Where Is Casey

Casey was going to freak out when she heard that I had my first kiss at homecoming. Casey… Where was Casey? I hadn’t seen her and Cyman on the dance floor at all. I looked around for her damning, red dress, but I didn’t see her. Where in the world could she be?

“Jeff…,” I hesitated, “do you mind if we look for Casey and Cyman?” I asked, looking around to see if I saw them.

“Of course we can,” he said, leading me by my hand to the hallway.

There was a Photo Booth set up out there and a snack table and chairs. I didn’t see them at all. My heart was starting to race and I gave way to a bit of panic. They can’t be far, I thought. But there also wasn’t really anywhere else they could be. Every door was chaperoned and secured. I took out my phone and tried calling her. She didn’t answer, which is odd because we have one another on emergency bypass, so our phones ring no matter what.

“Can you call Cyman?” I asked, trying to disguise the fear in my voice.

Jeff didn’t even hesitate. He took out his phone and called Cyman immediately. After a few seconds I heard someone on the other end. It was too muffled to make out any words however. Jeff nodded and said a few mmm-hmmms and then hung up. He smiled and rubbed both of my crossed arms gently in an up and down motion. I looked at him with my eyes as wide as they have ever been before.

“They are making out in the limo,” he said, chuckling.

“What?” I asked, “what do you mean by making out? Casey has barely even kissed anyone before. I don’t think she is making out,” I said, disagreeing with the nonsense I thought I was hearing.

“Babe, it’s fine. Cyman is a good guy. He isn't going to ask her to do anything she doesn’t want to do. That goes for us as well,” he said, pressing his forehead on mine and swaying me back and forth.

I nodded, even though I was very uncomfortable with the idea of her being out there alone with him, but she did make this decision for herself. I kept taking glances at the door. Jeff kissed my cheek and we went back to the table. Baylen was there with Audrey. They were eating some of the cute little raspberry-filled cupcakes from the snack table.

“Breesy, these are the bomb,” Baylen said, handing me a cupcake. I refused and he shrugged and started to scarf it down. I knew I didn’t seem like myself so I tried to distract everyone by saying we should take pics in the Photo Booth.

This must have been a great idea because Audrey jumped up and put her shoes back on. She clapped her hands together, like a little kid does when they get good news. Baylen agreed and finished his cupcake. He wiped the crumbs from his suit jacket as good as he could and we headed out to the hallway. Baylen and Audrey were the first to go in. They did the most adorable poses. He even kissed her in one. The machine printed out three copies.

“I’ll give Keegan a copy,” Baylen said, swiping two and handing one to Audrey.

It was our turn now. We went inside of the small booth. Jeff pulled me onto his lap. Our cheeks were touching. Our first pose we did a kissy face. I held up a peace sign, which felt awkward at the time, but turned out to be a good choice. The second one we did super serious, model faces. Jeff put his thumb and pointer finger to his chin in an letter L and I touched my cheek with one finger. And for the third one I turned to do a silly face at Jeff and as the camera counted down, he pulled me closer and kissed me. I was mortified. My brother is probably going to see that. He will be so upset. I pushed him away and I jumped out of the booth as fast as I could. Baylen had Audrey around the waist and was whispering something in her ear. She was giggling as if he were doing an entire stand up comedy show. Good lord girl, dial it back. I grabbed the three print outs and handed them all to Jeff to put into his pocket. I didn’t need anyone seeing me kissing in a photo. He gave me a puppy dog look as if to ask if everything was okay. I nodded at him and kissed his cheek softly. I grabbed his hand and walked with him back into the cafeteria.

We danced and socialized for another hour and then headed back to the limo. I saw Casey and Cyman standing outside of the limo laughing and taking selfies together. She glanced over at me and gave me a super big, cheesy, kind of forced grin. She seemed super excited, so I didn’t say anything about her alleged make out session.

Once everyone was in the limo we took off. We headed around town to drop everyone off. Audrey was our first stop. She kissed Baylen outside of the limo and he walked her to the door. I noticed she dropped her picture from the Photo Booth and went to give it to her. I stopped in my tracks however. There were two copies. I thought she only had one. Baylen must have let her keep Keegan’s copy after all. I handed them to him as he got back into the limo. He put them into his pocket and laid back in the seat with his legs sprawled out in the seat that used to be Audrey’s. I wouldn’t bother him right now by asking why he gave her Keegan’s copy. He looked like he had a great time and I would just let that be his narrative.

The limo pulled up to our house next. Baylen jumped out first. Jeff grabbed my hand and asked if he could walk me to my door. I knew that meant he wanted to kiss me to end the night and I was not about to have that, so I declined. I told him I was really tired and just wanted to go lie down. He kissed my hand instead. It was a slow and lingering kiss. I could feel the warmth of his wet lips on the back of my hand. How was this even giving me butterflies? He had such a great effect on me. This night was so magical. Jeff may be the guy to make me forget about Keegan after all.