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While Tina hadn’t really expected Josh to escort her home after what happened, a small part of her had to admit that it still stung to see him get into the backseat of his father’s car without checking to make sure she was going to make it home safely.
It stung doubly so that he hadn’t reciprocated the half-hearted wave she knew he’d seen her give him when he passed her by.
Maybe he’d been more hurt by her attempt at building a love triangle than he’d initially let on, she thought as she watched his taillights disappear down the street.
Curled up on the front steps of a school that she didn’t even go to, Tina tried to be as discreet as possible as she fished the emergency cell phone from her bra, where she’d tucked it before the dance for safe-keeping.
She loathed the idea of having to call her parents and ask them to pick her up - while they’d most likely be more than supportive, she knew that her mom would be disappointed to hear that she’d ruined her first school dance experience so horribly.
She should’ve left earlier, with Jen and her siblings, but she’d foolishly believed that she could turn the night around.
After all, she didn’t need a date to have fun at a dance, and the School for the Performing Arts was full of new and exciting older boys that she’d yet to meet.
It had been hard to enjoy herself with everyone staring at her, though. She felt more self-conscious than usual every time someone whispered to a friend from behind their hand, or when someone giggled after she tripped over her own feet while trying to dance.
While having two boys fight over her had been thrilling, it had also been a lot more trouble than it was worth.
She was grateful that, apart from Jimmy Jr. and Zeke, it was unlikely that she would ever see any of these people again, now that she and Josh were over. In the grand scheme of things, it was way better to embarrass yourself at someone else’s dance.
Sighing, Tina flipped the emergency phone open, bracing herself for an uncomfortable rundown of the night's events. She hoped, at the very least, that her dad had enjoyed his first school dance.
The universe seemed intent on humiliating Tina even further - the screen refused to come to life. She could’ve sworn that it’d been plugged in when she’d snagged it from her parent’s bedroom, but now, it was just another bullet point on the list of reasons why she’d failed.
She didn’t feel like going back inside to find a phone, and there was no way she was going to approach one of the high schoolers milling around on the curb, likely waiting for their own rides.
Resigning herself to the fact that she’d have to walk home alone, she squared her shoulders and rose to her feet.
“Tina, wait up!”
Turning around, she was surprised to see that Jimmy Jr. was still there, and that he was approaching her. Zeke was close on his heels, but split off just before they reached her with an enthusiastic wave over his shoulder, taking off in the opposite direction.
Jimmy Jr. stopped once he was at her side, shoving his hands into his pockets and clearing his throat. “Why are you still here?”
She didn’t think that he meant to come across as rude - that was kind of just how he always sounded.
“Josh was my ride,” She mumbled, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “And the emergency phone is dead, so…”
“Oh.” Jimmy Jr. said. He looked anywhere but at her, as if hoping to find someone else to foist her off on. When he found no such thing, he sighed, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. “Uh…you can walk with me, I guess, if you want.”
“Are you sure?” Tina asked. “I know, um…I know things got…weird, earlier. I understand if you don’t want to walk me home.”
She held her breath while he deliberated, looking up at the night sky as if the stars would tell him what to do with her. She tried to guess what he might be thinking - if he walked her home, she might try to talk about their relationship. If he didn’t walk her home, she could get murdered, or kidnapped, or fall into a ditch somewhere. She wondered what he might consider the better outcome of the two.
Finally, he groaned, and Tina’s heart stilled, waiting.
“It’s fine, Tina. Let’s just…go.”
He hopped off the bottom step, and Tina was quick to follow behind, stuffing the emergency phone back into her bra as she went. Jimmy Jr. pointedly looked away while she did, the tips of his ears turning red.
They walked in complete silence for a few blocks, nothing but the sound of their footsteps to distract from the mounting tension.
“You look nice, by the way.” Jimmy Jr. blurted out. “Um, really nice. I didn’t get to tell you earlier, with…you know. Everything going on.”
The compliment warmed her from the inside out, and she couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto her face at his words.
“You really think so?”
“Uh, yeah. Everyone did.”
Under normal circumstances, she likely wouldn’t have believed him - it was too subjective, and there was no way he could know what everyone at the dance thought of her.
These weren’t normal circumstances, though. She’d had two whole boys fighting over her, and that was enough to make her feel prettier than she had in her entire life.
“Thank you,” She replied, a little awestruck. “You look really nice, too.”
“I didn’t even dress up, Tina.”
“No, I know. But…you always look handsome.”
Jimmy Jr. scoffed, kicking an errant pebble in his path. “If you think I’m so handsome, why’d you go with Josh?”
He grimaced as soon as the words left his mouth, and it was clear that he hadn’t intended on being the one to bring up such a sore subject.
“I went with Josh because he wanted to go with me.”
“Yeah? Well, I wanted to go with you, too.”
“Not at first,” Tina argued. “You only decided you wanted to go with me after you found out that someone else did, too.”
“That’s not…I already told you,” He started, cutting himself off. “That had nothing to do with it.”
