Prom Night

"Bobby, would you want to go to prom with me?"

Uhh, that, I hadn't seen coming. It was Alicia, my mom's little sister who'd just asked me for a real live date.

Alicia is my aunt, 'Auntie', I often call her. Well, she's 'sort of' my aunt. My grandmother, Mom's mom, passed away from brain cancer when I was one, she was only forty-two. I have no recollection of her at all, except pictures. 'Papa', I've called him ever since I could talk, remarried three years later to a pretty lady, Jessica, who was seven years younger than him.

Jessica's prior husband was killed in a climbing accident on Mt Hood in Oregon. He'd fallen in a deep ice crevice. She was pregnant at the time and had Alicia four months later. The story Papa tells is that he met Jessica at a library book fair, both volunteering to help sort mountains of donated books for sale. Jessica was thirty-eight, Alicia three, her birthday four months before mine.

So anyway, that explains how Alicia came to be my 'elderly' aunt, both of us eighteen when I got that phone call, just about to graduate high school. But Alicia and I had grown up more like brother and sister, it seemed that either I was at her house or she was at ours.

When we were little, her little school didn't have a kindergarten, so she'd sometimes spend the night at our house and go to kindergarten with me. I loved those times, getting to show off my 'auntie'.

I remember that when we were eight, how we played in the creek that ran through Papa's farm, how we'd build a dam and wade in the eight-inch-deep pool we'd created.

When we were a little older, I don't recall exactly when, we started playing Monopoly together. We'd play for hours at a time, keeping careful records of who owed who how much money, that accumulated from game to game, year to year. We were still playing the same 'game' years later when she called and asked me to go to her prom with her. Our ledger filled half a spiral notebook. She owed me $814,329 at the time. I kept expecting it to even out, but for some reason, it never did.

We each had a horse at the farm that we loved to ride together, usually just around the farm, but occasionally Papa and Nana would even take us up in the mountains with the horse trailer and we'd find new trails to ride.

I guess the point I'm trying to convey is that we were close, probably closer than most brothers and sisters as we lived nearly thirty miles apart, her farm just out of Othello, me in Kennewick, yet we were nearly always together, the best of both worlds.

As we got older, I noticed that Alicia was getting prettier and that she had 'girl parts', but it never made a difference. There wasn't any hint of a 'romantic' element in our lives. We dated others a little, but I hadn't yet met a girl that I really liked, and as far as Alicia had said, she hadn't met a guy, either. It's just that she and I were never an 'item' that way. Sure, we went out to a restaurant or some other such thing occasionally, but it was never a 'date', just something we did together.

Alicia and I both loved animals. We'd spent a lot of those horseback hours talking about what we wanted to do in life. For me, I wanted to be a veterinarian, I'd even been accepted into the Washington State University Veterinarian Program. She was undecided, yes, she loved animals but was also a creative, independent thinker, and loved to draw, sketching out her ideas. One day at my home, she sat down and sketched out what she thought a veterinary clinic should consist of. I thought it was perfect. "You should go into architecture," I suggested to her.

She sat there a minute, with a smile on her face, and started drawing again, "Why can't I do both?" she asked, sounding like she was mostly asking herself. The house she drew that day looked more like a medieval castle, complete with a moat and drawbridge. Where the hell had that come from? I wondered.

The long and short of it was that Alicia did apply for Veterinarian School, but with architecture as a minor. We even talked about renting an apartment together in Pullman.

All of that was the reason that her phone call that morning was such a surprise. My first thought was 'are you even supposed to go out with your aunt?' Somehow, it seemed kind of, I don't know... spooky? kinky? Going on a real date with your mom's sister? But the more I thought about it, you know after five or six seconds of indecision, it sounded kind of fun, maybe even a lot fun. There sure wasn't a girl I wanted to invite to my school's prom, which happened to be on the same night.

So, anyway, prom night came. Mom had made me buy a suit (well, she bought it, I just had to wear it). I had a corsage for Alicia, and I got to drive Mom and Dad's little sports car, a bright red, nearly new Mazda Miata (that is one cool car!) to pick up Alicia. I thought I looked quite dapper in my new suit and the Miata. I'd washed and waxed it, scrubbed the interior, and reconditioned all the leather over the last couple days, not that I was worried about impressing my auntie, but she deserved a nice ride to her prom.

