Joe, you look so handsome!” she said, pressing her hand to her chest. “You take my breath away.”
He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks. And thank you for getting Uncle Pete to loan me his car for the night.”
She looked at him over the top of her glasses. “You’d better not let anything happen to it.”
He held up his hand. “I promise. I will take very good care of it.”
Of course the thing was ancient, but it was wheels, which was more than he had. He couldn’t very well ask Elena to walk to the prom with him.
He drove the old Plymouth away from town, eventually turning into the lane that led to Elena’s house. This was the first time he’d ever been to her home. He wasn’t sure what made him more nervous—taking a decent girl out on a date, driving a borrowed car, or having to meet her parents for the first time.
He walked across the small porch and knocked on the front door. Before he could take another deep breath, the door swung open.
Elena had on a slim black dress that was held up by tiny black straps, exposing her shoulders. The dress fit her slim form as though made for her, ending at the toes of her high-heeled shoes. She had her hair piled on her head with curls framing her face. Her glasses perched on her nose.
That was when Joe realized that he was in love with Elena Maldonado.
Elena caught her breath as soon as she saw Joe standing at the door. She’d never seen him in anything but old jeans and faded shirts. She couldn’t believe how different he looked tonight. Older. More sophisticated. To-die-for handsome.
“Come in,” she said, stepping back from the door.
Joe walked past her and she got a whiff of an aftershave lotion she hadn’t known he wore. She wasn’t sure her knees would hold her up. Wouldn’t she feel foolish if she collapsed in his arms before they even got out the door?
She would never forget how he looked in his rented tuxedo. The white ruffled shirt emphasized his dark skin and the suit drew attention to his wide shoulders and slender hips. She felt as though the night had cast a spell on her, and she wondered if this was all a dream.
Going to the senior prom with Joe Sanchez was very special for Elena because it was her very first date, with Joe or anyone else. Meeting him after school and discussing English and history with him certainly didn’t count as dating someone.
Even when he got into the habit of meeting her between classes and walking her to her locker, she hadn’t allowed herself to think he meant anything by it.
However, when he asked her to the prom, her hopes soared. She knew she wasn’t pretty, not like the other girls. Even though she’d gotten her braces off two years before, she was still careful about smiling at people. She didn’t know what to say to the other kids, who seemed so sure of themselves, so she just went to her classes without making eye contact and without speaking to anyone.
But during the three weeks between the time Joe had asked her to go to the prom with him and the prom itself, Elena knew that she had blossomed into another person. She felt popular and attractive for the first time in her life. She’d held her head up and smiled at classmates, who had been startled at first before they had smiled back.
She’d felt more comfortable joining a group in the cafeteria and listening to their conversation. She still didn’t talk much, but she listened and smiled and nodded her head in agreement. And she’d laughed more, because she was happy.
When anyone asked if she was going to the prom, she told them she was going with Joe Sanchez just to watch the expressions of amazement on their faces. Joe had quite a reputation around school. He was known for being a little wild and therefore exciting. He didn’t date girls from the school but had been seen from time to time with older girls who lived in town.
Elena and her mother had driven to San Antonio to find her the perfect gown to wear. It was midnight-black and straight, falling to her ankles with a slit to the knee so she could walk. She’d even worn two-inch heels, mostly so that she wouldn’t trip over the hem of her dress. Her mother had helped her with her hair, pinning it high on her head and letting stray curls tumble around her face and neck.
Of course her glasses didn’t help her glamorous image in the least, but without them she was practically blind. But not even having to wear her hated glasses could detract from her joy when Joe Sanchez saw her for the first time tonight.
He looked stunned. He acted stunned. And as the evening progressed, he didn’t let her get more than two feet away from him.
The only time Elena was uncomfortable was about midway through the dance when three of his buddies came up to them and made joking comments that she didn’t understand and that seemed to upset Joe. She asked him about it later when they were out on the dance floor, but he shrugged off her questions, saying his friends were too stupid to bother with.
Joe had begun to relax and enjoy the dance before the guys had shown up. He didn’t know how they’d managed to be here, since they were all dropouts. These were the guys he’d considered friends until last fall when he’d changed his lifestyle by working hard to bring up his grades.
They hadn’t liked that he was suddenly too busy to hang out with them. As the months passed, he’d realized what losers they were, doing stupid stuff, getting into all kinds of trouble for no other reason than they were bored.
His life was different now. Coach Torres had told him last week that he’d been approved for the scholarship to go to Texas A & M at College Station. He’d talked to him about joining the Corps, which was the military school there. All at once, Joe could see a future for himself, a chance to get away from bums like these guys.
Elena noticed that Joe had become quieter after he’d told those guys to leave them alone. When he suggested they leave the dance sometime later, she was ready to go. She wasn’t used to dancing and she certainly wasn’t used to dancing in high heels. As soon as they got into his car, she kicked off her shoes.
He immediately removed his tie and undid the top button of his shirt. They looked at each other and laughed.
“That was fun, Joe. Thank you so much for inviting me…and for the beautiful corsage.” He’d given her a wrist corsage of gardenias, her favorite flower.
“Do you have to go home right away?” he asked, looking at his watch.
“Not anytime soon,” she replied. Her mother understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. As for her dad, she hoped he’d be asleep by the time she got home, so the later the better.
“I thought we might go out to the levee for a while….”
Her heart began to pound and she tried to remember to breathe. The levee was where the kids went to make out. Not that she’d ever been there before, but that was what they liked to talk about. Going to the levee.
It had been built many years ago to control flooding and to help direct irrigation from the Rio Grande into the canals that branched from it.
“If you don’t want to, that’s okay,” he finally said, and she realized she’d been sitting there, unable to provide him with a coherent answer.
She gripped her hands together. “I’d like that,” she said quietly.
He grinned. “Great.” As though her agreement freed him in some way, he leaned over and gently kissed her. Boy, if she thought she was having trouble breathing before! She forced herself to relax and placed her hand on his chest. Only then did she discover that his heart was racing as fast as hers. She found that somehow reassuring.
When he finally straightened, he looked at her for a long time before starting the car.
Once parked, she saw why this was such a great place. It was higher than most of the land around them, and she could see the lights of Santiago, as well as those across the river in Mexico.
She