ARLINGTON — Perhaps you’ve seen the banner as you drive southbound on I-5 approaching the exit at Island Crossing.

That’s where Trevor Strotz asked his girlfriend, Madison Hoskinson, to the prom.

Ignoring the bad luck associated with Friday the 13th, Trevor chose that day to hang a 6-by-30-foot banner on family barn that faces the freeway. It said:

“Madison, Prom? (heart) Trevor”

Teenage boys often agonize about this annual ritual and how to ask girls for a date.

Trevor, 17, a senior at Arlington High School, had at least some confidence that Madison, 17, a junior, would agree to go to the dance May 12.

But he wasn’t entirely sure, and it turned out that Madison was busy on the evening of April 13. Trevor sweated a little bit and kept his fingers crossed that nobody would spill the beans before he had a chance to drive Madison past his sign.

No luck. Somebody couldn’t keep his or her mouth shut.

“They told her I had done something, but they wouldn’t tell her what,” Trevor said. “When I went to pick her up the next day, she was angry with me. She wondered what I could have done. Even her dad knew what it was, but wouldn’t say.”

Trevor and Madison rode in silence from the Bryant area to Island Crossing.

“I pulled the car to side of the freeway and pulled a rose out from under my seat and motioned to the banner,” Trevor recalled. “She said ‘no,’ but I could tell she was messing with me because she started laughing.”

The story wasn’t over yet, however.

A few days later, Edible Seattle magazine posted a note on its Facebook page:

“Anyone based around Arlington? Trevor (or if you know him) we hope the girl you asked to prom says yes! We love that you asked her by hanging a huge banner on the side of a barn in Arlington! Romance lives! The great guys at Bistro San Martin say your prom dinner is on them if she says yes. Come on folks, help us find Trevor to let him know!”

Trevor couldn’t believe it. His mom says Bistro San Martin is the best restaurant in Arlington.

“I called the restaurant and told them how much I appreciate it,” Trevor said. “We’ll go there before heading to the prom at the Seattle Aquarium.”

“It was all worth it. Even my nervousness.”

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.