Molly smiled weakly at her friend on the dance floor. Brenda looked so happy, dancing with her boyfriend, that Molly could almost forget her depression. Molly picked up her glass and took another sip of the punch, running her eyes around the gym.
The decorations looked cheap and shabby. Molly had no idea what anyone saw in these events. In truth, she had spent most of High School avoiding dances for just this reason. When Kenny had asked her to the prom she had been excited, though. Putting all thoughts of how childish and cliché the senior prom was, she had gone out with her best friend and picked out a dress. For the first time in four years she was actually wearing a dress, but it was okay, because she was going to prom with Kenny.
And then Kenny had dumped her.
Less than a month after her eighteenth birthday and only two days before what Molly's mother was referring to the biggest day of her life, Molly's boyfriend had dumped her for the head cheerleader. Not that anyone would blame him; Molly's dark complexion and shy demeanor were completely outshone by Kimberly Collins. Kimberly was the perfect example of a blonde cheerleader; straight, bright yellow hair, wide blue eyes, and huge breasts that Molly had heard had cost Kimberly's family a pretty penny.
So why anyone would think that the senior prom was romantic, Molly could not fathom.
Across the room, Kenny laughed so loud that Molly could hear him over the band. Almost impressive, she thought. Kenny stood arm in arm with Kimberly, surrounded by the jocks and other cheerleaders.
"Is this seat taken?"
Molly looked up in surprise. She pushed her glasses up her nose a bit and shook her head slightly, brown curls brushing against her neck as she did so.
The young man took a seat across the table and looked out at the crowd of dancing students.
"You have to wonder," he said, "What any of them are getting out of this."
Molly tilted her head in curiosity, but didn't say anything. She looked down at the white tablecloth and picked at her nails.
"I mean," the boy said, "They're dancing with each other. They're going to remember this night for the rest of their lives. But what's the point?"
"The point is that it's the senior prom," Molly said halfheartedly. "It's romantic."
"I don't think it's that romantic," the boy said.
"Neither do I," Molly agreed. "But I might think differently if I were out there, rather than sitting here."
The boy smiled, and Molly looked at his face. She hadn't seen him before, she thought. He was defiantly not the kind of boy she would have remembered, though. He had rather plain, average features. He was as unnoticeable as Molly herself was.
He pushed a strand of dark hair away from his green eyes, and looked at Molly.
"You don't know me, do you?" he asked suspiciously.
Molly shook her head, blushing.
"Dan. Dan Johnson."
Molly smiled slightly and shook her head again.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm not very good with names, and I sort of keep to myself anyway…so I don't really remember anyone…"
"It's okay," Dan interrupted. "I don't mind. I'm not very noticeable."
Molly was surprised to hear him use exactly what she'd been thinking, but tried to shrug it off.
"Aren't you here with someone?" she asked.
"No," he said. "My parents had to force me to come. They think that it's not healthy for me to stay home from every school event. I think that they're stupid, though. The events, not my parents."
"My parents say the same thing, but it was Brenda that made me come," Molly nodded her head over towards her friend, who was gyrating on her boyfriend in time to the music. "My ex boyfriend wanted me to come, so I had the ticket."
"Your ex?" Dan raised his eyebrows.
"He broke up with me a couple of days ago." To Molly's horror, she felt tears building up in her eyes. She took off her glasses and wiped the bottoms of her eyes quickly with her fingers, struggling to gain control over herself. She had wasted enough time on Kenny; she didn't need to be thinking about him now.
"That prick," Dan mumbled, glaring over to the group of people surrounding Kenny.
"You know him?"
"Used to be my friend, back during freshman year…then he made all those," Dan nodded towards the group, "All those friends, and sort of ditched me."
"That's what he did to me, too. I don't know what I ever saw in him."
Dan looked Molly in the eyes, smiling slightly.
"I guess it's sort of selfish of me to be glad that he dumped you," he said softly.
Molly felt her cheeks turning red and looked down at the table again. Her fingers twisted with each other and she thought about the bright red color of her punch. It was so dark, but so bright. The soft light from the dim room collected in her cup and played around with each other, twisting in the fluid. It was quite sensual.
"Do you want to dance?" asked Dan.
Molly took a deep breath, still staring down. Her belly was doing flip-flops, tightening around the little bit of food inside her. It felt like butterflies were taking flight in her body, a sensation that she'd heard of, but had never really experienced.
She shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to.
"I don't know how to dance," she whispered.