The Most Beautiful Girl in School Asked Me to Prom. Twenty Years Later, I Finally Got the Chance to Thank Her.
Charlotte stood frozen in my living room RED
Her eyes moved from the walls to the photographs, then to the display case beside the fireplace.
She looked confused.
Overwhelmed.
Nervous.
“Sir,” she said quietly, “what is this?”
I smiled.
“It’s not what. It’s who.”
She frowned.
Then her eyes RED landed on a framed prom photo sitting on a shelf.
The color drained from her face.
She stepped closer.
Closer.
Then she picked it up with trembling hands.
A younger version of herself smiled back from the photograph.
Standing beside her was a heavy teenager in an ill-fitting tuxedo.
Me.
For several seconds she simply stared.
Then she looked up.
“T-Tyler?”
I nodded.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
“No way.”
I laughed softly.
“Way.”
She looked at the photograph again.
Then at me.
Then back at the photograph.
The comparison clearly wasn’t easy.
Twenty years changes people.
Especially when life changes them first.
