"Would you give me that?" I lunged for the phone, but she was faster, dropping it down the front of her dress into her cleavage.
"Anne!" I gasped.
"Not going after it there, are ya?" She snickered. "Now turn around and say cheese."
I turned toward the photographer's voice and formed some semblance of a shocked smile.
Then I heard Dad's voice coming from between my best friend's boobs.
Silence reigned for five long seconds as Dad called out my name in question.
Then everyone erupted in laughter. Even me. And oh, man, did it feel good to laugh like that, as if I was taking my first deep breath after drowning for months.
Anne's cheeks turned pink as she bent forward at the waist and reached down the front of her dress. Then her head popped up as she gasped. "Oh no."
"Savannah? Savannah! Are you okay?" Dad yelled from somewhere below Anne's chest. Judging by the rectangular bulge now at Anne's stomach, the phone had slid way past her bra.
The group laughter turned hysterical at that point, and my eyes teared up as Anne shimmied and wiggled, trying to get the phone out of her dress.
"Oh no, my makeup jobs!" Michelle wailed as apparently Carrie and Anne both teared up, too. "Come on."
Michelle hustled all of us, still laughing, down the stairs toward the bathrooms.
"Quit bumping me or it's gonna fall out and break on the stairs," Anne hissed, still clutching the phone at her stomach, as we passed another group headed up the stairs. They froze and stared at us in horror.
"Dad, hold on, I'm fine," I called out toward Anne's stomach. "Just..." I was laughing too hard to breathe properly. "Just hang up. I'll call back and explain later, I promise."
In the bathroom, we all grabbed handfuls of toilet paper and tried to repair our eye makeup as best we could. I'd never had much on to start with, thank goodness. But Carrie looked like a raccoon, which made me laugh even harder.
Anne went into one of the two stalls, her expression sour. "I should throw this darn thing down the toilet."
"I am still here and waiting for an explanation." Dad sounded more than a little tense.
I snickered behind a hand to muffle the laughter. Bet he'd never been in quite this position before.
"Oh, um, sorry sir," Anne said. "Just let me get you out from under my dress..."
"I can assure you I am presently nowhere near you or your dress," Dad snapped. "Are you girls high on something?"
Carrie, Michelle and I all howled with fresh laughter.
Red-faced, Anne finally emerged from the stall and held out my phone.
"Ew, you are going to wipe it off, right?" Carrie's nose wrinkled with disgust.
"It wasn't... I had a shower this... Oh fine." Giving up, Anne wiped the phone with a paper towel, hanging up on my father in the process.
Oooh, that was going to tick him off for sure. "Better let me call him back quick," I said, still smiling as Anne gave me the phone. I found his number, hit the call button, lifted it to my ear, then pretended to sniff my phone. "Hey, Anne, you wearing a new perfume tonight?"
That set Carrie and Michelle off into fresh giggles.
Dad answered on the first ring. "What is going-"
"Sorry, Dad," I interrupted the potential tirade. "I was going to call you and ask you if it was okay for me to get photos taken here at the dance. But Anne stole my phone and hid it in the only, um, pocket she had in her dress. And then she had a...wardrobe malfunction and had trouble getting the phone back out." A snicker escaped me. "I'm sorry if we worried you."
A long pause filled the connection before he cleared his throat. "Well, at least you sound as if you are having a good time for a change. Call me before you leave."
His words surprised me. He was right. I was actually having a good time. A great time, in fact.
Now if I could just avoid seeing Tristan dancing with Bethany all night...
CHAPTER 7
TRISTAN
It was a dumb thing to do, going out to Drip Rock Road. I was already running fifteen minutes late in picking up Bethany, and my favorite hilltop was in the opposite direction of her house.
Still I found myself driving out there, needing...something. Fresh air. Quiet. A few minutes of freedom.
My parents had kept me on total lockdown every minute I wasn't at school. They'd let me loose tonight because I'd taken Mom's repeated, not-so-subtle suggestion and asked Bethany to go with me to the dance. Not because I had any interest in Mom's choice of replacement girlfriends. I just needed to see Savannah outside of class one last time before the school year ended.
So I'd called Bethany as instructed last week. And then I'd thrown on the tux Mom had rented and left the house tonight with the corsage Mom had picked up for Bethany. But when it came time to exit my driveway and cross the road to the country club subdivision where Bethany's house was, I'd turned in the opposite direction and come out here instead.
Even though the sun was setting, the air was still warm with no breeze to cool it off. The darkening sky over the pines below shimmered from the heat. And it was only the start. In the coming weeks as summer came on full force, being outside past eleven in the morning would become pure torture. Already it felt like I'd stumbled into a swamp. Even the air was trying to choke the life out of me.
I glanced at the corsage, waiting like a silent demand from my mother on the dashboard of my truck. Mom would be ticked off if she knew I was letting the corsage wilt instead of rushing straight over to Bethany's with it like the good little boy Mom expected me to be.
I looked at the hills around me, and then to the sky. In the east, the first stars were just starting to wink into view. And I wondered for the thousandth time where Savannah was right now. Was she at Anne's house with her friends, getting ready, smiling into a mirror while those long fingers of hers fixed her hair and makeup?
Was she thinking about me at all?
I knew she was going to arrive at the dance looking more beautiful than ever. Earlier this week in the office, I'd picked up an image from Michelle's thoughts of Savannah in a long black satin dress. Michelle had been really proud about finding that dress for Savannah. If Michelle's memory was anything to judge by, she had a right to be proud. Savannah was going to look even more stunning than usual.
Tonight, watching Savannah but unable to hold her in my arms or dance with her was sure to be an exercise in torture. Especially with another girl on my arm all night.