Cherry Bomb

To Die For

Prom Night, 2012

Andrew scoffed as his mother straightened his tie. He had his hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Andrew knew that Ryan would copy the same hairstyle. The problems of boys with long hair. Anna offered to take Andrew to a salon to cut his hair, but he only requested a trim and not the complete removal of his hair.

"You look so handsome," Anna said, "I think Ryan is going to love how you look." Andrew looked into the large mirror on the back of the master bedroom door. He saw the resemblance of his father, but he felt more like himself than he used to be. He wore his father's old suit which finally fit him after years of trying to put it on when he was younger and smaller. He wore the same combat boots underneath the suit, there was no argument there. But he wore a simple red tie to make sure that Ryan would notice him standing out among the crowd.

"Thank you for your help mom," Andrew said. Anna gave a soft smile and watched as her son headed out towards the living room where Ryan was sitting in his suit and tie. The suit and tie was a gift. He looked up and saw Andrew walking in with his bangs and ponytail. Ryan could feel his heart flutter for a second. He let out a soft whistle as Andrew blushed from embarrassment.

"You look to die for," Ryan said. Andrew smirked before the two boys exchanged kisses. They started dating at the end of summer. Ryan mustered up the courage before school started to break it off with Scott. But it didn't stop Scott from pestering the two as they began their journey together. It felt like the whole year was going by too fast, Ryan would graduate this year and so would Scott and Carlos, but Andrew didn't care about those two at the moment. For now, their thoughts were on themselves. Every chance they had at meeting up before classes at school they would exchange a kiss or two in the hallway. One time they both got detention because it was considered inappropriate for two men to kiss each other on the mouth.

"I'm sorry but last I checked this was my boyfriend I was kissing," Ryan said. He walked off and Andrew followed suit after one of the assistant principals pulled the two boys aside. They were sent to detention after the snarky comment. In detention, they held hands as they snacked on their lunches from home. It was a difficult year for Andrew. But he often got tutoring help from Ryan or his mother when she would come home from work after getting a phone call or two.

Ryan and Andrew were heading out of the house when Anna waved her cell phone in front of them.

"I have to get a picture of the two most handsome men," Anna teased. Andrew blushed and Ryan gave a soft chuckle. They posed outside the front door. Ryan had his hand on Andrew's hips and leaned into the crook of Andrew's shoulder. Anna snapped the picture. Both boys untangled themselves and they headed into Anna's car. She offered to drive them and let Ryan stay over at Andrew's house. Rita was okay with that, it gave her some time with her boyfriend for the night, a wonderful romantic dinner.

Ryan and Andrew snaked their way into the back of the Beetle interior. Anna sat in the driver's spot. Ryan and Andrew held hands in the back, softly touching the backsides of one another's hand. Ryan leaned in and gave a small peck on Andrew's face.

"You look handsome tonight," Ryan whispered in Andrew's ear. Andrew started turning pink and grinned a small grin. Anna often peered from the driver's mirror and gave a soft smile, but kept her eyes on the road. They were heading to the local distillery plant up the road on US-41. Their prom night was originally in a different area of town, but since the budget was cut for a more suitable area, the local distillery offered their event space for the night at a lower cost than the previous location in mind.

They passed the raceway, heading further up towards the fairgrounds, a couple of blocks away. Andrew and Ryan went to their first fair together recently. They even went to the strawberry festival in the city a few miles over. They kissed at the top of the Ferris wheel, shared a bag of boiled peanuts, ate some cotton candy, went to the local craft markets. It was a wonderful day with Ryan at the fair in all it's glory. When Anna came to pick up the boys, they were still inside. She called them furious and they eventually came out of the fair near six in the evening when the sun was going down.