Chapter 4

So, once a week for the last three months, Ricky and I have gotten together at his house for thirty minutes of exploring Calculus and sixty minutes of exploring each other. We had a little foreplay routine. Every time I would pretend to forget that his house was a no-shoes house because he liked reminding me and taking my shoes off for me. And for him, I wore the sock with the hole in it every time. I would get a punishing little tickle that would evolve into a sensual massage that would evolve into… Well… Naked time. Not that there were any complaints about our magical first time, but we did both become more skilled quickly. Going deeper, avoiding teeth, lasting longer… Like everything else in life, practice makes perfect. And being with Ricky is pretty fucking perfect. The hole in my sock got bigger with each passing week and what began as a crush on a cute guy quickly turned into real feelings.

It was March when we realized that among our respective college lists, we had both applied to Champlain. It was a no-brainer that we would both accept their offer. And yes, we did work out that we will be roommates. But for now, that’s our little secret.

Presently, I take Ricky’s hand and pull him into a slow dance. I kiss him again, this time without an audience. I tell the prom date of my dreams, “You took a big risk at dinner with your little game of footsie under the table. What if you miscalculated and found someone else’s leg?”

He leans his forehead against mine, “If you weren’t sitting across from me looking so damn cute, maybe I could have resisted temptation.”

I scoff, “You’re the cute one. You’ve got a Kirk-Cameron-Mike-Seaver thing going on tonight.”

He gives me a playful punch in the arm.

“What?” I grin. “It’s a compliment.”

“Uh huh.” We resume our slow sway as Never Surrender turns into Against All Odds.

I squeeze his hand, “Actually, I’m thinking Johnny Depp with better eyes.”

He squeezes back, “You’ve got kind of a River Phoenix thing going yourself tonight, but with better hair.”

Compliments make me blush. Especially from Ricky. “Were you in on this whole thing?” I ask.

“No. Ten minutes ago, Keith dragged me here to the choir room and turned me over to Chris who shoved me in here and told me to hide in the corner before locking me inside. I was starting to think I’d been kidnapped. Trapped in here until Monday morning. Only able to survive by drinking my own urine.”

I laugh. “Just ten minutes and you’re already looking for bottles to pee in?”

He laughs too, “I’m kidding, but I had no idea what was going on. I had no clue they’d figured us out.”

I pull him in close. Hip bones touching and bellies pressed together, “Hey, I need to tell you something.”

I can sense he knows I’m being serious now. He doesn’t try to fill the space I leave with a joke. He just waits me out.

“I never really thanked you for taking that chance in your bedroom three months ago.” I kiss him. “Taking that courageous first step,” I kiss him again, “…was brave,” another kiss, “…and heroic,” another kiss, “…and the best thing that will ever happen to me in my entire life.” This time our kiss doesn’t stop until the song changes to Can’t Fight This Feeling.

“It wasn’t that big of a chance,” he says when we finally come up for air. “I’d never had a hot guy in my bedroom before. You gave me a million little clues, so I made a move. When I stretched across you for a notebook that I didn’t really need, you didn’t back out of my way. When I pretended to lose my balance—”

“That was pretend?” I cut him off.

He chortles, “You know it was. And you didn’t let me fall. You saved my life.”

I snort. If saving his life means I get to put my hands on his bare skin under his shirt, then I’ll be the brave hero every time. “What other clues did I give you?”

“You let me take your shoes off for you. When I began massaging your foot, you didn’t pull out of my grasp.”

“Your grasp is strong. I was your captive victim.”

Now he snorts, “If that’s the role you want to play later tonight, I’m totally in with you being my captive victim, but on that afternoon? No way. I gave you every opportunity to withdraw or to just say no. But when I studied your beautiful eyes, you held your ground. You studied mine right back. Our faces were mere inches apart. You held my gaze and licked your lips. I moved an inch closer and so did you. I might have made the first move, but you made it safe for me to do so.”

“You were still brave.”

“We were both brave.”

Another kiss. “You know you aren’t just—” I trail off.

“I know. Me too. You aren’t just the boy I got curious with or experimented with for the first time.”

I look into those grey eyes, “Same.”

Billy Joel’s This Is the Time comes on and I get a little choked up because the singer is right. Time is going to change and I don’t want to lose him or this feeling.

Sensing my shift, Ricky says, “Three months from now, in Vermont, every night will be prom night. Our own private celebration.”

“But without the fancy rented clothes.”

“I much prefer Nike high-tops and gaping holes in old sweat socks.”

