She heard a loud crack as Tim fell backwards into her arms.  She tried to hold his weak frame upright and immediately realized it was a mistake as Jason came in for another blow, this time catching him squarely in his ribs and then coming in for another hit to his right eye.  That last shot sent a smattering of blood from his forehead onto the dress she had just bought for the prom.   The crimson stain drew a trail across her breast.    Gina was having a bad night, and she knew it wasn’t over yet.

Gina was always popular in school.   Though her manner was often loud, she had a bright, warm personality and a great depth of kindness to her heart that she extended to everyone, no matter how different from her.   Oh, she could be flirtatious at times, and that often earned her the attention of boys; a fact which caused some of the other girls no small amount of jealousy.   When it came time for senior prom even some of her best girlfriends were a little miffed at the attention she received.  This was causing a problem with her friend Dana.  

Dana liked one of the linebackers on the school football team. The dipstick in question was definitely good looking. Jason was tall, strong and dashing, with just a hint of complete the stupids to round out the package.  The expensive alligator boots he wore always struck Gina as incredibly appropriate, since he gave off a serious predator vibe.  She imagined him in some shitty state college frat house a year later, slipping roofies to freshmen girls. She prayed Dana wouldn’t be his first victim. Unfortunately word had gotten out that Jason wanted to ask Gina to prom.  She knew that she had to choose a date fast, before Jason got the chance.   Maybe then, she hoped, he would go after one of the cheer sluts and Dana could move on without blaming her.

Time was of the essence, but she was unsure who to choose.   She didn’t want to rush though. Not to be a cliché, but it was her last dance.  This is a special moment for a girl.

She mulled over what to do as her algebra teacher, Mr. Hebert, droned on about parabolas. Suddenly, the answer quite literally tapped her on the shoulder.   Tim was a tall, gangly boy with a mess of red hair that often covered his green eyes.    He was never good with girls… or any humans for that matter.   Everyone treated him like a pariah because he often seemed to be in his own world.   Many times he would laugh in the middle of class at some joke he was apparently telling himself.   Tim had almost no friends, but Gina liked him.  Sure, she thought he was strange, but after talking to him a few times, she quickly came to appreciate his vivid imagination and his quirky sense of humor.   Weird or not, she knew someday he would grow into something special, the kind of guy that smart girls marry. He just needed a little nudge here and there.  

She turned to face him and he asked if he could borrow a pen.   “No”, she responded, “but you can take me to the prom.”  The look on Tim’s face was enough to make her laugh out loud, but she thought it might embarrass him.  There was a stunned silence and a nod that Gina took as a “yes”. 

A week later, she stared at herself in the mirror, admiring her dress.  The hem showed off her curves without making a big deal about them, and her cleavage was tasteful, but ample. Gina felt like a princess, even if she was being escorted by a bit of a frog prince.  She told Tim to pick her up at six, so when he showed up at five-forty-five, he paced in front of his powder blue Dodge Neon, rather than disrespect her wishes.   Her mother noticed the boy and told him to come inside.   He looked up as she glided down the staircase.    He was equal parts spellbound and freaked out, but managed to tell her she looked pretty.   She thanked him and kissed him on the cheek.   She had to admit, he looked good in his tuxedo, even down to the bow tie, which was somehow fitting for Tim’s personality. The tie was a little lopsided though.  He explained that neither he nor his father had the slightest clue how to work one.  She fixed it for him, which seemed to make him even more nervous.    He showed her the corsage he’d bought her and pulled it out of the plastic box.   Just her luck, it was a pin-on.   His hands shook as he inched closer and closer to her chest.  Before he could injure her, she stopped him and offered to do the deed herself.  She explained that she was anemic and making her bleed would not be a good start to their night.  The frown on his face made her feel guilty, as she could tell she had made him feel bad.  When she placed another kiss on his cheek, Tim managed a smile.

Mom took a few pictures of them and they headed off to the restaurant.

For whatever reason, Tim chose to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant his cousin had recommended.    She knew it was going to be bad when she saw the dead fowls hanging in the window and the gaudy twin ostrich statues that flanked the entrance, but she didn’t know how bad it really was until she heard the two girls crooning Christina Aguilera from a karaoke stage at the back of the restaurant.  Every fiber of her being screamed to leave.  Karaoke had never been her scene.  As they belted out the second verse of “Hurt”  she imagined a cloud of dust and a Gina-shaped hole in the wall.  The thought was tempting, but she stuck it out. She kept her complaints to herself, because she didn’t want Tim to feel like he’d screwed up… even though he clearly had. The beef and broccoli looked like the safest thing on the menu, but the beef turned out to be made of the same material as her dog, Harley’s chew toys.  After three pieces of the rubbery substance, she decided she had her fill.

