Ironies of life

CHAPTER 6: The Prom

Surprisingly Dante lived up to his promise and didn't even look at Gala again, permitting Naoki to go to prom with her.

While he had to use his elder brother's suit, his mom was so excited to see Nao with a girl for the first time. The best moment was when she arrived at Naoki´s home.

She was beautiful, radiant in her long dress. She was smiling, so excited and happy, matching colors with Naoki by his handkerchief in the breast pocket of his suit.

To drive her in his fatherś black car was a dream come true. She was wearing makeup, but she looked so natural it’s as if she weren’t, just like Naoki liked her to be. But the best thing: Gala couldn't stop smiling. It was simply perfect.

When they arrived they met Loin and his date, a girl named Emily. The girls started talking excitedly to each other for awhile and the prom elapsed in a perfect way.

Although Gala got a bit annoyed when they chose a girl she hated and Dante as the Prom Queen and King respectively, they had fun dancing in the middle of the dance floor, making the other dancers look ridiculous with their perfect moves.

However, that wasn't the most amusing moment, the thrilling part started when the prom ended and they went to a nearby local bar to celebrate with alcohol and other substances that got Naoki involved in a game of Truth or Dare, his turn appearing for the fourth time.

Naoki took a sip.

“Nao, your dare is to go to the dance floor and steal away the girl Dante is dancing with right in front of him,” commanded a friend of his from Gym class.

It was a simple game made up of drinking and being silly. It was fun, especially seeing others doing their dares. But this dare...it was a risky one. Naoki knew that Dante would never forgive him, and he would get into trouble very quickly, but he was in such a good mood he just drank a bit to think of something else.

After four or five rounds he was already swaying in place, he was so inexperienced with alcohol that he had already reached his limit. It was his first time drinking after all. Naoki stood up from the table and immediately stumbled and fell, but by the time he stood up, he was already right next to Dante and his girl. He placed his hand against the girl’s shoulder and smiled as he leaned over.

“Hi, I’m going to give you an offer you can’t refuse, a more interesting date than one with this idiot.” Naoki grabbed her and made her turn toward him.

“Do you wanna dance with me?” Naoki’s friends couldn’t believe the scene they were witnessing, but there was no doubt that the most radical reaction, the most disturbed face was Dante’s expression. He was a strange mix of incredulity and anger.

Emily got Loin’s attention and gestured to the scene, and gradually everyone else in the building noticed and watched in astonishment.

Loin started laughing and, since he wasn’t paying attention to his movements, tripped over his own feet and felt his weaker ankle twist painfully. He knew going to a party the day after getting his cast off was a bad idea, but he had planned to be careful.

Meanwhile back on the dance floor, Naoki stuck to the girl and made her dance around. She was too surprised to resist at first, but a moment later she pulled away and punched him in the face.

“What’s wrong with you?!” She spat angrily as she returned to Dante’s arms. Dante moved her to the side and strode toward Naoki, but his friends stopped him from doing anything regretful. He seemed livid enough to kill Naoki.

“It’s okay Dante, he’s just drunk.” No one wanted problems at the party so a few people forced Naoki to sit down. Honestly, no one expected Dante to be so upset about it, but because no one wanted to go against Dante, they told Naoki that he couldn’t play Spin The Bottle anymore, but said he could have as much booze as he wanted so he wouldn’t be bummed about it. At first he was fine and drank a lot more, but after dancing a bit, he started feeling worse.

He went to the bar to finish his drink while the owner of the place nearly threw him out.

“Don’t throw up in my bar.” He demanded. “Go outside.”

Naoki half-obeyed. As he was leaving, he looked around the place in search of Loin, but couldn’t find him anywhere. He staggered from here to there, but found no trace of his friend.

“I’m sorry, Naoki,” came the final answer from Emily’s friend. “He twisted his ankle so Emily and Loin rushed to the hospital since he was in so much pain. He was looking really bad.”

It just had to be the moment wanted to leave the party that he loses his driver, and he knew he couldn’t drive home in his condition.

Naoki started to feel worse, a creeping heat in him reaching an irritating level. He made his way outside, taking care to avoid the dance floor so he didn’t run into Dante again. His vision swam so badly he could no longer see where he stepped and his headache pounded against his skull with a harsh beat.

He let himself drop to the ground with a thud in the street and felt the bile come up forcefully. He vomited harshly until his throat burned with stomach acid and he could only dry heave for a few torturous moments before he fell over next to the pile of puke and laid there.

He distractly thought of how filthy his brother’s suit must be now due to his carelessness, but he just closed his eyes in response, instantly regretting it as a wave of dizziness hit him.

‘What am I gonna do now?’ Naoki questioned. ‘I can’t go back home like this, my parents will kill me. What can I do? I planned to stay over at Loin’s house, but now he’s in the hospital...everything is ruined...’

And at that moment, he started to feel alone, really alone. Alone in the world. What was he doing with his life? Why did he think that something like that could be a good idea? As Loin predicted, Gala disappeared when they arrived to the party to go flirt, and he was only drinking to make everyone think he was just one more to fit in. But now those people he wanted to “fit” with had rejected him in fear of Dante.

The cruel reality: He was completely alone.

Naoki almost fell asleep on the ground, lost in his internal negativity when someone kicked him in the leg.

He opened his eyes and tried to focus through the blurriness. He made out several fuzzy clones of the blond, freckled-faced Dante looming above him.

‘Now I have a big problem.’ Naoki thought.