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“What about that guy from your track team? The really tall one?” Jenny inquires as she flings off the red crop top she had just slipped on. She picks up another crop top from the pile of choices on her bed, and tosses it on. The pretty teen girl twist and turns for a second, checking herself out from a distance in their vanity mirror, before chucking the shirt away and pulling on a new one.
Kiki always feels tired watching Jenny put so much effort into her outfit every morning.
“Derek?” Kiki responds, shimmying into a modest pink dress. “He’s not the nicest of people, if I’m being honest. He’s a good runner, but...” She trails off on a shrug, not really wanting to badmouth the boy. Even if his cocky attitude grated her nerves.
“Well, boo.” Jenny tsks, head cocked to the side as she runs through her mental list of boys in Beach City. “What about that dance guy then? With the scarf. He was kinda cute.”
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Kiki giggles, grabbing a brush as she takes a seat in front of the vanity. She makes swift work out of unraveling her thick braid, and brushing the curls into fluffy perfection. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I was planning to just go with Ronaldo.”
“Ronaldo?” Jenny repeats, shaking her head as her puts on her hoop earrings. “But he’s just your friend.”
“So? You’re going with friends,” Kiki points out, recalling the countless hours Jenny spent online searching for a dress that perfectly matched the purple of Buck’s suit and the powder blue of Sour Cream’s tie.
“It’s sweet that you think that,” Jenny coos, hugging her sister from behind and dropping a kiss on Kiki’s cheek before releasing her. “But that’s why you’re the good twin.”
Kiki cocks her head at that, brow lifting in question. She decides not to actually ask about it, in case the answer is something she’d rather not know. So she turns back to the mirror, carefully tying her pink headwrap into a tidy bow.
“Besides, it’s prom,” Jenny states definitively as she steps into her sleek ankle boots. “The last shebang of the year. It’s like New Year’s Eve rules.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” Kiki admits with a timid laugh, picking up her peppermint flavored lip gloss. Jenny crowds the mirror in an instant, fingers toying over a few vibrant lipstick tubes before settling on her usual brown. They color and smack their lips in perfect sync, both grinning at their reflections.
“You know how you party hard and when the ball drops, you gotta kiss the one you're with? Prom’s the same way. Your date must be smoochable.”
“That doesn’t sound like a real thing,” Kiki says to her sister’s reflection.
Jenny shrugs back at her, and says, “Them’s the rules.”
Kiki sighs. She never quite understood high school politics. The rules were ever changing, and stupidly complex. Jenny navigated that world so easily, and Kiki’s glad she has her flawless sister to help her. But sometimes Kiki wishes Jenny would allow her to be blissfully unaware of certain traditions.
Her tummy is all in knots now, and her face is heating up.
“But I… I had already asked Ronaldo to go with me,” she finally admits, lowering her gaze away from her sister’s shocked face. Kiki takes more time than needed to slide into her ballerina flats. “He was pretty excited by the idea of going, promised to give me the full prom experience. Even had his dad give him a bonus check so he can rent a tux and everything. I had to talk him out of getting a limo for us. Well, technically it would’ve been a hearse, but...”
Kiki trails off when Jenny snorts behind her hand, fighting off a case of the giggles and failing. Kiki’s face gets hotter.
“Well, I’m sure it won’t be too bad,” Jenny teases playfully as she swings the strap of her large purse over her shoulder. She hands Kiki her monogrammed bookbag, and the two sisters walk out their bedroom to go eat breakfast in the kitchen. “He probably tastes like french fries.”
She snorts at her sister’s jest, but Kiki’s stomach flips at the thought.
It haunts her really. Her palms got all clammy the next time she talked to Ronaldo to finalize plans, her gaze constantly drifting to her friend’s mouth. And really, she shouldn’t have been staring so hard at lips that were so thin, surrounded by barely visible peachfuzz, with such longing curiosity. But the seed had been planted in her brain, and the sprout is made up of thoughts that leave her lying awake well into the night with heart palpitations.
