Rattlebones (bxbxb)

Prom Night Hell

"I can't believe my baby boy's all grown up!"

It's six weeks later and I'm standing in my living room trying not to barf at the sight of the colors that my mothers have stuck me in for prom night. 

"Mom!" I grumble, and I curl my lip slightly when Mom B adjusts my bright red tie and beams at me. "I look like Satan incarnate," I tell her, visible disgust crossing my expression, though I wasn't at my usual pessimism this time around. I just didn't have it in me to gather all the rage and hate that usually surrounded my thoughts.

"Darcy, sweetheart, the devil would be lucky to look like you. Now smile for the camera! This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!" Mom A raises her camera and the flash goes off seconds later, nearly blinding the hell out of me.

It was all so normal, this illusion that I had pieced together. The smiles, agreeing to pick out a suit with my parents for prom night, just to make them happy. I had stopped dressing in black, I bought a pair of Nike's and I had even considered picking a college out of my stack of applications.

But I wasn't happy. Not really.

I didn't have a date or anything, but Rishi Kumar and James had agreed that I could ride with them and the goth kids. And for once I was glad that Nigel had wiped their memories of what I had done to them. How the mansion had caught fire and everyone went up in flames in seconds.

"Darcy?" Mom B touches my shoulders. "Honey? Are you alright?"

I blink a little and then I smile at her a little. "I'm fine," I reply quietly. "I'm just so happy that I get a chance to do this. Especially after I was kidnapped by Eugene Wilder's relatives and was almost butchered in a dirty motel room."

"I know, I know..." Mom B nods her head a little and then she kisses my forehead. "We're so lucky that you made it out alive. Though, I'm still wondering how Eugene's body ended up in that parking lot."

The doorbell rings before I can come up with an excuse and Mom A goes to open the door.

"Oh, hey, Mrs. Brown!" Rishi waves at her a little from the other side. He's wearing a sleek, blue suit and white sneakers, and he's actually cut his hair so he doesn't look like a werewolf. "Is Darcy ready to go?"

"I'm right here," I reply, and I step out of the living room. "Thanks for this again, Rishi."

Rishi smiles at me, unaware of the pain and suffering that I had caused him when his flesh had roasted like a cooked turkey in an oven. "It's no problem." He shrugs, "James likes having you around, and I'm cool with it. Now come on, we have a prom to get to."

I kiss both my mother's goodbye and head out the door, but not before turning to look at them. They're both trying not to cry, and suddenly I feel horrible. There was one secret that I had yet to tell them about. The only one that I could allow myself to share with them. 

"Mom?" 

They both look at me, sniffing a little. "What is it, Darcy?" Mom A questions.

"There's something I've been keeping from you." I take a deep breath and then steel my nerves. "I'm not like the other kids," I say. "In fact, I'm not like the other gays either." 

They both squint at me a little.

"What I'm trying to say is, I've had multiple boyfriends over the last few months. Two of them, in fact. At the same time." I stare down at the concrete. "I've been involved in a throuple."

They gasp a little, but I can't really gauge their reactions until they're both hugging me as tight as they can and kissing me all over. "Oh, Darcy!" Mom A squeezes my face. "You should have told us sooner. Who were they? Why haven't we met them yet?"

I feel my throat tighten and my eyes water. This was the part where I should have been introducing Eugene and Igor to my parents. Instead, they couldn't even remember who I was, or what we had been through together, so I had let them go, like doves into the wild.

"It's complicated--" I start, and then Rishi yells at me from the car,

"Come on, Darcy! James has bladder issues and he needs a bathroom ASAP!" He slaps the side of his car.

"I love you, mom, and mom," I tell them, break away from my parents, and head for the car, my head down. Images of Eugene smiling at me flash through my thoughts. His perfect grin, the way his eyes crinkled a little. How I had held him while he died that first time, and seen him come back to life. 

I see Iggy skateboarding past me, the way he tucked his hair behind his ear. His shyness, and how he had been there for me through everything.

I missed them. My soulmates.

Rishi drives us to prom, the car packed with emo kids who are all dressed in black. I'm the only one wearing a red suit, so it feels awkward. Like I'm lying to myself or something. This wasn't me, but I wanted to feel like I was living after so much death.

The school is alive with cars and students when we pull up into the parking lot. Music blasts out from the gym and I can see lights shining already from the open doors. 

Everyone has a date.

Everyone looks like they know where they're going.

Rishi parks the car and everyone kind of scatters, including James, who runs to find a bathroom before he pisses on himself.

"Hey," Rishi nods a little at me and we stand outside of his car and peer over at the gym. "You look good tonight." He informs me. "I've never seen you with your hair slicked back like that."

I automatically reach up and I touch my hair. Mom had run gel through it a while ago, just to get it out of my face, and I hadn't had it in me to protest.

"Thanks," I reply simply, and then I turn when I hear the sound of a motorcycle approaching.

"Who the hell is that?" Rishi scoffs a little. "They're making an ass of themselves with all that noise."

My eyes round a little, the flash of a sleek, black motorcycle reflecting in my optics. A slash of blue painted on the sides, cutting through the darkness. And the rider--there are two of them, are dressed in their best outfits. 

My heart leaps when Eugene Wilder takes off his helmet, curls bouncing, green eyes slanting slightly when he catches sight of me gawking at him. "Yo, Vita, check out the little twerp looking at us." He tells the boy behind him.

Iggy slides off his helmet and he's even more gorgeous than I've ever seen him.

"Ig--" I start, his name on my tongue like a prayer.

"Hey, guess there's a reason why they call him McCreepy after all." Iggy laughs and Eugene high-fives him before they clamor off the bike and share a kiss, right in front of me.

Nigel had done well on his end of the bargain. Iggy and Eugene couldn't remember me, but they sure as hell could remember each other, practically leaving me out in the cold to starve without affection.

There had to be a way around it. I only needed to find out what it was.