Spoilers: After cattle incident and snippets of future
episodes
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, and if I
did, I would have never gotten rid of Eric! :D
May indeed include fictional shops and stores.
Pairings: C/E, snippets of C/W
As they entered the lavishly decorated gym, Caitlin couldn’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline. This was it. It was her Senior Prom. This would be her last year at High River. She took a deep breath and greeted Nikki and Griffin who were hanging out by the ticket table. Griffin’s eyes widened and a big grin formed on his lips. “Wow! So this was what was the big secret hidden in that plastic garment bag,” crowed Griffin. “You look great Caitlin.”
Caitlin
blushed as Nikki, Eric and a couple of other fellow students nodded in
agreement. “Thanks,” she whispered
softly. “Uh, so are we going to go in
guys?”
Caitlin
motioned towards the crystal beaded entrance that opened the doors to the
elegantly décor of the gym. She’d been
on the decorating committee and she knew that the crew had done extremely well
to make the auditorium look like scene out of gay Paris. They’d flooded the room with strings of
white lights and put up scenic street venues that you might find in
France.
Eric
led her into the gym and she could tell by the expression on his face that he
was impressed. “Wow! You guys went all out!” he exclaimed. “Dude, check out the mime!”
Griffin
and Eric had spotted a local actor who’d agreed to play a mime on the streets
of ‘gay Paris’. “Do you like it?”
Caitlin chuckled.
Eric
turned and looked at Caitlin in amazement.
“Do I like it? Man this rocks!”
Caitlin
laughed and tugged on Eric’s sleeve.
“We’d better find a table.”
Eric
nodded and motioned for Griffin and Nikki to follow. Caitlin made her way through the maze of round candlelit
tables. Just as she was about to point
to an empty table, Griffin shouted over the music that was beginning to play on
the stage. “Hey, there’s Jordan and
Brett. It looks like they’ve got room
at their table.”
Everyone
began to change direction over to the table, which was neatly tucked away in a
secluded corner. Caitlin glanced over
at Taylor who’d obviously went to a beautician and gotten her make up done. Her hair was teased and curled and there was
somewhat of a statuesque-like quality to the blonde, prom queen wannabe. Caitlin smiled politely at her and pulled
out a chair to sit down.
“Caitlin,”
cooed Taylor. “I never knew you could
clean up so well. Who’d have thought that
a little make up and an expensive dress could make you actually look ‘decent’.”
Caitlin
bit her tongue and refused to be goaded into a catfight. Instead, Caitlin smiled and turned her gaze
over to Brett and Jordan who looked dapper in their tuxes. “You guys look great. When did you get here?”
Brett
puffed on his right hand and pretended to polish his fingernails on the lapel
of his black tux. “What did you
expect? I always make a tuxedo look
good,” he bragged, jokingly.
Everyone
at the table groaned. “So Caitlin, you
got stuck with Eric huh?” Jordan teased.
Caitlin
looked over at Eric. “Actually I’m glad
Eric asked me. He’s been a great date,”
she said proudly.
Eric
seemed to blush at the compliment while their friends made ‘ohhhs’ and ‘ahhhhs’
at the revelation. Caitlin smiled at
him and winked. Eric suddenly stood up
almost knocking over his chair and clapped his hands together. “So would anyone like some punch?” he asked
awkwardly.
Brett,
Griffin and Jordan looked at each other knowingly and stood up in unison. “Yeah.
Sure,” Griffin replied. “I’m
sure the girls are thirsty, right?”
Caitlin
furrowed her brow and looked over at Nikki, Taylor and Alicia, Jordan’s
date. “Uh, yeah. Sure,” Caitlin answered suspiciously. The other girls nodded in agreement.
Caitlin
couldn’t help but feel a bit curious at the conversation the four boys were
having while they made their way to the punch.
“What do you think that was about?” she asked the girls.
Taylor
was the first to make a face. “Caitlin,
if you don’t know, then you really need to get out more!” she retorted. “Don’t you think ladies?”
Nikki
and Alicia seemed hesitant with their reply.
“You know Caitlin, I just think that Eric’s probably feeling a little
nervous,” Nikki offered graciously.
Caitlin
rolled her eyes. “Why? It’s not like we’re on a real date,”
she said half-jokingly, half-seriously.
Nikki
and Alicia brows rose questioningly.
“Are you sure?” Alicia chirped.
“Cause you and Eric looked very cozy walking into the gym.”
Caitlin’s
heart began to race. Did they look like
they were on a real date? She knew that
it seemed to have that feeling, but Caitlin didn’t seem to get that vibe from
Eric; that he wanted this to be a ‘real’ date.
