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Three knocks at the door. A minute of waiting. 60 seconds of pure anxiety.
Mendel Weisenbachfeld stood nervously at his girlfriend’s doorstep, anxiously awaiting the moment he would get to take her to prom. Senior Prom. The last big party before their graduation.
He played with the cuff of his suit and the band of the pale pink corsage for Trina. It was a nice suit. The only nice suit he owned. It was a dark blue, almost black, with silver buttons and cufflinks and he wore a silver and pink tie. The only thing he knew about Trina’s dress was that it would be a pale pink.
Trina had arranged everything, including dinner, which Mendel was relieved about. He didn’t keep kosher, but Trina did, and he wanted to honour that.
Mendel’s part of this was the surprise. The surprise of dancing with her. Because Trina, for all the times they’d been together, had always wanted to dance to the music of old 50s musicals and Mendel could never get his footing right. Tonight would be different.
The door swung open and Mendel found himself looking up a ways to see Trina’s father, a disapproving scowl on his face. Disapproving. Not exactly what Mendel was hoping to see. But still, not unexpected.
Trina’s father was named Jacob, and many times, Trina had mentioned how much he irritated her. It wasn’t exactly irritation. The word itself didn’t come to Mendel’s mind, but “irritate” was a direct quote from Trina. In fact, Mendel could consider what Jacob Levi did as “belittling.” He belittled Trina often, as did her mother to a degree. Esther Levi stood in the background. Mendel could see her silhouette backlit back the light of the kitchen. The back hall light, the one Mendel had always seen from the porch when he dropped Trina off, was off.
Jacob gave a grumble and opened the screen door for Mendel, allowing him in. Mendel stood awkwardly in the front foyer, not sure exactly what to do. He went to shake Mr Levi’s hand, but at the attempt, Jacob shook it roughly, not even letting Mendel try to give a firm grip. So much for the impression of a good, sturdy handshake.
Esther came out of the shadows. Willowy. Sort of thin boned with curly dark hair and dark eyes that looked both tired and alert. Trina clearly got her nose and lips from this woman, Mendel thought to himself. Esther didn’t come near enough to shake his hand. Actually, as she came into the light, Mendel could describe her as almost haunting and ghostly. Not at all like the radiance Trina exuded when she was with him.
A door on the upper floor closed and the clicking of heels on hardwood drew all of their attention. At the top of the stairs, Trina stood, smiling. But the smile was nervous. Neither of the Levis seemed to notice, but Mendel could tell. Which worried him a bit. Because Trina always smiled brightly with him. And if she was nervous and neither said a word, it meant she always smiled this way around them.
Mendel flashed her a winning smile back, trying to reassure her. Trina caught his eyes, and she had a quick moment of a real smile before she glanced back at her father, tall and fairly muscular with a stern face.
Looking at her now, Mendel realized he hadn’t even paid attention to her dress. A fairly conservative number, he noted. Of course, he wasn’t expecting Trina to appear with heavy cleavage and makeup, but he noted that her appearance seemed dulled by her choice of dress. Or… her mother’s choice of dress.
It was a light, pastel pink. Light, airy, with a flowing skirt and a bodice that appeared to be a floral and lace theme. The floral-lace pattern extended almost to her neck, while the actual dress itself stopped at a sweetheart neckline underneath. Her hair was a minimal design, pulled back with sparkly bobby pins with crystals on the edges. Like her hair, the makeup was subtle as well. A soft pink lip, some mascara, some blush. Esther didn’t seem like the type to let her daughter go out in eyeliner, not that Trina wore it anyways.
Trina stood at the bottom of the stairs, a whole head shorter than her father. She looked up at him, smiling. Offering the best smile she could for the nervousness she felt.
Mendel hoped that Jacob would say something reassuring, something kind, something compassionate, at the very least. He hoped that Jacob would say something approving about his daughter. But no.
“Be home by eleven,” he said gruffly. He didn’t even hug her.
He retreated to the kitchen, grumbling on his way. Esther watched him go, her back to them reminding Mendel of just how pale she looked. She turned back and walked up to her daughter. Looking at her now, Mendel noticed that her chilling appearance wasn’t just her physical stature. It was also her facial expressions.
“You look beautiful, darling,” Mrs Levi said with a distant smile. “I hope you have a good time.”
Mendel was grateful that Mrs Levi cared, but also seemed a little disappointed that she didn’t seem to really mean her words.
When both of Trina’s parents had tucked themselves away in the back of the house, Mendel tried to say something encouraging to Trina, but the moment he started, Trina silently quieted him with a look and they went through the front door and screen door, letting both of them shut behind them before Trina even exhaled.
“Are you alright?” Mendel asked her.
Trina nodded. “They’re always like this,” she replied.
Mendel stopped her as they got were descending the stairs of the porch to where Mendel’s beat up car was. He held her hand and tied the corsage to her wrist, Trina smiling at him, genuinely. “I had to hide this from my parents,” she admitted, unclipping the boutineer from the sash on her dress. “I had to disguise it or else they wouldn’t have let me give it to you.”
