Double Date Dare -5- by Melanie E. (Patreon)

5.

“So we’re still on for Saturday, right?” Sandy asked me anxiously as we made our way across the cafeteria toward our usual table.

“UGH! I already said yes, why would I back out now?”

It was Wednesday, and still a week and a half from Prom. I’d already started on the fitting and repair work on our dresses, we had our shoes and hosiery and everything else. We had already chosen our jewelry, even.

That wasn’t enough prep, though, apparently. No, they wanted to make absolutely sure I was comfortable hanging off Ted’s arm, so Sandy and Butch had arranged for us all to go on a pre-prom double-date the coming weekend.

Sandy was excited.

Butch was enthusiastic, but he was always happy whenever going out was involved.

I was honestly looking forward to the dinner and a movie, especially since I didn’t have to pay for it.

I had no clue about what Ted thought, though, and that was the problem.

“I don’t get why he won’t come over and at least chat with us,” I grumbled, not for the first time as we settled into our spots with the rest of Sandy’s gal pal group. “I mean, I get it—he’s shy. Shy enough, he didn’t have a prom date despite looking like Superman. But now it’s done, so what’s the hold-up?”

“You two still talking about Ted?” Ronnie, Sandy’s next-best friend, asked. “He’s always been like that, ever since kindergarten. Took Butch three weeks to get ‘im not to flinch every time he’d sit down near ‘im.”

Ronnie reached over to my tray to steal some of my fries, and I slapped her hand away. “Mine!”

“Ow! Hey, you know I can’t get my own. I have to count the calories if I do,” she said grinning.

I rolled my eyes at that. “Yeah, but they’re all I got since I’m trying to cut a few pounds myself. And if you know Ted so well, why don’t I take Luke to Prom for you and you go with Ted?”

She punched my shoulder playfully and laughed. “Yeah, right. For one thing, I tried talking to Ted a few times back in elementary, and it was a no-go: Sandy got further with him when she hooked up with Butch than I have our entire lives. For another, keep your hands off my boyfriend.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “Hey, it wouldn’t be my fault if he fell utterly in love with my devastating beauty and charm.”

She punched me again for good measure, and we both laughed. She’d been dating Luke since seventh grade, but both of them liked to tease each other about finding someone better, even though, as far as I knew, neither of them had ever so much as bothered to seriously look. If I were being honest, she was my next-best friend behind Sandy too. Plus, it was nice how her fiery red hair brought us to a kind of trifecta of colors.

“I dunno,” Sandy said, staring off between us toward the table where Butch and Ted sat with the rest of the basketball team. “I find that kinda charming? Like maybe he just needs to meet the right girl to help him get past all that.”

“And barring that, hook him up with a boy?” I teased her, attacking my fries with a vengeance to make sure Ronnie wouldn’t have another chance to steal any of them. “I dunno. Sounds to me like you still have a bit of a crush on him yourself.”

Sandy grinned. “I mean, sure. But I’m happy with Butch for now.”

Emily, another of our friends, gave Sandy a poke in the ribs. “For now? I thought y’all were like an ‘it’ couple?”

Sandy shrugged and stared at her tray for a moment. “We’re still high schoolers. I like him a lot, but I don’t think either of us is looking to marry each other?”

Emily gawked. “Can I have him then?”

“Hey!”

I shook my head as Emily and Sandy did their half-incoherent snuffling and glaring thing. They found some reason to bicker at least once a week, whether it be boys or homework or wearing the same top to school.

“Come on, Em. I thought you and Charlie were doing good?” I asked, worried about her relationship.

Em pushed her too-big glasses back up her nose and grimaced. “We are, but.”

“But what?”

“I mean….” She stopped, blushing. “He’s not exactly athletic, is he?”

I shrugged. “So? He’s a good guy, and he likes you. A lot.” Enough he’d approached me in Math class and asked me to ask her out for him, even though we hardly knew each other.

“Yeah,” she said, blushing even more but smiling too.

“And that’s not entirely true, either. The athletic thing. He’s been working really hard to lose weight ever since you two started dating,” I pointed out. “He wants to impress you a lot.”

Ronnie started nodding too. “I heard the track coach caught him running around their neighborhood the other week and asked him to join the team next year.”

“Oh, yeah!” Em said in her squeaky voice, suddenly excited. “He was asking me what I thought of that. I told him if he wanted to do it, it sounded like a really good idea!”

“Well, there,” I said, with a final tone. “Next year, he’s gonna be a sportsman, so you’ve got nothing to complain about, right?”

“Yeah,” she said again, looking over toward the gamer table where Charlie always sat. He must have waved to her because she gave a little finger wave of her own and looked away, half-hiding her face behind her mousy brown hair.

