"I remember my Senior Prom. I was wearing this pink strapless dress tht showed my knees. I kept wondering, 'Am I sexy? Am I slutty? Am I sexy? Am I slutty?' I wasn't sure if I was beautiful or disgusting. My date was this guy that was pretty popular, actually. He was really cute, but I found out after I accepted that he just wanted to get laid. His girlfriend was this serious Catholic and she wouldn't sleep with him. I mean, she'd blow him..." They laughed.
"So he figured he'd go out with someone less popular and she'd be so thrilled to be with him that she'd do anything. You know, he wanted a sure thing. So, he was leering at me and like I said I'm wondering am I beautiful or am I disgusting?"
Donald didn't say anything. Yes, she was in the middle of a story, but he didn't interrupt.
"So, anyway, the band plays 'Devil Went Down to Georgia,' which was a big hit and everybody loved it, but nobody could dance to it, including Lance or whatever the Hell his name was, except I could. I learned the two step in dance class. So this guy Aaron comes over and he's a farmer, I mean, a real farmer, because I grew up kind of upstate and some people up there weren't commuting. They actually lived there and had farms and stuff.
"Aaron asks me to dance! And I'm just aching to use my two step so I say okay. And we start dancing. He knows the two step, too, and he's much more natural at it then I am. It doesn't even look like a two step, you know? It just fits. And I'm going with him and it was this amazing thing because, you know what? I forgot everybody else. I forgot I was in a room full of peers, that my date was staring at me. I forgot that I cared about that stupid, pointless shit. I was just dancing. It was so much fun. My knees were going higher and higher. I was sweating, but it felt like a glow. Hell, I was stomping it out. It was just me and Aaron, making something together.
"And then the song ended because, you know, it's got to end. The band clapped. They were naturally thrilled that someone was getting into their music. But the kids were laughing. They were laughing at us. Aaron didn't give a shit. He had the biggest smile on his face, hands on his waist. He was practically bowing. But I could've just died."
She suddenly found herself needing to hear his voice. "You know what I mean?"
"Did you think he took advantage of you?"
"No, I felt sorry for him. Imagine, how pathetic I was, and I felt sorry for him."
"You weren't pathetic. Every teenager has times like that."
Thank you, she thought. "Yes, I was pathetic. I never spoke to Aaron again. I fucked that jerk Lance. I could've gotten pregnant. Imagine, some little creature that was half me and half some creep who used me one night. He could have his eyes, you know? And be looking at me with those eyes."
"Will you hold my hand?" he asked as his hand levitated above his lap. She grabbed it and their hands fell together onto his thigh. Hand and thigh. She felt like she had never before touched so much of him all at once.
"Listen, um, I have tickets to the Miss Roc Show on Friday night. You know, next weekend. You want to go?" She had been toying with the idea of inviting Bob. Of course, such a show would not be impressive to Bob, but it might be amusing.
"Sure. Let's go." They sat there holding hands for the first time. They were like children. And Sarah thought, "It is by being a child again that I am born again." She smiled with this thought and then let it pass.
Object: Luck