Wes is already waiting in the living room and he shoves a clear box in my direction. There’s some sort of flower inside.

“What’s this?” I ask, noticing he has two other identical boxes in his left hand.

“It’s a corsage.” He watches my face for understanding. “It’s for Gabby.”

“What does she do with it?”

“You’ve never given a girl a corsage before?”

“I can’t give her this.” I try and push it back into his hand, but he won’t take it.

“You have to. She can’t be the only girl that doesn’t get one. That’s shitty. Besides, she’s basically your date.”

“What do you mean she’s basically my date?”

Wes’ phone beeps and he looks down at the screen. “Limo’s here.”

“Hold up,” I say before he can open the door. “Explain.”

Wes snorts and looks at me like I’m clueless. I guess I am. “Me and Blair, Joel and Katrina, Vanessa and Mario…” His voice trails off, allowing me to fill in the rest.

“What about Nathan? Where is he and why can’t he give this… thing to her.” I shake the box in my hand.

“Nathan’s staying to get the party going. Would you rather stay here and play hostess or stand next to a pretty girl all night?”

He opens the door and I follow.

“That’s what I thought.”

Vanessa steps out of the limo. “Hello, boys.” She gives us both a once over before nodding her approval. Vanessa, Blair, and Gabby are like the three amigos lately, so I’m surprised to see her without them.

“What are you doing here?” Wes asks. “I thought we were surprising you?”

“Surprising me?” She shakes her head. “Who do you think helped Joel put this together? I mean, honestly, like he was going to leave you two unsupervised to pull this off.”

“Fair enough.” Wes chuckles, steps past her and slides into the limo. I try to do the same, but Vanessa moves with me.

“Hello, Zeke,” she says. “You clean up nice. I almost didn’t recognize you without your headphones.”

“Thanks, Vanessa. You look nice too.”

“Let’s talk strategy. This is going to be the best surprise party ever.” She claps her hands and then climbs into the vehicle.

Strategy?

Once we’re all in the limo, Vanessa’s boyfriend Mario offers us a beer and a knowing look as Vanessa gets right to it. “Blair, Gabby, and Joel are all at the theater for Katrina’s play. Joel’s going to come out to get you two and you’re going to storm in there looking all handsome and surprise the girls.” She pulls out a rolled-up poster board and hands it to me. “When they see you, hold this up.”

As I unroll it, glitter explodes. So does my head when I read what it says. Go to Prom with us? is written in big sparkly letters.

“Prom?” I’m not sure if I’m more thrown by the high school throwback or that this whole thing has been orchestrated as a big group date. Fuck, it’s warm in here. I pull at the collar on my shirt. I’m going to kill Joel for leaving out some very important details.