Right In Front of Me (Finished)

Chapter 36: Don't Mess with Mercedes

When we left the Prom, we all head to Taylor's house, where we will all be spending the night, excluding Jeremy, Summer and Connor. We arrive there around 12:45 A.M. We decided we will sleep in her basement media room, since there is plenty of room, blankets, and places to sleep. We are exhausted. We drag our party-pooped bodies into her house, waving to her parents as we sluggishly slide by, and down the stairs, small duffle bags and backpacks weighing us down. However, once we made it to the media room, we all sprung to life, as if someone replaced our batteries, causing us to go flying over to the couch or chair we wanted most. Yolanda and I flood to the reclining couch at the same time, and she lands on me. "Ow..." I whine, giggling. She laughs and apologizes as she gets up off of me. Immediately, though, she claims the couch as hers. "Um, no, I was clearly here first." I pretend to argue.
        "Fine, we can share." She decides. "Sorry, Greyson is sleeping in that spot." I say in a smug voice. "Avalon, that's not fair!" She acts like a little child who didn't get the last cookie. "Well," I answer, tugging Greyson toward me by his arm, "we're kind of a package deal." He shrugs and leaps onto the couch next to me. I pull the lever on the side of the sofa, instantly reclining us. We shut our eyes and sigh in comfort for effect. She groans and we laugh, shortly joined by her.
        Everybody is situated soon, with Greyson and I on one couch, Taylor and Mason on another, Lana and Jackson entangled on a Lazy Boy recliner that matches the couches, and Hallie and Hayden sitting on the floor in a sea of blankets, using the front of the couch Greyson and I currently inhabit as a headrest so they can sit up, along with Mercedes and Yolanda on either side off them.
        We are giddy lack of sleep, practically blown eardrums (so every time Jackson speaks he is shouting) leftover vibes from the dance, and hormones. We are still teenagers, after all. We decide to have someone go raid the pantry upstairs and make popcorn and stuff, and we all nominate Yolanda and Mercedes, who are happy to oblige and also to escape the clouds couples they are surrounded by.
        The moment they leave, it was silently understood to be a makeout session, since the only single people were now gone. Soon, everybody was kissing whoever they were dating, including Greyson and I. It was nice, considering that we didn't have to feel weird like the others would be watching us, like it is when we are hanging out. Now we know that we are not the only ones doing it, and it's a fact that they are occupied. We didn't really spend that much time alone together during the Prom to express ourselves physically at all. At the Prom, no one was passionately kissing anyone. It was all sloppy, gross kissing without any mutual emotion. I didn't want to be one of those girls. I didn't want to use Greyson or make him feel like an object at all tonight like the other girls treated the guys they were with. I wanted only sincere things to happen for Greyson and I, no mockery or simulation of love like the rest of my school. And I know Greyson feels the same way. We only want the best for each other.
        The girls soon return with armloads of junk food and a fruit tray. "Aw, I told you!" Mercedes cries out to Yolanda. She laughs. "You guys! While we were up there popping popcorn and slicing fruit you were down here swallowing each other? Really?" We all laugh and put in '22 Jump Street', though more than half of us fell asleep before the ending. Those of us who didn't were ignoring the movie and whispering to each other. That would be Yolanda, Lana, Jackson and I. Since the couch I am on and the Lazy Boy are right next to each other, It's easy for Lana, Jackson and I to talk. Yolanda just crawls over from her original spot on the floor in front of my sofa.
        "So did anything happen with Mercedes and Diego?" I ask. I whisper his name when I get to it. "Oh, she didn't get a chance to tell you." Yolanda said. "Yeah, some stuff happened." Lana started. "She didn't want to talk about it when we were upstairs." Yolanda adds. "Were any of you guys there?" I ask.
"Yeah, Yolanda and I were." Lana answers.
"Well, what happened." I ask, eagerly. Mercedes and Diego are both my friends, so I don't want either of them to be upset. Yolanda hesitates, sharing a look with Lana. "She'll want to be the one to tell, you, so don't tell her you know." She pauses. "There was a fight."
I am shocked. "What? When did all of this happen?"
"When you and Hayden were out talking." Jackson answers.
"Okay, okay, what happened?" I ask again.
Lana answers this time. "So, Mercedes wanted to go dance some more, and so Yolanda and I joined her. We were out, having a good time, and this guy notices Mercedes, and asks her to dance. She says sure, why not. So the two of them were dancing and Diego is with his date and sees them and..."
"And what?!" I whisper-yell.
"He told the guys to back off of his girl. The dude is like, 'whoa, chill out! We're just having fun.' But Diego shoves him and is all like 'don't touch her! She is my girlfriend.' And the dude was like just standing there like 'okay, I didn't do anything wrong' and so Mercedes then yells at Diego not to be such a dick, and he's like, 'hey, I'm sorry alright? Can you just let it go?'"
        Yolanda continues, "But Mercedes was really mad then, and she was all 'I'm not yours for you to defend! You're here with someone else. You have no right to do that. Why do you care if he was dancing with me? It's not like you were going to dance with me.' Then Diego got mad and started yelling, and then his eyes softened and he was like 'look can we just put this behind us?' But Mercedes was all sassy and said 'I would put it behind you, but something is already behind you.' Then he turned and looked behind him and saw his date standing there. He got some seriously sad looking eyes and looked at Mercedes, slowly walking toward her. He was like 'I'm so sorry baby. I should've come here with you.' She looked like she might have forgiven him, but that was when he crossed the line. He tried to kiss her and she just backed away, looking appalled. Then she charged forward and slapped him. She turned around and grabbed the guy she was dancing with by the hand and started walking away, but turned around and said, 'Good luck dancing with one of your feet in your mouth and your head up your ass.' Then she left." Yolanda and Lana said that last part together. "Man, everybody was hyped up when she said that. Everybody was mad at Diego. I don't know what he did after that." Jackson says. They all shrug.
"That's crazy." Is all I can say. I don't know what else I can say except, "Good for Mercedes for standing her own ground." The girls agree. They start drifting to sleep and when they are asleep, Jackson says, "Hey, if it makes you feel better, I don't think Greyson is dumb enough to ever do that to you. You and him are perfect together. You can really feel it when you are in the same room as you two." He pauses for a moment then says, "You know why I think Mercedes won't forgive him?" I say, "Why?" He answers, "She doubts she's is good enough to be with him by society's standards, so she feels good with the extra attention and other guys noticing her. She is just mad that Diego was stopping someone other than him from finding her attractive." Then he shrugs. "I don't know; it's just a thought" He finishes before going to sleep. I never really got to know Jackson all that well, but now I know that he truly is a great person with a sharp mind on him. I admire that.

