The New Boy [boyxboy]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Saturday, November 11th, 2011

Okay so technically it’s after midnight, which means technically it’s Sunday, but I haven’t even left the Dance yet so it still feels like Saturday night.

                I’m sitting here on a stool at the bar while Dex finishes up cleaning, sorting the money, putting things away, and all that jazz. The place is practically empty and let me just say, when the lights came back on twenty minutes ago and the DJ packed up and people started to clear out, some of the magic of the night instantly evaporated. It was kind of depressing to be reminded that we weren’t in a fancy hotel or on a rooftop balcony but were really only in the school gym with the same people we’ve known all our lives.

                Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself.

                In the end I decided I didn’t care what everyone else was wearing and went with my original plan, just throwing on the suit jacket I had for my grandfather’s funeral last year over a grey shirt and black skinny jeans. Andie has been threatening all week to come over early and straighten my hair and put eyeliner on me but thankfully at the last minute her wedding dress idea fell apart and she had to spend her last few hours running around to find a normal, sane person outfit.

                Still not wanting to miss out on any of the fun, she barely let her own poor parents take half a dozen photos of her with Dylan before darting out of the house and dragging her bemused boyfriend to mine (by which I mean my mom’s place – even though it’s the weekend, I have more stuff there so my dad said he’d come over to see all the fun and we could hang out some time during the week instead), where she arrived just before the Andersons did.

                Teegan and Paulie walked in first and my mom cooed over how stunning Teegan looked in her muslin dress with flowers intertwined through the plaits in her hair; I swear she looked like a wood nymph or something.

                Then they finally managed to move further into the house amid the chaos of photographs and parents, and Dex finally stepped inside and I know this is stupid and corny but I think my heart stopped for a few seconds. He was wearing pretty much the same thing as me but, obviously, he was wearing it a hell of a lot better than I was.

                It was kind of like I was seeing him for the first time all over again, like how I was so completely shocked at his beauty when I saw him from my window that first day. It was the same.

                He didn’t even notice though, just looked around for a second, spotted me, and walked over cheerfully with his hands in his pockets.

                ‘This is a bit intense,’ he confided cheerfully when he reached me, glancing at the mass of people and activity going on around us.

                ‘Dexter, you’re here!’ my mom announced, like he didn’t already know, and pushed her way through the crowd, brandishing her camera. I cringed but Dex seemed happy enough to pose for her for a while, putting an arm around me casually and poking me in the side when I remained rigid so I fell against him just as the camera went off.

                I glared at him but he just smiled innocently at me as my mom wandered away; at some point I even caught her chatting amicably enough with my dad. At least, it was the first time I’d seen them conversing in almost a year without any shouting, so that was nice.

                Then suddenly it was almost eight o clock and it was time to go; Paulie and Teegan slid gracefully into his car and they left; Andie and Dylan clambered into his jeep and they left; eventually Dex went to sit into my car and I made to follow him but my mom caught me by the arm and jerked her head to the side so I followed her dubiously, wondering what she could have to talk to me about now and why it couldn’t wait.