Prom Ch. 04: The Midnight Hour

Kevin read her thoughts and nodded as he stood up next to her. "Yeah, I've had about enough of this scene."

His voice wasn't angry or judgmental but Rachel flinched a bit at his words. She wondered if he was making a reference to her earlier activities. Probably. She pretended not to notice and they both started towards the hallway.

They had walked into the main foyer and were near to the front door when they both saw some movement to their left in the dining room. Jeff and Jessie were sitting together at the table. They were giggling together about something, like cute couples often do. Jessie saw them first and raised her head with a smile.

"Hey, you two! Taking off? Think you might be the last ones out!"

"Yeah, sorry," Kevin mumbled, yawning. "Guess we kinda passed out for a minute there."

Jessie replied with a bubbly tone. "Oh, it's no problem!" She spent so much time at Jeff's house that she was speaking like it was her own. "You were probably just worn out from last night." She flashed her eyes at Rachel and winked.

Both Kevin and Rachel swallowed at the subtle hint and Kevin just dumbly turned to look at Rachel. She blushed and shot Jessie a mock-embarrassed grin. Jessie grinned back. Good for Kevin, she thought. Good for them both!

Jessie was no longer wearing her sleeping outfit and she looked like she had taken a shower. Jeff, too, had changed and looked a little freshened up. They both a bit of a glow to them and Rachel caught herself wondering if maybe they'd had sex. She smirked to herself with an ironic shake of her head. No way, she thought. No way Jeff had it in him after what she had done to him. She tingled slightly as the memory popped back into her head.

Jessie beamed again shaking her from her thoughts. "Well, Rachel, it was so great seeing you again! You can't be a stranger! You're too much fun!" She leaned in and gave her a friendly hug, consciously avoiding the spot on Rachel's shirt.

Jeff, too, stood and walked over to say goodbye.

"Absolutely. Too much fun is right! Glad to see you haven't lost your partying spirit. Hopefully we'll get you down this way again."

His eyes flashed at Rachel with his innuendo. She swallowed hard. Jeff then leaned in to hug her goodbye as well. And in stark contrast to Jessie's hug, Jeff intentionally ran his finger over the spot on her shirt. Rachel's stomach knotted, but she tingled again. What an asshole. Part of her wanted to spill the whole story to Jessie right now just to teach him a lesson. But she knew that would hurt everybody and likely just backfire as Jessie might not believe her or she'd blame her or something. It burned Rachel that she could do nothing about it. And it confused her that it was still making her quiver.

Rachel firmly pushed Jeff back with a weak smile and shifted her gaze elsewhere. Kevin hugged Jessie and gave Jeff a weak hand-slap without making eye contact. The pair opened the door and walked out into the sunlight.

They got to Kevin's car and sat in silence for a minute, neither of them able to get a good bead on the situation. It seemed like it would go from awkward and tense, back to okay, and then back again. It was like Kevin's brain was Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill. He'd spend a lot of mental energy trying not to think about what Rachel had done, and just as he'd finally push the thoughts away, something would remind him and he'd have to start all over again. He turned on the car with a sigh and pulled out of the driveway.

They didn't speak much on the way back to Rachel's house. As they pulled up to #27, Kevin put it in park and sat still.

"So, you wanna grab lunch later, or, I mean, we can hang out later in the day, if you want."

Kevin didn't really know what to say. But he always found himself making it okay for her. No matter what she did, he'd let it roll off his back. He'd rather absorb it all and suffer alone than make her feel uncomfortable or bad about herself.

Rachel flashed a small smile of relief. "Yeah, that might work." She was happy that he didn't seem to outwardly angry with her. At least at this moment. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and continued.

"I don't think my parents really expected me back at any given time, so I'm probably free. Just wanna take a shower and get out of these cloth-." Rachel trailed off as she realized how many times she'd already "gotten out of those clothes" that morning. She shook her head. "I'll text you, all right?"

With that Rachel leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. She pulled back and looked him as she felt sadness and shame creeping back.

"Thanks so much for a really, really fun time! You were an excellent date." Her voice lowered and she stuttered a bit as she looked down. "A-and, again, I'm, um, you now, I'm sorry if I-."

Kevin clenched his jaw and cut her off. "Rach, it's fine. Really. I'm not your keeper. I'm glad you had fun." That last word made him feel sick. He smiled at her weakly and looked back straight ahead before he let his hurt show again. "Just hit me up later."

Rachel sighed and smiled again. She grabbed her dress, shoes, and duffle back and got out of the car. She took a step back and waved at him as she saw his car start to pull away. Rach, you gotta stop doing this, she thought with sadness. She watched for a while as the car disappeared down the street before she turned and headed back to her front door. As she reached to open it, like she had done so many times before, she paused to take one final breath and steady herself. She gripped the handle, but then suddenly stopped.

Her phone was buzzing in her bag.

NEXT -- Chapter 5: A Thousand Words