It was a couple of days after discussing outfit ideas with Ariel that Kavan finally took yet another trip to the nearest Men's Warehouse in order to piece together his outfit for the dance. As usual, his sister tagged along, prepared to offer her assistance in an effort to make sure he looked his absolute best.
"I still don't understand why they're doing this to you guys," Amoli had said to her brother as she waited for him to come out of the dressing room. She stood right outside of his changing room door, a few more pairs of pants and button-up shirts draped over her arm.
"I would've loved to take pictures of you and Archer together. We could've gotten a little sneak peak of what prom will look like." It took them a little over an hour to complete Kavan's ensemble, and another half-hour for the boy to convince his sister to forgo taking him to get a haircut.
"Okay, fine," the girl had reluctantly said to her brother after listening to his protests,
"We'll save the haircut for prom. And since you're making me wait longer, I'll go ahead and add a dye job to the to-do list."It didn't take too long for Kavan to drive to Ariel's house. The young man pulled into the driveway at around 6:30, which would give them more than enough time to get to the country club; He sat in the car for a few more seconds as he sent Archer a quick text message. He then took his keys out of the ignition and tossed them into his jacket pocket before getting out of the car and strolling up to Ariel's front door. He had just finished rapping his knuckles against the door when it was suddenly pulled open.
To tell you the truth, Ariel had gotten ready for tonight's dance nearly two hours early. She wasn’t exactly sure as to why, but best guess would be to keep the thoughts in her head to a mild shout rather than a roar. She had taken extra care making sure that her hair had just enough product in it to keep it from frizzing up as she danced the night away. It had taken her a full forty-five minutes to get the perfect smokey eye before she could even slip into her
dress. She had taken even more time out of her afternoon to make sure that the eye bags and fading bruises were hidden to the best of her ability.
The young woman had been enjoying having the house to herself by cranking the music up on the sound system as she danced around the living room. Halsey’s new album had been a whole mood for her these last few weeks, and as the song
I’m Not Mad came on, she couldn’t help but turn the settings to repeat and sing along. It was on the seventeenth repeat that she just so happened to hear knocking at the door. It appeared that time had gotten away from her.
Quickly shutting off the music and adjusting her dress as she made her way to the door, Ariel greeted Kavan with a smile.
”Wow man! You look fantastic!”Of course, Kavan returned the young woman's smile with one of his own.
"Much appreciated. It's no thanks to me, though. My sister did most of the hard work, I just made sure she stuck with our planned color scheme." Kavan had to admit that even though he hated how his sister had a tendency to take control in situations like that, she did do a decent job dressing him. His
gray suit was fairly simple, the only real pop of color being the patterned shirt he wore underneath the jacket. It all complemented Ariel's dress pretty well.
"You look beautiful, as usual," Kavan said as he took a quick glance at the watch on his wrist.
"Are you ready to go?"Turning to make sure that the door was locked, Ariel shook her head yes before heading to the car with Kavan.
”So what’s your big plan for tonight?” she asked, buckling her seat belt.
As Kavan put the key in the ignition and started the car, he offered Ariel a shrug and said,
"Well, aside from learning some of those dance moves you told me about and hanging out with the rest of the Misfits, I'm kinda just looking forward to having fun with all of you tonight... you know, since this is one of the last big events before graduation. We'll be going our separate ways soon, and I just wanna make these moments last. Plus I got Archer this really cool Valentine's day gift..." Kavan let his voice trail off as he pulled out of the driveway and started down the road towards the country club.
"And, well... I know that you and Kavi are in a rocky place right now, but I still wanted you to enjoy Valentine's Day since the whole holiday is about celebrating friendship as well. God, I'm starting to sound like Mrs. Sanders. Anyway, I got something for you too. It's in the glove compartment. I had to call in a few favors with my dad's connections, but I know from your blog that you're a big fan of a certain band and... I figured you'd like it." Sitting in the glove compartment of Kavan's car was none other than a My Chemical Romance vinyl; What Kavan thought to be special about the gift, however, was not the vinyl itself, but what had been written in black ink right across the front cover.
"To our biggest fan, Ariel Grey. Stay beautiful, and keep it ugly. - Gerard Way"
Listening to her friend, Ariel couldn’t agree more. Taking these last few months to hang out with your friends more was important. Of course they would all be moving away to college soon, so it was a good thing to make memories while they could. That was one of the main reasons that she had approached Kavan about the dance, after all. Laughing at the Mrs. Sanders comment, Ariel reached into the glove compartment for her gift. While she didn’t like surprises, she loved presents, and this one was sure to hold a special place in her heart for many years to come.
”Oh my gods! Dude this is amazing!” Overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude, Ariel felt her eyes start to fill with happy tears. Doing her best to blink them away quickly so she wouldn’t mess up her makeup, the young woman couldn’t help but smile.
”If you weren’t driving right now, I’d legit hug you.” She snapped a quick photo of the record, making sure to tag Kavan in the picture when she uploaded it to Instagram.
”Can I know what you got Archer?” "It's no problem," Kavan said, the corners of his mouth turning up at the sight of her excitement.
"For Archer I actually got one of the Sophomore artsy kids to help me put together this little book of how Archer and I first met... I wrote the story and she handled the illustration. I wanted to do something different from the typical candy and stuffed animal thing, but I don't know... I hope he doesn't hate it."”Who would hate that? That’s such a thoughtful and creative gift like…. It’s literally you two’s love story. I’m more than sure that he’ll love it.” "Thanks, Ariel," Kavan said, his smile widening as he finally pulled his car into the parking lot of the all too familiar Crown Heights Country Club. After finding an empty space, he cut the engine and turned to look at the young woman sitting in his passenger seat.
"Well, ready to go bust a move?"Laughing as they got out of the car, Ariel offered her hand to Kavan.
”Let’s do this thing.”