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April 21, 2001

10:24AM

Citadel Mall

Colorado Springs, CO

The weekend was much nicer than the past few days had promised; it was warm enough that I didn’t necessarily need my coat, so I brought along my denim jacket instead. The trip from my house was short and smooth, owing to my stepfather’s precise driving and the chariot he had chosen not long before my mom had traded in her aging Subaru Legacy for a new BMW. The dark blue sedan also wore the BMW roundel, but was far more luxury oriented. The comfortable heated seats were a nice change from the rock-hard desks I spent hours in at school, at the very least.

“I talked with Harry a couple of days ago.” Ben, my stepdad, continued. “He hoped to have them in by now, but it looks like the parts for your car are still backordered. The dealer told him it’ll be at least a month for shipping from Japan.” I had expected the news; I had helped him out a few of those weekends trying to get the little beast I had bought from him up and running. It wasn’t an easy task, but turning wrenches on my first car wasn’t wasted time.

“Finding that engine at that importer was a miracle all by itself.” I replied. “I guess a few more weeks can’t hurt. It’s not like I’m going to need a car until after I graduate, right?”

“You’re a lot more patient than I was when I was your age.” Ben chuckled as he brought the big sedan to a stop for a traffic light. “Harry and I shared both a Bug and a ’57 Bel Air because the Chevy wasn’t running most of the time. We had to pick and choose what parties to go to; thankfully we had the Chevy running for prom night.” I blinked; was the world conspiring to shove the prospect of my high school prom in my face? “I’m sure our dates wouldn’t have been happy to be shoved into the back seat of that VW.”

“That’s the ’57 Chevy you raced with Harry, right?” I asked as the light changed; a soft grumble from the V8 under the hood carrying us on our way.

“That’s the one.” Ben nodded. “It was Harry’s first car, but he blew the engine trying to race Jack Sorenson in his dad’s new Mustang. We spent the entire summer swapping in an engine from a wrecked GTO we found in the junkyard. It was always giving us crap and never worked quite right, but when it ran it was absolutely beautiful. We stomped that Mustang a couple of times, back when you could actually cruise on Nevada Avenue without the cops giving you too much grief.” My stepfather grinned as we dashed past a bit of traffic; giving his car a little throttle as to accentuate his point.

“Anyway, your mom told me that she wasn’t sure how long you’d be at the mall. Did you need me to pick you up later?” It was a valid question, though one I didn’t want to give the complete answer to.

“Well, Julie, Seth, and Will are shopping for prom outfits and wanted me to tag along. Julie said her mom can bring us home afterward; I’ll give you a call if plans change.” I answered; knowing that would prompt another line of discussion but leaving out the upcoming conversation that Holly was bound and determined to have with me.

“Kind of a big occasion.” Ben replied. “Did you want a rental, or to buy a suit? I can probably slip you some cash if you need it, as long as you get us back on payday.”

I shook my head. “To tell you the truth, Ben, I haven’t decided if I’m going or not. I had a bad time at homecoming, and I don’t see this one going any better.” I opted to leave out anything regarding my conversation with Holly; at least until we had it.

“Yeah, I remember that.” It wasn’t my proudest moment; I left early and just managed to find a pay phone to call him and ask for a ride before I broke down completely. The scars were a bit too raw back then; I still wasn’t sure they had even really begun to heal at this point. “You’ve got your license, you know. If Harry’s not done with the Celica you bought from him, I’m sure you can borrow either your mom’s Z3 or my 7-Series.”

The suggestion caught me off guard, especially considering the fact that Ben was very much a car guy with a penchant for high performance V8s to offset his need for a work truck to help his father out with house remodeling. The floral and gift shop he started with my mom five years ago had expanded to three locations and was doing pretty well; enough for them to feel comfortable putting new BMWs in the garage. My mom’s aging Subaru was traded in while Ben kept his old Toyota truck in the storage lot behind one of our shops. I figured if I was going to be offered wheels it would have been the truck. “Wait. You’d let me drive this or the Z3?”

“Why not? It’s a special occasion.” Ben grinned. “Even if you’re going stag, showing up in a flashy car and having the option to leave anytime you want isn’t a bad thing, right? When’s the prom?”

“May 25th.” I answered with some reticence. “I’ll give it some thought, but I’m still a solid eighty-twenty against going. I appreciate the offer, even if I don’t take it.”

“Again, I understand.” Ben glanced to me; his expression kind but serious. “However, you know your mom. She’s going to be a little stubborn about prom pictures. I’ll run interference for a while and give you some time to decide, but that’s about all I can promise.” As he spoke the trip was about to come to an end; we had pulled onto the ring road surrounding the mall and the entrance to the parking lot surrounding the food court was maybe a hundred yards away.