“Just because it’s prom doesn’t mean it’s a date,” Kiki mutters to herself on the big night. Her hand smooths the skirts of her peach cotillion-styled ball gown. The sleeveless, heart shaped bust clings to her tightly, suffocating her. Or maybe she’s always wound this tight, stiffly breathing with a constricted chest. “That’s just silly. We’re friends. We don’t have to kiss.”
But they also didn’t have to not kiss.
Did Ronaldo know about the rule, Kiki wondered for the umpteenth time since Jenny mentioned it. Was he expecting a kiss? Was she ?
“That doesn’t look like a party face,” Jenny chimes upon returning to their room from the bathroom, her hair freshly hot combed into a pretty bob. The slinky, lavender dress she’s poured into shimmers with specks of light blue with Jenny’s every move. She’s just gorgeous as she pouts sweetly at Kiki. “What’s up?”
Kiki shakes her head, causing the black river of long ringlets to sway at her shoulders. She busies herself by pulling her hair up into a bun, holding it down with bobby pins and letting a few curls stay loose to frame her face.
Jenny frowns.
“Girls,” their father’s voice carries down the hall. “Your ...dates are here!”
“Coming, daddy,” they both call back on reflex. Both roll their eyes at themselves for noticeably doing something in unison, giggling when they realize they had done it again.
They hurry through the motions of strapping up their heels, and putting the final touches to their look (an extra layer of gloss for Kiki, and some glittery silver bangles for Jenny).
Kiki moves to exit, but a tug on her poofy skirt stills her. Jenny pulls her into an embrace, and Kiki accepts it readily.
“Whatever’s got ya frettin’, just let it be,” Jenny whispers into her ear. “Stop worrying so much.”
Kiki nods at Jenny’s advice as they shift apart.
“In fact, tonight, you have my permission to be the evil twin,” Jenny tells her, index finger flicking her own nose before she taps on Kiki’s in a show of transference. “Boop.”
Kiki giggles softly, suddenly all bubbles with her sister grinning so confidently at her.
“So let's go have fun, yeah?” Jenny cheers.
Kiki nods again, taking her sister by the hand to walk to the living room where their friends are waiting for them.
Buck and Sour Cream both greet Jenny with a hug, and they all toss out warm compliments for one another. Kofi cuts in on their chatter to remind the trio of Jenny’s strict curfew, and all the things she’s not allowed to do tonight. Nanefua is holding an old Polaroid camera, snapping pictures all the while.
Kiki strolls right past the commotion to Ronaldo, who’s standing almost timidly by the door until their gazes lock. He grins at her, and she’s barely able to contain her snort as she takes him in.
“Snazzy,” she compliments, and Ronaldo beams proudly.
The extravagant white tuxedo, complete with a matching top hat and a red cummberbun, seems a bit much for a night in the school gym. Golden buttons reflective, coattails sweeping behind him, Kiki wonders how much it’ll set him back if he accidentally stained the rental. It’ll be worth it. He looks rather handsome in it.
“Your corsage, milady,” Ronaldo presents with a flourish, using his Victorian gentlemen voice, bowing before her. There’s a rapid fire of clicks, her grandma capturing the moment a million times over.
“Thanks,” Kiki giggles, taking the clear plastic box from him and flipping it open. The little bundle of real white rosebuds are sewn on a frilly pink ribbon. “It’s lovely.”
“Allow me,” he says, still speaking in that cheesy voice that has her giggling again.
His massive hands carefully extract the delicate corsage from the box, and she lifts her hand out for him. She’s thankful he got this kind of corsage, so there would be no awkward moment where he’s fumbling to pin the flowers to her chest. But maybe that would have been better? At least it would have been quick. The gentle way he’s cradling her slender wrist, as if she’s as fragile as the rose petals, along with the breath stealing contrast of his rough fingertips accidentally brushing over her pulse and the silky ribbon he’s tying in place is making her insides flutter. And when he finally secures it in a sloppy bow, Ronaldo flashes her a sweet smile that has Kiki’s already racing heart going into overdrive. Oh, goodness…
“C’mon, guys. Group selfie time,” Jenny shouts, waving them over.
