Chapter 9: Prom Night and the Phone Call at Midnight
The gym had been transformed the way high school gyms always are — not convincingly, but with enough effort that you could choose to believe in it if you wanted to.
Lily stood in the doorway in her navy dress and looked at the streamers and the lights and the clusters of people who had spent months planning what to wear.
Jess found her in forty seconds.
"You came." She grabbed both of Lily's arms.
"You actually came.
Why is that dress — Lily, that dress is actually better than the pink one."
"Don't."
"I'm serious, you look—"
"Jess."
Jess stopped.
She looked at Lily's face.
"What happened?"
"A lot." Lily exhaled.
"A lot happened.
I'll tell you everything.
But not right now." She looked at the dance floor.
At the lights.
"Right now I just want to be here."
Jess studied her for a moment.
Then she nodded.
"Okay." She linked her arm through Lily's.
"Then let's be here."
They danced.
They took photographs.
They ate the food that had been sitting out too long.
Jess made her laugh twice — genuinely, not performance — and each time Lily felt something loosen in her chest.
At 11:30, she stepped outside to get some air.
Her phone buzzed.
Becca.
She almost didn't answer.
Then she did.
"Lily." Becca's voice was odd.
Not upset.
Something else.
"What happened?"
"She called.
My mom called twenty minutes ago." A pause.
"She wanted me to tell her where the box was.
I told her I'd already given it to your father." Another pause.
"She said things.
Some of them were — she said things I need to think about for a while."
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know yet." Becca's voice was honest in a way it had never been before.
"I think I will be.
Eventually." A pause.
"She also said she's not coming back."
Lily stood outside in the cool air.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"She's still your mother."
"I know."
"That doesn't get easier just because she did bad things."
"I know that too." A pause.
"Lily.
I need to ask you something."
"Okay."
"Is there — do you think there's any way we could—" Becca stopped.
Started again.
"I know I have no right to ask.
I know what I did.
I know what I didn't do.
But do you think it's possible that we could eventually—"
"I don't know yet," Lily said honestly.
"That's fair."
"But I'm not saying no."
A pause.
"Okay," Becca said quietly.
"That's more than I expected."
Lily looked up at the sky.
One clear star visible through the light pollution.
"Go to sleep, Becca.
It's been a long day."
"Yeah." A pause.
"Lily?"
"What."
"The navy dress really is better."
Lily almost laughed.
"Good night, Becca."
She went back inside.
Jess was waiting.
The lights were still going.
May you like
The night was still happening.
She let it.
