Miss Perfect and The Bad Boy

seven - homecoming

"Wake up, Alex!" I said loudly. He groaned and barely opened his eyes to look at me.

"Nikki, it's 11 on a Saturday. What the hell is wrong with you?" Alex grumbled from his bed on the floor.

"It's homecoming day!"

He glared at me. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize homecoming we needed to have the whole day to perform a ritual before the dance. Do you want the whole cult here?"

I ignored his sarcastic comments. "I need to go get my nails and my hair done and do my makeup-"

"Did I magically turn into a girl last night?" He looked around and patted himself down, even though he was only wearing sweats.

"Shut up. Kelani is coming over tonight to get ready here so you need to not be here after 4."

"The dance starts at 8."

"And?"

"You really need 4 hours to get ready?"

"Yes. So where are you gonna go?" I didn't think it'd be a good idea for Kelani to see him here. I was going to tell her soon, I just didn't know when.

He yawned. "I don't know, maybe Aiden's."

"Ok well, I'm about to leave to the salon right now. I'll text you when I'm about to come home and you need to get out of the house before I'm here with Kelani." I was about to walk out when I turned back around. "You aren't going back to your house, are you?"

He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at me. "No, of course not."

I let out a breath of relief and walked out of the house with a smile. I felt hopeful. Today was going to be a good day. I kept telling myself Connor didn't mean to hurt me last night, as if that would make it any more true.

♡

"This is beautiful, Kelani. You guys really did a great job," I said at our table at the dance. Kelani was the head of the decorating committee and she had been planning this for months.

She had looked distracted all day and kept checking her phone and looking around the gym as we walked in, but she seemed okay now. I guess the nerves with the dance were really catching up to her. "Thanks. Now if you'll excuse us," she said as she grabbed her date, Jake's, hand. "We're gonna go dance the night away. I deserve it."

I turned to Connor, "You want to go dance?" His little outburst last night had me on the edge but he seemed fine all day. Maybe it was just a bad time to get him mad.

"Do you really have to ask?" He smiled that perfect smile that had made me fall in love with him two years ago, but it didn't spark that same feeling of joy in my heart it used to.

After almost an hour of dancing to every type of song imaginable, Connor said, "I'm going to go take a walk. It's getting stuffy in here."

I decided to go get some punch. As soon as I drank a sip, I knew someone had poured vodka in it. That was probably why everyone was staggering across the floor.

"You look beautiful," someone said from behind me. I turned around and saw Alex. He was wearing his tuxedo that I picked out and his hair was neater than usual.

"Thanks. You clean up nice," I replied.

"Why, thank you." His eyes swept the room. "Where's your date?"