“I appreciate that too, Ben.” I answered as the BMW pulled to a stop outside the entrance to the food court. For a Saturday it was relatively packed; the parking lot moderately filled up with cars and people walking to and from. I didn’t see any of the others waiting outside, but I was a few minutes early. I stepped out of the car; waving to my stepdad as I shut the door and he drove off.

Perhaps slightly belatedly I checked myself for the essentials. I was wearing my sunglasses, my wallet was sitting in my inner jacket pocket, and my house key was sitting in my jeans pocket. I had a little over a couple hundred in mixed bills, more than enough to get lunch and something nice; perhaps a couple of movies, CDs and games if I found something I absolutely wanted.

I didn’t see any of my friends sitting at the benches near the entryway or at the doors, so I decided to enter. The din of the food court hit me like a wave; the two-story indoor space stretching for a good fifty yard radius. The centerpiece was a tiered dining area surrounding a water feature comprised of a fountain and waterfall; accounting for a portion of the noise. The rest came from a mixture of fast food joints and patrons; most of the major chains were represented along with a couple of local shops. It was a bit too early to consider lunch, but the little pizza place on the upper level was my choice. I moved to one of the stairwells overlooking the dining area; hopefully I would see the others coming in.

I didn’t have to wait long. Apparently the others had shown up all at once; that or Julie’s mom had picked everyone up in her station wagon. Seth’s six-foot-four frame was hard to miss; that and he tended to skew towards the goth-industrial look. His duster coat almost matched the one I left at home; his combination of black jeans, steel-toed boots and a KMFDM T-shirt made an imposing figure to those who didn’t know him. This was in stark contrast to Will, who even outside class favored a wardrobe more suited to an IT system administrator than a high school student.

Like Seth, Julie tended to favor the industrial and gothic look; her black ankle length skirt, corset top, and a near-matching pair of boots made it clear that she didn’t particularly care about the fashion trends of the more popular kids in school. Her makeup made her look slightly pale; accentuated with dark eyeliner and deep red lipstick. If it wasn’t for Will’s more corporate cube-dwelling style leading an eclectic air to our little group, my Canadian tuxedo, Wayfarers, hiking boots and Tool T-shirt would have been slightly out of place.

I didn’t recognize Holly at first despite having seen her in passing over the past few days; exchanging little more than a nod. Instead of her signature designer jeans and pricey name-brand sweaters, she was decked out in something radically different. Heeled, almost knee-length black leather boots, black and red striped stockings, and a plaid, thigh-length skirt joined a black T-shirt with an anime character I didn’t recognize; a girl with red hair and clad in some kind of skin-tight red suit. A black leather jacket completed her ensemble. Her makeup was a close fit to Julie’s and her shoulder-length auburn hair was streaked with purple highlights; I figured it was temporary as school dress code wasn’t too lenient on wild hair colorings. The glint of small earrings caught my eye; it was apparent she put significant effort into her appearance this morning. It was a striking if eclectic change in style; completely incongruent to what she normally wore.

“Wow, you showed up!” Seth remarked as they approached; his tone of voice one of amused surprise. Not that I blamed him; outside of school I hadn’t been the best at keeping social commitments.

“Glad to see you here.” Julie chimed in, motioning to the group. “There was a little change of plans this morning. We’re doing a bit of a group sleepover to catch up on some movies and shows we wanted to watch. My mom’s on the graveyard shift tonight so we’ll have the place to ourselves. You’re invited if you want to come along?”

I shrugged, not sure if I really wanted to take socializing that far. I had an easy excuse if it came down to it. “I’m not on the work schedule tomorrow, but I’m usually the backup plan if someone calls in the night before. I’ll have to check in before we leave. Who’s picking us up from here?”

“My mom.” Julie answered. “It was her idea; she thought it would be good if we had at least one last weekend to hang out before graduation.”

I shrugged again. “I’ll see what I can do, depending on what my folks have to say. So, what’s the plan?”

Seth pointed to one end of the food court; towards a wide hallway that opened up into the main wing of the mall. “Will and I were going to go to a couple of formalwear shops to see what they had that would suit us. Julie wants the dresses that she and Holly are going to pick out to be a surprise, so I figure you can come with us?”

I blinked, casting a surreptitious glance to Holly. She met my gaze and gave me a quick nod. “I guess that can work. Do you know what you’re looking for?”

“We gave them a couple of ideas.” Holly spoke up, beating Julie to the punch; I figured she wanted to cover for our unspoken exchange. “Stay formal and don’t go too flashy. Accents like red, blue, dark purple and even black would be okay, if we can tempt you into going along with us?” A hopeful smile tugged at her lips.

“I’m still very much on the fence, but I’ll keep that in mind?” I responded. “How long do we have until we’re getting picked up?”

“Until two.” Seth answered. So, about three and a half hours. That was a while, but there were other things I wanted to look at and do here. “Enough time to get prom outfits settled, but it’ll also give us some time to eat lunch and browse around. C’mon, the clock’s ticking.” We turned around to split into our separate groups and I made to follow Will and Seth.