Their farm is a little over forty minutes from our house. Not to brag, but I made it in thirty-two in the Miata. I climbed out, checking one last time to be sure the car was perfect, took the corsage package, and walked to the door that I'd marched through hundreds of times before. This time, maybe the first time ever, I rang the doorbell and stood, waiting.

Nana Jessica opened the door and stood there with a smile on her face, looking me up and down. "You look very nice, Robert," she told me, "Alicia is just finishing up, she should be right down."

I guessed that grandmothers had to say things like 'you look very nice', it was a law or something.

I sat down in the living room, for the first time, nervous about picking up my 'auntie'. This seemed so different than the other 5,318 times I'd been there, give or take one or two.

The chair I sat in faces the TV, not the stairs, so I was startled when I heard Alicia behind me, "I'm ready," in that feminine voice I was so familiar with.

I stood and turned... and almost fell back down. Who the fuck? This was Alicia? She sort of looked like Alicia, but...

She was wearing a satiny green gown, nearly to the floor but a long slit up one side. God, she looked... beautiful, like a guy's best dreams! I'd never seen 'Auntie' looking like this, her long, red hair curled and, I'd guess 'flouncy' would be the term, quite a departure from her normal ponytail.

This was NOT what I'd expected when I agreed to take my aunt to her prom. What did I expect? Hell, I don't know, just not this... this Goddess, the only word I can think of to do her justice.

My hands were shaking when I opened the corsage package. I looked at it, confused, trying to not be too much of a nerd, but... how...?

Alicia giggled, "I think it goes on my wrist," she said, holding her left hand out to me. I could see it then, how to put it on her, three white roses, greenery, and the prettiest ribbon. Mom had gotten it. I fastened it underneath, beautiful! Thank you, Mom!

Alicia had a boutonniere, when she pinned it to my jacket's lapel, I got a strong dose of her scent and thought I'd gone straight to heaven. God, this was not the same girl who owed me $814,329 in Monopoly money.

And then she turned to get her little clutch purse, and the breath went out of me all over again, her dress was backless, nothing but a few straps holding it in place!

Her dad, my 'Papa', was there with his camera, taking picture after picture of the two of us snuggled up together, so many different poses. Alicia and I had touched or held hands for one reason or another probably thousands of times over the last fifteen years, but it had never felt like this!

I don't think I'd ever seen her with makeup, lipstick, or anything like it, but tonight... just holy shit! I think in those first twenty minutes, I must have thought, 'this is Alicia?' at least a hundred times.

And then she kissed me on the cheek and told me how nice I looked... and I about died. That perfume!

Alicia picked up her sweater, "It's going to get cooler, later," she explained. I walked her to the car, and her smile was about a mile wide when she saw that I'd brought the Miata instead of my old pickup. I opened the door for her and she slid in. It was the first I'd noticed her shiny, emerald-green high-heels. "You can walk in those?" I asked her, kind of a stupid question, she'd just shown that she could.

She laughed, "I've been practicing the last two weeks, ever since I bought them."

"Well, they're nice," and then I turned and smiled at her, "You're... different, so beautiful, everything about you," I told her.

She smiled back, "Maybe I wanted you to know how I really felt about you, have for a long time," she said, then leaned across the little center console and kissed me... on the lips. And I was like... holy shit, all over again! I'd kissed a couple other girls, but neither of them had soft lips even remotely like Alicia's.

The dance was being held at the golf club banquet hall, a place neither of us had ever been since we didn't golf. She introduced me to some of her friends, and we sat at a table with three other couples, all friends of Alicia. Of course, the way Alicia described it, in a school with forty-two seniors, pretty much everyone was friends to some degree.

We started out talking about softball. Alicia was a pitcher and shortstop. I knew that because I was at almost all her games. Me, I wasn't athletic, so no sports, just a spectator. Alicia's team was pretty so-so, a nine-eight record so far, but they had fun playing.

We were there for probably fifteen to twenty minutes when the music started and Alicia pulled me up to dance with her. I was happy then that my mom had insisted on giving me dance lessons over the last few weeks. "But, Mom, it's just Alicia," I'd told her.

