Double Date Dare -13- by Melanie E. (Patreon)

13.

I could say without a doubt that my dress was beautiful. I had taken a great deal of care with the repairs, and in the gym, with the heat of bodies and thump of the bass, I was thankful for the bare shoulders and the way the split skirt, once a flaw and now a feature, allowed my body to breathe and stay cool.

Outdoors, in mid-March, in the breezeway behind the gymnasium? That was another situation entirely.

When Butch placed his suit jacket around my shoulders I barely managed to mumble “thanks” as I pulled it tightly around myself, appreciating the way his lingering body heat helped to fight my chill. I tried to smile at him, to show my words were sincere, but he was already looking away again, lost in thought like he had been for what felt like an hour but I doubted was more than maybe five minutes.

Almost as soon as we had gotten outside Sandy had texted me to ask if Butch was okay. I’d responded with an honest ‘I don’t know,’ and told her I would text her if she needed to come out. Other than that I had done my best to just be there, his silent companion.

As silent as my chattering teeth could be at least. Maybe he had given me his jacket just to get them to quiet down. If so, it was doing the trick, and I was much more comfortable as I leaned against the railing as close to him as I felt I could be without crowding him, following his line of sight across the parking lot, to the school’s baseball field, the only sound the distant rumble of late-evening traffic on the highway.

To my surprise, the next sound I heard him make was a chuckle.

“Do you remember ninth grade gym?” He asked me out of the blue. “That softball game?”

I groaned. There had been many softball games that year, but I knew exactly which one he was talking about: it had been one of the first stories he had regaled Sandy with on one of our weird group date-things. “Yes. And I still say that anyone who could watch you sliding toward them like that and not immediately react by kicking you in the nuts has to be nuts themselves.”

He chuckled again. “Do you know why I did that?” He asked me, his voice still carrying his amusement.

I shrugged. “You were a ninth grade boy. Ninth grade boys are stupid.”

“True,” he agreed, nodding. “Especially when they’re trying to impress a girl.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “Who were you trying to impress with a stunt like that?”

Butch gave me a serious look, then softened it with a wink and a smile.

“Oh,” I said, feeling that blush rise in my cheeks again.

“Even in your gym clothes you were prettier than half the other girls in our class.”

Another pause while we both looked at the baseball field again, my brain trying to re-calibrate my memories to deal with this new information.

“I like Sandy a lot,” Butch finally said, just as quietly as before. “I wanted to ask her out the first time I saw the two of you talking together, after that game.”

“You did?” I asked, not even remembering seeing him after school that day.

Butch nodded. “She’s smart. Beautiful. Charming.”

“Well, yeah,” I said, feeling a bit put out he felt he had to describe my best friend to me, and maybe a bit jealous too. “Why didn’t you?”

He shrugged. “I was dating Lacey at the time,” he reminded me. Lacey was one of the senior cheerleaders, I guess a sophomore at that time. I didn’t know they had dated, but it made sense. Lacey was nice enough, but tended to see her boyfriends more as accessories than companions. “Plus I’d just had my manhood crushed underfoot by her best friend. No way I was asking either one of you out any time soon after that.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed, trying my best not to laugh.

“I….” Butch started to speak, then stopped, giving me a Look.

“What?”

He laughed again, turning away and looking at the stars. “Nobody has said a thing to you about how you’re dressed tonight have they.”

I followed his gaze again, watching something that might have been a satellite or a lazy shooting star. “Well, Kelley Ann told me off for not helping her with her fitting. Apparently Emily told her I’d done her dress.” Kelley Ann was head cheerleader and Emily’s cousin. “I don’t think she was actually mad though, just annoyed.” Kelly got annoyed often, but was everyone’s best friend once she got over it. That was why she made such a good cheerleading captain.

Butch shook his head. “That wasn’t really about your dress though, was it.”

“No,” I agreed. “Nobody’s said anything about it at all,” I said, now a bit miffed myself, since I’d put a lot of work into looking nice for the evening and it seemed like nobody had noticed.

I wasn’t a fool. I didn’t think every comment I would get would be nice, and I was sure there was talk behind my back about being the weirdo boy who came to prom in a slinky dress on the arm of one of the school’s star athletes.

