10: Dressing

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by kllcarlxD

by kllcarlxD

The Valentines dance was coming up. I knew Elijah thought about. Thought about me.

I was going to prove that I loved him by asking him to it.
It was the perfect opportunity to ask him since we hardly saw each other in our usual classes. We could use it to try and clear our feelings up, and to apologize properly—apologize for my outbursts and unsolicited kissing that had us questioning each other.

School was easy. As usual. I laughed and forced a smile to the popular kids and tried to be as normal as possible. To them at least. Normal meant not doing things that would make me stand out as different or weird. Normal.

I found Elijah at the end of the day in his usual spot. He looked up at me with no hope in his eyes as I sat next to him. Being avoidant wouldn't work. It never did with us. But he didn't say anything and kept looking forward, playing with the strings of his hoodie.
I sighed.
"Hey, can we talk?" I asked softly.
He stopped fiddling and faced me.
"Sure..." He answered hesitantly "About what happened?"
"Well...not exactly. I wanted to ask you to the dance. We can talk about everything after. I just-"
"Yes." he answered without a thought. "This is your one chance to save this friendship— or whatever it is. Please, Caesar, please. Admit it." and then he left. I remained there for a bit before realizing he'd said yes. A smile crept to my already warm face.
It was a huge step, and I couldn't believe he'd agreed so easily. But I smiled even wider thinking about it. I was going to finally say— admit that I loved him. I was going to kiss him. And show him. Show everyone who I was.

My moms pining after me was amplified and we entered the store. "Who's the girl?" she asked smiling. I had told her I needed a tuxedo for the dance— a green one. Like the lettuce in a bowl of Caesar salad. She'd laughed and joked, not knowing it was a boy I'd be seeing, but she didn't need to know. People in this town were traditional. She might murder me if she found out, and heaven forbid she told my dad.
"It's nobody!" my nasally voice exclaimed trying to get away. "Just someone I met." my voice cracked a bit, like I had just hit puberty. Well, I kinda had.
I grabbed a few tuxes and went to the dressing room, settling on the perfect one. A green tux with a white rose in the pocket. I slipped an extra rose from the bundle my mom bought me for the mystery "girl" into my back packet. "You look so handsome my little Caesar!" she crooned and patted the tuxedo, paying for it as we left.

I knew the dance would be amazing.