She laughed and said, "You'll thank me later, come here," and put on some music. We practiced to fast and slow music, Mom showing me how to twirl a girl, "Girls love to be twirled," she'd told me and showed me how to hold her hand so as not to twist it off. She taught me how to lead, and how to 'read' a girl's desires. "If she just puts her hands on your shoulders, hold her around the waist loosely, but if she wraps her arms around your neck," and she showed me what she meant, "don't be afraid to snuggle in close, it's probably what she wants." She smiled at me and added, "It's how your dad and I always used to dance."

She showed me dance steps, how to follow the beat of the music, and we practiced and practiced, both types of music. It turned out that Mom was a pretty darn good dancer, I had never realized.

So, when Alicia pulled me out on the floor, I was silently thanking my mother. I knew how to do spin moves, pirouettes, boxes -- both forward and reverse, and several others. Alicia laid her arms loosely over my shoulders and looked into my eyes as we danced. Just holding her waist loosely like Mom had shown me was a thrill with Alicia's backless dress.

"Where'd you learn to dance?" she asked me, "you been with some girl you haven't told me about?"

I laughed, "Yeah, I guess I have, my mom, she taught me."

She giggled, "Your mom, well, thank her for me, then," and her grip around my neck tightened. One thing Mom hadn't taught me was how it was going to feel with our arms around each other, especially with that backless dress, and I sure as heck hadn't been expecting what I was feeling. God, I wanted to kiss her!

And that feeling only intensified as the evening wore on. Alicia danced the faster dances with abandon, holding her arms high in the air, twirling and spinning, that slit in her dress showing so much of her sexy legs. Before that night, I hadn't thought of any part of Alicia as being 'sexy'. That night, EVERY part was oh so sexy.

Of course, what she'd said right after we'd gotten in the car, 'wanting to let me know how she felt about me', was weighing on my mind, wondering exactly what she'd meant, hoping that it was what I was thinking.

As the evening wore on, our dancing became closer and closer. Toward what I knew would be the end of the dance, we were cheek-to-cheek, arms tightly around each other. I was feeling her breasts pressing against my chest and embarrassingly getting quite hard down below. With every dance, I was afraid it might be the last.

There were several adult chaperones there, and if there hadn't been, I was sure we would have been kissing. As it was, we had to behave... and I wondered about 'later'. I'd heard the stories about kids 'hooking up' after prom. I knew though, that Alicia and I couldn't do anything like that. Her parents, my grandparents, trusted me, and my parents trusted her. After all, she was my mom's little sister.

The prom did end, the DJ called, "Last Dance," and played one more very slow song. Alicia and I danced, tightly snuggled together, and this time she tilted her head a little, bringing our lips together. I'd noticed others doing the same, and I guess Alicia figured we wouldn't get kicked out of the dance at that point. This was so different from the quick kiss in the car earlier. This kiss had meaning, 'My' girl's lips pressed tightly to mine, so soft and... I don't even know how to describe it. Yeah, by this time in the dance I'd concluded that Alicia was my girl... and would be forever.

I also came to realize why those other dates had been flops -- the girls weren't Alicia. Even then, without my even realizing it, she'd set the standard for what a girl should be. In our school's enrollment, over 1,600, there wasn't a single girl who met that ideal.

Alicia said goodbye to her friends, giving several of them hugs, and all I wanted was to get away from there, find someplace quiet.

"Turn left, there's someplace I want to show you," she told me once we were in the car, then she slid her hand across, resting it on my trousers, setting my body on fire.

I stopped at the street, looked both ways and made the turn. Then I looked down at her hand, softly rubbing my leg, and placed my hand on hers. Alicia was watching me, a small smile on her face. I took one hand off the wheel, putting it on top of hers, squeezing.

A person cannot be happier than I was at that moment. A winning billion-dollar lottery ticket wouldn't even come close.

About four miles out of town, Alicia directed me to take a small gravel road on the left. We drove another half-mile, and the vista opened. It wasn't much more than a dirt-covered wide spot along the road, not another soul, but we could see for miles from our little knoll, the town lights off in the distance, and house lights for what seemed forever to the horizon.

"Come on," Alicia said, starting to open her door.

