Inspired by Tom Mcgee's The Prom Night
AN: Dearest Readers, while this story borrows the premise, a few characters, and some lines of dialogue. from the above-mentioned story, I have changed it to make it my own. The character portrayals have been changed to suit my writing style and many other things were fleshed out.
I sought the author's blessing but after waiting a month with no response (he hasn't been active here since 2008) so I am going ahead with my story. I hope you enjoy my take on this tale.
~*~
It is a well-known fact that unless you were a stud hoping to either hook up with one of the single young women attending the prom, that you are planning to steal someone else's date, or generally weird, no one likes to go to their prom alone. The latter was the case for one Jackson Miller, a senior at Parks High School in the rural part of Iowa. Jackson had gone alone to his Junior Prom and hated the experience with a fiery passion as very few of the girls would dance, let alone spend their precious time with him. It was now a year later and Jackson was desperate to secure a date for his Senior Prom. All of the eligible girls in his Senior and Junior class that he asked had already secured their own date for the dance or claimed to be busy.
Jackson was your typical mid-western farm boy. He stood at six feet tall, was lanky, but his muscles were well defined and he was strong as steel. As the spring harvest was in full swing his normally pale complexion was a bit tanned from working in the field during his afternoons for the past two months. He had auburn-colored hair that he kept short and blue eyes.
Even though he was not one for formal affairs as he didn't care for formal wear, Jackson made the exception for this occasion (and the previous prom). He had gone through the process of picking out the perfect tuxedo and had his final fitting once the suit had arrived from the warehouse. All this would be for naught as there was only a week and a half till the night of the prom and he was still dateless.
It was now eight days before the 2020 prom and Jackson sat with a very sullen expression at the dining room table. He was bashing the fork into his dinner plate in irritation at his situation. All of the single ladies that he knew were either already taken or unavailable.
"No luck?" Jackson's mom inquired. She already knew the answer based on his disposition but need a way to broach her idea.
"None... nada... zip," Jackson replied not looking up from his Salisbury Steak that he had shredded with his fork.
Jackson's mother Jillian wiped her mouth with her napkin and placed it to her right side. She then said, "I think I might have a solution for your problem Jackson." started his mom, who always called him by his full name. "I think I know someone you could take as your date to prom."
"Really? Who could you possibly know that would go with me that I haven't already asked?" responded Jack, half listening.
"You could take Julia as your date." Jackson's mother said mater-of-factually.
Jack stopped stabbing his plate at the name proposed. Jillian watched as her son looked up at her with a quizzical expression on his face. "Julia?" Jackson sat stunned for a moment. "You mean as in my Aunt Julia?"
"Sure, why not? She's maybe 8 years older than you, but she doesn't look a day over twenty. Besides she lives three towns over and has never lived in this town so I doubt anyone will know who she is, much less associates her as a member of our family." Explained his mother.
"Mom, I hate to break it to you, but no one wants to bring their aunt as a prom date." Jackson retorted.
"Jackson, I know you don't want to miss your prom, and I don't want you to miss your senior prom either over something as silly as not having a date. I'm quite sure that Julia could pull it off. Besides, the two of you get along so well that I'm sure you will have a good time... and I might have already told her you would take her."
"You what?!" exclaims Jack, nearly spitting his food out. "Geez mom, thanks for the heads up."
"It's not that big of a deal Jackson! She doesn't look like us and isn't even a blood relative, she's adopted." Jillian reminded her son.
"That only makes it slightly better mom," he says, shaking his head.
"Jackson Bryan Miller, I will also remind you that Julia didn't get to attend her Senior Prom because she was sitting at home nursing a broken leg, as you might recall." Jackson's mother exclaimed.
And there it was. Jackson suspected when his mother broached the idea of him taking his Aunt Julia that this might come up. Jackson did indeed recall that fact. It was his fault that Julia had broken her leg. Jackson was ten years old at the time of the incident and he had carelessly left the gate unlatched on one of the horse stalls in the barn. Julia had come over to help clean out the barn to earn some extra money for her prom night. No one could have known that the horse would get spooked and when it did it kicked the stall gate which Julia was standing just outside of. The gate flung open and caught Julia square in the shin, making a clean break. Julia wasn't able to walk without crutches for quite some time.
"So my punishment for a childish mistake is that I have to take Julia to the prom?" Jackson relented. He still felt bad that he was the reason that Julia had missed her prom.
"Don't think of it as a punishment. Think of it as a grand gesture to make up for past deeds." Jillian said trying to turn this around.
Jack takes another big bite of food and doesn't say a word. He doesn't say another word until he has finished his dinner. Finally, he sits up in his chair and looks at his mom who hasn't stopped looking at him through the whole meal.
"So my options are taking my Aunt Julia to the Prom or staying home?" Jackson reiterated.
"I guess... but I can think of a reason to take your aunt as opposed to staying home," Jillian states sipping her evening tea. Jackson' couldn't see her expression but she was smirking like a Cheshire cat.
"Oh, I can't wait to hear this," Jackson says in almost a sarcastic tone.
"If you take Julia and the Camaro is yours," Jillian states with a surprisingly straight face.
Jackson looked at his mother in shock for several very long moments. For a moment Jillian wondered if her son had cardiac arrest for a moment before her son finally blinked. "The Camaro... I can take the Camaro?" Jackson reiterated.
