NO RESERVATIONS

June 1999

It's after midnight on a warm June night as the girl gets out of the taxi and walks slowly up the driveway to her house. After the taxi pulls away, there's silence. Everything is still, but the air feels heavy. Earlier, it was brimming with possibility.

Not anymore.

The girl sits down on her doorstep, unwilling to go inside just yet. She looks down at the dress she chose so carefully, so excitedly, for tonight. When she slipped it on six hours earlier, she'd felt more beautiful than she ever had in her life.

Now it's just a reminder of how the evening turned to shit in a heartbeat.

She allows a tear to fall. She meant it to only be one, but her control is weakened tonight, and the drops plop onto the satin of the dress, darkening the violet colour in the spots it touches.

"Just get it out of your system," she tells herself. "Let it all out, then make a plan." The plan is already forming in her head as the last tear falls. She knows what she's going to do.

By the time the second taxi pulls up ten minutes later, she's composed herself. Touched up her make-up in case her parents are still up - she doesn't want them to know she's been crying. As far as they're concerned, they need to think she's had the time of her life. There's going to be no reason for them to suspect she's actually had her heart broken tonight.

She sees the boy climb out of the other taxi, and she resists the urge to hide. He starts to walk up his path, his head down, but then turns back suddenly and spots her. After a brief hesitation, he crosses the road towards her, and something in her heart seems to pinch. Tears nip at her eyes again. Don't, she urges her body. Don't betray me like this.

He sits down beside her. "What happened tonight?" He asks after a moment of silence. His voice is husky. "I thought we'd be leaving together."

Me too, she thinks to herself. I thought so many things about tonight that never happened. She swallows back a bitter laugh. Nearly chokes on it.

"I - I wasn't feeling too great, thought I'd best just head home," she lies. Well, it's only half a falsehood; she did feel pretty sick after what she witnessed. "And you seemed . . . otherwise occupied, so I didn't want to disturb you."

She shoots him a sly look. His handsome face screws up in a wince. "Oh. Yeah. That." He rubs his chin. That's his tell when he's feeling awkward or uncomfortable. So he should.

She shrugs and meets his bright blue eyes. Forces her face to stay blank. "No big deal." More lies. But she's hardly going to tell him the truth now. He doesn't deserve her honesty anymore.

"Are you feeling better now?" he asks. His gaze is concerned. Caring. At least, that's how it appears.

"Yep." She nods. "I think whatever it was is out of my system now." The sentence has a double-meaning, of course.

It was just a crush, she thinks. I'll get over it.

She has to.

She just wishes she hadn't begun to believe it was actually reciprocated. How very silly of her.

She stands. "I'd better go inside."

He pulls himself to his feet, too, as she takes her key out of her bag. He reaches out to touch her arm, and she tries to ignore the way the hair on her skin quivers at this. Her body hasn't quite caught up with her brain.

"Are we okay?" He asks quietly. "Still friends?"

"Of course." She pushes the door open, forcing a grin she doesn't mean. "Friends forever."

He doesn't seem convinced. But he returns the smile tentatively. "You're leaving for your gran's in the morning, aren't you?" She nods. "Have a great time, yeah?"

"I will. Thanks." She takes one last look at him, committing his face to memory.

"See you soon," he says softly as she closes the door.

She leans against it, hearing his footsteps fading away as they crunch down the driveway. There's a hint of spite in her smile now.

Little does he know that if she gets her way, he'll not see her again for a very long time