let's light up the sky ☆

Chapter 4

Glendale, California

May, 1993

The last month before senior prom snuck up on Giannis and he hadn't even asked Sofia to be his date. Unfortunately, that would probably also require him to ask her out.

Sofia and Giannis were best friends with a deal: if neither had a prom date within 30 days of the big day, they would go together as friends. Nobody would question it anyway because the two of them were already glued at the hip... well, until Sofia was in class and he was being the rebel skipping class and smoking behind the bleachers. Their friends were always poking and prodding Sofia, demanding to know when they would finally become an item. Sofia was content with the way things were for now.

"C'mon!" Sofia's friend Tiffany whined. "You don't even dream of having his babies?"

The two girls relaxed in the school courtyard as they waited for their respective rides to pick them up. Sofia blushed and threw her hoodie over her head, pulling the strings to completely hide her face. "Why would I? I mean, why would he even want to date me? What about Sheila? I thought he was planning to ask her to prom."

Tiffany scrunched up her nose. "Sheila Petrosyan? Why her?"

Sofia poked out from under her hood. "He talks about her a lot."

"Yeah, but they don't seem like each other's... type, y'know? Besides, I think you two would be cuter together than them."

"You're biased because you're my friend."

"Guilty as charged."

Sofia was able to dodge the dating allegations with ease. Those little remarks and demands of their hypothetical relationship were getting to Giannis. Although he had a crush on Sheila Petrosyan, it was so much more superficial than what he felt for his best friend. He loved that they could talk for hours and do anything together. If he wanted to go somewhere but didn't want to go alone, he always knew she was one call away and eager for an adventure. But he didn't want to jeopardize the relationship they had right now with his own feelings. If he lost her only because he asked her to be his girlfriend, he'd never stop kicking himself in the teeth.

So he turned to the next best person to ask for advice: Anthony.

"Dude, just put up or shut up already," Anthony complained. The boys were bonding over a burger and shake after school, a time honored Thursday ritual since they went to two different high schools. Giannis spent a solid 10 minutes talking about nothing but Sofia. Giannis didn't take Anthony's words to heart, instead using them as motivation to say that he should ask her out if it's burning him up that much.

"But what if she says no?" Giannis asked. "I don't wanna lose her."

"You've known her for how long now? Since freshman year? If she can watch you get drunk at a party, try to start a one-man mosh pit to Enter Sandman, and still want to be seen in public with you, asking her out won't chase her away."

Giannis sighed. "You never forget the embarrassing shit, do you?"

"It's my job to remember."

He was stressing about how to ask her to prom, even though they already had a pre-set deal. Sheila rejected his proposal because she was already going with someone else. At the same time, Sofia hadn't mentioned getting any offers. He wanted to honor his part of the agreement but if he was this passionate about wanting to date her, he couldn't just act cool about it. He also wanted to do it right because he felt that she deserved only the best promposal.

Anthony had to go home early and help his dad mow the lawn. On his way home, Giannis popped into the convenience store down the road from his house to grab a chocolate milk. As he walked through the candy aisle, the freshly-opened box of ring pops sat in plain view. He smiled a little to himself and thought, "Oh, funny, like popping the question?" But he couldn't shake the thought as he walked back through and grabbed one on his way to the counter.