Waiting to be let in

Being presented to their mutual friends, of course, was the last thing he would have wanted. With the thought of all of his friends laughing at him swimming around in his head, Jacob got out of his car and began to make his way over to the passenger side. Noah didn't move, still holding onto hope that he might just wake up from the nightmare he found himself in but once Jacob had opened his door and held out his hand, he was **** to face the truth of his situation. Noah didn't want to take Jacob's hand but after failing to get out on his own due to the combination of the skirts and heels, he didn't have any other options. He wasn't exactly the image of grace as he stumbled out of the car and most likely would have fallen over if it wasn't for Jacob's arms catching him. They stood together with Noah in Jacob's arms, Noah's painted lips dangerously close to Jacob's.

“I've got you,” Jacob almost whispered.

Though Jacob may have been a bit **** to disentangle himself from his prom date, Noah was more than willing to pull away. With his face as red as a tomato, he removed himself from Jacob's embrace, much to Jacob's disappointment.

“Come on, let's go,” Jacob beckoned Noah to come with him.

Noah followed Jacob over to the crowd of students that were lined up, waiting to be let inside. He kept his gaze to the ground as if the moment he made eye contact with anyone he would be discovered. His mind played out scene after scene of him being discovered and mocked forever, shivering with embarrassment at the very thought of it.

Jacob leaned over, “Are you cold?”

“Nope. I'm fine,” Noah said, backing away a step.

Surrounded by other students from his class, Noah was beginning to wish that he had simply told Jacob the truth about what had happened. By putting off being humiliated in front of Jacob, he had allowed the situation to become exponentially worse. Though he did still blame Jacob for convincing him to try the auto-salon, none of that would have happened if Sarah hadn't dumped him when she did.

As if summoned by Noah's frustration, it was then when he looked up to see a limo pull up and park in sight of everyone. Noah's eyes narrowed as he watched the guy that had stolen his girlfriend step out of it, dressed in a suit with a blue tie. Noah had to assume that Tony was a good looking guy, going by the amount of female attention he tended to receive. Exiting the limo after the homewrecker was Sarah wearing a matching blue dress with a skirt that puffed out dramatically and was covered in sequins. Though he wanted to stay angry at her at first when he saw her the only thing he could feel was hurt and betrayal. As he watched the two of them approach the crowd, a grumble coming from Jacob pulled his attention away. Looking up at his friend, he could see the scowl on his face as he glared at the pair.

“Guess he is mad enough for the both of us,” Noah thought to himself.

When Noah turned his attention back to Sarah and Tony, he was greeted with the sight of Tony staring directly at him. Their eyes locked and Noah felt his stomach drop, fearing that his unwanted disguise was compromised. Noah wasn't the only one to notice the focus he was getting because Sarah looked at her date and then into the direction of Noah before he was able to look away. He stared at the ground, feeling sick and terrified at having been potentially found out. He was sure that he was going to be a laughing stock before the night was over. He tried to will himself out of existence but despite his best efforts, he wasn't able to disappear in a puff of smoke.

The two of them idled in line on the sidewalk just outside of the gymnasium entrance, as Noah did his best to calm himself down. He couldn't help stealing glances back at the pair but doing so didn't put him much at ease. Each time he looked over he would see Tony peering back in his direction with a steady gaze. Deciding that fretfully staring at him was probably only making his situation worse, Noah attempted to focus on something else.

Noah deliberately turned his attention to the brown bricked walls of the adjacent building, adorned with streamers and balloons. Looking at the decorations he recalled having to vote during homeroom on what the prom theme was going to be and had been kind of disappointed when it was announced that “Beach Blowout” got chosen over the “Space Spectacle” option. A large banner hung above the double doors with big letters spelling out “Welcome” set between a depiction of palm trees. Just under the banner hung a set of blue beaded curtains vaguely obscuring the gym. The sound of partially muffled music could be heard coming from inside, though Noah couldn't exactly place what the song being played was, though he guessed it was from the beach boys.

As they waited to be let in, Jacob continued to make attempts at conversation but each one was shot down with short answers intended to kill any line of questioning. The breaks between questions became longer, Jacob clearly taking the hint that his date was in no mood to talk and Noah was surprised to find himself feeling a little bad for his friend. It probably didn't feel great that his date was giving him the cold shoulder and he didn't enjoy making him feel bad. That said, no matter how disappointed Jacob may be that his date wasn't working out, there was absolutely nothing that could make him play along.

Still, for some reason Noah couldn't explain, he wasn't able to just shrug off the feelings of guilt.