Kiki blinks out of her stupor, thumbing the skin next to the tied ribbon to wipe away the lingering tingles as she and Ronaldo squeeze together with Jenny, Buck, and Sour Cream. Jenny’s phone aimed at them, poised high in the air, they all grin. Nanefua takes pictures of them taking the selfie. She also takes pictures of Jenny posting the selfie on social media, even circling the group of teens to get better angles as they debate which hashtags and filters to use. Their grandma snaps pics of them saying goodbye to their father. She takes pictures of them leaving the house to pile into Buck’s car. She takes so many pictures, Kiki’s certain she heard her father complaining about the flood of polaroids littering the floor.
Despite a brief detour where Ronaldo’s trailing some poor, extensively hairy European exchange student with his cell phone’s camera flashing, muttering nonsense about his blog, the evening with Ronaldo starts out nice enough. The snacks the dance committee provided are decent. And the music’s all familiar and upbeat.
They’ve danced together before, at Beach-a-Palooza and a few times at one of Sour Cream’s raves. So there's no problems when they went to the dance floor to shake it for one, two, and then three and four songs in a row. They had moved to the beat of their own drum, although his drum may be a little more offbeat than her’s. An exuberant joy flows over her, and Kiki freely bounces in place while Ronaldo jerkily pops-n-locks next to her.
But then the music slows to a lulling melody.
Kiki blinks, her movements coming to a sudden halt.
Ronaldo gives her a tiny grin. Bending at the waist, he offers his hand to her, palm side up. Kiki smiles, placing her much smaller hand in his like she’s Beauty and he’s the Beast.
They step towards each other, and rock about in a circular two-step. Room for Jesus and all twelve of his disciples between them, she wonders what she had been worried about. He’s not expecting anything from tonight. They’re just fri-- Oh!
He suddenly spins her out, her skirts fanning out as a shriek of laughter bubbles out of her. Ronaldo has her twirling as she’s snapped into his embrace. She looks up at him with wide, starry eyed. Her palm pressed to the center of his wide chest, she can feel the ba-bump of his heart pulsing through her. Or is that her heartbeat?
Regardless, the hand in his squeezes tight as they start to sway. Their knees graze, and his legs are slowly consumed by the ruffled skirts of her gown. His face gets rosy as their bodies meld together. Her cheek rests below his shoulder, her eyes closing as the music swells in time with the crescendo of her warm fuzzies exploding inside her.
When the song ends, it’s way too soon.
Lifting her head off his chest, Kiki gazes through her thick lashes into his eyes. His glasses slide down his nose as he stares back. She licks her lips, and his dark brown eyes follow the movement of her tongue. A thrill tickling her up her spine, she’s never been more certain of what she wants to come of this night.
His brows come together when she fists his dress shirt. She uses her hold on him as an anchor, rocking up on her tiptoes and craning her neck to lift her mouth just a few meager inches, and…
His phone buzzes, vibrating against her ribcage. It shocks her, sending her off track and causing their noses to bump. Some creepy four note tune begins to play when it buzzes again.
They instantly pull apart. Kiki shyly takes an extra step back. She tucks a loose curl behind her ear, just to give her shaking hands a task. Her face is burning hot, and she’s glad her complexion hides it for the most part. Ronaldo sends her a questioning sidelong glance before he fishes his phone out the inner breast pocket of his rented tux.
He gasps as he opens the text he’s just received, and then he’s tossing his head back, almost losing his top hat as he unabashedly chuckles a full belly laugh.
Kiki smiles at the sound. So boisterous and free.
“What is it?” she asks in genuine interest. “Did Peedee send you a weird meme or something?”
“No, no. Jane just sent me the best Koala Princess reference. It perfectly ties into our situation.”