“You’re
just making something out of nothing guys,” Caitlin dismissed. “We’re just really good friends.”
***
As he made his way to the punch table, Eric wasn’t sure what to say. His heart was pounding and his palms sweaty. Eric could hear his three best friends talking around him, but didn’t quite hear what they were saying. He was mired in his own thoughts about Caitlin.
“Dude,
what was that!” Jordan exclaimed hitting Eric on the back, jarring him back to
reality.
Eric
tried to play it cool. “What do you
mean?” he asked, picking up a punch glass and filling it up with the pink
fruity beverage.
“What
do you mean?” Brett exclaimed in confusion.
“Man, if that wasn’t a hint, I don’t know what is!”
Eric
swallowed. “Seriously guys, like I said
before. We’re just friends.”
Griffin
shook his head. “You know there’s no
getting away from it Eric. You
seriously have it bad for Caitlin. And
I think she probably likes you too. If
you don’t act like a complete dork all night.”
Eric
picked up his two glasses of punch, waiting for the others to fill their
glasses. “Guys come on!” he
chided. “We’re graduating and we’re
living in different states. Why would I
want to start dating her? I mean that
is if I actually like her!”
His
best friends laughed out loud. “Give it
up!” Jordan sighed as he set the ladle down into the punch bowl and began to
make his way back to the table.
~ *
~
Eric
felt like his hands were all sweaty as he nervously wrapped his left arm around
Caitlin’s waist and she slipped her hand into his. He cleared his throat and smiled as they slowly moved to Faith
Hill’s new song, ‘Cry’. “So uh, how are
you liking our prom?” Eric laughed tensely.
Her
dark brown eyes looked into his and he couldn’t help but feel the blood rush to
his face. She seemed relaxed and at
ease with their ‘date’ tonight; something that Eric wished he could be. But Eric couldn’t help but hear the boys
teasing him about his feelings for Caitlin.
“I’m
having a good time,” Caitlin whispered, interrupting his thoughts.
Eric
smiled briefly. “Good. I’m glad.”
Caitlin
suddenly threw her head back and laughed.
“Are you really going to be this stiff the entire night?”
Eric
frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked
pulling away from their close dance position.
“I’m not stiff.”
Caitlin
shook her head and then motioned over to Griffin and Brett whose gaze hadn’t
left them since Eric had asked her to dance.
“You don’t have to listen to them you know? They’re just trying to get under your skin.”
Eric
looked back at two of his best friends sitting at their table whispering to
themselves. He let out a deep breath
and sighed. “You know what they told to
me tonight?” he asked.
Her
smooth brow furrowed and her eyes darkened.
“What? What did they say?”
He
laughed as he recalled their conversation.
“They’re determined to put the two of us together. It’s like we can’t just be friends,
just because I’m a guy and you’re a girl,” he said exasperatingly. “Can you believe that? I mean we like to hang because we’re good
friends right?”
Caitlin
paused a moment and looked into his eyes.
After a moment, she licked her lips and lowered her eyes. “Yeah,” she nodded. “We’re just friends and just because we like
to hang out a lot, doesn’t mean that we have to like each other like that.”
Eric
laughed half-heartedly and stopped dancing for a moment. “Exactly,” he replied.
He
tried to push away the disappointment he felt as pulled Caitlin close again,
and continued their dance. Eric had
been right. They were nothing more than
friends. It was good that way. He would be leaving for U of M anytime now
and he didn’t want his concentration to be somewhere else.
***
The
dance was winding down and Caitlin was getting a little bit tired and hot in
the now, stuffy gym. A lot of the
students had decided to go to the malt shoppe, but Caitlin just wanted to be
outside. It was a beautiful night, the
moon was full and the stars shone brightly in the evening sky. “So what are we doing?” Caitlin asked the
near empty table.
Taylor
and Brett had gone off on by themselves, and Griffin and Nikki had joined the
group who’d gone to the malt shoppe. The
only couple left at their table was Jordan and Alicia. “Well, actually Alicia has to catch a bus
back home tomorrow, so we thought we’d just go back to my place,” Jordan
answered. “But you guys are welcome to
come?”
Caitlin
looked over at Eric, who seemed nonchalant about the whole decision. “Well?” she asked her date.
Eric’s
lips pursed and his eyes began to squint in hesitation. “I don’t really think we should bother you
guys,” he explained. “You guys go
ahead. We might just go to the malt
shoppe after all.”
The
two couples walked out of the gym and went their separate ways. As Eric held the door for Caitlin as she
awkwardly slid into the car, she looked up at him and frowned. “Where are we going?” she asked curiously.
