r e e d *
Tonight, the school is having some sort of fundraiser/dance type thing, mostly for elderly people, and all of the Seniors are required to get dressed up and go. My best friend, Alder, and I are riding together and then he's probably just going to stay over at my house afterward.
"I don't wanna go!" I whine.
"Hey, me either, but we've got to," he says, looking at himself in the mirror so he can tie his tie.
When we walk into the gymnasium, there are balloons, streamers, fairy lights, (battery-operated) candles, tables, and tables set up with food.
"You have to admit," Alder starts, looking over at me, "That they did do a pretty good job with this."
"That's true, but I'd still rather be at home," I say.
"Fair,"
Most of the Seniors are already here, and there are some underclassmen that are already here, some alone, with friends, or with their families. I'm really not even sure why Seniors absolutely had to be here.
"SENIORS!" Ms. Westley calls from across the gym. We all file across the gym to where she's standing.
"I'm going to explain what you're going to be doing for the first half of the night," she says when we reach her. "So before we eat, we're hosting a raffle and what you all are going to be doing is walking around, helping bidders, giving them their prizes, handing them paper or a pen if they need it." We all nod and she dismisses us.
"At least it's only for half the night," Alder says, punching my shoulder lightly.
"True, but still, why couldn't they have made the Freshmen or Sophomores do it? Why us?" I complain in a whiny tone.
"Reed, it's okay, you will survive,"
I roll my eyes and sigh. "If you say so,"
He laughs. "I do,"
We walk around the gym, getting the older people what they need before they start raffling off.
"Excuse me, son," an old man calls out to me. "Do you have any coffee?"
"Of course! Would you like cream or sugar?" I ask.
"No, thank you,"
I nod and go over to the table to get the older man a cup of coffee. I run into Alder who's getting an old woman, who said her name was Janice, some coffee as well. I look up at him, into his eyes, and space out for a second. He's so adorable. I just want to kiss him... Alder is staring at me too, and then someone sneezes and we both come back to the present time. I get the coffee and take it back to the man.
"Hey, young man?" he calls after me before I walk away.
I turn around. "Yes, sir?"
"That young man over there," he says, pointing to Alder who is handing Janice her coffee with a wide smile across his face. "You like him?"
"Do you want to be with him?" he adds after a moment of silence.
"Oh, yes, sir, I think that I do," I say, feeling like I'm about to get hit with a bunch of crap.
"Go after him, then. I didn't go, and I've regretted it every day since." the old man says.
I look at him and nod.
"I didn't go after the man that I wanted and ended up with my wife, Frieda. Now, I'm not saying I don't love her, because I do, but I don't love her as much as I wanted to. As much as I loved, and wanted to love, the man I wanted. Don't be like me, okay? Don't make the mistake I made."
I nod. "Thank you, sir," I say, shaking his hand.
No problem," he says, waiting for me to say my name.
"Reed, sir," I say.
"No problem, Reed, I'm Gregory."
I shake his hand once more and walk off toward to continue my patrol.
The raffling and bidding is over, but the Seniors are still being made to patrol the course of the gym. Alder walks up behind me, putting his hand on the small of my back for a half-second.
"They're keeping us busy, aren't they?" he says, looking at me.
"Yeah, they sure are," I say, remembering the conversation I had with Gregory earlier. "Hey, I need to talk to you--" I begin, but get cut off by someone calling for Alder.
He looks at me, an apologetic look on his face. "Later, alright?" he says as he walks off toward the older woman who called his name. (We all have nametags now, not sure why we weren't given them when we first came in though.)
"Hello, Reed," a voice drawls behind me. I recognize it as Blake Thompson's voice; he's probably what would be known as 'the school bully'. "What are you going to do, without your little boyfriend, huh?"
"He's not my boyfriend, Blake," I snap, trying to get away from him.
"Oh really? Because you two sure act like you're together."
"Yeah, well, we're not."
Blake smirks, and gets closer to me, getting in my face. How has no one noticed that this is happening?! Like, I get that we're kind of hidden by a wall, but someone could definitely still see this.
"Maybe," he says. "I should teach you a lesson..., hmm? Maybe I should--" he says, but what else he should do, I'll never know because someone pulls him off of me. I look up and see Alder. More people are looking over here now. Blake has a deathly look on his face.
"Oh, look who came to save your--" Blake begins, but stops when Alder steps forward quickly with his fists held out.
I grab Alder by the shoulders. "Hey, hey!" I say, turning him around to face me.
"It's okay, just let it be! He wants a reaction out of you! That's what he wants!" I say, keeping my hands firmly on his shoulders. His hands are stilled balled up into fists.
"But he was--" he begins.
"It doesn't matter what he was doing, it's over now. He wants us to react,"
"But he was messing with you, and I won't stand for that, Reed!" Alder says, trying to push me off of him.
"Hey, hey, hey!" I say softer than before. "It's okay. I'm okay. You're okay. Just let it be,"
"No!" Alder says, louder this time. "Let me go, let-let me go, Reed."
I look from him to his tie that's becoming untied, to the crowd, who can see, that's watching what's going on. I step back hiding us behind the wall so no one can see. Over Alder's shoulder, I can still see Blake smirking. Alder notices me looking over his shoulder and turns his head to look, seeing Blake still smirking at me. Alder's face hardens as he fights to pry my hands off of me.
"I'm serious, Reed!" He says, looking at me and breathing heavily. "Let me go! He deserves what's coming!"
"Yes, but not from you. He deserves punishment from a teacher or the principal," I say, trying to calm him down.
"No, Reed, let me go! Let me at him! Let-"
I cut him off by grabbing his tie and propelling him forward into me, our lips connecting. I stumble backward, finding myself at the door of the coat closet (which is why the wall is there in the first place) and turning the knob. I walk back into the closet and shut (and lock) the door behind us, not caring what Blake, or our classmates, or the old people will think. I back up until I've hit the far wall and then I let him go. He looks at me, breathing heavily. He leans forward and kisses me again; his hands have unclenched their fists and instead are tangled in my hair. My hands are on his waist. He pulls away, looking me in the eye.
"Let's go home," I say softly.
The car ride home is silent, neither of us speaking a word, no heavy breathing, and no music is turned on. The only thing you hear is the noise you hear when driving--white noise, basically. When I pull into my driveway, we both spring out of the car. He stands behind me as I unlock the front door.
"How was the fundraiser?" Mom asks me when we walk in.
"It was good," I say. "But we're both really tired, so we're going to head upstairs and go to bed,"
"Alright, sweetie! I hope you both sleep well!"
"Thanks, Mom,"
I take the stairs two at a time, waiting for Alder when I reach my bedroom door. When we've both gotten inside the room and the door is closed, Alder turns to me and shoves me back until I fall on my bed, then he climbs on top of me, slamming his lips down onto mine. His hands roam all around my body, up, down, and all around.
"I love you," he says softly, his voice a little bit lower than usual, against my lips.
"I love you too," I tell him, leaning up and kissing his lips once more.
1/21/20
