Page 67 of Evil Queen

Kyle tapped Nathan on his shoulder and pushed him toward me. “Yes. I see it too.”

Nathan walked up to me, took my arms, and held them out. “Baby, you look…” He smiled. “I mean, you always look beautiful, but this is just…unlawful.”

I laughed. “You look good too. I love seeing you in a suit.” I leaned in a little bit. “I’d love to see you without it even more.”

Nathan’s eyes darkened a little bit. “Don’t do that. If you talk like that while looking like that, we will miss prom.”

“No, no, no,” Colette said. “All sex will be reserved until after prom. Now, let’s go.” She clapped her hands. “Our limo is waiting.”

The rest of our peers almost seemed irritated with how much we’d managed to gather ourselves in time for prom, but all eyes were on us, and a short fanfare erupted. Two people stood out amongst the crowd as the only two who seemed less than impressed with us, but as our eyes found Cherri and Sicily in the back corner, we were all relieved that they were there.

We were all so distracted by everything going on that we didn’t even stop to see what prom’s theme was, but as we walked in, it was clear it was space-themed without being tacky. Different planets and stars hung from the ceilings, and all of the balloons were starbursts in different shades of purple, blue, and white. There was a beautiful, starry galaxy backdrop to take prom pictures against, and the dance floor had been fashioned with a galaxy-painted paneling. It was beautiful.

We found a table to claim as our own and took turns going to the dance floor as couples so as not to rub our couplings in Kyle’s and Brayden’s faces. We danced and hung out together as a group of friends who were happy to be with one another. A few songs did come on that were perfect for dancing together, so Avery invited Brayden out for a dance. Colette cut into the dance as Avery’s and Brayden’s was ending, and then after giving Nathan a look, I walked out and cut in myself.

Brayden let out a fake, dramatic groan. “Can’t a guy rest?”

“It’s your fault for being so light on your feet,” Colette said as she left, and I took over, letting Brayden lead.

“I didn’t think you’d come over here,” Brayden said. “I know you don’t like me.”

“At first, yeah, I didn’t really like you a whole lot,” I admitted, “but you’ve grown on me. Quite a lot. I was sick when you took a break without telling us for two weeks. Nathan was sick with worry.”

Brayden rolled his eyes. “He had you, so I’m sure he was fine.”

I wasn’t sure what I had to do with it, but I didn’t know how to ask without being weird. “We got into a pretty bad fight while you were gone. I found myself wishing you were around because you could have kept him from falling into too bad of a slump. He always lets you pull him out easier than anyone else.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, can I ask you a question that’s probably crossing the line for our ambivalent, undefined relationship?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Why not?”

“Why was your reaction to Kyle asking you to prom so visceral? It seemed like he really wanted to come with you.” Brayden didn’t immediately answer, so I quickly added, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer.”

“No, it’s…” He bit his lip a little bit. “I don’t know. I thought he was just fucking around, and it made me mad. It’s not the kind of thing to joke about.”

“If he wasn’t fucking around, what would you have said?” I asked.

Even in the low light, I could see Brayden’s cheeks get a little darker. “I don’t know.”

“Can I give you some advice as someone who has absolutely no business giving anyone advice?”

“Sure,” Nathan replied.

“I spent a really, really, really long time not being honest about my feelings for Nathan, and now it feels like we’re swimming through mud just to get to a clear understanding. If there are feelings there, know that none of us would judge you, know that Kyle wouldn’t fuck around with your feelings, and just say something.”

The words just kind of came out, and I wished they hadn’t. I remembered Avery saying that she didn’t think Kyle truly liked Brayden, but then why ask him to prom? The song changed, but Brayden didn’t make any movement to stop dancing. Neither did I, so we kept going.

A little smile came across Brayden’s face at the change. “Nathan loves this song.”

Brayden wasn’t even facing Nathan, but I looked over Brayden’s shoulder and saw Nathan grooving to it. “Yeah, it looks like…”

Then it hit me like a train. Brayden was always running around after Nathan. Brayden idolized him and didn’t seem to like Cherri almost as much as I didn’t seem to like her. He was ready to trash her when Nathan broke up with her, regardless of what he’d done to her, and when Nathan did openly nice things for Brayden during the past few weeks, it put him on cloud nine.

Brayden had feelings for Nathan.

Kyle must have figured it out and was trying to divert Brayden’s attention. It broke my heart into pieces. I didn’t say anything else to Brayden because I didn’t feel like anything that I could say would be enough of an apology. Instead, we danced quietly until the song was over and then stopped.

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