Page 18 of Footlights and Forever

“Be careful that no one mistakes you for a stray cat and tries to send you to that great big litter box in the sky.” I smiled sweetly at her reflection while pointing towards the rats’ nest she called the top of her head.

The sounds from dad’s TV in the lounge suddenly disappeared. Both me and my sister looked at each other shocked, an almost horrified look dawning on both of our faces. The only time Dad had ever turned the TV off was anytime the Dallas Cowboys won the Superbowl,which come on… happened frequently, and to tell us Grandpa had passed away at the nursing home in Tennessee. It wasn’t football season, and we were all out of grandparents, so I guess we were both at a loss.

My dad pulled himself up from his armchair and strolled out into the hallway. “I have two amazing and beautiful children, your mother would be so proud of you both.” He straightened my black bow tie before patting some imaginary lint of my shoulder. “And you are looking extra handsome tonight, son.”

I was stumped for words, my monosyllabic dad who normally grunted approval or pointed at the things he wanted and expected us to understand his wild gesturing had just blown the last vestiges of calm I had left holding back the wall of panic andemotion that pressed against the wall of my psyche. A single tear fell from my eye.

“Hey none of that,” my dad lightly scolded. “Don’t you have a prom to get to?” The bell rang at the front door. “Wow, cabs are seriously more professional than in my day, they just used to beep at the curb,” he mused, reaching for the door and pulling it open.

“Austin?” I squeaked, as on the other side of the front door was every prom queen’s wet dream. I gave him a long appreciative look up and down, a happy smile spreading across my face. “Is that….?”

“I’m so happy you picked up the reference,” he laughed, looking down at his suit which was made up of a black morning coat with a short tail, a white waist coat with matching white bow tie and handkerchief, and dark grey trousers with shiny black winklepicker shoes. His muscles filled out the suit a lot differently than the reference he was trying to put across though.

“That’s the same type of suit Rex Harrison wears inMy Fair Lady, right?” I allowed my eyes to traverse his frame once more. His face heated at me obvious perusal of him. “Very nice,” I managed to stutter out.

“You have homework!” my dad shouted towards my sister, pointing toward her bedroom. She huffed out some choice words about my apparent lack of style before stomping up the stairs. “I hope you boys have a great time tonight. Look after my boy, Austin.”

“Dad!” I hissed at his back as he retreated into the living room, the TV turned up to its ridiculous volume once more. I winced, turning back around to face Austin, “Sorry about him.”

“It’s really okay,” Austin smiled at where my dad sat focused on some random gameshow with a bleached and tanned host and a bejeweled lovely assistant. “It’s cool that he worries about you.”

“Austin, don’t take this the wrong way.” I leaned forward, whispering the next part, “What are you doing here?”

He looked around the hallway sheepishly before his nervous smile settled on me. “Okay, well, I told the boys to go ahead without me as I had to help my mom out with a few bits at home first. I got done early though and honestly, I really wanted to see you in your suit before prom, and I wanted you to see me in mine.” His blush deepened.

“You wanted me to see you?”

“Yeah I mean,” he flourished his hand down his suit and chuckled, “I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb at prom wearing this, but I thought you would get a kick out of it, so I rented it.”

“You mean you did this for me?” Even I was surprised by how incredulous my voice sounded. His gaze snapped up to meet mine, stepping forward so that we were mere inches apart. I needed to look up slightly to meet his stare.

“Of course I did.” He reached up to push a loose strand of hair away from my face. “You know how much you mean to me right?” I was surprised by the confusion on his features. He looked so fucking adorable, all it would take was for me to surge forward only a little and my mouth would be on his. I could almost taste him, he was so close.

I didn’t answer as I was really not sure what answer he wanted from me. Sure, we were friends. Maybe more than regular friends, but this closeness was all we had. This and no further. “Well, I have a cab coming, so I guess I can meet you at prom if you drove here.”

He looked around the room, my mother’s tchotchkes on the small white cabinet on the wall all of a sudden catching his enthralled interest. A sheepish look on his face alerted me to mischief afoot. “What have you done?”

“Well that’s the thing you see.” He turned back to face me and shrugged. “I saw a cab waiting outside and I thought it might be for you, so I went and gave the guy ten bucks to get out of here.”

“You what?” Deep frown lines furrowed my brow. “Why on earth would you do that?”

His hands linked with mine. “Because I want you to come to prom with me.” A hopeful smile filled me with hope. “I want to be the one that takes you to prom, if you will let me?”

“What about everyone there?” I pulled my hands back. “If you walk in with me, at prom, they are going to know something is up and start asking questions.”

“So?”

“What do you mean so?” I stammered.This motherfucker is crazy.

“So what if people talk?” His hands snagged mine again. “Also, if you are worried about gossip, people will be all wrapped up in their own thing that they won’t even notice anyone else arriving.”

“I think you are imagining that you are like everyone else.”Bless him and his privilege.

“What do you mean? I am like everyone else!” His indignant argument held no weight under his own clear skepticism of his statement.

“No one would care if I showed up Austin, but you are captain of the football team. People will know when you show up.”

“Babe, I would care.” He pulled me against his chest, my arms automatically going around his waist. He rested his chin gently on top of my head. My heart pounded in my chest partly due to his overwhelming proximity, but also due to the waybabehad slipped so easily off his tongue.

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