Growing Up Neighbors

by Frances Hoelsema

  Wait, what am I thinking? It's got to be the way she looks tonight.

  Shaking his head to forget about his thoughts, he immediately told her, “Well, I’m sorry for not coming to you first. You’re right, I probably should have. I’m really glad that you didn’t want to play that game though.”

  For the first time since the spin the bottle debacle, Deborah gave Nicholas a smile.

  “There’s a smile,” he said with a smile in return. “You know, you should do that more often because you have a pretty smile.”

  “Thanks.”

  Deborah quickly turned around to find something to do so that Nicholas wouldn’t see her blushing.

  Just then Alex came back downstairs to see how far the two of them had come along with the cleaning without him. It appeared that they were almost done so he quickly helped them finish up so that they could get to bed.

  “Looks like this about wraps it up,” Alex said a few moments later.

  “Yep, I’d say we’ve got it,” Nicholas added.

  The three of them headed upstairs, Deborah shortly behind as she made sure all the lights got turned off. When she got upstairs, she noticed that it was close to midnight and that she was feeling exhausted from the night that she had.

  “Well, guys, I think I’m going to go to bed,” Deborah yawned.

  “Not before I give you my gift,” Nicholas replied.

  “You got me something?”

  “Well, duh, it is your birthday, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t have to buy me anything.”

  “Sure I did. You’re a great friend and I wanted to do it.”

  “Okay.”

  “I just have to go out to the car and get it,” Nicholas told Deborah.

  “I’m just going to head upstairs and go to bed, Nick. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Alex asked, starting to run up the stairs.

  “Okay. Sounds good.”

  Nicholas then headed out the door to get his gift.

  Deborah noticed it was awfully dark in the house seeing as Alex and their mom was in bed while Robyn was spending the weekend with their dad. She ended up making some really good friends in his neighborhood so occasionally spent some extra time there. Deborah went out to the porch, turned the light on and decided to wait for Nicholas there.

  When Nicholas walked back into the screened-in porch, Deborah noticed that there were three different presents.

  “You got three of them for me?” Deborah asked shockingly.

  “Yeah, here, open this one first.” Nicholas handed her the book he bought for her that was the next installment to her favorite book series that she happened to be reading at the moment.

  Deborah opened it slowly as was her custom. When she found out what it was she had a huge smile on her face.

  “Hey, it’s the next book I’ve got to read. How did you know I was reading these books?”

  “Alex told me. You talk about them a lot too so I knew that you liked them.”

  “I do? Thank you!”

  She then set the book down on the table that was sitting by one of the many windows the porch had.

  Nicholas then handed her the CD that took him and Alex forever to find. He even took the time to wrap it in a different sized box to disguise the fact that it was a CD.

  “What in the world is this?”

  “Just open it and you’ll see, silly” Nicholas urged.

  “Okay. Okay.”

  She unwrapped it and opened the box. When she finally realized just what CD it was she was so excited that she screamed and started to jump up and down.

  “Ahhhh! Where did you get this?” she asked as she rushed to give him a huge hug.

  “I looked everywhere for that CD and finally came across a copy at a store a little ways from here. I knew you wanted it and that it was hard to find. Never did I imagine it would be that hard to find, but it was worth it.”

  Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed the happiness he brought Deborah.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she squealed as she continued analyzing the whole CD.

  Nicholas gave her time to calm down before he gave her the next and last gift that he had for her. When she had set the CD down, she looked at the small box that Nicholas was holding out to her.

  What in the world is in there? she pondered.

  What she saw after she opened it brought confusion yet delight.

  “Wow. This is beautiful,” she said. “But I don’t get it. The book I get and the CD I get, but this I don’t. You know I don’t wear a lot of jewelry so why the bracelet?”

  Nicholas had bought the bracelet that had her birthstone all around it in small gems, in hopes that she’d wear it to the prom with him.

