Today was a big day, homecoming, as a hopeless romantic I had waited for this day for longer than I care to admit. I walked to the front door with my publix 14 dollar corsage in hand, and as my hand moved toward the door I could only imagine what my date would look like. I rang the doorbell and waited for what seemed to be eons.

And then there she was, dressed in a purple dress with black trim, her hair was up in curls, not grandmas old curls but cute elegant curls down to her shoulders, she was more beautiful than any supermodel to ever walk the runway. This was much more than I could handle, as she stood there in the door my mind went blank all I could think was of how stunning she looked, I stumbled to get the words out like a man with a square tongue, and before I could say anything my my mother remarked from behind me "you look beautiful". Soon enough we were invited inside to take pictures.

The pictures consisted of me not wanting to get to close to my date in front of my parents and smiling awkwardly as if my face had been shot with botox.

After having taken pictures we went to my mothers blue mini van, not exactly a limo but still it got the job done. On the drive to the dance we made small talk about our normal school routines, classes and other things involving school when all the sudden my mom pulls off her flip flop and starts smacking at the windshield. Apparently killing the Mosquitos that had somehow come through a wormhole in order to get in the van. Somehow I survived the embarrassment long enough to make it to the dance.

We left the car and just as we began towards the dance my mother calls to me "Grant! Come back.". What was it this time? I came closer to the car and my mother said "Have a good time, be safe I love you" then my mom kissed my cheek and combed through my hair, as if the mosquito incident wasn't enough embarrassment for one night.

As the night went on we danced to the unending rhythmic beat similar to the feeling of the pulse in your temples in the midst of a massive headache, it was unbearable. And although I hated the music I was dancing to that did matter, it was who I had been dancing with that made the 60 dollars spent on preparation worth while.

In the year 2011 I started my first year of middle school, exited for a new life as a "tough" teenager. And as most 6th graders are I thought I was the big man on the block, all new possibilities opened up for me; dating, being in the drama program, band everything was coming up Grant, or so I thought.

Over the course of the first semester the drama department had a performance of Alice in wonderland. During the play I met a her, and she recognized me, we had been friends during 2nd grade although the memories are faded I remember the days in which we used to play on the playground.

Our relationship began with being just friends but our relationship evolved quickly from there. Next thing I knew we were walking from class to class together, I would take detours across the school just to say hi before I went on to my next class. two weeks passed and I devised a plan to achieve a feat more difficult than that of landing on the moon, to ask her out. It was a Wednesday morning and she had plans to leave that afternoon on a trip to arizona to reunite with relatives, during home room I had my friend Matt write the question on a piece of crisp college ruled line paper with blue lines and red margins (due to my unreadable handwriting this was the best option) and then before 2nd period when she left I handed her the note. The rest of the day I sat through my classes in agony as I anticipated the fabled yes or no. Would she say yes and then become my first girlfriend or would our friendship be ruined by the fact that I had seen our relationship on a higher level than she. Only time would tell. By the end of the day my mind was in pretzels thinking of all the possible outcomes but then as I left my 7th period math class I heard a odd sound from my pocket, a text from her. Only one word was displayed on the screen and in that moment my heart exploded.
"Yes"
From then on life was like a movie, the girl of my dreams, good grades and good friends. All until the fateful day when my mother got an email from a mutual friend of my family, Mrs. Shirley. The email was one depicting a story in which my girlfriend had gone to their house and told them how much she liked her boyfriend Grant Summers. That evening my mother confronted my asking about the truth in this situation. And as the mama's boy I am I told her the truth that I had been keeping my girlfriend a secret from her and that we both really liked each other. This explanation was not satisfactory to the soul crushing beast, she could not allow me to be happy for even a day. After a long speech about how I'm to young and that I'm not mature enough to date I was commanded by the slavemaster to sever the romantic bond I shared with her. That night I sent the mutually painful text that depicted that my mother did not want me dating and that I would have to break up with her.

We went through phases of trying to get back together but alas we could never time it right, some days I though my mother was right and others I could have left her wretched cage and ran away. I cried for weeks on end but my love for her never faded, as she went on with her life having gotten over me I still lived in the days of our romance. We never stopped having good times together but every so often there was a day where I just felt as if something was missing. I went years not thinking of anyone else in the same way, she was the only person I could even think about romantically, if ever I saw a girl who seemed nice or even appealing my mind went back to her and how much I hurt her and how much I hurt myself and I couldn't go there.
Years have passed since we were together and as I tried to live on with being " just friends" but I always thought of her as a goddess, unattainable beauty and charm. Living in her shadow was as if my heart had been stolen and only she could get it back. My life was somewhat gloomy until the day when I realized what event was coming up on October 12th.

Homecoming, I asked my father if he would be ok if I asked someone to go, with some luck and a prayer to god in my favor, he said I could.

My heart leapt with joy as I realized what I could do with such an opportunity. Later that week I mustered up the courage to ask her to homecoming, once again that special word came into play.

"Yes".
=
Over the coming weeks of planning and buying things I recaptured the lost essence of a day gone by. I was excited and overjoyed by the idea of another chance, if even for only a moment, to be with my dream girl. My mind ran rampant with the thought of a slow dance, holding her close as I did when life was on my side.

Weeks of anticipation had lead up to this day, I had finally done it, I had a date with my dream girl.

As the night went on we reconnected with some friends and we danced the night away to the crude and often explicit music listened to by today's youth, but what did I care what we danced to, as long as I was dancing with her. As the end of the night drew near the final song began to play, a slow song, and my moment was now.

I walked over to her trying to be as smooth as possible and asked to dance. As we swayed back and forth the neon lighting played along her hair making it glisten and shine like she had captured aurora borrealis. And as I looked into her sapphire blue eyes I knew this was it, this moment was all I had with the girl i knew as Tori.