1 Who is Marie

          One week till prom night. I finally have a date. And my dress is ready. In other words, I'm all set. But my best friend isn't, yet.

          Eric is supposed to be my date but we both decided to go separately. That way, we'll have the chance to get to know other people. Today I'm going to the mall with him to help him find a suit.

"Uh, Jen, do you know Marie?" He asked as we entered the mall's department store.

"Who's Marie?" I asked. Who the hell is Marie???

"My date."

"I thought you are going with Leslie?" Leslie is our classmate.

"I changed my mind. I asked Marie instead."

So that's it? He decided to change his date because he changed his mind? Weird!

"So what's with Marie?" I asked sarcastically. Either Marie is intelligent or she has red hair. Eric likes intelligent girls. He likes red-haired girls, as well. Maybe Marie is both.

"Marie is going to be the happiest girl on prom night." He said dreamily.

"And why is that so?"

"Because I, my friend, am going to propose to her already."

"WHAAAAAT????!!!!!!" I dropped my books, and felt my jaw dropped too. I thought he had a crush on Leslie. And now he'll be proposing to Marie?

          He picked up my books. "Why are you so surprised? I told you I like her, and I know she likes me too. You've always known that I can tell if a girl likes me too, right?"

          My mind started drifting away.

"Jen! Are you listening? And guess what, I've had it all planned already. After the dance, I'm going to take her to that new seafood restaurant everyone's talking about. I heard she loves seafood. I've made a reservation already. Then I'll take her to the beach. She loves the beach too. Then, at the right moment, I will look at her eyes and I will ask her if she'd like to go steady with me. I'm sure she'll say yes. I'm confident that I will see it in her eyes."

I nodded in approval. I love seafood too. And I love the beach as well. And I'm totally amazed at Eric's gift of being able to see through a person's eyes, most especially a girl's.

"Jen, how do I look? Does it look good on me?" He was trying on a black suit.

After buying that suit, we had lunch. He treated me to a seafood bar at the mall's food court. He knows I love seafood. I wonder if he can see through my eyes also.

I accompanied him to the shoe department after having lunch. I noticed he wanted everything new. He could have borrowed a suit and shoes from his dad. They're about the same size anyway. This prom night is definitely very special to him, I thought.

Six days later, there is a gathering in school. It is when we meet with our dates to have the chance to get to know them before prom night. Norman is nice. He asked me on the color of my dress. He said he will buy me a corsage that would match with my dress. Very thoughtful! He also asked what time should he pick me up at home. So nice of him. But I told him he doesn't need to pick me up, we will just meet in school, at the dance. "If you say so." He said smiling.