CHAPTER 24

Taking myself out of the world of my thoughts, I focussed on Megan. Should I go with her? The question repeated in my head. I wanted to go with May, but that looked to be a bleak possibility at this point. In indecisiveness, I looked down to the floor. Megan could see I wasn't answering immediately, and decided to step in.

Boldly grabbing my hand (and being so unsure of her action she actually grabbed a bit too forcefully), she pulled my eyes up from the ground into her own. "You don't have to answer me right away." she said innocently. I only noticed at this point how seductive her big, innocent, brown eyes were. Her face clearly showed a little fright and nervousness, but her eyes were screaming 'kiss me.'

Or maybe they weren't. God, what's wrong with me?

"You can think about it if you want to." She quickly added. "I just thought it would make sense, that's all. It would be cool to know each other better and stuff. Don't you think so?"

"It would, yeah." I replied hesitantly. It was now my turn to be nervous. I wanted to go with May, but I could never get the courage to ask her, especially after that incident at her house. But I knew I had to ask Nicole first before choosing anything I would soon regret.

"Just let me know after the meeting, okay?" She asked, and I confidently nodded. She smiled widely, bringing out her gorgeous eyes even more, lightly squeezing my hand. Her touch was just as electric as it was during the speeches, and it made me smile just a bit. She hurried back into the council room with myself in tow. As I walked back in, Phil kept going, not acknowledging us whatsoever, but as I turned to Matt, he had a knowing look on his face. I then turned to Nicole, who rolled her eyes and held up her phone again.

Oh, right. I took out my phone, making sure Phil couldn't see, and texted her. Megan just asked me out to the dance. I don't think I'm confident enough to ask May. Should I go for it?

A few seconds later, I saw her looking at her phone. She looked up at me, mulling over the idea, then finally gave a slow, unsure nod, followed by a sultry wink. I chuckled to myself as I turned to Matt, who was still looking in my direction, and nodded at him too. He grinned.

***

Phil was a master of talking for too long, but the meeting still ended as expected at the normal time. As everyone started to file out, I caught Megan in the hallway, and lightly touched her shoulder. She whirled around to face me, and noticeably became more shy.

"So I, uh, I think I'll take you up on that offer." I told her, mustering as much courage as I could to do one petty thing.

Her eyes sparkled. "Really?" She asked me. I nodded, and she immediately went in for a hug. She didn't say anything further, but I guess she didn't need to. Getting gradually better at these situations, I hugged her back. She pulled back so our eyes could meet, her arms still wrapped around me, and smiled. "See you tomorrow then." She said happily as she pulled away and walked off, waving at me. I waved back, too focussed on her to notice Matt approach me from behind. He clapped an arm down on my shoulder.

"Good choice, man. My sister's a great girl." He said warmly.

"I bet." I replied.

"Normally I have to give the 'don't be a jerk to her' speech, but I don't think I need to with you." He added. "And I don't make that exception with everyone."

I smiled at him. "I'll be sure to remember that." I said. He nodded and walked off in the same direction as Megan. I was actually feeling pretty good about myself. I got a date to the Halloween dance. Granted, I had no clue what I would wear as a costume, not to mention I couldn't dance to save my life, but otherwise I felt pretty damn good about life.

"Way to go, Squirt, you got a date!" came the voice of Nicole from behind me. She sounded legitimately impressed.

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess." were the only words that could come out of my mouth.

She stifled a laugh. "And here I was thinking that you couldn't muster up the courage to ask anyone. You could move mountains with your word choice, hotshot." she winked at me and started walking down the hallway. "Don't you need a ride?" she tossed over her shoulder.

"Actually, would you mind hanging around for a few minutes?" I asked her. "I was supposed to meet up with someone for something."

She shrugged. "As long as you make it quick." She told me. "Managing the yearbook and school paper takes up more time than you think."

Feeling bolder after she mocked me, I shot back, "Maybe if you spent less time screwing you wouldn't have that problem."

She grinned. "More comments like that and I'll just find other guys to fuck." She threatened humorously. "Now git! Go have your little meeting before I leave without you."

I smiled at her and took off for the main hallway. By the time I was out of Nicole's sight, May was in mine. I waved hello and she cheerfully waved back.

"Hey! Hope you weren't waiting too long." I piped up, glad that Nicole's chat with me gave me an adrenaline boost needed to have a normal conversation with a girl.

"Nope, you're okay." May cheerfully responded.

"So what do you need?" I asked her.

"Well, I was thinking." She began, making it seem like she made a business decision more than anything else. "I've told you before that I'm not really making as many friends as I'd like to, but you've been kind to me. So I figured why not get to know you outside of drama class too?"

