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]

"That's because I'm usually in your guys old clothing and Braig has good taste." she countered reasonably. "But I should get some new clothes, for college stuff. Nice stuff."

[sliceitwithwind]

"We can do that." Braig promises, "As long as you promise that you'll keep some of our stuff around."

[mitochondriaaya]

She blinked at him "Duh. What else would I wear on days I'm just hanging out? And what else would I sleep in? You guys break in t-shirts better than any store bought sleep stuff!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Good girl." Braig says, smiling, "Okay, hmmm. What's next on our list?"

[mitochondriaaya]

"You just hate giving stuff to Goodwill." Aya groused teasingly. "Hmmm, dunno? Figuring out how much tape we'll actually need for that dress? And go find shoes the same color?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I just prefer to use things up entirely."

"And I like the way t-shirt material dusts." Dilan adds.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah yeah yeah I'm the rag supply girl." she laughed. "Guaranteed supply for a lifetime as long as you mail me shirts." because, really, the idea of not wearing their stuff was...really lonely.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Hey, they're well used cloth." Dilan says, ruffling her hair.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yes, I'm dutifully rough on them." she stuck her tongue out at both of them in general and dug into her chili. Wearing T-shirts over her surf gear was almost as rough as asphalt sometimes!

"So....we need anything else besides tape? I mean...do we have an instruction book?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"The girls are bringing it." Braig says, digging into his food as well. Dilan is chasing the last bit of his first bowl around with bread.

[mitochondriaaya]

"...how many of them?" Aya stood up to glance out the front window. "I don't how many can actually fit around me..." and when the boys called in help, sometimes they didn't think to put a limit on it.

"And how many of them will have scissors?" now she was just teasing, but hey, why not?

[sliceitwithwind]

"Four of them, and at least six sets of scissors." Braig says cheerfully, "It'll be cool."

[mitochondriaaya]

"At least?! Do you remember what happened last time there so many scissors?! NO DUAL WIELDING." best to get the rules down now.

"Especially you Braig. I mean it."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Hey, hey. The only hair cut was mine." Braig points out firmly.

[mitochondriaaya]

"I lost my favorite shirt! And we almost got Dilan's ears! And those curtains...did we ever get rid of those curtains? I bet they're still hidden from your mom..." somewhere way up in the attic.

"And that was only six pairs."

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Braig waves her off cheerfully.

Dilan is protectively cupping his ears. In memory.

[mitochondriaaya]

"If I bleed, or Dilan bleeds, or you bleed, or the girls bleed then I'm going to very annoyed with you Braig." Aya promised, reaching out to tweak his nose, then poke Dilan.

"Anyway. Stuff. The girls need to hurry up so we can get started. We've only got three days."

[sliceitwithwind]

That's about when the tornado of women show up.

Dilan finds himself a nice patch of wall to stay pressed against.

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya's contribution to the whole affair was along the lines of "Eep". There was measuring, and some cheerful chatter about Aya growing up, and then Aya was passed off to the boys again as the girls discussed what would make the best under dress to build on.

"If we run now we can make it to the hardware store before they catch us?" she whispered to Dilan. "The window behind you doesn't have a screen right?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"You go out the window, I'll distract." Dilan says, passing over his wallet, "And pick up a peach."

[mitochondriaaya]

"You're the genius, I need an estimate of needed tape for my measurements!" she slipped the wallet into her pocket then slowly started inching up the window. "One peach?"

[sliceitwithwind]

He gives her an approximate number, "I won't argue if you get more than one peach."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeeeah, a lot of tape. All in the teal? I might have to hit two stores because I'll probably wipe out one." she sighed and glanced back at the plotting knot of women plus Braig.

"Call in a food order? I'll pick that up on the way home so I come with peace offerings?" and peaches.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sure. I'll call it in to, um. That Thai place. You know." he waves his hands vaguely.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah, yeah I know. You grew up here and still can't remember it's name?" she laughed quietly and poked his side. "Give me half an hour before ordering, I should be back within two hours tops?" depending on where she had to go to find tape and who wanted to talk along the way.