A Prom to Remember(9)

Luke and Otis were, for all intents and purposes, a happy couple. Both content to go on dates and hold hands at school, to text for hours or just watch TV together. It was a low-maintenance relationship.

What Otis worried about in the dark corners of the night when he woke up suddenly and couldn’t fall back to sleep was what if all they had in common was an appreciation for cheesy movies and, you know, being gay. Because while Otis knew he liked Luke a lot, he had a feeling Luke might be in love with him. And Otis wasn’t sure if he was there yet.

He worried a lot about the day that Luke would tell Otis he loved him and Otis would say something terrible like “Thank you” or “I’m quite fond of you, also.” It would be embarrassing and so disappointing for Luke.

But it was easy to forget worries like that when Luke showed up on a sunny spring evening to make a grand romantic gesture.

And pretty much all of Luke’s gestures were grand and romantic. Otis tried to keep up, but he often felt like he fell a little short. Though he would make up for that on Monday morning when Luke opened his locker for his own promposal.

Otis was still smiling when he said, “Come on. My mom owns Say Anything on DVD. You should get indoctrinated.”

“I’m going to assume that’s a yes to prom, then?” Luke asked.

Otis picked up his notebook and scrawled the word YES across one of the pages in big bold letters, and showed it to Luke, before he closed his window and raced down the stairs.

Otis met Luke on the front porch, kissing him long and slow, before pausing to smile at him, just because he felt like smiling.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many teeth in your mouth. I had no idea you had this many teeth,” Luke said, threading his arms around Otis’s waist and kissing him some more.

Jacinta

Sometimes being the youngest of five meant that Jacinta’s life was a circus. People coming in and out at all hours, loud noises, booming voices, other people’s agendas. She learned at a very young age that she was definitely not the center of the universe.

Other times, being the youngest was strangely quiet. Because of all those people having their own agendas, it often meant that Jacinta was left in the dust.

For example, one Sunday night in mid-April it was only Jacinta and her mom eating dinner together since the rest of the family was off living their lives. Technically, they were all running late for dinner.

“I thought they’d be home by now,” Jacinta’s mom said as she took the chicken out of the oven. “We’re going to eat without them because I don’t want the food to get cold.”

When they sat down at the table, it was no shock to Jacinta that she was in her mother’s crosshairs. There were no other children to pester.

“What’s going on at school lately?” her mom asked.

“Pretty much the usual,” Jacinta said. “The other day in prom committee we decided to have a prom court along with electing a prom king and queen.” It had been a pretty good discussion for once. No arguments or tears or bloodshed. Everyone, even Amelia Vaughn, seemed happy with the compromise.

“Oh, prom,” her mom said with a big grin.

“Yes, prom,” Jacinta said.

“Is there anyone you want to go with?”

Jacinta glanced up from her plate where she had been concentrating on chasing a piece of corn around with her fork. It did not want to be eaten. She almost admired its will to survive, and then remembered that it was literally just a piece of corn.

“There is not,” Jacinta said.

“Oh, there must be someone. I know you have lots of eligible boys in your class.”

Why her mother knew anything about the boys in her class was a mystery to Jacinta, considering she didn’t even know about the eligible boys in her class.

“So when is it exactly?” her mom asked, unperturbed by Jacinta’s reticence on the subject. This was not her first trip to the rodeo with children who didn’t want to talk about something. And while Jacinta was in fact quite excited about the prom, there was something leading about her mom’s questions that made her hesitate to give too much information.

“It’s June first.”

“And where is it?”

Jacinta put her fork down and took a sip of her water. “Mom, I told you all about this months ago. I’ve been working on the prom since sophomore year. I helped them pick out the venue and the date and all of that right from the start.”

“I can’t always keep track of everything!” her mom insisted.

“I know, but this is old news. It’s at the Sheraton, the first Friday in June.”

“Oh, that’s a beautiful venue. Your cousin Elena got married there. Remember?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“Why didn’t you tell me when tickets went on sale?”

Jacinta blinked at her mother. “I had no idea you were this interested in the prom.” She decided to turn the tables on her. “Why are you so interested in prom all of a sudden?”

“I guess I was worried that you weren’t talking about things because you felt neglected in the face of Flora’s wedding. She’s kind of taking over. I know she is, and I don’t mean for you to get lost in the middle of everything.”

“Oh. I appreciate that,” Jacinta said, going back to her food.