A Prom to Remember(72)

She wrinkled her nose. “Would you hate me if I stayed?”

“Of course not.”

“I’m gonna stay, then. I think I might even sleep over. A bunch of girls are, and it sounds kind of fun.”

“I don’t even recognize you anymore.”

“I don’t even recognize myself,” Paisley said, jumping back in the pool. “I’ll text you in the morning.”

With that Henry took one more look around the yard, taking a mental picture of this bizarre night.

When he got home, he took a shower and crawled into bed, exhausted from not only the long day but also all that socializing. He needed several weeks of alone time to recharge.

When he checked his phone one last time, he had a message from Amelia.

“Is there really a party at Jacinta Ramos’s house tonight?” it said.

Instead of answering, Henry rolled over and fell asleep.

He’d text her in the morning.

Maybe.

If he felt like it.

Otis

“I can’t believe we’re here,” Otis said, lying next to Luke on the bed. They were still mostly clothed and had only just gotten in a few minutes ago, having had to wait until Luke’s cousin took over his shift at the front desk. Otis had only shed his wet jacket and Luke had done the same.

“I can’t believe it, either,” Luke agreed.

Otis flipped on his side to look at Luke. “I was really scared to come here with you when you first mentioned it because I didn’t know what you wanted from me.”

“Wanted from you?”

Otis rolled his eyes. “Like we’ve only gone so far, and I was scared of, like, what a hotel room meant to you. I wasn’t sure what I was ready for.”

“You could have told me that!”

“You were so confident!” Otis shot back. “I felt weird and wrong for not being as confident as you.”

“You are weird. But you’re not wrong. You’re never wrong for how you feel. I mean, nobody talks about this,” Luke said. “We don’t talk about this stuff. But I definitely can’t imagine my dad having a gay sex talk with me. So of course it’s kind of scary and unknown. They barely cover straight sex in school.”

“And even then everyone knows what straight sex entails, but like gay sex is so completely taboo.”

“Which inherently makes it more scary. I get it. But you could have talked to me about it. You could have said, ‘Yo, Luke, dude, my man. I am scared shitless about all the sweet gay loving.’”

“That doesn’t sound like me.”

“It sounds like you a little bit.”

Otis grinned.

“There are those teeth I love,” Luke said, touching Otis’s chin. “Anyway, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Tonight or ever. Obviously. Of course. Always.”

“Obviously. Of course. Always,” Otis repeated. “So now what?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Maybe a little TV might be nice,” Otis said.

“Sure.” Luke turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, stopping for a minute here or a minute there. Otis rolled over and leaned his head on Luke’s shoulder, enjoying the domesticity.

After fifteen or twenty minutes, when Otis’s pulse had calmed down and his brain felt less fuzzy from the adrenaline of the whole night, Otis said, “Or maybe no TV.”

Luke looked at him.

“It seems kind of silly to have this room and only use it to watch TV.”

Luke clicked off the set. “Good point. Very fiscally responsible.”

“I think I need a shower. I feel like there was gross soot and dust in all that water at the hotel.”

“Go for it. There are extra towels on the shelf in there,” Luke said as he picked the remote back up.

Otis pressed his hand on Luke’s chest. “Or, I mean, it might be fun if you came with me or something.”

Luke sat up. “Oh. I could do that. I could totally do that. I know how to shower.”

Otis grabbed Luke’s hand and pulled him toward the bathroom as Luke shucked his shirt off along the way.

The door closed behind them with a snick.





Chapter 35

Cora

Much later on that night, Cora was camped out on the floor of Jacinta’s family room. Pretty much everyone had left except for her, Teagan, Josie, Madison, Paisley, and Kelsey. And Jacinta obviously.

The conversation had turned to online dating and how Madison had recently tried it out. Cora was sitting next to Madison and hung on every word she said.

“Are we even allowed on dating websites?” Jacinta asked, as if the idea had never even occurred to her before. It had never occurred to Cora, either.

“I’m eighteen,” Madison said, as if that solved the whole problem. “I figured I might as well give it a shot. There are zero interesting girls at our school. Zero interesting out girls at least. I have a feeling there are a few hidden pockets of lesbianism, but I’m kind of still working on my gaydar.”

“Does that really exist?” Josie asked.

“I don’t know,” Madison said, her voice less confident. “I’m pretty new to all this dating stuff. I’ve known I liked girls since probably sixth grade, but I only recently got into the idea of doing something about it.”