        In the morning, we all get up and make cupcakes for breakfast at 5:00 A.M. We have tons of sprinkles, frosting and candy spread all over the place. We make a total mess of Taylor's kitchen. I put pink frosting in a frosting tube with a decorator's tip, and squeeze it out on Greyson's face, giving him a mustache. Soon, everybody is drawing on each other in frosting. I spread some on my lips like lip gloss, and dip them in a bowl of rainbow sprinkles, giving myself colorful lips. Greyson says, "Ooh, I want rainbow lips!" He leans forward and kisses me sweetly. We both are covered in sprinkles, and I even got a bit of his 'mustache' on my upper lip. I spread baby blue frosting on Yolanda's nails, then dip them in the rainbow sprinkles to make it look like I painted them. Lana drew a heart on Jackson's cheek with yellow icing and Mercedes had some in her insanely curly hair. I grabbed a sprinkle shaker and shook it all over her head, leaving rainbow sprinkles perched on her curls. She shook her head around, sprinkles flying everywhere. "I can't remember last time I had this much fun!" I said. Taylor replied, "I can! Last night was a blast!" We all agree. Hallie gives Hayden a frosting uni-brow and he smears green frosting on her cheeks as if she were a football player.
        The cupcakes ended up being a total mess and didn't taste right. I had to call my dad and ask if I can stay longer so I can help clean up; we made quite the mess. We took a million pictures of the mess and of each other covered in frosting and sprinkles. We were cleaning up (and making messes) until 2:00, when the kitchen was finally spotless. Taylor's parents just thought it was hilarious.
        Finally 3:00 rolls around and I need to go home, although Mason already left. Summer pulls up to drive me home and I am hugging everybody goodbye. Just as I am getting into the car, I turn to Mercedes and ask, "So, uh, did anything happen with Diego last night? You'll have to tell me about it." She looks at me, says, "Oh, that won't be necessary. I'm pretty sure you already know." She looks at Yolanda, Lana and Jackson. A bad feeling floods over me and I feel instantly guilty. Mercedes is not happy. I guess she was at least a little awake when we were talking about it last night. I look at Jackson and the girls who look just as caught off guard. Summer announces that we need to go. I just whisper okay and lead Greyson into the car. We drive off, Greyson grabbing a hold of my hand from the back seat.