“If you say so.” Tina shrugged. “Anyway…I don’t know. It was just… nice, I guess. To feel wanted.”
Jimmy Jr. frowned, looking down at his feet.
Tina’s thoughts drifted down the street, back towards the high school and the taillights she’d watched drive away from her earlier. Jimmy Jr. had been the first to express his distaste for her love triangle idea, but Josh had been the first to back away. She’d been more focused on his words, and what he’d said about her becoming a “one-boy girl” again, but she vaguely remembered the way that Jimmy Jr. had looked at her when he’d caught her wrist and dropped her hand.
“Jimmy Jr., did it hurt your feelings when I couldn’t choose between you and Josh, at the dance?”
He flinched, and Tina had her answer.
“I’m sorry. That’s not what I was trying to do.”
“I know.” He mumbled, looking embarrassed. “I kind of deserved it, though. I sorta did the same thing to you, when I wanted to…see what all of my options were.”
It was Tina’s turn to frown, the wound being reopened all over again.
“Why don’t we just…put all of this behind us?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like…we can just pretend that tonight never happened.” Tina bit her lip, thinking. “Or this entire week, for that matter.”
Jimmy Jr. glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and then he nodded.
“That…sounds good. Like…a fresh start?”
“Exactly! There was no dance…no dance off …”
“No Josh.” Jimmy Jr. spat, his animosity towards the older boy returning.
“Yeah.” Tina smiled. “I mean, Josh who?”
“Seriously, Tina, that guy sucks.” He wrinkled his nose, his hand clenching into a fist at his side. “He didn’t even take you home. What if something happened to you?”
Though she knew that she probably would’ve been fine on her own, she decided to stroke his ego, just a little bit.
“At least you’re here.”
They continued to walk in silence, though it wasn’t as uncomfortable as it was before.
A few blocks away from their street, Tina started to shiver, her decision to not bring a jacket finally catching up to her.
“Cold?” Jimmy Jr. asked, and Tina’s teeth chattered as she nodded.
Quicker than she could react, Jimmy Jr.’s arm came to rest around her shoulders, tugging her closer to his side. He tried to seem casual as he rubbed at her bare skin in an attempt to warm her up, though she thought his presence alone was doing a fine enough job.
When he noticed the blush on Tina’s cheeks, he rolled his eyes.
“It’s not a big deal, Tina. I just don’t want you to freeze to death, that’s all.”
“Right.” Tina agreed, and because it wasn’t a big deal, she said nothing more as she slipped her left hand into his back pocket.
The lights were still on in the apartment when they strolled up to the front door, and Jen’s car was still parked on the curb, meaning that they’d beaten her parents home.
She wasn’t quite ready to leave him, and judging by the way he’d yet to remove his arm, he wasn’t, either.
Instead, she pulled him to a stop in front of the restaurant’s front window, staring at their reflections with starry-eyes.
With their arms around each other like this, Tina thought that they almost looked like a real couple.
A couple who went to dances together, and didn’t hurt each other's feelings all the time, and knew how to communicate exactly what they wanted from their relationship.
“Hey, Jimmy Jr.?”
“Yeah, Tina?”
“Next time there’s a school dance…” She swallowed thickly, her stomach twisting with nerves. “Could you just…I don’t know, ask me? Maybe?”
Jimmy Jr.’s reflection blinked back at her, and then he was nodding, his arm tightening just a little bit tighter around her.
“S-sure, I can do that.”
“Great!” Tina grinned, and he jumped when she squeezed with the hand that was still in his back pocket. “So, I was thinking that you could do something really big when you ask me. Like, maybe you jump out of a cake, or something?”
“Uh…I don’t know about that. Can’t I just, you know, ask?”
“You could, but…that’s not as exciting.” Tina frowned. “Oh, maybe if you’re wearing the horse costume? You still have it, right?”
Jimmy Jr. stepped back, effectively breaking their contact. Tina’s heart sank - the night had finally turned around, and she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to it, yet.
“We’ll see, Tina.” And then he was stooping down, his lips brushing against her cheek in a quick peck. “I’ll see you at school, okay?”
It took Tina more than a second to regain her speech capabilities, and another to formulate a totally normal response that wouldn’t give away how much the gesture had nearly knocked her off of her feet.
“O-okay. Yeah, of course. Um, goodnight, Jimmy Jr.”
He was already backing away, about to head to his own side of the street. He smiled, and then gave her a dorky spin, just like he had when she’d initially asked him to the dance.
“That was dancing for ‘Night, Tina’.”
The night hadn’t at all gone as she’d originally thought it would - her first school dance had been anything but magical, and she’d probably irreparably messed things up with Josh, but in the end, she’d gotten what she really wanted.
Besides, there would be other dances, and who was Josh to her, really? They’d shared a beautiful moment inside of the dairy fridge at Fresh Feed, but not even that could compare to the feeling she had every time Jimmy Jr. smiled at her.
Things had turned out exactly how they were supposed to, even if she did have to help wrangle her drunk and vomit-covered parents up the stairs when they got home.