I laugh. My mood has been successfully rescued.

“Although, that bow tie is a perfect match to your left eye.”

I laugh again. “Do you realize that this is the first time outside of your bedroom that we’ve been able to be ourselves with each other?” I reach inside of his tux jacket and grope around his sensitive tummy. “I can do this to you.”

He giggles and grabs my hands. “You know I’m ticklish.”

“And I can do this,” I kiss him again, this time with parted lips and we end up in a tongue-wrestling battle. As per usual, it ends in a draw.

Two more songs go by as we dance and kiss alone in the choir room. How many more songs can there be? Our time must be running out. Every Breath You Take follows Hungry Eyes and we can feel the air change in the room again.

Ricky sighs, “But we can only do these things because we’re alone. Behind a closed and locked door.”

This time it’s me perking him up, “First of all, college in Vermont will be a completely different world from high school in West Virginia. Second of all, don’t forget… Just a little while ago we kissed in front of Chris. That’s kind of epically huge.”

“But he’s Chris. Your best friend. He loves you like a brother. They don’t come any better than Chris and Keith.”

I pull his hips against mine again, “So you’re gonna tell me that a week ago you could have imagined that moment?”

He smiles, “Okay. It was kind of epic.”

“College will be full of people just like Chris, Keith, us and the girls. A lot of things will come to an end over the next few months, but not us. We’re just beginning.”

“Lame,” he grins at me. “Will you be majoring in writing greeting cards? Or sappy song lyrics?”

I poke him in the tummy again and his grin turns into a belly laugh.

He pulls me into another kiss that lasts until the final song ends.

On our way back to the gym, we pass by the theater. The door opens as we approach and Paige and Sarah step into the hall. When they see Ricky and me, all four of us smile. I take Paige’s hand and Sarah takes Ricky’s as we re-enter the gym as two couples, which we are. People just don’t know how we actually couple up.

We find Chris and Becky and Keith and Tracy standing in a corner. We join them. Eight friends with only a few more months together before life scatters us all around the country.

I walk right up to Chris and hug him hard. I hug my best friend almost every day of my life, but he knows this one is different. He asks me, “How is your prom night going?”

I smile, “My best friend made sure it was the best prom night in the history of prom nights.”

His smile back is sincere. I’m gonna miss him so much when we leave for college, but somehow I just know we’ll be best friends forever. Like Ricky said, they don’t come any better than Chris.

His smile fades and he grabs my arm, “That mixtape I made for you two? No judgement! If you ever make fun of me for the songs I chose, I will punch you so hard.”

I laugh, “Chris, they were perfect.”

He lets go of my arm, “Bon Jovi and Metallica wouldn’t have exactly set the mood.”

I’m still laughing, “If I’m gonna make fun of you for anything it’ll be for your epic fail at Moonwalking during Billie Jean.”

His cheeks turn pink.

I bump his shoulder with mine, “Seriously. You are the most awesome best friend in the history of best friends.”

We’re standing in a circle of eight, contemplating our afterparty plans when Billy walks by. Billy puts a hand on my shoulder, nods his head in Paige’s direction and says, “Timmy, you really are one lucky bastard,” and he walks away.

And that’s when it hits me. I really am lucky. I whisper in Paige’s ear and her eyes almost pop out of her head. I whisper again and she smiles and nods. She whispers to Sarah next to her, who, after recovering from the initial shock of the message, passes it along to Ricky. All four of us nod back and forth while Chris, Keith, Becky and Tracy watch us in confusion.

Prom is winding down, but the DJ is still playing and most of the crowd remains. I take Paige’s hand and lead her to the center of the dancefloor. Ricky follows suit with Sarah. As Don’t You (Forget About Me) starts, we switch partners. We don’t trade girls, though. Paige takes Sarah’s hands and I take Ricky’s. Two couples dance in the middle of the dancefloor. Two real couples. There are gasps and ooh’s and ah’s as the other kids realize what’s happening. Our four friends are front and center, grinning and cheering us on.

Halfway through the song, I kiss my man. I kiss the shit out of him, just as if we were alone in his bedroom. I could only imagine that Paige and Sarah are doing the same, but I am too entangled with the guy I love to stop and check. The cheering spreads to more than just our friends.

When the song ends, so does our little John Hughes moment. I survey the room. Some kids are laughing. Some look disgusted. Some aren’t paying us any attention at all. But about half of the room seems to approve. They seem happy for us. And they should be. Love is love and I’m in deep.