Page 16 of Footlights and Forever

Austin laughed, his hand slipping further down my arm until he was basically side-hugging me right there in the middle of the cafeteria. “That’s fine.”

“So what about you Austin?” Hailey’s face took on a kind of evil mischievous look. “Which lucky lady has won the privilege of your escort to prom?”

“No one.”

I turned to him and frowned. “Seriously,” I laughed, “who are you taking? You can’t not go, you’re captain of the football team. Isn’t it like law that you have to go with one of the cheerleaders?”

“I don’t know how enforceable those laws are,” he chuckled, pulling me that much closer to him until I was tucked neatly under his arm. “I think a few of us guys on the team are just gonna go stag together and have a blast, you know?”

I was both elated and a bit dejected that first, he was not taking anyone to prom, and second, that I was one of those people that he wasn’t taking to prom.

“How about you Dylan, have you asked anyone yet?” He pinned me with a curious, almost accusatory stare.

I’d better answer in the right way. “Nah, I’m going stag too.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Plus, I’m going to steal a dance from lady here.” I gestured towards Hailey.

“Yeah, Todd won’t mind.” She stuck a carrot stick between her teeth and crunched it sharply. “On that note, I told Todd I would meet him for the last ten minutes of lunch so we could discuss prom.” She picked up her satchel and walked out of the room. Austin made no effort to move into the now-vacant seat, but simply leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“If you get to steal a dance from Hailey, then I think it’s only fair I get to steal a dance from you, okay?” He leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to my cheek.

The next day I found myself in what must be the ninth dress store in the past two hours. I leaned back over the chair and groaned. “For someone who was going to just pick any old dress from the closet, she can take an age choosing a new dress.”

“It has to be perfect, you big ‘mo!” Hailey called from the dressing room.

“I didn’t know she could hear me.” I winced at Austin who sat next to me, looking equally frazzled.

“Surely this has to be the last store right?” he asked me hopefully. “I mean, I’m not sure there are any more stores in town.”

“Aren’t you glad you are going with the team and don’t have to put up with this shit all night at prom,” I laughed and shoved his arm playfully.

“Oh I don’t know,” a small sad smile played on his face, “I wish I could just take who I really wanted to take.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. “Oh well, someday I guess.”

Before I got the chance to ask him what exactly he meant by that – because I really didn’t want to misunderstand what he means – I opened my mouth to do just that when the dressing room door opened and Hailey stepped out. All thoughts vanished from my head as I stared open-mouthed at the vision in front of me.

“It looks okay right? I mean I think it looks okay. I think I love it, but I won’t buy it if it looks awful. Oh, it looks awful doesn’t it? That’s why you’re not saying anything. I’ll go take it off and I’ll just stay in my room slash belltower like Quasimodo.” Hailey face went from joy to panic in five seconds flat.

“Hailey stop,” I gasped. “Don’t take this the wrong way as you know I think you’re gorgeous, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more beautiful.” From what she’d told me when she was pulling it off the hanger, her dress was an A-line, off-the-shoulder sweep train in chiffon. It was in a kind of golden champagne color which made her bronze Italian skin glimmer and her blonde hair almost shine. On her bust were very small intricate silk roses in the same color, While the skirt had a satiny look to it. There was a split up the side of the dress where Hailey’s toned smooth thigh and calf peeked out. She looked like a movie star, and I could not stop looking at her.

“Seriously?” She beamed at me.

I pointed at Austin without looking, knowing that he had the same dumbfounded expression on his face as I did. “Todd is going to lose his shit,” he said simply.

“God I hope so,” she said, turning around to check herself out in the mirror. “Are you gonna try on a tux?” I caught her gaze in the mirror, her eyes flitting between me and Austin.

“Maybe, you think I should?” The reflection of my face in the mirror was taking on a sort of squashed peach look.That isn’t attractive, I scolded myself and schooled my features.

“You made me do the clotheshorse thing today,” she gestured down at her dress, “it’s only fair that I get to do the same to you. Also, I want a picture of me and you in our finest so I can tell my kids in the future that I dated a cute nerd and turned him gay.”

“Sweetie, I’d have to actually kiss or bone you for that to happen, and unless you’re secretly Christian Slater in disguise, then that’s never going to happen.”

Austin barked out a sharp laugh, shaking his head at our verbal tennis match. “Well lucky for the both of you I have my camera in my car, so I’m just gonna go grab it.”

I left Hailey to twirl in her dress while I picked a couple of simple black James Bond-looking tuxes from the racks and took them back to the dressing rooms.

“Can I help you sir?” a voice suddenly sounded behind me. I dropped the armful of suits on the floor in shock, jumping and turning in the air.

“Holy fuck!” I wheezed, my heart pounding a million miles a minute. “Where in the shit did you come from?” My eyes stopped darting around long enough to rest on my verbal assailant. If it hadn’t been for the coronary he just about gave me, then this guy would definitely have been a contender for one of my late-night masturbatory fantasies. This guy ticked all my boxes; he must have been over six feet by at least three or four inches, wide chest with dark hair poking over the V-neck of his white and navy blue store t-shirt uniform. Thick forearms dusted with dark hair and aqua blue eyes shone out from his olive face. I guessed he had long hair, based on the size of the man bun he had going on, thick wavy dark hair tendrils falling around his face.

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry I said ‘shit’, and ‘fuck’.” I spluttered, the drool in my mouth making it difficult to form actual sentences. “So what I mean to say is that I shouldn’t have said ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’ and I’m fucking sorry about that.”

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