  “Well, I was hoping that you’d wear it to prom. I think you’d look nice with it on,” Nicholas explained.

  “Nick, I can’t go to the prom since I’m only a sophomore. You know that the prom is for seniors only, right?”

  “Not unless a senior invites someone from a different grade to go.”

  “So what are you saying?” Deborah asked as she looked puzzlingly up at Nicholas.

  “I’m asking if you’d go to the prom with me.” Nicholas added his wink and smile that he felt for sure would charm her into saying yes.

  “What?” Deborah was completely shocked. She thought for sure that he’d want to go with a group of friends, a girl his own age or maybe his own girlfriend if he had one.

  After a few seconds had passed, which seemed like forever to Nicholas, he asked, “So will you?”

  “Yeah! I’d love to. And, yes, I’ll wear this beautiful bracelet.” She gave him a smile and then returned to admire the beautiful piece of jewelry that it was.

  “Great! I’m so glad you said yes."

  "Did you think I wouldn't have?"

  "Well, you never know," Nicholas shrugged.

  The two of them let out a small giggle.

  Nicholas looked at the time on his watch and added, "Look, I’ve got to go. I hope you enjoyed your birthday.”

  “Oh, I did. Thanks to you,” Deborah assured him. She gave him another hug and then he left.

  Deborah gathered her gifts, including the ones that all her friends got for her, and brought them up to her room, the whole time not being able to wipe off the smile that was on her face. She loved all the gifts, but the fact that Nicholas asked her to the prom meant the world to her. Of course she knew it was just as friends that they’d be going together, but the fact remained that he asked her and got her something beautiful to wear to it as well.

  This was the best day of my life, Deborah thought as she put her pajamas on and went to bed feeling like a princess as she fell asleep.

  7

  “Deborah, are you almost done trying the next dress on? I want to see how it looks on you!” Ms. Harrington said excitedly.

  “Yes, mom. I just about have it.”

  Deborah quickly finished zipping up the dress and then walked out of the fitting room where her mom and best friend, Felicia, were waiting for her.

  “You look so beautiful, Debbie,” Felicia said first, her eyes staring at Deborah’s dress.

  “I like this one the best so far,” Deborah’s mom mentioned after examining how her daughter looked.

  “Mom, you say that about every new one I try on,” Deborah replied annoyingly.

  “Well, it’s true. I do like this one the best.”

  Deborah had a feeling that her mom would act that way. She was the first daughter to go to a formal dance and to get all dressed up in an evening gown. It was no wonder her mom was excited and said she liked everything that Deborah was trying on. Her mom even cried when Deborah mentioned Nicholas had asked her to go to the prom.

  Now with prom a few weeks away, Deborah had to get down to business and find what she wanted to wear. She knew her best friend would be a good shopping companion because she’d be honest about each dress and would be totally opposite from her mom. Being a size six meant that she’d have
a plethora of options out there and so she needed Felicia to help her narrow them down and get the perfect one. So far she had liked all of the dresses that Deborah had tried on, but she did not love any of them, a sign that Deborah was to keep on looking.

  Deborah changed back to her own clothing. She and her two shopping companions then headed to another department store at the Riverside Mall seeing as the first place had produced nothing to Deborah's satisfaction. As they got nearer to the entrance of the next shop, though, Deborah immediately fell in love with a dress she saw in the window.

  “What do you guys think of this one?” she asked as she pointed at the dress.

  “That is beautiful,” Deborah’s mom replied.

  “I think it’s absolutely gorgeous, Debbie. You’ve got to try that one on,” Felicia answered.

  Deborah immediately went inside to go and find her size. Once she had it, she went straight to the fitting rooms, her mom and best friend in tow.

  After she had the dress fully on, she stood in front of the full-length mirror for a while before showing it off. She had a feeling that this was going to be the one. It not only fit so well, but the colors were just what she was looking for. Having this dress on made her feel like royalty and she wanted some time to admire herself for once before hearing what the others would think.

