Chapter 10 #2
“What was what?” she asked feigning ignorance.
“That look…”
“Well it might be that we’re remembering what happened last year about this time at the Royale.”
“What was that?”
“The sprinkler system malfunctioned,” she told him.
“I remember that. Everyone came out soaking wet, but it was only in your all’s ballroom, the rest of the building was fine.”
“It was. It’s a good thing the crowning moment was already over; it’d be a shame to not know who wins.”
“What did you do?” he asked sliding his hands down the bareness of her back.
“I didn’t do anything. Tate and I were just hanging out in the room upstairs.”
“Yeah, are we about to have a repeat?” he asked dipping his head to kiss her lightly.
“We might be, have you ever kissed someone in the rain?” she teased against his lips.
“I haven’t and it’d be such a shame to miss the moment if it were to be a possibility.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be able to tell,” she grinned at him as they inched closer to Tate and Darla.
The DJ quieted the room as Ms. Simmons walked up onto the stage bringing the king and queen nominees with her. “And now before we make the announcement a little treat for our nominees put together by the audio-visual club, titled A Walk through the Past.”
She leaned back into Jordan as they began to show pictures of each of the candidates from when they were little and she lifted her face to smile at him as they edged in on Stephanie’s.
When the picture of her switched from childhood to her senior photo the video changed and began playing scenes from The Wizard of Oz.
She laughed along with the others and turned in Jordan’s arms to face him reaching up to kiss him lightly.
When the scene began of the wicked witch being hit by water the sprinklers came on, and they heard screams as the witch yelled her “I’m melting” line while the photo morphed into a picture of Stephanie melting into a puddle.
The students scurried towards the doors as Jordan laughed and kissed her again.
“Break it up you all,” Mr. Nelson stated ushering them out of the room. They were all soaking wet and Stephanie was livid.
“Mr. Nelson, they had something to do with this,” she cried as her mascara ran down her cheeks.
“We were in the same ballroom you were Steph,” Tate said with a half-shrug and an arm looped around Darla’s waist.
“They were behind it. No one else would have done that to me,” Stephanie cried. “Those two just stood there when it happened,” she said pointing at Mel and Jordan.
“It’s not every day you get to kiss your wife in the middle of a downpour,” Jordan said pulling her tightly against him. “Besides how could they have tampered with the video, let alone rigged the sprinklers to go off perfectly? Mel’s good at a lot of things but she’s not a magician.”
“I think everyone should head home,” Mr. Nelson stated. “It appears we’ll be receiving a bill to cover the damages to the room, a bill that we’ll have to cover with the remainder of the class money.”
“What…that’s not fair!” several cried and she agreed to a point.
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” Jordan stated. “I know for a fact that the ballroom is being remodeled next week.”
“How do you know that?” Mr. Nelson inquired.
“Because my company’s the one doing the remodel, actually whoever did it saved us some work. This will help rip up that carpet easier.”
“Did you know about this Melinda?” Ms. Simmons asked.
“I take care of all of our clients so yes, but as Jordan said, I’m not a magician. I don’t have the first clue about putting together a video like that let alone getting a sprinkler system to go off,” she said shaking her head lightly in disbelief.
“Then I’d say that about covers the issue, wouldn’t you?” Mr. Nelson said looking around at the management who’d come out to see them.
“Will this affect the bill for the remodel?” the manager asked Jordan.
“Not a bit and it’s a nice way to remember the old room,” he told them.
“I see no issues with it then; you’re welcome to use the room still; it appears the back of the stage area wasn’t affected though the floor might be wet.”
“I think we’ll just cancel the rest of the dance,” Mr. Nelson stated. “Alright ladies and gentlemen, prom’s over.”
“Wait…who won king and queen?” Stephanie asked.
“Well, I guess we could announce it here,” Ms. Simmons said opening the envelope. “A surprise twist, our king and queen are Mr. Tatum and Ms. Taube. Tate, Melinda, congratulations.”
