I stayed home from school yesterday because of how late we got home. I slept in until about 11 o’clock. At about two o’clock I checked the mail and had gotten my bindi (head decoration) for prom just in time. (I ordered them on Sunday and I didn’t think they would get here until today.) At about 4:15 I started getting ready, and Jeff came to pick me up at 4:30. Mom took pictures* and then we were on our way in Jeff’s dad’s Monte Carlo. We went to Olive Garden in Hagerstown and waited the half hour to be seated. The food was amazing. I had something called a shrimp caprese (it was about $16, I felt terrible, but Jeff said he didn’t mind) and minestrone, and it definitely was as delicious as I remember it being from when I was a kid. We both had gotten something with shrimp in it, actually. I got a box for the little bit of food I didn’t eat, and then we went to his dad’s house so that he could change his suit.

When we got there, Jeff went to change from his gray suit to his white one, and I sat downstairs and talked with his dad and dad’s girlfriend. When Jeff came downstairs, oh my god he was glowing that suit was so white. (I told Camille at the dance that I probably looked like a cloud of doom next to him.) His dad fixed his tie, and then we went outside to take pictures.* Jeff’s sister was coming home from someone’s house while we were out there, and from about halfway across their yard she yells, “Oh my gosh, she’s so pretty!” And when she got closer she said it again. I was like Wow, now if only I could get a guy to react that way. It’s always girls… but at least it was someone.**

After the photo shoot was finished, we were on our way again–this time to the Holiday Inn for the dance. We got onto Foxcroft Avenue and almost got hit by someone coming out of Outback (on my side, too; that was scary)… and then coming up on the turn to go to the Inn I asked him if he had his ticket. So we had to drive back to his dad’s house so that he could get his ticket. Then we went back and made it to the Holiday Inn in one piece.

Once we got there we basically mutually ditched each other. I went to sit with Tara, Nelson, Ruben, Carmen, Ryan, Suzanne, Koby, and his girlfriend on one side of the dance floor, and Jeff was mostly with all the people we stand with in the morning, on the other side of the dance floor. They’re mostly annoying girls, so I was okay with the separation. Well, not only annoying girls, but they’re mostly also his exes. Ahem.. I slow danced with Tara to a Goo Goo Dolls song, next to Nelson and this guy named Noah. The song after that Tara and Nelson danced together, and Tara suggested that Noah and I dance together, and I looked up at him and just laughed… He was so tall! I said, “Do you really want to dance?” He told me it was up to me, so I decided we should go get food instead, and he thought that was a good idea too.

After a while I got my camera out and went looking for pictures. I got a picture of Noah at the table; Candace and Kim; Suzanne and Ryan (twice); Tara and Nelson; Erin, Sara, and Ben; Ben and Sara; Denver and Erin; Kaitlyn; Mike; Liz and Dillon (twice); Jen; and Amy and Camille. Ben also felt the need to get a picture of Jeff and me.* (He got a picture of just me, too.) We also eventually went to get that professional picture done, with the background and all that.* I spent the latter half of the dance walking around. I danced a little to “One More Time” and “Sandstorm,” but mostly I went around looking for people. I talked to Cortney, ran into Mike a few times, Sonny, this one dude who kept touching me when he talked to me (kinda creeped me out a little).

At about 11:26 they started the last song. It was a slow dance song, and since the rest of my group at the table was leaving or had already left, I grabbed my bag and went over to tell Jeff I was ready to leave. He was just going with Leah (his latest ex) to the dance floor, but when he saw me he told her he should take this dance with me. I almost felt bad, but then again… I was his date. So Jeff and I slow danced to some song I didn’t and still don’t know, while someone behind me (I think it was Kadey) watched my shoes light up when I stepped.

Who ever would have thought, Jeff and me… not only spending time together alone, but going to our senior prom (and not to mention holding each other around the waist for 340723958724 pictures). It was also ironic, considering our weird friendship started off with him telling Danielle, Whitney, and me that he liked them but didn’t like me. I kicked him for the next two years for that one. But I had a lot of fun last night, really.

I saw James on our way out to the car. He was going to go to the bowling alley with a group of the people who were going. When we left we had to stop by his mom’s house for yet again more pictures.* We stood in her living room, and one of her cats seemed to fall in love with me. She was rubbing her head against my feet and my ankles and just ate it up when I pet her. It made me wonder why my cat, of all cats, was so damn antisocial. Once we left his mom’s house we went back to his dad’s so that he could change into some normal clothes. After that he took me home. He was going to the bowling alley too, and I was going to go, but nobody would take me. I told James we should take a rain check on the pool game. (I told Jeff he should play pool with me, and he said he doesn’t really like it; I mentioned it to James and he was all for it. I told James about that, and James asked him “How can you not like pool?” I said, “Well, I’d say it’s because he’s gay, but…” [James is gay.])

So when I got home my brother saw me in my dress, and so did my dad. I talked with my mom for a little bit, and then she went to bed. Then I went and changed and I got to bed around 1 o’clock. Then I slept until 10 or 11 this morning. I had a lot of fun. The past two days have been pretty damn amazing. And for the record, we got pictures taken about five times, not counting how many actual pictures were taken. (Which is probably somewhere along the lines of ten, actually.) I am definitely camera’ed out. I hope I get to go see Voltaire and Ego Likeness tonight.

** Update Monday, May 5, 2008: John from diesel (the goofy one, not Roudy) complimented me about how I looked at prom.