  “Okay. Here I come,” she warned the both of them, stepping out when she felt ready.

  Felicia’s first response was that her jaw dropped. Both her mom and best friend just stared at Deborah for a few moments, remaining speechless.

  I hope this is a good sign, Deborah thought, a bit of worry ebbing its way into her consciousness.

  “Well, say something. What do you guys think?” Deborah finally asked.

  Ms. Harrington put her hands to her eyes as she had some tears forming. “You’re so beautiful, Deborah.”

  “Mom, you don’t have to cry about it.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes and then looked at Felicia to get her opinion. “So, Felicia, what do you think?”

  “I don’t know what to say. I think you’re absolutely gorgeous. I love it. You should definitely get this one.”

  That settled it then. Not only did she love the dress, but her mom and best friend did as well, which meant that this would be her dress as long as her mom was willing to pay for it. Deborah checked the price tag and gave a low whistle as it wasn’t a cheap dress.

  “It's okay. You’ll just have to get cheaper shoes and accessories,” Deborah’s mom said.

  Ms. Harrington paid for the dress and off they went to find the rest of her ensemble. She didn’t need a whole lot seeing as she already had a bracelet from Nicholas and she didn’t wear earrings. She’d just need a necklace, purse and shoes. Lucky for her, she knew just where to go to find all three in the same place.

  Accessories Plus Some.

  And the store did not disappoint. Within thirty minutes she was walking out of the store with every last bit of detail that she needed to go with her prom dress.

  “You’re going to look so beautiful,” Felicia said as they were on the drive home. “Make sure to take a lot of pictures for me.”

  “I’m pretty sure my mom’s got that covered,” Deborah assured her.

  “You bet I do,” Ms. Harrington confirmed.

  Deborah and her mom dropped Felicia off at her home and then headed back to their house. Once they got home Deborah carefully took all of her things to her room where Robyn was sitting on her bed reading. She was excited to see that Deborah had found a dress and promptly asked her if she could see it. Deborah showed her the whole outfit.

  “Wow! You’re going to look so pretty!” Robyn exclaimed.

  “Thank you.”

  Deborah put everything away, daydreaming of her prom night when she’d get to wear those things for real.

  ---------------

  The following week, Nicholas and Alex decided to take some time to search for what tux they were going to wear to the prom.

  “Are you going to buy or rent one?” Alex asked Nicholas as they arrived at the mall.

  “Probably just rent, but depending on what they have, I might just buy a suit instead of a tux. Do you know what you’re looking for?”

  “I think I’m going to go with a basic black tux. I don’t want anything too fancy or expensive.”

  “I hear ya,” Nicholas agreed. “Good thing there’s a couple of places we can check out here at the mall.”

  The first store they stopped at was a tuxedo shop. They got an idea of pricing and what they offered and then went to another shop. Before they settled on anything they wanted to make sure to see what each store had at what price.

  When they had gone to all the tux shops and then some department stores to price some good looking suits, they stopped at the food court to eat lunch and to contemplate what they were going to do.

  They each sat down at a table with their own foot-long sub sandwich and started to discuss their plans.

  “I think I might just go to Tuxedo World and rent a basic tux,” Alex decided, taking a big bite out of his sandwich. “It’s a tad more expensive, but in my opinion, the designs there are way better than the others we’ve seen.”

  “Their tuxes weren’t half bad,” Nicholas agreed. “I think I’m going to rent too, just have to figure out where from.”

  “Well, after we’re done, let’s go to Tuxedo World and get mine figured out and you can do some looking and thinking in the process,” Alex suggested.

  “Okay. Sounds good to me. Hey, do you happen to know if Debbie’s gotten a dress yet?”

  “Yep, last week. It’s a nice bluish color.”

  “Got it. I think I’ll at least get a tux with some blue in it then so I match her dress.”

  “Whatever, man.” Alex just shook his head, giving a small chuckle.