Stephanie ripped the card out of her hand and screamed flinging it to the ground as she stormed off. Tate leaned down and picked it up staring at it with an amused look on his face.
“Now who the hell pulled this one off?” he asked handing it to her.
“Not a clue,” she told him, “but it looks like you’re queen-less.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, I’m not really Melinda Taube anymore am I?”
“Fiddlesticks, come on queenie, dance with me,” he said taking her hand and twirling her out of Jordan’s arms.
“But there’s no music,” she teased.
“When have we ever needed music?” he countered twirling her until Jordan caught her and pulled her back into his arms.
“I think that’s enough dancing with my girl,” he said lightly but there was no mistaking the seriousness behind his words. “Shall we go home?”
“Yes please,” she grinned at him kissing Tate’s cheek as they passed by.
“You forgot your crown,” Ms. Simmons called out after them.
“I don’t need it. I have the best prize on my arm,” she said adding the last to solely Jordan.
“Well you’re the queen of the office, maybe you should have a crown.”
“Not unless you want me kicking your butt out the door.”
“Never,” he assured her proving precisely how much he didn’t want to let her go once they were home.
∞∞∞
“Come on Mel, we’re gonna be late,” Tate yelled at her as she pulled the door shut.
“I’m ready,” she said sliding into the car and kissing Jordan’s cheek. “Geesh you’d think someone wanted to graduate.”
“I’d like to get out of there before they figure out that I’m the one who hacked into both hotels’ systems and let you set up the little showers at prom last year and this one.”
“Relax Tate, no one’s going to know it was us and if you don’t want your real name coming out then shut it and let us get to school and done with this day.”
“Is the whole clan going to be there?” Tate asked changing the subject.
“They are, none of them would begin to think of missing Mel’s graduation especially not since she’s valedictorian,” Jordan said pressing a kiss to her fingers.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Tate sighed dramatically. “Keep rubbing it in of how brilliant she is.”
“Enough boys let’s just get through this day,” she said with a huge smile as they pulled into the lot. She couldn’t wait until they could move on from the school and be done with it. She saw her in-laws sitting in the stands already as well as Arthur and she felt relieved.
“Hey beautiful, I have something for you,” Jordan said when they reached the edge of the stands. He pulled out a long jewelry box from his jacket pocket and gave her a bright smile. “Happy graduation Mel.”
She took it knowing better than to argue especially in front of his parents. She opened it and saw a bracelet that matched her ring and necklace perfectly and she grinned up at him. “It’s gorgeous Jordan and I think it’s the perfect touch to my outfit. Can you help?”
“Always,” he said taking it out of the box and gently buckling it before kissing her wrist. “Okay, go graduate so I can tell the world my wife’s in college and not high school.”
“Aw is it a little odd to admit that I’m in high school? Don’t worry I won’t be for long.”
She waved at her in-laws and hurried over to get her cap and gown. The beginning of the ceremony was long and boring but when they called her name for her speech, she saw the surprise that went throughout the crowd.
“Knock em dead, Mel,” Tate said standing up to let her pass by to the end of the row.
“I plan on it,” she told him. She caught Jordan’s gaze, and she sent him a special smile as she headed up to the podium.
“Good afternoon everyone, I don’t plan on being up here long, so I’ll get straight to it.
Today we get to leave the halls we’ve walked for the past four years and head out on a journey that’s all our own.
Today we can start to discover who we want to be, some of us may head off to uncover the beauty of the world, and others will spend the summer being kids before finding out what we want from college.
Whether we stay here or move far away there will always be a part of this place in us, but we get to decide if the memories are good or bad.
For me I choose to remember the good, my best friend Tate being by my side day after day, keeping my secrets though no fifteen year old should have to.
No matter how much he tried to convince me otherwise I couldn’t bring myself to admit the truth…
my mother ran off the night before my fifteenth birthday leaving me here. ”