out eventually. He probably wanted her to watch his kid sister or something. Or help with homework. His question, of course, couldn't have floored her more.

"You see, I know you belong to to Braig and Dilan, but they're not students here anymore and all seniors should go to the prom you know? And I was thinking, well, other guys are going to be jerks, but you should go? You want to go right? I'd be happy to take you and you know you might like it, and I can have you home by ten, which I know is early for a prom but you won't want to see these people be idiots that late and you want to go right?"

She felt kind of bad, just blinking at him for a moment. It must have been embarrassing enough, just asking the kid to go, but to be left hanging as she thought it over? That was harsh. She could tell he was getting ready to bolt by the time she reached out to tug on his coat sleeve "I'd like to go. Thank you, for asking. Thank you so much."

He really was cute when he smiled. "I can be over to pick you up at six? It's at the hotel, next town over, but it won't take long to get there, promise."

She just smiled, and nodded, and watched him leave...she was thinking, hell, she didn't really know what she was thinking. When she got home, she practically flew in the front door of Braig's house, grin on her face. "I'M GOING TO PROM!!"

...

...

...

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DANCE!!"

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

"Well, we can make the dress and try it with the shawl? If it doesn't look right to Braig, I go without it?" she offered. "The big part is the dress. We have figure out what we're making today...should we pull something up on the computers?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sure." Dilan agrees, digging for a laptop and setting it open for Braig to start running searches, "...Want a snack?"

[mitochondriaaya]

Braig was certainly the right person for the dress search. She'd leave that to him gladly. "Yeah, school lunch was bad today. Real bad." she rolled off the couch to hit the kitchen "You guys eat?"

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig comes up with several simple, elegant designs for Aya to choose from, eventually.

"We can always eat more."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah yeah yeah. I thought you guys were suppose to be done with the 'bottomless pit' stage by now." she teased, wending her way into the kitchen. There was left over chili right? She had the pot on the stove and bubbling within half an hour.

"So, fill me in on campus life since I last saw you..." she called from the kitchen.

[sliceitwithwind]

"...Never! You speak blasphemy!" Both guys call out, laughing, "Where should we start?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"And food stores around the world cackle in evil glee..." she teased back at the chorus. "Well, start with the creepy guy from the fashion department. Is he still following you? What did he want?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Only Dilan, dude." Braig says cheerfully, "He's leaving me alone now."

Dilan siiiighs, "Yeah. Can't seem to convince him that he's missing a huge requirement in dating me. Sanity."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Obviously he doesn't know quality when he sees it." she cracked to Braig "Or maybe his schedule only allowed for stalking one of you?" that said she turned to Dilan.

"Seriously? I thought he wanted to recruit you or something. Wow I was off..." she shivered, once, and sobered "Is he getting worse? is he a problem?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Nah, he's not getting worse. If he does, I promise I'll go to the cops. And not let Braig deal with him."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Braig, you promise to let the cops deal with it if it comes to that?" Aya poked her head out the kitchen alcove to stare hard at the eldest boy. "Please?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, yeah." Braig says (he's heard it before).

[mitochondriaaya]

"...good enough for now." Aya sighed and went back to stirring chili. "Anyway, beyond the creepy guy...college life." she prompted.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Doing well in classes, haven't been dumped by any of the girlfriends, still living together." Dilan sums up happily, "Life is good."

[mitochondriaaya]

"I approve" she chirped, finally returning with bowls of chili. "Have they asked you guys to teach yet? It isn't easy on the staff, having a pair like you in classes..."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, we'll each be picking up a couple of classes next semester." Braig mutters, "What do you think of this one?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"I'll get you both official red pens for grading." she promised with a grin before leaning over Braig's shoulder to look at the dress design "I'd...trip on it probably?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Thank you, Aya." Dilan says, laughing.

"Hmm. Yeah. You would, wouldn't you?" Braig murmurs, eating with one hand and surfing the 'net with the other, "What kind of dress do you want?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Hey, what's life if I can't help ensure another generation of red ink terror?" Aya grinned and slurped her snack. "Hmmm, something with less skirt to kill myself with? At least in front, I guess in back would be alright? And nothing with a neckline like that one at the end, that'd just get really bad, really quickly."

[sliceitwithwind]

"How about this, in blue - " Braig asks, pulling up a picture.

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya tilted her head at it, then nodded "I could do that I think. I wouldn't trip on it at least. It's kind of..."...grown up.

[sliceitwithwind]

"We'll raise the neckline." Braig says, firmly, "Because you are way too young for a neckline like that."

[mitochondriaaya]

"And waaaaay too short to wear low necklines in public anyway." Aya agreed. She really, really, really hoped she grew a few more inches at least. Bad enough to look up to everyone, worse was knowing they were looking down as the years went by.

[sliceitwithwind]

"...Right." it honestly slipped Braig's mind because of how short he is.

[mitochondriaaya]

She ruffled Braig's hair and grinned "Or you could just take out most the male population at the knees?" she offered teasingly. "Maybe I'll grow someday and it won't be such a problem!" hey, it could happen!