"Wait," I told her, jumping out on my side and hurrying to the other, "a princess deserves to have her door opened," I told my future bride. God, did I just think that? I shuddered at the thought, knowing with every being of my soul that it was true.

Alicia smiled and I took her hand, helping her from the car. "You want your sweater?" I asked her, starting to reach behind the seat.

"No, not tonight," she answered.

Then she took my hand and led me down a little trail, about thirty or so yards to a picnic table overlooking the view.

We sat on one side facing the lights of the town, and Alicia rested her head on my shoulder, her right hand and my left, fingers interlaced.

I was wrong earlier, a person could be happier than I had been.

We sat in the nearly perfectly dark solitude, stars shining, and just a sliver of moon, not speaking, me just enjoying this girl beside me. How had I not realized...?

Her head leaned a little, her left hand went to my cheek gently pulling me, and our lips met.

Alicia had been my first kiss that had meant anything just a few hours earlier, then again in the confines of the dance hall, but this... this was a real kiss, my first time feeling a girl's tongue probing between my lips, feeling her hand behind my neck pulling. I wrapped my arms around her nearly naked back, pulling her to me, and time seemed to stop.

Happiness? It seemed there was no limit.

Alicia pulled away, leaving me panting, "I love you," she whispered in the darkness, "since I was three," she added with a little giggle.

"I love you too," I responded, my heart soaring, "just too stupid to know it until tonight."

Our lips met again and I have no idea how long we were at that picnic table until Alicia said we needed to get back, that her mom and dad would no doubt be awake and getting worried.

On our way home, holding hands, Alicia asked me, "You think... after tonight... you could... you know, my Monopoly debt...?"

I couldn't stop laughing. She frowned and slugged my arm. I looked over at her, sitting there looking so beautiful and so serious. "How 'bout if I give you a chance to win some of it back?" I asked her.

So, while, I was sure, at least some of her friends were at a hotel somewhere, doing... whatever, with their boyfriends, Alicia and I got out our Monopoly game.

When we finally put it up, a couple hours later, she'd added, $2,514 to her debt.

Our goodnight kiss was worth forgetting the whole debt... almost.

It was the happiest drive home of my life, I'd never even imagined what true happiness could feel like. And then... the oncoming headlights swerved into my lane...

ooOoo

I woke up in the hospital, no recollection of anything after those headlights...

Alicia was there, tears on her cheeks, squeezing my hand, and my parents and grandparents. And that's all I remembered before I went back to sleep.

They told me later, after I'd awakened again, for a little longer, that it was a semi, the driver was on his way home to Moses Lake from a week-long trip to Oklahoma City. The left front tire had blown. The trucker had managed to swerve back, barely missing me, but flipping the truck on its side. His trailer flipped over, crushing the back of the car. A tenth of a second different, probably even less, and I'd have been crushed under that trailer.

He died, though, trying to save me, leaving his pregnant wife and three kids.

I cried for what seemed like forever, until there were no tears left, Alicia there, crying with me. Thankfully, the medicine had me at least somewhat sedated or I doubt I'd ever have stopped crying.

The doctor came in the next day, the first time I'd been even remotely alert. Alicia, Mom, Dad, Nana, and Papa, all there as well. "It'll be about eight weeks," he said, "until your stub heals enough that you can get a prosthetic."

Wait... what...? Prosthetic? "It was crushed too badly, we couldn't save it," he went on, the sorrow in his voice all too genuine.

I looked down. There, where there should have been a second lump in the covers, was only a flat sheet, my right leg...

Alicia was there, holding me, "It doesn't matter," she said, "you're still here, that's all that matters," and pressed her cheek to mine.

"We were so scared," she said, wiping tears from her eyes, "the doctors didn't think..."

And she broke down, sobbing.

ooOoo

I managed to attend the funeral. Mom and Dad rented a van with a wheelchair lift. They'd given us explicit instructions that if it started bleeding to get back IMMEDIATELY, or call 911 if necessary, and they'd filled me with pain medicine.

The trucker's name was Alex. His brother gave the eulogy, trying hard to hold his emotions together, and not succeeding very well. He mentioned the young man who his driving skill had managed to save. He would undoubtedly have survived if he'd let the truck plow into the little car but he chose to save another's life instead of his own. He had to have known that that sharp maneuver would flip his truck.