Beauty and the Dork

First Dance

"How the hell am I supposed to know how to tie a tie?" Gareth asked me, exasperated. I waved my hands around.

"You've been to dances more than I have!" I insisted, growing impatient. He groaned and rolled his eyes, messing with the red tie Margot had helped pick out. I started pacing around my room, growing sweaty and panicky. Luckily, I hadn't pulled my suit jacket on, so I wasn't pouring sweat.

"Dude, take a breath and a hit and relax," Jeff encouraged, trying to hand me a joint he had rolled earlier. I shook my head.

"I'm not going to be stoned for my first dance, and I'm not going to be stoned to take Margot to it," I replied, becoming annoyed with my friends. Jeff rolled his eyes. He was already dressed – he was less dressed up than I was going to be in just khakis and a button up. When I had asked him about it, he told me that he wasn't going with a real date like I was.

"Got it!" Gareth cheered, holding my tie up. I felt a wave of relief and took it from him, slipping it over my neck and pulling it tight. I studied myself in the mirror and nervously smoothed my shirt out, trying to make sure I didn't miss anything.

It had been a couple days since I had met Daisy, and in the subsequent days when I had gone over with Margot, she had taken to me. She was not upset by my tattoos or taste in music, and often told me that she was thrilled I was Margot's first boyfriend. She had stopped asking about after graduation and I was relieved. But it had opened up new conversations with Margot that we hadn't touched before – about our future, what was next for us. It made her giddy to talk about it, and I loved how happy she was.

But I was panicked about the dance.

I was convinced I was going to do something wrong or ruin the night with something stupid. The tie was on a list of things I had freaked out about. Margot had spent the week encouraging me, insisting that I was going to be fine. I was so excited but petrified.

"Margot's going to love it, dude," Jeff assured. I smiled at him and nodded, trying to calm down. He handed me my jacket, and I pulled it on. I looked in the mirror and got excited at the thought of Margot seeing me in my suit that she liked so much. I took a deep breath and clapped my hands together.

"Okay – I'm going to go get her," I announced. They nodded and agreed with me, each of them passing the joint between each other. I paced out of my room and grabbed my keys.

"Well, look at you, nephew," Wayne crowed, setting his hands on his hips. I flushed and smiled at him, holding my arms out.

"What do you think?" I asked. He grinned.

"All gussied up. You're so pretty!" he teased. I rolled my eyes but smiled, hoping Margot would like it. He crossed to me and set a hand on my shoulder. "If anyone asks, I didn't give this to you."

I furrowed my brows but scoffed when he handed me a small, silver flask. He winked as I placed it in my inside suit pocket.

"Have fun tonight – I assume you two are spending the night here?" he asked. I felt my face heat – he knew about our sleepovers? He laughed and shook his head. "Nephew, you thought I was buying that Margot came over every morning she was here before eight? I was born at night, but not last night."

I looked at my feet, mumbling my apologies and making him laugh more.

"Oh, hush – you go have fun."

I decided I did not want to be further embarrassed and bounded out the door, piling into Shelob. I drummed the steering wheel nervously as I made my way to Margot's, getting more and more excited to see her. I parked precariously in front of her house and took a deep breath as I got out.