“Jane?” Kiki repeats the simple name like it’s foreign, but the implication registers clear in her head. Heavy lead replaces the butterflies in her stomach.
“My girlfriend, remember? We were able to work things out. She knows I’m just being a pal tonight. And since I didn’t go to my own prom, it’s kind of like a do-over. You don’t get a lot of those without the help of sentient third eyes. So she’s cool with it. But I didn’t tell her you were my date, because, you know. Misunderstandings and all.”
“Right. That’s… That’s so great,” Kiki tells him, plastering on a grin as she nods a little too enthusiastically. “I’m glad!”
He nods, texting back his girlfriend. Kiki just stands there as he does it. Inwardly, she sighs at her foolishness. She had almost… A dull ache hits her chest.
Ronaldo puts his phone away, and excuses himself to go use the facilities. She’s never been more relieved to have a reprieve.
Kiki makes a beeline to the refreshment table, stuffing her face with teacakes and filling a cup with fruit punch. She wanders around the dimly lit gym, eyes taking in the streamers and balloons as she tries not to let her brain wander.
She eventually sits on the one row of bleachers they left standing in the gymnasium. Casually sipping her punch, Kiki sways to the music. She glances at the only other person parked in the loser section. Lars. The scrawny boy sits with his arms crossed, his face miserable as he glares at the people on the dancefloor.
Kiki thinks about starting a conversation with him, though she’s not sure what to say. Jenny knows him better than her. But his sullen expression melts away a second later, and he’s practically tripping over himself when he hops up and dashes to the gym’s entry doors. Kiki follows him with her eyes, smiling when she sees him greet a short blonde haired girl with a casual shrug that belittled his obvious excitement that she had come.
Kiki then glances around until she spots her sister. Jenny is sandwiched between her two friends, the trio wobbling from side to side with their hands in the air. Kiki’s smile widens as she takes in the joy radiating off her twin. Actually, as she takes in the room, everyone seems to be having a good time.
Even Ronaldo has a pep in his step when he comes to retrieve her. Her smile turns wistful. She’s out of place here.
“Sorry to cut the night short, but would you mind if we just went home?” Kiki asks, feeling a bit guilty. This was his make up prom, after all.
“Oh. Okay,” Ronaldo ascents with ease. “Perfect. Gives me more time to update my blog tonight.”
She smiles sadly, and stands without his assistance. They maneuver through the dancefloor to say their farewell to Jenny, and Kiki tries to ignore the disappointed look on her twin’s face as she heads to the exit. Loud music is replaced with the chirp of crickets and the distant hiss of the ocean as they walk home beneath the stars.
She lets him fill the silence of the night, nodding along to every conspiracy theory he spews out. His hands wave about wildly, and he talks louder as he gets more passionate. He’s so big. His giant feet take up most of the sidewalk, and she has to walk a little ahead of him to keep from being budged off. He’s kind of a lot to handle. She ponders if she’ll ever be allowed to fully take on the challenge.
“You okay, Kiki?” Ronaldo asks when they reach her front door. “You seem kinda... weh-weh .” The sad little sound effect, accompanied with his hand going limp at the wrist, would usually make her laugh. He seems to grow a little more concern when she doesn’t react.
“Yeah,” she sighs, not bothering to hide her disappointment any longer. “But it’s fine, really. I had a good time.”
“Well, of course you did. I promised the full prom experience, did I not?”
“Well, not the full experience,” she mutters jokingly without thinking.
“What do you mean?” he questions, over pronouncing the words, eyes squinting at her suspiciously.
Kiki laughs weakly, her insides going all jittery. She shakes her head vehemently, black ringlets flailing. But he’s still giving her that dubious look, like he doesn’t understand. More likely he’s thinking she’s been replaced by a robot, or that the eggs of some alien has hatched inside her and hijacked her body. If only! Then she wouldn’t feel compelled to answer him.
