Double Date Dare -8- by Melanie E. (Patreon)

8.

“So.” I said, letting the warmth seep into my fingers from the mug of tea I’d prepared myself.

“So,” Ted echoed, doing the same with the one I’d given him. Earl Gray for him, Lady Gray for me, with just a bit of cream and sugar.

Mom had given me a hug and kiss before her and Dad had headed to their room for the evening, and given Ted a long look as well. She’d told me to holler for them if we needed anything, but I’d assured her we’d be fine, since Butch would be back to pick Ted up before long and, cute as he was, I didn’t see me and Ted locking lips or anything.

I watched Ted, sitting next to me on the couch and to my surprise seeming the most relaxed he’d been all evening, and tried to puzzle out just what the heck was up with him.

Nope. Wasn’t happening. I’d just have to ask.

“So,” I started again, blowing on my tea and taking a slow sip. “Tonight was fun.”

“Uhh, yeah, it was,” Ted agreed, sipping his own tea and giving me another one of his small, private smiles.

“I was glad to hear you laugh,” I said. “I think that’s a good sign that Prom will probably go pretty well.”

“I, I think so too. It was easier with you. I mean….” Ted trailed off, blushing.

I winced a bit at the unfinished thought, but knew it was something I’d have to get past if I wanted to know what was going on with him. “It was easier with me than with a real girl?” I completed for him.

“Yeah? I’m sorry,” he began.

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “No, it’s alright. I think I get it, at least a bit.” I gave him my own weak smile to make sure he knew I didn’t hate him for the thought. “That was kinda the whole reason behind us going together: Sandy and Butch thought it’d work out like that.”

Ted stared at his cup for a moment, then took another sip. I waited, giving him time to form his response.

Finally, he did. “I’m… I like girls.” He said at last, giving me a nervous sideways glance.

“We all kinda assumed,” I agreed, sipping my own tea again to help and hide the smirk on my face as he sat there blushing.

Ted nodded. “I mean, I like girls a lot. They’re pretty, and they smell good, and...” He trailed off, his blush turning from crimson to a purple that was starting to worry me before it calmed down. “But I don’t… I don’t get girls.”

I held my tongue and waited for him to continue, fighting the twitchiness I felt over knowing I was on the verge of uncovering part of the mystery that was Ted.

“It’s just, like. I know Butch thinks my mom and sis messed me up growing up or something, but they’re great,” he continued, taking another relaxing sip of tea. “But they’re like aliens or something too, right? Like, the clothes and the makeup and shit. Even growing up I’d see my sister’s toy’s and just not get it, y’know?”

He gave me a questioning look, I guess hoping that I would understand what he was saying, but looked away forlornly when I just stared back blankly. “I love ‘em, but we just have nothing in common,” he said.

As Ted slipped into silence again I thought about what he’d said. I didn’t really have much of a context to understand it, though: after all, my entire life had been spent mostly riding the line between boy and girl, if not crossing over it entirely. What was so weird about clothes and makeup, or any of the rest of it anyway?

“I...” I started, then stopped, giving myself another moment to think. “I can’t say I get it,” I finally said, deciding honesty was the best policy. “You’re saying that you like girls, but don’t get them. But why do you actively avoid them?” I thought to the couple of classes I’d seen him in. “I’ve seen you talk to teachers okay. Is it just girls your own age?”

Ted’s blush returned. “I don’t know? I mean, girls scare me. I don’t know what to say to them, or what they want. Guys like sports and shit I know, but girls?”

“Some girls like sports too,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but….” He sighed and sat down his teacup. “It’s like… do you know what Asperger’s is?”

I shook my head.

“It’s a mild form of Autism,” he told me. “The doctor’s tested me when I was little, Mom had trouble getting me to talk and stuff at first. They said it’s mild, but. And it’s not JUST girls, it’s just less with guys?”

I nodded, thinking about what I knew about Autism and putting a few pieces together. “So it’s not just girls, it’s everyone, it’s just way worse with girls.”

“Yeah? Yeah,” he said again, more confidently.

I shuffled in my seat a bit. “But… you know I like a lot of girl stuff, right? I mean, I know what people at school say about me sometimes,” I admitted. “So, what’s different about me than other-- than about girls?”