She pinned it to his lapel and they walked towards the station wagon.
“Battle scars,” Trina commented as Mendel guided her to the car, her shoes a hindrance on the gravel.
Settled neatly in the car, Mendel pulled out of the uneven driveway back towards the street and off towards Trina’s choice of restaurant: Shapiro’s. Shapiro's was just down the street from the Temple, which meant that it was often the choice place for catering big events. Never Oneg Shabbat, but other events like parties or Bar/Bat Mitzvahs.
“A respectable, Kosher establishment,” Trina said as they approached it.
Mendel looked over at her quizzically, to which Trina replied, “a saying of my mother’s.”
Dinner was almost a non-event. Originally, Trina had thought about going in groups, but no one seemed to want to go with them. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Trina asked Charlotte and Cordelia, Caroline and her date, and a few of her friends. They all had plans already. So Mendel and Trina sat at the little Kosher restaurant and ordered some food like lox and latkes. It was a good thing that Prom was on a Saturday, or Shapiro’s would be closed.
The only thing worth note that came up was Trina asking him how his extracurricular study club was going. Which Mendel nearly freaked out about because he wasn’t going to extracurricular study club. Well, he was going to an extracurricular study activity, but it wasn’t a club nor was it a normal field of study.
“You’ve been at it for two months, and you seem to be doing better!” Trina noted. “I haven’t seen your grades, but you look happier!”
Mendel nodded and laughed. If only he’d seen his last math test. Then she wouldn’t be smiling.
They walked back to the car with Mendel commenting on how nice the sky was. It wasn’t that late. Prom started at eight, and it was currently around seven forty-five. The sky was just turning colours.
Trina marvelled at what looked like a falling star and clutched Mendel’s suit coat to get his attention. Mendel had seen it a second before Trina, but he still acted surprised. They stared up at it for quite a bit before they were both in the car again and on their way to the art museum where prom was held.
Mendel thought it was a bit bizarre that prom was held in an art museum. And in truth, the museum wasn’t all that great anyways. It was more like a gallery. The small town they lived in wasn’t much, but it had some nice things. It had a small corner of it that remained mostly the “Jewish” corner, and a small section that seemed to have all the churches, and then two main areas where the schools were, one had the elementary and middle school, and across town was the high school. It seemed like the town was neat and organized. Small town life. Though, if you went by the most technical of technicalities, it was a city.
Anyway, the museum was perched between the river (which acted as one of the town lines) and one of the million competing bakeries. It was housed in what was supposed to be a car garage but they remodelled it and got rid of some of the horrible echoings with some sound panels. Still, Mendel wasn’t fond of it.
Trina… on the other hand, loved it. She was so excited whenever she went to the museum because they often rotated out the art. She brought a sketchbook every time she went and just sketched. Life drawings and landscapes seemed to capture the most of her attention, but every now and again, an abstract piece would just enthral her.
Pulling up to the museum and parking his car, Mendel held his breath. He didn’t know what prom with Trina would be like. She didn’t know what he would do. He got out of the car and walked around to help Trina, muttering under his breath about how everything would be just fine. “It’ll be great. She’ll be fine, I’ll be fine, it’ll all be fine.”
He opened the door gingerly and helped Trina out, careful to steady her on the gravel parking lot. Her two-inch heels weren’t wanting to cooperate.
Walking in, the room was filled with a bunch of teenagers of different varieties. Some were dancing with grace, some were dancing in ways that Mendel thought the Levis would die if they saw, and some were loitering around the punch bowl. One person in the corner looked completely miserable, and Mendel couldn’t tell from the other side of the room if it was because they were high or if it was because they had been stood up. The lights on the inside bathed the landscaping on the outside through the windows in the large garage doors. Trina wandered inside more as to not block the doors, pulling Mendel with her.
Mendel was almost disappointed when Trina opted to sit at a table with a glass of punch. He thought she would at least want to dance, seeing as it was prom. An hour ticked by, and they held up a fairly good conversation. Somewhere along the lines, Charlotte came bounding up to them wondering where Cordelia was, but neither Mendel nor Trina had seen her so Charlotte went on her way.
The two of them shared some good laughs, told jokes, talked about the dresses and suits, but didn’t dance.
After another fifteen minutes, an excited Caroline came bounding up the stairs to the makeshift stage and announced it was time to pick the prom king and queen.
“This is stupid,” Trina heard behind her, so she whipped around to see Marvin leaning against a taller table behind her.
It wasn’t perfect, but at least Trina and Marvin could behave amicably now.
“Why?” Trina asked, curious.
Marvin scoffed. “It’s heteronormativity B.S.,” he said, glancing over at Whizzer, standing near the stage. Whizzer was interested in hearing who was royalty because he volunteered to take photos of the event. His fancy camera was poised ready for the crowning.
“Whizzer Brown!”
Marvin nearly choked. Trina’s face went pale. Mendel just kind of watched the two of them before two girls almost forced Whizzer onto the stage.
