Cabin Nine [[Revised Edition] Under FURTHER Revision]

Twenty- Two

“Tyler?” Jack asks. 

He’s sitting next to me on the couch, watching as I shake up the popcorn bag to get the pieces with the most butter. 

“Yeah?” 

“It’s okay that I asked, right?” I’m so completely blindsided by this that I nearly drop the popcorn on the floor. Jack’s not looking at me anymore. He continues by himself when I can’t find the words to reply. “I mean, I just figured… I don’t know. Your parents know now. It’s safe now, right? To be us? Because if it’s not okay with you, I can take it back. I’ll tell everyone we planned it as a joke. I don’t know. But I can fix it.” 

“Jack, shut all the way up right now.” 

“I- what?” 

“You’re an idiot,” I say. I kiss him firmly on the lips and continue, “As long as you’re with me, I am going to that prom. And you’re not stopping me. I’m sick of hiding.” 

He grins, pulls me into a hug, and doesn’t get to kiss me because his parents walk in. They’re already making plans for prom. It’s not as far away as I would’ve liked, so they want to get started. Being a redhead, Jack has outlawed the usage of green so he doesn’t look like Christmas. The only color we both look good in is purple, so that’s what we plan on. 

Jack gets a completely over-the-top tuxedo  and I just get a simple black suit. His parents pay for it to be altered to fit me better. His dad says it’s so I have a good-quality suit in case I need one, and his mom tells me that I’m drowning in it and that would drive Jack crazy all night. She’s right, of course, but I’m glad that at least one of them pretended it was for my benefit. 

We take pictures early in the day. Jack starts to get ready at 10 am. With an almost unlawful amount of hair gel and freshly-plucked eyebrows, he looks amazing. I’m just me but with a suit. But all the same, his eyes absolutely light up when I come out of the bathroom fully dressed. I sheepishly hold my tie out for him to help me with, but he just smiles and takes it without making fun of me. 

His parents are already hovering around us with cameras. Jack winks at his mom before he grabs my tie to pull me into a kiss. His mom actually squeals with excitement and prances over to show us the picture, which, admittedly, is perfect. 

After everyone’s satisfied with the amount of good pictures we have, Jack and I get in his car and get pizza. His favourite pizza place is in a neighboring town that won’t have their prom for two weeks, so we get a few weird looks when we go in. 

“Guys’ night out?” the waitress asks casually as she leads us to a table. 

“It’s prom night,” Jack explains. 

“Ahh,” she says, as if she’s figured out the secret formula for the Krabby Patty. “Bonding time before the ladies get here?” 

Jack gives this one to me. As usual, I screw it up. “Uh, no. We’re going together.” 

She nods again. “I get it. A couple of bachelors lookin’ for lonely ladies. Not a bad strategy.” 

“As a date,” Jack deadpans. “We’re going together because he’s my boyfriend.” 

“Oh,” she says simply. She drops the menus harshly on our table and turns right around. 

I’m taken aback by how she reacted. I mean, she could probably get her manager to kick us out or something. Maybe worse. But Jack starts laughing. 

“Oh my God,” he wheezes. “They’ll go to such great lengths to make something straight. That’s so stupid.” But when he realizes that I’m not laughing with him, he stops. His face softens and he reaches across the table to take my hand. “Hey, you okay?”