Cinderfella

Chapter Twelve

The party itself was being held in a high school gym. Colorful lights and loud pop music spilled out through the open double doors and into the parking lot. Ethan smoothed his hair down, checked his breath, and felt even more self conscious than before.

"Worried?" Mikey asked him. He himself had been bouncing in his seat with anticipation.

Ethan nodded and reached up again to fix a stray hair that fallen out of place.

Mikey looked out the window and bit his lip. "Me too," he admitted. "I just want to have fun, but what if no one in there likes us?"

Ethan set a hand on his shoulder. "Then we leave and go get dinner. Food is always the answer."

Mikey laughed and rubbed his arm. "Yeah, I guess we can always leave."

Maddy parked the car and poked her head in the back. "You two won't have to worry about anything. Everyone in there is super nice, and if the don't like you, then there is something seriously wrong with them. Right Alice?"

Alice was already in the parking lot, stretching her leg and knocking on the car windows. "Come on! I want to get in there and meet some cool people!"

Maddy laughed and climbed out of the driver's seat. "You heard her, let's get in there."

Mikey and Ethan crawled out through the same door and stayed shoulder to shoulder, a silent support that gave them the strength to walk through the doors.

Inside, they were greeted by a bubbly girl with glow sticks wrapped around her wrists. "Welcome! We are so happy to have you here! Pease, grab some glow sticks! Red for girls, blue for boys, yellow for friends, and a mix if you have no preference. Tonight is supposed to be a safe, fun environment, so if you have a problem, come talk to anyone wearing a white band." She held up her right arm, which had a white glow stick along with a red and a blue stick. Maddy and Alice both reached for the yellow sticks, while Mikey slowly reached for the blue. Ethan took both a blue and red.

"Have fun!" the girl called as they walked towards a crowd of people dancing and laughing. Two male teens, one a bit tipsy, approached Mikey.

"Come with us," they begged. The drunk one took Mikey's hand. "Come dance with me cutie!"

Mikey turned to Ethan and smiled. "I-I'm going with these guys, I guess." The boys cheered and pulled Mikey into a large dance circle of young men with blue bands.

Ethan turned around to Maddy, who had tackled a young woman in a bear hug. She dropped the girl and accepted a kiss from her. "Hey Ethan, come meet Jane, my girlfriend!"

Ethan stepped up to the couple, who sported matching yellow bands. Ethan shook her outstretched hand and smiled. "It's nice to meet you. I don't think I've ever seen you around at school."

Jane shrugged. "Probably because I go to Baylor."

Ethan gave Maddy a flirtatious wink. "Oh, a college girl. Maddy must be so proud."

Jane looked fondly over to her girlfriend. "No, not really. She hates Baylor, probably because we're better than Oklahoma."

Maddy scoffed. "Yeah right, come talk to me when you have three world championships in five years, and Paige Parker."

Jane rolled her eyes. "I swear, it's almost like you love Paige more than me."

Maddy held up her finger. "First of all, stereotypes. And second of all, she is beautiful. Have you ever seen her pitch?"

Jane laughed. "You've got me there. Now, can we go dance, or did we come to stand around all night?"

Maddy took her girlfriend's hand and led her to the dance floor. Ethan looked around, trying to find Alice, who had disappeared somewhere. He found Mikey, who was sitting on the bleachers in the corner, the same group of guys surrounding him. Ethan walked over and pushed his way through the crowd.

"Hey Mikey, are you having fun?" Ethan asked.

Mikey was perched on someone's lap. Two people sat on either side, one brushing through Mikey's hair and trying to curl it, while the other was offering him food from his plate. Mikey smiled, a red tint making his cheeks glow in the gym lights.

"Ethan, this is amazing. Come here, you need to meet these guys!"

Ten minutes later, Ethan had been introduced to each of the ten guys. Mikey had moved halfway across the circle, always on someone's lap or with someone's arms around him. The same guy, a junior named Logan, was still trying to get Mikey to eat something.

"So, do you like living in Texas?" Matthew, who had been called "God" several times that night asked.

Ethan shrugged. "It's been okay since I met Mikey and his friends. There's no way I could have survived without them."

Matthew nodded silently. "That's nice," he finally said.

Ethan began to feel uncomfortable. He got up and walked over to Mikey, who had finally accepted a cookie from Logan's plate.

"I think I'm going to go dance," Ethan told him.

Mikey began to stand up. "I'll come with you then."

Logan pulled Mikey back down. "You can't leave so soon! Please Mikey!" The group of boys echoed his whine.

Ethan laughed. "Stay here with these guys, they really like you. I'll come find you later, I just want to get up and move around."

Mikey smiled. "If you say so."

Ethan turned and walked off and into a crowd of dancing teenagers. He found Alice dancing with a group of girls and guys, and Maddy with her arms around Jane, spinning each other to the beat of the music. Ethan joined in with a group, eventually making his way into the middle, letting go and thanking his mom for letting him take three years of dance lessons after he turned nine. Someone took his place, hips and arms swinging. The dance lights reflected off several piercings and studs. Ethan stopped and stared, and the dancer stopped just long enough to give Ethan a shy smile. Ethan felt his heart leap in his chest, and joined in with his dance.

•••••

Here you go, your Friday update. I'm now writing this on my laptop, so spelling errors and a different look are very likely. And thank you to those of you who are supporting the story and recommending it to friends, I'd really like to get this story out there for the LGBTQ+ people on here. Anyways, like always, tell me what you thought. Could the dancer be Ethan's prince? Is Mikey going to get some numbers? Are there any softball fans out there reading this? I played for over ten years, so of course I had to put that little gem in there. So, leave a vote or comment, and as always, cheers!