"…Are you asking me to be an official friend or something?" I asked.

She chuckled. "No, but I was thinking it would be really cool if we went to the dance tomorrow together! What do you think?"

My heart sank. No it didn't, it got wired up to some C4 and the detonator was placed in my hands. Son of a bitch, there was nothing I wanted more than to break into a grin and say yes right then and there, but I couldn't. I just couldn't do that. I already made the commitment to go with Megan.

Still, at first I couldn't find the place in my heart to say no. My crush, the girl who could make me smile by existing alone, the one girl I truly wanted to be with, to kiss, to dance with, and I had to turn her down. God dammit, I wouldn't get a chance like this again. I blew it. Again.

"Gee, um… May, that's the best offer I've had in a long while, and I truly, truly mean that. But I'm afraid I've already promised Megan Schneider."

"Oh." Her cheerful aura dwindled, something I didn't see often. She still smiled, but it was more for show than anything else. "I didn't know you and her were together."

'She and you,' my inner Nicole piped up. "Oh, we're not." I quickly replied. "We're just both on the council and figured since we're working together it makes sense."

"Ah, I see." she replied with her continued fake cheerfulness, smiling yet looking to the floor every so often.

"Otherwise, I would say yes in a heartbeat. I hate to think that you'll be all alone for the dance tomorrow." I continued.

She smiled at me, and I could tell this one was genuine. "I'll manage." she said softly. "So, um… See you in class tomorrow!"

"Yeah." I replied, clearing my throat. The tension hung thick in the air, but this time it didn't feel nice in any way. "See you then."

We looked at each other for the next ten seconds, everywhere but in the eyes, before May made the first move and slowly started to walk towards her locker. Feeling guilty as all hell, but not responsible, I trudged back to wherever Nicole was standing.

"Ready to go." I mumbled.

She noted my lack of cheerfulness. "Who was your conversation with, a proctologist? What's with the long face?" She asked as we began to walk to her car.

For some reason, I didn't feel like telling her. "Nothing." I simply said.

"Oh, come on, squirt. I know you a little better than that." She said sternly as the car came into view.

"Well, since you're so psychic, why don't you figure it out for yourself?" I asked, half bitterly, half humorously.

"I ain't that good, hotshot. I can't work with what little you've given me. What do I look like, a grade 12?" she winked as she walked around the car and got in.

A few minutes into the car ride, she sighed loudly and spoke. "I suppose I could hang with you for a few hours, but that's it. If you feel like you need to let off a little steam…"

I wasn't sure if she meant just hanging out, or what I thought she really meant, but I didn't care. "Nah, I'm good." I replied.

"You sure?"

"Mhm."

She nodded slowly, taking her eyes to mine for just a few seconds before returning to the road. A few seconds, I felt her hand rubbing my shoulder sympathetically. "I hope whatever it is, it doesn't last. Your face looks more stupid with a frown on it."

I had to give a bit of a chuckle at that comment. Unless she was on the brink of an orgasm, that was Nicole's way of being kind, of showing she cared. And I appreciated it, but it sure didn't fix anything.

***

The Halloween dance was the next night, so I didn't exactly go all out on the costume. One long black sheet and a pair of fake fangs, and poof. Adam Watson was no more, there was only Dracula.

"How does it look?" My dad asked as he popped his head in my room, where I was readying myself in front of the mirror.

"It's not amazing, but I think it looks like Dracula." I answered, looking to make sure the gelled-back hair, which was a challenge (since it was closer to dirty blonde than black, plus longer than average), looked alright.

He looked into the mirror, popping up behind me. "How can you tell?" He asked, pretending to scan the mirror, looking for my reflection.

I rolled my eyes, which dad took as a victory. "Alright, let's go mobile." He told me. "If you're going to be working at the doors, we'd better make sure you go early."

"Fair." I replied, scanning the mirror one last time to look for anything wrong with how I looked before following him.

"Jeez, with the amount of time you spent in front of the mirror, you'd think you were spending the night dancing with Nicole instead of just collecting tickets." Dad piped up as we left the house.

If I could. "Nope." I answered. "Just working. Student council. You wouldn't understand."

He gave a small shrug as we entered the car. "Does this mean I get to mock you for not being in the AV club and choir?"

"You were in choir?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Bass. Only one, actually. There was a lot of stigma involved with being in choir in those days."

Interesting. I never knew my dad was involved in extracurriculars. "I didn't even know they had AV clubs back then. Did schools even have video equipment?"

"It was the 80s, Adam, not the 50s." He replied. "Why else would I keep quoting 80s movies? It's been wired, almost literally, in my head at this point."

"Why'd you take it?" I asked him. "It doesn't sound like it pays well."