Ted shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it’s just knowing that you’re not one? It was still hard to do this tonight,” he said, staring at his cup again. “Butch has been trying to get me to do this for weeks, y’know?”

“Go out with us?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah. He thought you’d be able to help me. He thinks a lot of you,” Ted said, grinning. “Told me half the fun of dating Sandy was getting to hang out with you.”

“I….” I stopped, having no idea what to say to that revelation. “So,” I finally continued, “what changed things?”

“Prom,” Ted said. “I never go to the dances, but Butch said I needed to do at least one before graduation.”

I nodded. “He’s got a point. I think you’d regret it later if you didn’t go at least once.”

Ted nodded. “So, here I am.”

“Here you are,” I agreed, holding up my now lukewarm mug toward Ted, who gently clinked his own against mine.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, both of us once again lost in our own thoughts.

I was glad to finally know a little more about the mystery that was Ted. As it turned out the whole egg wasn’t near as tough to crack as I’d feared, nor was it as interesting as I’d hoped either. Still, it was good to know, and gave me hope that, perhaps, this prom thing would work out as well as everyone hoped.

That ‘everyone’ in this case was mainly Butch was causing me a whole new slate of weird thoughts though.

I’d thought the biggest revelation of our little talk would be what made Ted tick, but I was a lot more concerned by learning that Butch had been trying to set things up for a lot longer than just Prom. Had Sandy known he was being a sneaky-sneak? She must have, I decided: there was no way she wouldn’t. Why hadn’t she brought it up to me before, then? I’d gotten the impression the past week she was happy to see me in Donna mode again, so wouldn’t that have been the perfect excuse to bring it up?

I reined my brain in for a second. No, Ted had said Butch had wanted him to go out with us, but he hadn’t said anything about it being a double date thing, so maybe the whole Donna bit was only brought up for Prom. I grinned, figuring that if Butch had mentioned wanting me to be-girl myself any earlier Sandy would have probably jumped on it just as quickly.

That didn’t help me make more sense about the rest of what Ted had said, though, about Butch wanting to spend time with me.

I shook my head and filed that in the ‘angst about it later’ part of my subconscious, since there were more important things to be concerned about for the moment.

So. Ted wasn’t just nervous around girls; it was a medical thing. I figured that made more sense than being abused by his family or anything. It even made more sense than my own private theory that maybe he was trans and trying to hide it. It also made me happy, since the idea of someone who looked like Butch feeling like that wasn’t something I wanted to contemplate.

With a sigh I sat my teacup down on the table and gave Ted a serious look.

“What?” He asked when he finally noticed me staring at him.

“Well,” I started, standing up. “If we’re going to Prom together then there’s a few things we need to sort out. Do you have a suit or tux sorted?” I asked him.

“Uh, I have a gray suit?” He answered, looking nervous.

I wanted to ask him for more details, but remembering his comment about girls and clothes I figured it would be pointless. Instead, I said, “Okay, that’ll be fine,” knowing that so long as he didn’t show up in a green zoot suit or something we wouldn’t clash too badly. “Then that just leaves one last potential problem to sort out.”

“What’s that?”

“Dancing,” I said, grinning as I watched his face pale. “I’m guessing you don’t know how.”

“Uhh, no.”

“Then let’s fix that.” I grabbed the coffee table and started moving it to the side of the room, Ted getting up and taking the other side of it a split second later. That done, I turned on the TV and tuned the cable to one of those radio station channels that played pop music. Turning back to Ted, I held out my hand. “We’ll work on a few fast things first, then do a bit of slow dance practice. Ready?”

“Uhh,” he said, freezing. “I’m not sure I’m….”

I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, alright? Remember, I’m Donnie under all this, okay?” He nodded, but didn’t say anything. “And who knows, if you get comfortable dancing with me then maybe it’ll help you break the ice with one of the girls at school on Prom night. Maybe you could even dance with some of my friends, like Ronnie or Sandy.”

Ted’s entire body seemed to jolt when I mentioned Sandy. “Y-you think Sandy would?”

I forced a smile on my face as I nodded, hoping I wouldn’t catch hell even as I watched Ted’s eyes light up in a mixture of anticipation and panic.

Oh dear.