A Virginia high school student had high hopes this year for a prom date, choosing to ask Vice President Joe Biden to accompany her to the dance.
"Joe Biden makes me laugh," Talia Maselli, 17, told the Hartford Courant. "He just cracks me up."
The 17-year-old senior moved quick to invite him to prom, sending the vice president a witty handwritten note last spring in hopes he would take her to the Newington High School dance.
"I am inviting you so far in advance because I'm sure many 17-year-old girls send you prom invitations, and I had to beat them to it," she wrote. "I could only tolerate a high school dance if I was to be escorted by the most delightful man in America."
Newington teen asks Joe Biden to prom, gets personal response https://t.co/pn0FLeKuP8 reports @ChristopherHof1 pic.twitter.com/rtuGnzR5tX
— Jim Welch (@CTnewshound) May 19, 2014
Maselli even warned Biden that if he declined her invitation, she would ask Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner to fill his shoes.
"And we can't have that now can we," she quipped.
According to the Courant, Maselli never expected to receive a response from the White House, considering her letter to be more of a joke more than anything.
That's why she was surprised when her doorbell rang on the eve of prom. At roughly 10 a.m., she opened the door to greet a deliveryman holding a wrist corsage, the Courant reported.
Inside was a note from Biden.
"I am flattered, but my schedule will not permit me to be in Connecticut on Friday evening," he wrote. "But I hope you will accept this corsage and enjoy your prom as much as I did mine."
The vice president even invited the 17-year-old to visit him at the White House.
At first Maselli thought someone was playing a prank on her. But, when she called the number listed as Biden's assistant on another card, she realized it was not.
"It's just been crazy," she said. "I definitely didn't expect him to answer seven months after the letter."
A spokesperson later told the Courant that Biden read the 17-year-old's letter and was personally touched. So touched, in fact, that he personally picked the corsage composed of white roses, baby's breath and red, white and blue ribbons.
"He wanted her to feel special at her prom, even though he wasn't able to come," the spokeswoman told the Courant.
Ultimately, Maselli didn't end up even going to prom.
"But If he had said yes, I would have gone," she said, adding that she could not wait to visit Biden in Washington, D.C.
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