“You’re suppose to kiss your prom date goodnight,” Kiki whispers. “Or maybe just kiss in general? Or, at least, that’s what Jenny says.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you... want that?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugs miserably. “I think so?”
“Hm.” He nods his head in consideration, rubbing his chin. “Well, a promise is a promise. Full prom experience.”
“Wha-what? Really?” Kiki sputters. “But what about...about um --”
There’s a good reason they shouldn’t kiss right now, she knows it. But he’s crowding her space, his spicy scent filling her nose and making her head dizzy. The look on his face tells her it’s no big deal, just a friend making good on his word. Her stomach flips. But this isn’t right, she’s certain.
But she wants to. She really, really wants to kiss him. So she takes a deep breath, screws her eyes shut, conjures up some of Jenny’s devil may care attitude, and grabs Ronaldo by the collar. He squawks when she yanks him down to her, his muffled noises on her lips sound like it might have been protesting.
But that only lasts a second.
He melts into the kiss almost instantly, his moan shifting to that of surprise before ending on a pleasured hum. It sends sharp little zings through her. Electricity. Yeah, that’s it. Lighting bunches beneath her skin, crackling where his hands clench her dress on her hip and lower back. Her entire being feels like a livewire.
His lips are so soft on hers, her tongue just has to lick across the seam. Another pleasured moan escapes him, rumbling from the depths of his chest. It causes a strange warmth to pool in her belly, and it drops lower when his mouth opens for her.
Kiki breathes a small laugh through her nose. He actually does taste like french fries, lightly salted and fresh out the fryer. It has her smiling into the kiss. His tongue hesitantly flicks hers, and it’s suddenly her that’s moaning. It shocks Kiki into opening her eyes.
Heart pounding, lungs aching for air, Kiki finally releases him with a wet smack.
Ronaldo steps back unsteadily, bugged eyed and inhaling huge gulps of air. Kiki’s breath in pretty labored too, her chest rising and falling at an accelerated rate. Her body’s flushed. Her grin is huge. Her skin is covered in gooseflesh. She’s never felt like this before!
“I was expecting a peck,” Ronaldo heaves out, fingers running through his hair in disbelief. Kiki bursts into a fit of giggles, hiding her face in her hands. “That was... weird. Good weird. My lips are tingling.”
She can’t stop giggling long enough to tell him that that’s probably just his skin reacting to the peppermint in her lipgloss. And when she does calm down enough to speak, she decides to leave it a mystery for him. Let her be the girl that made him breathless and left his lips tingling. Who knows if she’ll ever get the chance to be painted so amazingly in someone’s head again…
“Sorry,” she manages to get out, hands sliding down her cheeks so she can see his blushing face under the warm glow of the porchlight. “I over did it.”
“No. I mean, yeah. I don’t know. Give me a sec,” he tells her, still catching his breath. “I’m not thinking straight.”
She giggles more at that. For a brief second, she expects him to toss some weird accusation at her feet. Call her something along the lines of an other worldly succubus. But his mind is elsewhere.
“Should I tell Jane about this? I should definitely tell her, right?”
She’s buzzing so much from the kiss that even the mention of his girlfriend can’t pop Kiki’s bubble. Her moral compass usually points more due north than this, and she’s sure tomorrow she’ll feel all types of awful about her actions tonight. But right now, she can almost hear Jenny’s voice egging her on. So she lets her hands drop completely, allowing him to see the huge grin splitting her face.
“Depends,” she tells him with a playful shrug, picking up the top hat that had fallen to the ground at some point.
“On what?” he croaks out, his pupils still dilated as he gawks at her in awe. She steps closer, their noses brushing as she reaches up on her tiptoes to place his hat back atop his head. And when his gaze drops to her full glossy lips on their own accord, a wicked thrill shoot up her spine. Her head tilts, their breaths intermingling. Her lips a hairsbreadth away from his, her forehead resting on his, she gives him a daring look and smiles brazenly when she feels him seize forward ever so slightly so their mouths are just barely brushing when she answers.
“On if you want to do it again.”