Baby I'm A Sinner novel Chapter 84

"So prom is coming up, huh? When is it again?" my mother asks with a smile on her face.

Oh Jesus

She's trying to make Noah ask me to prom

Fuck fuck fuck

STOP

"Yeah, uh, it's in two weeks."

"And where is it going to be?"

"At the Four Seasons."

"What?" my father says, surprised. "That's posh, innit?"

"Isn't it too expensive?"

Noah looks down at his plate. "My dad's good friends with the manager."

I can see my mother already composing the next few sentences in her head.

"So who are you taking to prom?" she continues.

Jade shoves my leg under the table and I pinch her thigh in response.

"I'm not sure." Noah answers, and it's a bit disappointing.

"Aren't you taking Dani?"

STOP

I STAYED IN YOUR WOMB AND CAME OUT OF YOUR VAGIN

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!!!

"I was actually thinking of that, but I haven't asked yet." Noah awkwardly says, before he turns his head to look at me. "Do you want to?"

"Do I want to what?" I ask, just to make his life a bit harder so I won't feel like I'm the only one hating all of this.

"Do you want to go to prom with me?"

I smile as I pretend to think about it. "Sure."

"Oh! How wonderful!" my mother exclaims, clapping her hands together. "You have to come pick her up so I can take a photo of you two!"

I sigh as I finish the last remains of my chicken. My mother stands up to go and get the dessert. I already feel full and way too gross, but I don't say anything.

"Can you uh-show me to the bathroom?" Noah asks me, and I nod, happy to stand up.

I lead him to the one upstairs, hoping that no one will get any ideas of what we might be doing.

"I know her." Is the first thing he says as soon as the door shuts behind me.

"Know who?"

"Ellie."

"What?" I ask, immediately feeling anxious.

"I used to have a friends with benefits sort of thing when I was in the ninth grade. Five years ago, almost."

"And?"

"And...it's awkward."

"Why is it awkward?"

He sighs, looking at me through the mirror. "Because I sort of slept with her best friend too, and she was in love with me."

"Oh. I'm...sorry?"

He shrugs. "It's just a bit awkward."

He turns around to face me. "Did I do good though? So far?"

I smile and step closer to him. "Really good. You actually surprised me there."

Noah places a hand on my cheek and pulls me in for a kiss. I respond to it immediately, and open my mouth so that our tongues can collide, but I break it up after a minute because I know we have to get back, otherwise people will start asking questions.

When we get back downstairs, my mother is just placing the pie on the table and cutting up slices for everyone.

"Thanks." I say and dig in immediately.

"You've been eating a lot more lately." My mother says. "You're not pregnant, are you?" she jokes, and I freeze, almost choking on my pie.

"What a lame joke." I mumble before I continue stuffing my face.

I can see that Noah is also tensed, so I place my free hand on his knee and keep it there for the rest of the meal. Half an hour later, everyone's finished and Chris says they have to get going because they're going to catch a movie in fifteen minutes, so they better hurry.

Jade goes back up to her room, and my parents relocate in the living room with a glass of wine and a rerun of Seinfeld, which leaves Noah and I alone in the hallway.

"So...was it okay?" Noah asks as he puts his coat on.

I nod. "Better than I expected. Let's just hope Ellie doesn't tell my brother anything."

"Oh, come on Dani. He was at your house for dinner; he bought you a fucking car, now he's taking you to prom? This is a relationship. An unofficial relationship."

"Yeah." I mutter under my breath.

"So? Why not ask him?"

"Ask him what?" I say as we walk towards the register.

"Where you two are, what this means...you know."

"Just because you two are in relationships, it doesn't mean that I should be too." I snap, even though they don't deserve it.

"We know babe." Jake tells me and places a hand on my shoulder as I look for my credit card in my wallet. "And we also know that you like Noah, and that Noah likes you, and we want the two of you to get together."

I sight. "I'm going to ask him about it tomorrow at prom, but if it ends with the two of us never talking again, then you're going to give me your firstborn."

"Deal." Emma agrees and Jake laughs.

***

The next day is spent in a haste; Emma and I have makeup appointments, then nail appointments, and then a hair appointment, all in three different places.

I finally decided to wear all two dresses because they both look good and I'll probably never get to wear them again any time soon, so the white one will be the one for the first part of the night, and the black one for the second part.

When everything's finally finished, we take pictures of each other, and then one together, deciding to post them on Instagram after prom was over, so we wouldn't spoil the surprises for Noah and Liam.

I drop her off at her house before I drive back to mine, and my mother nearly cries when she sees me. She keeps complimenting me and making me feel uncomfortable as I try to pack my clutch and get going, but then I remember that I can get going until Noah picks me up. So I endure ten more minutes of compliments and photos taken, in spite of my protests.

Finally, the doorbell rings, and it's the first time I'm happy to hear that familiar chime go off.

I stand up from the couch, but my mother is quicker as she goes to open the door and let Noah in.

"Hi Noah!"

I hear two kissing sounds, which means that she probably kissed both his cheeks.

Jesus Christ

I shake my head and walk out of the living room to see Noah. He looks at me as I look at him, and I must admit; he looks amazing.

"You look beautiful." He tells me and walks over with a boutonniere and a corsage. I blush as I hold my hand out for him to place the corsage on, before I fasten the boutonniere in the pocket of his blazer.

My mother takes about a billion pictures of us before Noah finally tells her that we have to get going, otherwise we'll miss the whole 'red carpet photos' thing.

He drives us over to the Four Seasons in his Bentley, and parks it right behind the hotel before he actually circles the car so he can hold the door open for me.

"This is really nice, but I don't like it. It's not you." I laugh as I get out of the car. He places a hand on the small of my back and leads me to the front of the hotel, where we catch up to everyone who's there already, waiting to get his or her turn for a photo.