Eric
smirked and winked. He had something
planned. Caitlin knew it. She didn’t know whether she should be
excited or worried. With Eric, you
never knew what you were getting into.
~ *
~
The
Civic pulled into a gravel parking lot.
Caitlin had recognized some of the landmarks, which they passed, but the
farther they drove, the less familiar Caitlin was with her surroundings. As Eric helped her out of the car, Caitlin
couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing out in the middle of
nowhere. “Where are we Eric?”
Eric
just smiled and pushed her gently away from the passenger side door. “Just a second. You’ll see,” he replied mischievously.
Caitlin
watched as he pulled a couple of large backpacks out of the backseat. She hadn’t noticed those when he’d picked
her up. “Seriously Eric, what are we
doing? I’m not dressed for anything in
the woods,” Caitlin warned, as she peered out into the dark and could make out
a wall of trees before her.
Eric
grabbed her hand and led her to a medium sized concrete building. It had two entrances. The building seemed to be a public
washroom. “Here,” he said shoving a
backpack into her arms. “Change into
those.”
Caitlin
frowned. “I’m not changing into
anything unless you tell me what we’re doing out here!” she exclaimed.
Eric
shrugged. “Fine, you’ll miss out on the
fun then.” He walked into one of the
dimly lit doors.
Caitlin
stood there debating for a moment, whether to give in to her curiosity. Finally she slowly walked into the public
bathroom and opened the backpack.
Caitlin didn’t know what to expect to find in the bag, but to her
surprise, she found her own clothes.
When
she had changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and put on a pair of hiking
shoes, Caitlin came out and slung the backpack over her shoulder. Eric was standing outside waiting for her
with a grin on his face. He raised his
eyebrows and smiled a big Cheshire grin.
“Are you ready?”
Caitlin
rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Okay, what are you up to?” she asked suspiciously.
***
Eric
didn’t know if this was a good idea or not, but the more he thought about it
during the week prior to the Prom, the more he liked it. So he had gotten together with Dori and
asked her if she could steal some casual clothes and put them in a backpack for
him. He had informed her of his little
adventure he’d planned, and she seemed quite excited about it. “She’ll love it,” Dori squealed
excitedly. “But if I’m not being nosy,
why are you planning this for after the prom?”
Eric
knew that Brett and Jordan would be doing their own thing with their dates and
Griffin would still want to hang out with some of the other guys, but he didn’t
want to do something so obvious. And
what he had planned was something he’d always wanted to do but something always
seemed to come up or his coach wouldn’t let him because it would ‘hurt the
team’. Eric was graduating and now
seemed a great time to do it. It would
be something to make prom memorable.
And Caitlin seemed the type to be up for it.
“Are
you ready?” Eric asked Caitlin as he led her through the small grove of trees.
“It
depends,” growled Caitlin. “Ready for
what?”
Eric
shone the flashlight out ahead of them and found the opening he had been
looking for. When he’d finally made it
to the base of the mountain, Eric pointed with his flashlight, up the small
mountain that stood before them. “Ready
for that,” he grinned.
***
Caitlin
didn’t know what to say. She had run
through a million ideas of where Eric was taking her, but to a mountain wasn’t
one of them. “What are you talking
about? What are we doing here?” she
exclaimed.
“I
thought that it would be a great time to climb this mountain!” Eric explained
his eyes glued on the dark mound.
“’Kay
Eric, now I know you’ve gone off the deep end.”
Eric
turned to look at her. “Look, I got
this idea a week ago. I thought since
we’re leaving High River soon, we should make our last nights here
memorable. We should do things that
we’ve always wanted. And I’ve always
wanted to climb a mountain.”
Caitlin
was in shock. There was no way she
could climb a mountain. It was
impossible. They didn’t have the
equipment. She wasn’t made for climbing
mountains. The list went on and on.
“Caitlin,”
Eric whispered, pulling her closer so that she could see his face. “You really don’t have to do this, but I’m
going to. I mean I’ve checked
everything out. This isn’t a really big
climb. Actually we don’t even need
ropes or anything. There’s a walking
path all the way up. Come on, whaddya
say?”
She
took a deep breath and let out a big sigh.
“Why did you think I would want to do this?” Caitlin laughed
nervously.
Eric
smiled that mischievous smile. “Because
you’re always up for a challenge and I know that you’re the only one crazy
enough to do this with me on Prom night, while everyone else is probably making
out?”
Caitlin
hit him playfully and shook her head.
