Chapter 2.19 - Just a Dance

This is post 3 of 4 posted on May 3, 2019.

The last thing Jade had expected to be doing today was dress shopping with Madeline Milne, but here she was. Jade, Madeline, and Eve were trying on dresses at a cute little boutique down the road from the school.

Well, Jade and Eve were trying on dresses. Madeline was just standing there, curiously quiet.

“So… why did you decide to come dress shopping with us? Why not go with your other friends?” Jade knew she was being a little too blunt, but she was curious. Also a little annoyed. This was supposed to be her day to hang out with Eve, to have some best friend time. That time had now been intruded on by her brother's girlfriend, who she honestly didn't like very much.

Madeline bit her lip. “They already went dress shopping. We had all planned to go the weekend Beckett was in the hospital, and they went without me while I stayed with him. Besides, they don't think I should be going when he can't.”

“Why are you going?”

“I've wanted to be prom queen since I was ten years old. I'm not giving up on that dream just because my boyfriend broke his kneecap.”

“Oh… kay.” Jade couldn't help but think that Madeline sounded a little callous, but what did she know? She guessed that she couldn't blame her for not wanting to give up on a dream…

“Besides, if I don't go to prom, it'll be like I'm giving up. My life isn't over just because Beckett can't play soccer anymore. I need to show that we're still strong.”

Jade stared at her incredulously. “You sound like a politician.”

To her shock, Madeline smiled. “Popularity is politics.”

Eve came out of the dressing room, interrupting their conversation. “What do you think?”

“You look great!”

“You'd look better in a different color. That green does nothing for you.”

Eve ignored Madeline. “I'm buying it.” She turned to Jade. “Your turn.”

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“You look nice.”

Jade smiled awkwardly. “Thank you.” She was a little underwhelmed with her prom night so far. Ted was… great. Yes. He was great. But he could never really be called romantic. Most of the time, Jade was fine with that. But… this was prom. She would never willingly admit it, but Jade had always kind of wanted that movie moment where she walked down the stairs and he looked at her like she was the only girl in the world. Of course, there were a number of problems in that scenario, the first and foremost being that her house didn’t even have stairs. Ted had just come to the door, smiled briefly at her, and then told her she looked nice. It was… fine. She guessed she shouldn’t have set her hopes so high.

“What do you have planned for tonight?”

Ted looked at her, a little bit confused. “What do you mean? We eat dinner, we go to prom, we dance, I take you home.”

“That’s it?”

“Is that not enough?”

Jade shook her head. “It’s fine. Sorry. I guess we had a miscommunication. I figured we’d be doing something after prom. I think there are a few after-parties going on.”

“That’s kind of late, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so.” They sat awkwardly in silence for the rest of dinner.

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Madeline could feel eyes on her, and she turned towards them instinctively. On some level, she wasn’t surprised by who those eyes belonged to. No one ever looked at her when she was alone. No one cared enough to wonder who she was without Beckett at her side.

But Alaric was different. This wasn’t the first time she’d caught him looking at her. Of course, he never just looked at her. He absorbed. He assessed. He deemed her… worthy. It was a heady feeling, knowing that someone so aloof thought that she was worth his time. It meant something, more than it did when Beckett smiled at her. Maybe that made her a bad girlfriend, but… she wanted to feel special. Beckett smiled at everyone. Alaric only looked at her.

Of course, no matter how validating Alaric’s gaze felt, Madeline had come to prom for one thing and one thing only: the queen’s crown. To win prom queen would be to confirm that her entire high school experience had meant something more than just getting her a diploma she would probably never use. And now, it was finally time. The culminating moment of her teenage life was here: “And our prom queen is… Madeline Milne!”

As she was crowned, she gave her best queenly smile, even as a slight feeling of uncertainty began to gnaw at the back of her mind. Now that she had what she'd wanted for so long… what was she supposed to do next?

Madeline was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed the second part of the crowning ceremony. When she registered what was happening, though, she snapped straight out of confusion and into shock. “And our prom king is… Alaric Doe!”

Madeline stood on the stage, flabbergasted. She went through the motions to finish the ceremony, but they were mechanical. Her thoughts were in turmoil. She was shocked, confused, worried, angry… and deep down inside, a little happy.

She was too lost in her roiling sea of thoughts to speak, but when it was time for the king-queen slow dance, the heat of Alaric's hand on her waist brought her out of her turbulent mind.

She tried to formulate her question, but she couldn't seem to find the words. Finally, she just said, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do this? Why get yourself elected prom king?” She knew that he'd done it on purpose. Nothing ever happened to Alaric. He made things happen. Madeline had always envied that… that agency, that control.

Alaric was silent, seeming to contemplate. “Maybe I wanted this.”

“Wanted what? The crown?”

He met her eyes. “Maybe I wanted to dance with the queen.”

Author's Note: You're almost there, just one more chapter to go! Please disregard all lighting discrepancies.