  He personally didn’t understand why Nicholas had even asked his sister, but he supposed there could have been far worse girls he could have gone with. He still wasn't crazy, though, about the idea of Deborah joining them all evening on prom night.

  The boys were done eating in record time. They both then headed to Tuxedo World where Alex quickly figured out what he wanted. While one of the employees measured Alex to make sure they would have a tux ready for him by the time prom came, Nicholas looked around at some of the tux colors and styles that were offered. He wasn’t a hundred percent happy with any of them so he decided he would go somewhere else.

  When Alex was completely done, they headed over to Formal Wear. Nicholas carefully looked through everything and found a tux that he thought might go well with Deborah’s dress. He took it over to Alex and asked if he thought the blues in the tux would match the blues in Deborah’s dress.

  “It looks like it’d be close,” Alex told him, not completely sure of himself.

  Nicholas thought it over and decided to go with it. It not only was a decent price, but it was very formal and unique. He even liked how the blue vest and tie would go with the rest of the tux. He got measured and then he made the down payment to have the tux. Both Alex and Nicholas were able to pick their tuxes up the day before prom so they made plans already to go to the mall together and do so.

  “Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?” Alex asked, relieved to be done.

  “Nope. I didn’t really think it would be. It definitely didn't take long either.”

  “No kidding. So what do you want to do now?”

  “How much time do you have?” Nicholas asked.

  “I’m free all day.”

  “Want to see a movie?”

  “Sure. We’re here anyway so we might as well."

  “Okay. Well, let’s go see what’s playing.”

  The two of them casually strolled towards the upper level of the mall to the movie theater. After viewing the movies and deciding on one, they ordered their tickets, got some snacks and drinks and then headed to the right theater screen.

  Nicholas felt himself breathe a sigh of relief as they took t
heir seats, knowing that he had everything picked out for prom night. He couldn’t wait to get his tux and pick up Deborah for the dance.

  I'm so glad she agreed to go with me. We're going to have so much fun!

  As some of the previews started playing, Nicholas kept thinking about Deborah and taking her to the prom.

  Shoot, I can’t wait to see her in her dress. I bet she’s gonna look hot!

  Nicholas shook his head from side to side in hopes to get rid of what was going on in there.

  What was I thinking? Deborah's my friend and I shouldn't think of her that way.

  When the movie finally began to play, Nicholas shifted his focus to that instead of the thoughts in his head. His mind became so engulfed with it that he no longer thought about Deborah, the prom or anything remotely related to it.

  ---------------

  Prom night had arrived and Deborah spent extra time pampering herself in preparation for the big event. After her long bubble bath, she cut and colored her finger nails and toe nails. She made them a sparkly iridescent color because she knew that however the light would shine on them that it would make them sparkle and match the surroundings.

  When it was time to put her dress on, she did it with the utmost care so as not to rip anything or get anything ruined in any way. When the dress was completely on, she took a few moments to admire the way it looked on her body. It was mainly blue in color, but had a tad of green and purple mixed in here and there. The straps were tight and hung off the side of her shoulders, a style she always liked in a dress. The top had a thin, sheer layer of sparkles and fit tightly while the bottom flared out a bit.

  Next she did her hair. She was no professional when it came to styling hair but she didn’t have any money to go somewhere and get it done. Still she knew a few tricks to make it look elegant. The first thing she had to do was blow dry her hair. This took a bit of time as she had long, thick hair that had just been washed. Once dry, she began to curl it. She took one small section at a time and left it in the curler just long enough to make small, loose curls and not tight ones that would make her look like she just had a perm.

  Now it was time to put her hair up. Deborah left a few strands of hair loose in front to outline her face. The rest she put up in a ponytail and then into a bun. A few strands stuck out here and there, which with the curls, made the bun look fancy. Deborah even added some baby’s breath flowers to the bun and put a little bluish barrette on top for extra protection.