She turned her evil eye on me for a moment. “This is a pivotal dance, Zoey. The fall dance sets the tone for the entire school year. It shows everyone here at school whether I am capable of planning Homecoming or Winter Formal or prom. This is the beginning and end of our entire year as seniors.”
I held my hands up in surrender, biting back the laugh that was threatening to burst out. “All right, all right,” I said, looking at all the action around us. Brody was on the ladder, draping the vines, and it looked just fine to me. Everything else was coming together very nicely. “I’ll go help Ash.”
I placed a bobby pin on the page I was reading and set the book aside. I hopped up off the bench and walked over to Ash, who was laughing at his own obviously hilarious situation. Not saying a word, I just started unwrapping the lights from his body.
“What are you doing?” Ash said, watching as I moved around him, removing the lights as best I could without getting them tangled up. If they got tangled, it would be a disaster almost instantly, and I’d be stuck on the bench untangling the stupid mess until the doors opened in a few hours.
“We have to decorate the courtyard, Ash, not ourselves,” I said, as my hands brushed along his hipbones. I blushed and avoided eye contact.
“Nah, you just wanted an excuse to touch me,” he laughed. “That’s exactly why I did it, you know. I knew Madison would send you over here to untangle me, and I couldn’t get past that thought.”
“You’re revolting,” I answered indifferently. I didn’t have a lot of effort to spare on Ash today, not when a classic Madison Wu breakdown was imminent. “Just help me with these, okay?”
“Yeah, sure, Z, whatever you say,” he said, stepping out of the last bits of lights that were wrapped around his legs. How did he even manage to do this to himself?
“Zoey?”
I turned around and saw my ex-boyfriend, Joel, standing behind me, a stack of tablecloths in his arms. “Oh, hey, what’s up?”
“When you get a chance, can you help me with this?” he asked, motioning over where the food and beverage tables were set up under a breezeway.
“Yeah, definitely. Just let me help Ash finish these lights first, okay?” He nodded, smiling, and walked away.
“So what’s up with you and Joel over there?” Ash asked, helping me to set up a ladder. As I climbed up, I felt a blush cross my cheeks. I was wearing the clothes I wore to cheer practice and the shorts left very little to the imagination. Ash would be one to take advantage of this situation.
I glanced at Joel, talking casually with Jaida, the junior dance committee rep. We had dated for a little over a year and had parted without any drama, the easiest breakup in the history of all breakups. We’d had a few hot and heavy months, but our friendship was stronger than our chemistry, and we decided to remain friends. “We’re friends,” I said, reaching for the lights and the staple gun.
“That’s not the way I see it, Zo-Zo,” Ash said, grinning at me, his arms gripping the ladder tightly. “The way I see, Joelskies over there is still pining for you.”
I stapled a section of lights to the breezeway and glanced back over at Joel, who was laughing at something Jaida said. Ash and I were not even a blip on their radar. “If you say so.” I felt myself slip a little on the ladder as it shook slightly, and Ash’s hand came up to steady me, just under the hem of my shorts. A tingle spread through my legs down to my toes, and I glared down at him. He smiled lazily back up at me.
“I know jealousy when I see it,” Ash assured me. “He’s heartbroken that you’ve left him in the dust, leaving him to run to underclassmen like Jaida.”
“Last I had heard,” I said, putting my body weight forward and stapling another section, “Joel was dating Kat Mitchell.” Ash’s hand was still on my leg, and it was incredibly distracting.
“Kat,” he scoffed. “She’s missing something. Or maybe has an extra couple somethings. She’s not quite as good as my girl Z.”
“Zoey,” I said, automatically, as the ladder shook again. I descended quickly and shoved the staple gun back into his hands. “And I think you’re perfectly capable of finishing this.”
He took the staple gun, surprised, watching as I walked away, the slick bottoms of my beat up converses slipping on the smooth cement of the courtyard. “I hope you save me a dance tonight, Z!”
“DO YOU THINK EVERYTHING LOOKS okay?” Madison asked me, wringing her hands together and glancing around the room.
“It looks beautiful,” I assured her. “So do you by the way.” After we had spent a good couple of hours setting up for the dance, we’d finally descended upon the girls’ locker room. Using it as a makeshift beauty room, we changed from our practice clothes to the dresses we’d bought a couple weeks ago.