Terminally cute.

“So Saturday, y’all have a double-date then?” Ronnie asked Sandy and me. “With Butch and Ted.” She gave me a very direct look when she asked that.

I shrugged. “That’s what I agreed to.”

Sandy nodded. “It was Butch’s idea. He wants Ted to be more comfortable around me and Donna--”

“Donny,” I corrected her, getting waved off.

“--before the Prom rolls around. He’s arranged for us all to do the movie and dinner thing.”

“And you’re okay with going on a date with a boy?” Ronnie confirmed, looking at me. Emily turned to look at me too.

I sighed. “Yes, I’m fine with going on a date with a guy. Is that an issue?”

Both girls grinned. “Nope,” Ronnie said, giving me a one-armed hug while Em gave me a thumbs-up. “’Bout time we found you a guy too. Now you can stop tip-toeing circles around things when we try to get you to talk about ‘em with us!”

“Alright, alright,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Emily smiled. “For what it’s worth, I knew you liked guys back in ninth grade.”

“Hmm?”

“Mr. Lynnwood’s social studies class.”

“...Oh.”

I felt myself blushing. Thankfully, my tablemates all seemed to have the same reaction remembering Mr. Lynnwood. He’d only taught at our school for one year before moving to another district, supposedly due to complaints from parents about being a distraction to his students.

“Anywho!” Ronnie said, shaking her head like she was getting cobwebs out of her hair. “Y’all said the plan for Prom was to go as a girl. Are you doing the same for Saturday?”

I hadn’t really thought about it too much, but when I looked Sandy’s way, she nodded. “It would seem so.”

Ronnie nodded. “Makes sense. You’ll be pretty.”

“Thanks?”

“I mean, you know what you look like,” she said, like it wasn’t even in question. “Hell, I’ve seen a lot of the boys checking you out since you stopped wearing those nerd glasses.”

I glared at Sandy through my contacts, and not for the first time, wondered where she’d hid my glasses since I hadn’t been able to find them since our trip to the mall. She looked anywhere but at me.

“And it’s not like you’ve got a manly rep to protect, is it?” Ronnie continued.

“No? Wait. Hey!” That got her a punch from me, which only made her giggle harder than she already was. Emily and Sandy were laughing too, and soon I couldn’t help but join in. “Bitch.”

“You know it!”

I went back to my fries while Emily and Ronnie chatted across the table about their own plans. Apparently, they were doubling up with their guys in a not-dissimilar fashion to how Sandy had planned our night, but neither of them had gotten their dresses yet.

“It’s just so tough finding something nice that isn’t way expensive,” Emily grumped. “We looked a bit this past weekend. Mom’s put me on a two hundred dollar budget, and everything in that range is….”

“Frumpy?” I offered, getting a glare back for my trouble.

“No!” Emily looked away, then sighed. “Yes. And I can’t wear Lily’s old prom dress, either.”

“Why not?”

“Because Lily was like this,” she said, waving her hands in the classic hourglass figure and whistling,” and I’m like this.” She slapped her hand flat on the table, grimacing. “I swim in that thing.”

Sandy grinned. “Well, maybe Donny can help? She’s doing some alterations on our dresses, so maybe if you asked nicely, she’d do some for you too!”

“She?” I asked, annoyed.

Sandy waved me off. “Get used to it. It’s just us girls here.”

I was about to say something else when Emily gave me the most hopeful expression. “Oh, you can do that? Maybe Sunday you could come over, and we could see what you could do?”

“I guess,” I agreed, pushing the pronouns to the side for the moment. “Would your sister let me alter the dress?”

Emily’s face fell. “Oh. No, probably not.” A single tear traced down her cheek.

I sighed. “Well, maybe you and Ronnie can scan the discount racks like we did. Sandy and I got out of Wendy’s for less than two hundred for both our dresses.”

“Seriously?” Emily and Ronnie both said in unison, loudly enough I wondered for a moment if I’d have stereo tinnitus.

“Ow! And yeah! Get your dresses sorted Friday or Saturday, and I can check them over Sunday.”

“Thank you SO much!” Emily blathered, wrapping me in a surprise hug that allowed Ronnie to steal my last two fries.

“ACK! No problem!”

“The joys of having a seamstress in our group!” Ronnie said grinning. “I’ll buy a potato sack just to see if you can fit it.”

“Oh, ha ha,” I said, rolling my eyes and hoping she wouldn’t actually do that. Knowing Ronnie, there was a distinct chance she would.

“Now that’s outta the way, though. Where are the boys taking you for your date Saturday?” Emily asked, giving both me and Sandy expectant looks.

I groaned, wondering just what I had gotten myself into.