They still had an hour to go before the prom, so he drove her to the lakefront.  Fear ran through her, at the thought that Tim might make a move she wasn’t prepared to go through with.  Instead, he rolled down the windows, turned on the radio and got out of the car.   He pulled out a bottle of champagne and asked her to dance.   It was, without a doubt, the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her… for about twenty minutes.   As it turned out he had never tried champagne before, and it didn’t sit right with him.    She spent the next five minutes listening to him wretch on the other side of his Neon.  They stopped at a convenience store for mouthwash and a bathroom where he could clean himself up.    The ride to the prom was spent in silence.

By the time they got to the prom she was the one who was nervous.   What was the next thing that could possibly go wrong?  There was a photo booth right by the Prom entrance.   She had to force him to hold her close, and his shyness was beginning to get on her nerves.    Things picked up again once they were on the dance floor.  She and her friends gabbed giddily and posed for provocative pictures together to remember the night.  She was elated to see that Dana was being escorted by Rob, a member of the track team, and one hell of a nice guy. They all set out on the floor together. 

To the surprise- and if she was being honest, relief- of Gina, Tim was a good dancer. He had a natural sense of rhythm.  The stick up his rear end must have loosened, because he held her closer this time.  She brushed the hair out of his eyes so she could look at them. There were little flecks of gold in the green. Her head lay on his chest as they danced. For one beautiful moment, she dared to imagine that the night might end well after all.  And then Jason saw them together.

It all happened so quickly she barely had a moment to process it.    Tim felt a large hand on his shoulder, and then was suddenly yanked away from her, as Jason’s voice said, without the slightest hint of a question, “Can I cut in.”    To her surprise, Tim didn’t back down from the lumbering brute.  He stepped back up between them, before she could even protest Jason’s rudeness.   “She’s here with me.”, he said with a confidence no one had ever before seen in him.    His voice was trembling, but she knew he was serious.  Jason knew it too, and was determined to beat it out of him.   The first punch went right across his jaw and sent Tim back into her arms.  The next two punches sent him to the ground, as Jason and his friends stood over him, laughing. 

That was it. This was utter bullshit. 

Gina had enough.   She had been forced to eat rubber, sat through karaoke and listened to the symphonic sounds of Tim’s digestive system. Now this prick was beating up her date?  No.  That was it.  She walked over to Jason, and as he turned to her, she grabbed his testicles and twisted them.  There was no scream.   A sound escaped from his mouth like sucking air, a gasp of sorts, and then his knees buckled.  She whispered in his ear, “Who’s my little bitch?”   There was no response.

She waited until tears were running down Jason’s eyes before she let go.  There was a satisfying thud as he fell to the ground.  She helped Tim up and they walked out.   

She was forced to drive his Neon, because Tim’s now purple eye had swelled shut.  His car was a standard, and she hated driving stick.   She spent the rest of the night in the emergency room, as they x-rayed his ribs, making sure nothing was broken.   The whole night was a disaster.    Tim’s parents showed up at the hospital after the first few hours.   His father offered to take her home.  It was tempting. This was Prom. It was supposed to be a special night and instead it had turned into a special nightmare.  But she looked at poor Tim.  He was her friend and Gina knew if she walked out on him on Prom Night, he would have been devastated.  When he finally came out his shirt was unbuttoned and his ribs were bandaged.   She looked at him with a sympathetic smile and said “Some night, huh?”

Tears were welling up in his eyes, but Tim did his best to push it down. They found two waiting room chairs out of earshot of any passersby.  “Believe it or not, this was the best night I’ve ever had.”  Tim told her that he was ecstatic when she asked him to the prom.  He couldn’t believe she would go with a loser like him. “I always assumed you were just being nice to me, like some kind of charity case.” But that night, when he walked into Prom with all eyes on the two of them as he walked with the prettiest girl in school on his arm... it was the kind of moment he could only dream of happening.  The smile on his face as he described it made her feel like it was all worth it.  But then his smile broke and shame washed over him.  He apologized profusely for destroying her senior prom, telling her that he just wanted to give her magic for one night.  His words were so sweet, she could barely stand herself for the silent complaints she’d had all night.   To their mutual surprise, Gina kissed him.   As it turned out, dancing wasn’t the only thing Tim was good at.   

No, this isn’t that story.  

They didn’t date, though they did make out one other time.  That confidence streak re-emerged and Tim went to second base. After all that they’d gone through, Gina figured he deserved a win.  It never went any further though. A few months later they went on to different colleges.

They kept in touch over the years, remaining good friends.  Tim met a girl about two years into his time at Notre Dame.  A few years later,  Gina was at the wedding.   For the second time ever, she got to see him in a tux, though he’d apparently learned how to tie them for himself by then.  Tim grew to be every bit the man she knew he could be.  Gone was the awkwardness, replaced with the quiet confidence that he’d shown when he stood up to Jason. Was this the same boy?

When she danced with him at the reception, Gina asked how he got to be such a catch.   He just laughed and said, ”Well it started when this girl refused to let me borrow her pen in algebra.”

Story originally written in July of 2012. I rewrote some of it last night. I think this was written for my ex, but oddly, it doesn’t look like I ever shared it with her.