Not a Love Story

Fifty-Two // Prom

Oliver Greene

The news of Ben's commitment to Michigan spread like wildfire. Before we knew it, break was over and we were in our last semester of high school. Most of my friends were staying in Wisconsin, except for Mia who decided to go to Minnesota and Jack who got a scholarship to the University of Iowa. And of course Ben and I were heading to Michigan for the next four years.

I smiled every time I thought of us living together and going to school together. We'd already agreed to be roommates and signed our housing contracts.

The beginning of the semester was a whirlwind of excitement and lots of lasts. But I was okay with that.

Before we knew it, May rolled around. The entire school was buzzing about prom, which was coming up in a few weeks.

"Are you asking Ashley?" Mia asked Jack, wiggling her eyebrows at him as he blushed at her words.

"I dunno." he murmured into his lunch.

"Dylan asked me yesterday." Emily admitted, her cheeks dusted red.

"What? Em! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Mia exclaimed, a grin on her face.

"It happened after school. I was kind of overwhelmed." she laughed.

"You guys are so cute together." Mia cooed. She was the one who had introduced them to one another a month ago. "What about you over there? Has lover boy asked you yet?" Mia asked, her attention directed to me.

"What? I'm not even sure if we're going." I responded, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Oliver! Come on, participate in high school a little bit! Live a little!" Mia exclaimed.

"Yeah, you have to go man. It's the last thing we get to do before summer and then college." Alex agreed.

"Okay, okay! I'll talk to him today." I said. Mia nodded, satisfied with my answer.

When classes were finally over, Ben met me at my locker. He leaned against the neighboring one while I put a few things I didn't need for the weekend inside.

"Hey." I greeted, immediately smiling when I saw him.

"Hi." he said, leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to my lips. "Need a ride?" he asked.

"I don't need one, but I was thinking we could get milkshakes and fries?" I suggested. Ben grinned and nodded.

"For sure."

"Can I have the keys?" Henry suddenly asked, appearing next to Ben.

"Please don't crash." I begged, handing him the keys. Henry was driving a friend home the other day and nearly crashed the car. Ben and I had to go help him get out of a ditch, but luckily no one was hurt and he just had a flat tire. He'd kind of become a scary driver now that the snow is gone. He smirked and rattled the keys in his hand.

"No promises!" he said, still smirking as he headed for the door.

"Looks like you need a ride now." Ben said. I nodded and smiled at him.

"Looks like I do."

I happily munched on the fries and started drinking my milkshake as Ben drove us to his house.

"Slow down! Leave some for me." he whined, reaching into the bag to take a few. I laughed and took a sip of his milkshake. "And stop drinking my milkshake!" he scolded. I chuckled and kissed his cheek, earning me a side glance from him but I caught the way his lips quirked up into a smile.

Ben and I were splayed across his basement couch, the milkshakes empty and the bag of fries was gone. I had my head in his lap, his hands absentmindedly carding through my hair as we watched the movie I'd chosen. I looked up at him. Sensing my eyes on him, he looked down at me and smiled.

"What?" he asked.

"I love you." I blurted, so suddenly I surprised myself. Ben chuckled and lowered his head down to mine.

"I love you too, Ollie." he said, pressing his lips to mine, both of us smiling into the kiss. "I have an idea." he announced.

"Continue." I said, looking up at him.

"Wanna go for a drive? Go look at the stars on the field?" he asked. I narrowed my eyes at him, noticing how he was fidgeting with his hands. He only did that when he was nervous.

"What're you up to?" I questioned.

"Come on, Ollie. Please?" he asked. I nodded and stood up, pausing the movie as I did. Ben smiled and laced his fingers with mine, pulling my upstairs.

He was quiet the whole drive towards the field. Our connected hands were sitting in my lap, my thumb rubbing against his hand as we drove. When we got to the field, all the lights were off.

"It looks like it's closed, Ben." I said.

"I think it's fine. Come on." he said, smiling. He jogged around the car and opened the door for me. I smiled and grabbed his hand, letting him pull me onto the dark field.

"I'm not so sure about this, Ben." I said, frowning when I realized how dark the field was.

"Just trust me, okay?" he said. I nodded, hesitant but continued walking with him. He suddenly stopped when we reached the edge of the field. "I'll be right back. Don't move." he said, placing a light kiss on my cheek and leaving before I could object. I looked around, feeling anxious as he disappeared into the dark.

"Ben?" I called.

I saw a twinkling light in front of me, near the middle of the field. I took a step forward before the rest of the lights suddenly turned on. In front of me, in twinkling lights, was the word Prom? I gasped at the sight.

"Ollie?" Ben said, a small bouquet of flowers in his hands as he appeared just above the twinkling words. "Will you go to prom with me?" he asked. I strided over to him, grinning. I looped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I pressed a firm kiss to his lips as I smiled. I pulled away to look at him.

"Of course, Ben." I replied, nodding as I connected our lips. He kissed me so hard I thought I'd forgotten how to breathe, but I was okay with that. Because I had Ben.

****

You guys I was just browsing for something to read and saw NALS in the top 15 in LGBTQ+ and my jaw literally dropped because I forgot it was ranked! Like I was genuinely shocked because I just straight up forgot! It's so rewarding to see it ranked, and it's all thanks to you guys, so thank you:)

The next chapter is going to be a longer one and I cannot wait for you all to read it, I hope you love it as much as I do!

Also! We're coming to the end of Not a Love Story! There are only 3 chapters left! I am planning on writing a three part epilogue as well (which I'm currently working on). I'm trying to make them pretty long (around 2/3k+ words), so there may be a bit of a delay between the last chapter and the epilogue.

That's all I have to say right now. As usual, thank you all so much, I love and appreciate you all:)

x, Anne

p.s. comments, votes and shares are welcome as always<3