I sighed. “If I was going to fret for hours over how everyone at school would react to me I wouldn’t have bothered coming tonight,” I finally said. “But we have a pretty good school. Some people are assholes, but I’ll bet you five dollars Evelyn and Lylah are going to walk away tonight with the royalty crowns, and don’t tell me you didn’t see Davey making out with Alek on our way out here.” Davey and Alek were our football team’s quarterbacks, and much as they tried to keep things quiet their relationship was an open secret that I was pretty sure would probably just be open before too much longer.

“I don’t think I’d take that bet,” Butch said by way of agreement.

Now it was my turn to shrug. “I’ve always been the weird kid who hung out with Sandy. I wouldn’t be surprised if more people asked why it took so long than why I was doing it in the first place.”

Butch nodded. “I’d agree, it’s well past time,” he said, grinning at me. “And you look beautiful, by the way.”

“I try,” I said, feeling the amount of effort I had put into the evening deserved more than a flippant ‘this old thing?’ or other dismissal. I gave Butch my own appraising look. “You don’t clean up half bad yerself, Mister Delmonte.”

“I try,” he said back.

More quiet. I checked my phone, and was surprised to find that rather than the hours I had expected to have passed it was only maybe ten minutes total since we had stepped outside. There was another text from Sandy though.

‘Butch okay?’

‘Seems good,’ I sent back.

‘You?’

‘Me too. Talking.’

‘K. Me and Ted on our way out soon. Don’t tell Butch.’

I put my phone back away, unsure about what the next step was. Sandy had told me I was better off not knowing what was next, and as worried as I was, she had never put me in danger before, and I doubted tonight would be the night that would change.

“Sandy,” Butch said, a statement, not a question.

“Mm hmm.” I thought for a moment, then took the leap. “She said her and Ted will be out here soon.”

Butch nodded.

I thought we were in for another moment of silence, but instead, he turned to me.

“Donna….”

“Yeah?” I asked, looking up at him.

“Did you have fun?”

“Hmm?”

“When I took you… when me and Sandy took you along on dates with us.”

I blushed again. “Yeah?” I tried to laugh, but I knew it sounded forced. “Sandy’s my best friend, and you’re not too shabby yerself. We laughed a lot, and smiled a lot, and… yeah. It was a lot of fun.”

Butch nodded, but looked even more nervous. “Do you think….”

“Do I think what?” I asked him, feeling legitimately anxious.

“Do you think you’d have as much fun if it was just me and you?” He finally asked, giving me a pained look.

Gulp.

“I think….” I paused, taking a moment to get my thoughts in order. “I love my sister,” I finally said. “And won’t do anything to hurt her. But.”

“But?”

“But,” I agreed, smiling slightly. “If you’re asking do I think I’d have fun dating you? Yeah.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, smiling himself, before turning back to watch the sky.

It seemed like forever before his hand slid over and wrapped around my fingers, but when it did I squeezed back gently even as we both kept our eyes on the stars.

We were still holding hands when Sandy came out and stood on Butch’s other side. When he tried to pull away I kept my grip and leaned forward, seeing my sister leaning the same way from his other side. With a cheeky grin she looked up at Butch and nudged him closer to me with her shoulder, leaning on the low railing that separated the breezeway from the parking lot. I saw Ted on her other side, looking confused but happy as he watched me and Butch, his hand grasped as firmly in Sandy’s as Butch’s was in mine.

For a little while we all stood there, quietly looking back and forth at one another, until finally it was Sandy, of course, who broke the quiet.

“Ted, you wanna dance some more?”

“Yeah!” He said, his enthusiasm shocking both me and Butch enough we jumped in unison.

Sandy laughed. “Awesome. Butch?” Sandy reached up and gave her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend? – a friendly hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You’ve been wanting to kiss Donna for months. If you two come inside and I find out you didn’t, I’m kicking both your asses.”

With us both watching her with what I’m sure were goldfish expressions Sandy laughed again and began walking back toward the double-doors into the school, Ted giving us one last apologetic but clearly happy shrug before following her.

My voice returned just before she walked through, and I managed to yell “Bitch!” between laughs just before her back disappeared, earning me a disapproving grimace from the secretary who was standing watch at the door.

I looked up at Butch, my nerves returning in a rush.

He looked down at me, looking equally nervous, but also… hopeful?

‘Sis, I love ya,’ I thought to myself. ‘But you’re totally paying for this later.’

Butch moved in closer.

‘But not until after I get that kiss,’ I amended, as he wrapped his arms around my waist and bent down, my own arms snaking their way up and around his neck.