It was junior year and she had set herself up with two possibilities: Dylan versus Cheesy. Of course she was going to Prom! She had been dating Dylan for a few months and accepted his early invitation to the prom when she took a fancy to Cheesy.
Dylan was a poet, a thinker, a tender soul. He would spoil her, bring her bunches of flowers, write songs to her, and take her on adventures on horse back through the washes and hills of the desert clime where they lived.
Cheesy was a dick, a spoiled tennis jock, an asshole who would fuck her to breathlessness with his ever-hard prick. His friends teased him and called him “Pencil Dick.” But they weren’t gettin’ any, and his dick didn’t seem that skinny to her anyway.
Her parents knew that she had already accepted the date with Dylan and besides they liked him a whole lot better than Cheesy. Dylan’s parents were professionals, writers, publishers, and big in local politics. Cheesy didn’t have the same parental cachet.
Cheesy amused Kristie with stories about shitting in a bag, setting it on fire on somebody’s front porch, ringing the doorbell, and laughing as the owner came out stomping mad. “What’s the point of doing that?” she asked.
“Are you kidding? It’s funny!” Cheesy wasn’t known for his empathy. “It’s even funnier to do it on top of someone’s new car,” he laughed.
“Why?” Kristie was still perplexed at how this could be fun.
“They step in shit, have to clean it up and then get a new paint job! Ha!” he laughed.
She thought about not going to the prom at all, but it had been a goal of hers to always be dating a senior by February so she could attend every prom in May and Grad night in June. This year she had two options. Her parents struck a deal. She could go to Grad night with Cheesy, but she had to go to prom with Dylan.
She was furious… and they expected her to wear the same dress she had worn the year before! “It’s a perfectly good dress and you’ve only worn it once,” her father told her.
This seemed to be some sort of breaking point for Kristie. She felt frustrated beyond control. She was already on complete restriction for sneaking out to meet her “Chocolate Drop.” She thought maybe pain would ease her anger. She took the razor and locked herself in her bedroom closet where she began to cut.
As she cut the milky white skin began to bleed red where she made each slice. Her anger subsided, but she was only able to make a half dozen slashes on each wrist before her father burst in, took one look, rolled his eyes back into his head and scoffed, “Oh great.”
He left the room and her mother came in desperate, trying not to cry. Her mom cleaned and bandaged the cuts and promptly removed all the razors she could find from Kristie’s proximity. The next night was prom and her parents didn’t want to disappoint Dylan or his powerful family. It was like they were using her for chattel.
They took her to have her hair done, but opted out of the manicure. Her mom thought she should wear her long white gloves all evening to camouflage her bandaged wrists. The gloves had three pearl buttons at the wrist so she could fold them back during dinner.
Dylan, sweet and kind as ever, was very attentive and loving to her, bringing her three bouquets of flowers and a poem he wrote and illustrated, as well as the beautiful miniature yellow rose corsage which she decided to wear pinned to the bodice of her dress.
They went out to dinner at the highest end restaurant in town. She ordered lobster, he had a steak. They were seated in a private booth away from the crowd. She was surprised when they were served a bottle of champagne. She guessed when you had clout you could get away with anything.
They checked in at the prom for the obligatory photos and a quick dance, and then headed over to Dylan’s apartment which his parents kept on the proper side of town nearest the preferred high school campus to fulfill their son’s residency requirement.
At the apartment they had more champagne and a quick screw – it was always quick with him. She told him that she had thought she was pregnant and that was why she cut herself. This made him love her even more – to think that maybe she had been pregnant with his child…. He didn’t know about all the other guys she had been screwing.
Just then Dylan’s younger brother came in to check up on them. He had been designated as the lookout and was giving them a warning that, “Mom is coming.” They were dressed and ready to go by the time she entered.
“I wish you kids would save some of this for later,” she told them both seriously. She wasn’t mad, but she knew what they had been up to. She didn’t want her son trapped by a teen pregnancy.
Dylan took Kristie home and walked her to the door where he lingered awhile kissing her again and again. He whispered a pledge, “I don’t care what you do, I’ll always love you.” This made her feel worse than she had yesterday, when she cut herself.
She went to her room, took off her gloves, hung up her dress, and cried silently to herself all night long.
(First published 5/28/12)
