Banner of Lucas Till as Lucas Chandler. I'm aware that homecoming is football season, but let's pretend it's baseball season, okay?
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Chapter 13: Luke's Fan Club: Unparty of One
"I still can't believe Alec Jennings asked you to go to homecoming with him," Emma sighed, swirling the tiny brush of the nail polish bottle around.
We were lying on Emma's bed, gossiping and she was painting our nails a pretty robin egg shell color. It was our spring and summer color, but I loved it so much that I convinced her to use that instead of beige or burgundy, something more fall and wintry. Besides, it matched her very soft comforter. I thought about stealing it, but she would know it was me. I kind of had an obsession with it.
"Is it really that hard to believe?"
"Stop fidgeting. You're going to have uneven coats," she scolded, shaking her head in disapproval. "Um...yes! If I told you that you were going to go to homecoming with Alec Jennings last year, you would've laughed in my face."
She wasn't lying; I probably would've done that. We were from two completely different social groups. He was popular, and I was kind of neutral and unseen. "But that was last year. And now I actually have a date that isn't on the chess team."
I had nothing against the chess team; they just weren't my first candidates for going to a school dance with, a formal event. Okay, semiformal, but still. Nerds didn't exactly scream fun, not literally, of course. I'm sure they did scream 'fun' when they were singing Spongebob songs or something.
"There was nothing wrong with Greg."
"He thought taking a pawn with another pawn was the most hilarious thing ever."
"You dated Beckett."
I was about to tell her that Beckett was gay, but didn't know if he actually wanted anyone else to know. If he wanted to tell her, then he'd tell her. I wasn't even sure if he was going to ask her. Even if he did, I wouldn't know if Emma would agree or not.
"That's different."
"How so?" she challenged, narrowing her eyes.
"Well for one, he's hot." It felt so weird saying that about a gay guy!
"Conceited," she waived off. "What about personality?"
"Was about as dry as a piece of old toast left on in the middle of the Sahara desert. So basically, he doesn't have a personality."
"That's rude."
"Why do you even care? Does someone like Greg?"
"No, I'm just saying it's not nice to pick on people."
"You brought it up!"
She sighed and finished putting the topcoat on. "I want ice cream. Do you want ice cream?"
"Sure, I'm always up for that!"
Emma smiled knowingly and blew on her fingertips. "We should wait for our nails to dry."
I groaned and glared at her. "You couldn't suggest that after they were dry?"
She shrugged and smiled innocently. "Oops, my bad."
"I hate you. I want ice cream."
"So call up one of your boyfriends and ask them to bring us some. From Italy."
"Italy?"
"You know, like gelato."
"You want me to call Ian, don't you?"
"Unless Alec has a plane...wait! Ian can just take us to Italy."
"I'm not going to ask him that! That's like taking advantage of his money!"
"If he's going to take advantage of you, might as well have fun with it."
"I'm not going to ask him, that's weird."
She sighed. "Fine, maybe one day we'll be able to go to Italy."
"Maybe if we started saving now, we could go when we're in our late thirties."
"Yes...but then we couldn't go shopping for cute Italian boys!"
"I guess you're right. By that time, we'll be married with children." I shivered at the thought. I couldn't picture myself getting that old. Or me as a mother.
"With Channing Tatum?"
I giggled and nodded. "Yeah, with Channing Tatum."
"I love Channing Tatum. Alright, our nails are dry! Let's go get some ice cream!"
"Can I drive?"
She shook her head. "You're a horrible driver."
"I'm not that bad!"
She scoffed. "And Michael Jackson's Asian."
"Fine, but I get to pick what kind we get!"
"We can just get two different tubs-like those tiny Ben and Jerry's!"
"Oh crap! Emma, I forgot to get a dress!"
She looked at me like I was crazy. "You're kidding."
I shook my head wildly. "I'm not kidding. It totally slipped my mind."
"You do know it's this weekend, right?"
I buried my face in my hands, inhaling the smell of fresh nail polish. How could I forget to get a dress? That's what every girl looks forward to during homecoming. "I guess I could wear my dress from sophomore year..."
She shook her head. "You're not wearing that, which was a horrible choice. I don't know why I didn't talk you out of it. And besides, you probably want a new one for Alec, don't you?"
"Well yeah, but it's too late now."
"It's never too late. Instead of ice cream, we're going dress shopping. Prepare to strip. A lot."
"Emma!" I laughed. I had the greatest best friend ever.
***
"OMG! Is that Alec's jersey?" a random girl in my grade gushed.
"Um...yeah."
"You're so lucky. I wish he would've asked me."
"It's just a jersey," I downplayed, trying to seem modest. It was kind of a big deal that I was wearing it.
"I don't get why he picked you to wear it. I'm way prettier than you."
Wow, that wasn't extremely rude at all. "Well, he did ask me to go to homecoming with him, not you..."
"He must really want to get into your pants. You're probably going to be horrible in bed," she said matter-of-factly, flipping her hair. "But if he had asked me, we could've been at it all night-"
"As much as I would love to sit here and talk to you, I would rather be part of the student section and cheer my date on."
Her lips drew into a tight line as she stuck her nose in the air and pranced away, probably trying to look attractive for the guys behind me. Was it bad that I didn't even know her name? Did she even know mine? Who cares, it's not like we were going to see each other again.