“I know I’m going to regret this, but okay.” She couldn’t believe those words were coming out of her
mouth. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
***
Eric
had been relieved when she’d agreed to the adventure. By the end of the conversation it seemed less likely she would
agree, but finally, when Eric saw that gleam in her eye, he knew she would do
it. However by the time they started
out the sun had already begun to rise, which brought a new day upon them.
They
had stopped a couple of times to rest and drink the bottled water he’d brought. It was during those moments that Eric knew
he’d remember that night. He couldn’t
have thought of a better person to experience climbing that mountain with. Who needed to be making out when you could
experience the challenge and exhilaration of reaching the top of a mountain?
“Are
we there yet?” Caitlin puffed, wiping her brow.
Eric
groped for a tree branch for some leverage to make that last climb up to the
mountain peak. “We’re almost there.”
He
grabbed her wrist and helped her up that last doozy of a step. Both climbers lay flat on their backs as
they reached the top of the mountain peak.
Eric felt like his lungs would collapse and that he couldn’t move one
more inch. “We made it Caitlin,” he
chuckled as he lay with his eyes closed.
“Yeah,
we made it,” she gasped. “And don’t you
ever make me do that again!”
Eric
felt her hit him in the shoulder, which made him finally move. As he slowly sat up and opened his eyes, he
couldn’t believe the view that surrounded them. The sun was peering out behind the peak of Rockies. The sky was filled with hues of pink,
orange, and purple. It was surreal.
It
was beautiful.
“Eric?”
Caitlin whispered. “I can’t believe
we’re here!”
Eric
turned to look at Caitlin. Her face was
smudged with dirt and dust. She’d taken
out the pins that held her hair up just a few hours before and pulled it back
into a ponytail. Her clothes were
disheveled and she looked tired and worn.
But on top of that, Caitlin had this amazing smile on her face.
He
returned the smile and threw his hands up into the air. Eric had found his second wind. “WE MADE IT!” he screamed at the top of his
lungs. The words echoed through the
valley below, against the walls of rock and dirt.
Caitlin’s
laugh joined his words in a triumphant melody.
“We did it!” she joined in.
“We’re on top of the WORLD!”
When
the excitement and thrill of reaching the top had gone, Eric pulled out of his
backpack, Caitlin’s camera. “Do you
think you could take a couple of pictures of us up here?”
Caitlin’s
eyes widened. “I can’t believe you have
that!” she exclaimed, fingering her camera.
“I can’t believe I would have missed it.”
Eric
smiled. “We got it the night of the
prom. Dori snuck it into my backpack.”
Caitlin
raised the camera to her face and snapped a couple of landscape shots. “It’s amazing up here Eric. Thanks for making me come.”
Eric
laughed. “I didn’t know if you
would. I just had a hunch. I figure if I dare you to do something, it
will eventually make you come around.”
Caitlin
lowered her camera and squinted. “You
didn’t dare me,” she corrected. “You
just said…”
“I
just challenged you…” he interrupted Caitlin.
Eric
sighed and smiled. “Hey, can we get a
picture together up here? I know I
didn’t bring a tripod-y thing, but I don’t think it would have fit in the
backpack.”
Caitlin
snapped a couple more pictures and then lowered her camera and smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Eric
watched as she looked around for a flat mount to prop her camera on. Caitlin turned and looked over at Eric. “I think I’ve found one,” she exclaimed.
She
climbed on top of the mound and lay flat on her stomach. “Could you move a little to your left?”
Caitlin yelled. “I’ve got to see if I
can get us both in the shot from here.”
Eric
moved over a few inches. “How’s that?”
Caitlin
raised her hand, though not taking her eyes from the camera lens. “Perfect.
Just stay right there,” she commanded.
Eric
watched her press a button on top of her camera and jump down from the little
smooth cliff several feet away from him.
Caitlin scrambled over to Eric and wrapped her arms around his
shoulder. “Keep your eye on the
camera,” she said through her smile.
The
flash went off and Caitlin scrambled back to the camera. “Just wait,” she laughed. “I just want to take one more just in case.”
This
time, Caitlin tilted her head so that it was touching his as he reached around
her waist and held her gently. When the
camera flashed, this time Caitlin didn’t rush off to check on it. Eric held her right in the same place.
The
sun was high above them and it created a glow around her. Her hair glinted in the rays of the sun and
small wisps of hair fell into her face.
Eric couldn’t imagine a more perfect moment than right then. He let his hands drift down to her sides and
grasped her hands. Taking a few steps
forwards, Eric tilted his head to the left and kissed her gently on her soft ruby
lips.
The
perfect night.