As everyone parted Holly gave me a discreet wave; mouthing something that I interpreted as ‘Talk later’. Giving an unseen shrug as an answer to the strange situation, I followed my friends to our first stop.

I wasn’t much for clothes shopping; a combination of waiting bored out of my mind as my mom perused shops when I was a kid and being brought here to do even more shopping as an end-of-summer chore before school started had seen to that. Even though I was here to support my friends, I wasn’t all that interested. The first formalwear store we went into was fairly busy; not just due to other high schoolers seeking outfits for prom but an entire wedding party getting measurements.

I followed Will and Seth to the back wall, where a lot of the store’s examples were displayed on mannequins. Despite the number of customers we were approached fairly quickly. “How may we help you gentlemen?” The salesperson, a woman that wasn’t much older than we were, asked.

“Looking for tux rentals for prom.” Seth answered. “My girlfriend and a friend of hers had some ideas and gave us some guidelines. What do you have that would work?” He listed the criteria as she nodded in understanding.

“It sounds like your girlfriend has good taste, that and she wants to make this a special night for you and your friends.” The salesperson commented, motioning to a few tuxes in particular. “I would suggest not going too wild, but accented colors and patterns would go well if they are planning on wearing similar colors.”

Seth and Will looked closely at some of the options. “Knowing Julie, I’m sure the red might be the best option.” Seth mused, looking over a tuxedo which had a black tie with red accents paired with a red and black-patterned cummerbund.

“This one looks pretty cool, too.” Will seemed to be interested in a similar style of tux, only accented in dark purple and black. “I might have to try this on.”

“How about you?” The saleswoman turned to me. “Is there a particular color or pattern you’re looking for?”

I shook my head. “Tell you the truth; I’m just helping my friends pick out their tuxes. It’s doubtful I’m going.” Surprisingly, she gave me a polite smile and a nod.

“I understand. Let me see what we have that will fit your friends and I’ll be right back?” Taking some quick measurements, she disappeared into the back room.

“Dude!” Seth practically hissed. “The least you can do is act interested. I mean, Will’s going stag and he’s going all out. C’mon, try something on!”

I declined with another shake of my head. “I’m sure you guys are going to look sharp and knock both Julie’s and Holly’s socks off when they see you. But, I don’t really want to go.”

Will blinked. “Ad-man, you’re not getting the point here.”

“What point?” I asked.

Seth broke into the conversation. “Dude, Holly isn’t going to the dance with Matt. She didn’t ask Will either. Hell, he’s been talking online to that Emily girl about going out to see her after graduation, right?” At Will’s nod, he continued. “Holly wants to go with you. I’ve been quiet about this because Julie doesn’t want to make it obvious, but she’s not seeing Matt anymore and is hoping you’ll reconsider.”

I shook my head yet again. “I already know; she asked me in private. Seth, you know how stubborn I am. Pushing me like this only makes me stand my ground. I’m not doing this to be a pain in the ass, but the fact is I hardly know her and I’m not interested in going to a party that I’ll have a horrible time at no matter what anyone does. I’m here to hang out with you guys; stuff like this means more to me than some formal party anyway.”

Seth didn’t get a chance to respond before the saleswoman approached us. “Gentlemen, if you’ll follow me I think I have just what you’re looking for. Let’s see how they fit?”

As they walked off I took a deep breath, conflicting thoughts bouncing through my mind. I glanced around the shop, spotting a few shirts that I started to look through. It was about that time the saleswoman returned. “Did something catch your attention?” She asked.

I nodded. “Well, I’m not really doing the prom thing this year but wouldn’t mind something that I could wear to things like graduation and family functions. I’m taking a promotion after graduation and I’ll likely be meeting with vendors, so I’ll probably want to have something more business oriented. Do you think you could help me out?” While I was mostly decided against going, I did want something just in case; that and holidays at my folks’ shop was sometimes a dressy affair. And, if in the off chance I went to the prom I had something that could do double-duty and not throw a bunch of money at a rental that I would only use once.

I was pretty confident about my sizes so it was a quick affair. Between a shirt, slacks, and tie I dropped nearly half my cash but I figured it was worth the outlay; I would have spent about as much on a rental tux anyway. That and I was already rung up and ready to go before Seth and Will made their way out of the dressing room with tickets in tow.

“Wait, you got something here anyway?” Will asked, pointing to my bag after his turn at the cash register.

“Yeah, I figured with graduation coming up I should have something a little more formal to wear.” I shrugged as we made our way to the shop’s entrance to wait for Seth.

“And you have a backup outfit for when we convince you to go to prom with us.” Seth commented as he walked up. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the comment; would he take a hint? I was starting to question my decision to come here this morning; something told me it was going to be a very long day.