“For Christ’s sake,” Marvin muttered, a palm to his face.
“You’re Jewish,” Trina reminded him almost automatically.
Mendel chuckled at that until Charlotte came up to them, looking for Cordelia again. “It’s not like her to just disappear,” she said.
As if on cue, Cordelia came sprinting up to them, her light blue dress trailing behind her. Her breath was short and she hugged Charlotte, careful not to get any of her dress’s glitter on Charlotte’s more sleek, green satin ensemble.
“Cordelia McCoy!”
Charlotte groaned. “Of course. I just find my girlfriend and she’s announced Prom Queen!”
Cordelia looked flustered and a girl, Diane, helped her up to the stage. She and Whizzer stood side by side, both equally bothered by the situation. Of course, they had to pick them.
Trina watched intrigued as the crowd cheered, but there was a turn of events. Whizzer didn’t want to stand there, letting everyone think he would kiss Cordelia, as nice as the girl was. So he took off his fancy camera, gave it to Delia, and took a running jump off the stage and went and kissed Marvin instead.
Marvin’s going to give Whizzer hell for this, Trina thought. But then again, Whizzer’s always been a flashy person.
Marvin was more of a private person. But it didn’t seem to faze anyone. Everyone already knew they were together. They all just cheered as the flashes of Cordelia taking pictures with Whizzer’s camera went off in the background. Trina clapped politely, Mendel cheered a bit, and when it was over, Cordelia wandered up to her Charlie and kissed her too, not opting for the ceremony of aggressive cheering from her peers.
The music resumed and everyone returned to their dancing, loitering, joy, and misery. Trina sipped on yet another cup of punch before looking up at Mendel.
“What?” She asked, noticing Mendel’s stare.
“Oh.” He hadn’t realized he had been staring. Or at least obviously. He just loved looking at Trina and her hair, eyes, and light dusting of freckles. “I just wanted to know if you wanted to dance?”
Trina’s entire posture perked up. “Oh, I just thought you might not want to,” she said quickly. "I didn't... know you cared for it at all."
Mendel’s shoulders eased, and without confirming or denying verbally, he held out his hand for her to take and led her to the patch of floor designated for dancing.
The music, a pop tune of some kind, died down and Mendel and Trina looked up, worried they had missed their chance. Prom ended in fifteen minutes, after all. Mendel was about to give up, but just as he was about to drop her hand, reluctantly, of course, the band started again.
A soft melody started playing and Mendel pulled Trina against him, like the dancing equivalent to a hug.
“Trina Levi, will you dance with me?” He asked, his entire face beaming.
With a happy nod, Trina accepted and Mendel swept her across the floor, her skirts billowing around them. The room had already cleared out a good amount, people ready to go out drinking and celebrating, but for Trina and Mendel, the entire room had vanished and it was just them, swaying and turning and spinning around.
As the song died down, Mendel and Trina looked around, seeing Marvin, Whizzer, Cordelia, and Charlotte nodding approvingly at them, Whizzer even giving them an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Prom was over and all six of them wandered out the doors, smiling, content with the evening.
The ride home was quiet, Trina and Mendel playing music softly on the radio, not listening to the words. Trina thought about all that had happened, and Mendel’s adrenaline was still high.
As he walked her up the rickety porch steps, he offered Trina a hand, which she accepted. In turn, Mendel kissed her hand and held her close.
“Trina, it’s been an honour taking you to prom,” he said, doing his best to be charming. It was working. Because Trina rested her forehead against his for a moment before pulling back and giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.
“Mendel Weisenbachfeld, it’s been an honour being your date,” she replied.
And it was his turn to kiss her. It was longer this time, but not unwelcome. And as they broke apart, Trina checked the clock. It was almost 10:30 PM. She smiled to herself.
“Well, my dad can’t complain that it’s after eleven,” she said with a grin. “I do have a question though.”
Mendel stopped, his ears perked up.
“You’ve never been able to dance with me before. Why now?”
A grin formed on Mendel’s face and he laughed. “Well, I asked Cordelia to show me how. She’s been teaching me for the past two months. Ever since I asked you to prom.”
Trina’s face flushed and she looked so overjoyed. She jumped up, hugged him around the neck, and kissed him with a muted passion appropriate for high school. “I love you,” she said softly.
They stood for another moment before Trina reminded him he should go before his parents worried too much.
Mendel didn’t want to go, but of course, had to. They brushed hands again before Mendel started down the stairs, taking skipping the third and first one and disappearing around the side of the house. Trina let herself in before turning back to hear, “Trina Levi, I love you!” And then a mad dash across the gravel, the roaring of an engine back to life, and the sight of Mendel hurriedly backing down her driveway.
Trina smiled to herself before letting herself back into the house. The porch light wasn’t on, and when she got inside, it felt empty. A note on the front table caught her attention and she looked at it in the dim light provided by the stars and moon through the front hall window.
He seems like a nice young man , said some sprawling cursive. Hope you had fun.