What About Prom?*
Prom time is here…going to the bridal salon with Cherry, we saw many young girls trying on dresses, full of anticipation and hope of what this special night might mean. Hoping to dance and have fun with their boyfriend, see all of their friends, have a great time. For some it will mean drinking, or drugs, or sex, or all of the above. For others, it will mean just going and having a good time. For some, it will mean expectations set too high, a fantasy of a perfect night, dashed by the reality of a crappy dinner and sore feet from too-pointy prom shoes.
But for me, seeing the girls getting ready for prom always takes me back, back to my senior year. I only went to prom senior year, and the boy I went with was my ex-boyfriend, John. John was a year ahead of me, meaning he was a college freshman when I was a senior. We dated for a brief time, and though there was nothing wrong between us, we weren’t really in love either, and we both kinda thought we should be. Secretly, I always suspected that his affections turned to me after being rejected by my best friend, and when he discovered that I wasn’t her, we went back to being “Just Friends”. I know, that sounds impossible. And honestly, it wasn’t the same anymore. But it was still pretty good, we were still friends, and stayed pretty close for awhile, until we both moved on with other boy/girlfriends. We had planned to attend prom together while we were still dating, but we broke up only a week or two beforehand. He still wanted to take me, and I still wanted to go. So we went.
I remember fretting over what to wear. I didn’t have the kind of money to buy a fancy dress that I was only going to wear once, the kind that the girls in the bridal salons were trying on. I didn’t have Annie Potts and Harry Dean Stanton to give me perfectly good dresses that I could cut up and piece into some horrid nightmare of a thing, and even if I did, I can’t sew. So, what was a poor girl to do? Well, I looked at what I DID have. A bad perm, as you can see. Some high heeled black pumps, comfy enough for dancing. A pantsuit with a black cummerbund…wait, I could rent a jacket and the cummerbund and bow tie, and wouldn’t that be a sexy little number? Alrighty then. Not miss cookie cutter prom dress, not frustrated like my friend Deedee, who reminded me of that episode of 90210 when Donna wears a hoop skirt and can’t sit all night…no, I was unique. (He’s sitting while I stand, because he was 6’3″, and I’m…well, NOT.) And that means a lot when you’re 18 and getting ready to graduate, working on figuring out just who you are, and more importantly, who you want to be.
I must say, going to the prom with a guy who is your ex, but still a good friend, and who is in college, and who also happens to be a gentleman, pretty much rocks. He had had “his” prom the year before, so he was interested in doing whatever I wanted. He took me out for a nice dinner, at some swanky steak place that I had never been before. He called me and asked me if I wanted champagne, which I didn’t. He wore what I wanted, and we danced the night away. I remember having a wonderful time, without any of the pressure of some guy I liked and wasn’t sure if he liked me, or who liked me more than I liked him but I was just going to get to go to prom…that kind of stuff can really drain the fun out of a pretty fun night. And yeah, maybe our goodnight kiss was more than ‘just friends’, but it wasn’t much more, and it was our last kiss, and it was nice. Thanks, John, for being such a gentleman, and showing me that boyfriends can be nice guys.
(Clearly I’ve seen that again SINCE that time….I mean, I married Ted, who is even nicer than John was, and more handsome, funny, everything…but the guys I went out with BEFORE John were pretty much losers who were trying to figure out the whole dating thing themselves, and wouldn’t know how to treat a girl if an instruction manual hit them in the head.)
*That’s for you, C-Lo. I have to know…does the “Everything’s Ducky Edition” have a different ending?
11 Comments
Ml
What a nice prom date! I’m glad you had a good time – relaxing, fun, no pressure. Loved the story 🙂
Autumn's Mom
You know what would be fun? We should all dig out our prom pics and post them! I need to find mine. It’s hilarious. I had platnum blond hair. and my date wore a white tux! YIKES
Maya's Granny
You looked lovely that night, and you had fun. What more could a girl want?
Black Belt Mama
I went to my Jr. prom with a total jerk. I wouldn’t put out; he got mad; I told him to go the hell home.
I got dumped for my senior prom by the idiot I was supposed to go with, and then asked to go by a good friend. My “good friend” thought that because we were going to prom together, we would be hooking up. That was, until I wrote an article for our school paper whose title was “Prom does NOT equal SEX” that ran right before the prom. That set him straight.
The best part though? The guy who dumped me tried to dance with me ALL NIGHT LONG. I looked so much better than his date did. (I got my dress at a Jessica McClintock outlet for dirt cheap and it rocked-or at least I thought it did at the time.)
Great post. Maybe someday I’ll be brave enough to post my prom pictures. Shudder.
Wendy
Okay how many times, in Pretty in Pink, did Andie ask Blaine “What about PROM?” and I wanted to stick a fork in my forehead each time – love the prom references and LOVE the picture – great post – brings it all back – the horror – all of it – lol..
Heidi
What Wendy said! That dress, I mean, seriously! In that dress, she was one freaky “muse.” I went w/ my good friend, Bill Frederick and we had a blast. Hmmm… I think that would be an interesting idea to post prom photos…
Starshine
What a great post, J! My prom was similar. I didn’t go with an ex, but with an childhood friend. So our night was free of tension…just good fun! 🙂
Py Korry
I loved this post! 🙂 And I think it’s great that you didn’t go the traditional route when it came to prom clothing. One other thing good about John: You didn’t have to confront him in school hall and shout “What about prom!” 😉
Lalunas
That was lovely. I love the picture. You looks so cool and sexy. The hair was sassy.
It just shows that you are are not afraid to be you, and that is admirable.
Chee wanted to paint her nails green for St Patrick’s day. But we could not find green nail polish at Target. She also wanted to put daisies in her hair so she would look like a hippie but in all the rush the daisies were forgotten in the end. So ended up looking regular.
Lotus
Wow, that is quite a sexy picture. It’s so nice when these big events are actually enjoyed. Hope Maya’s experience is equally fun (of course, without the kissing, right mom?)
Gina
I went to prom with my then-boyfriend and we fought all night because he didn’t want to dance.
I’m glad you had such a great times and good memories!