“No! They’re perfect, I love it! Thank you.” She blushes and pulls her hair back to expose her ears. “Put them on me.”
I barely have time to put them on before my mom opens the door and pulls us inside for more pictures. She gushes over how beautiful we all are. She takes some of me and Bo, and some of the four of us together. Jamal and I take a couple of funny fake-dating pictures, too. This is why we needed the safety net of leaving at four thirty instead of five. Because my mom doesn’t know how to do things quickly. After a whole lot of prodding, we finally get out of the house and head to dinner. Since it’s anti-prom, we go to the least fancy place we know: McDonald’s. But the McDonald’s on the north side is weirdly classy as hell. There’s a freaking water fountain on one of the walls. What business does McDonald’s have trying to be a five-star restaurant?
Amber and David meet us there. They look surprised to see Jamal, and I realize they still think he’s my ex.
“Jamal’s not really my ex,” I say to clear the air.
“What?” Amber and David say at the same time. Bo just chews her food.
“Yeah . . . it’s kind of a funny story,” Cesar says, and everyone stares at us for the answer. Cesar lets them wait in anticipation while he eats. He’s an asshole like that.
“Yami was covering for me because I’m, uh, I’m bi. And she was pretending my boyfriend was her boyfriend so he could come over and stuff.” He says it so casually, despite it being a huge deal, saying it out loud. I can’t blame him. It’s not much better than me impulsively shouting I’M GAY at anyone I want to come out to.
“So, you two are together, then?” Amber asks Cesar and Jamal. Cesar looks down and runs his hand through his hair.
“Uh . . . ,” Jamal starts. His eyes cut to the side, like he’s trying to gauge Cesar’s reaction. Nothing. “We were, yeah.”
David sucks in a breath through his teeth, and it’s awkward again. I want to smack Cesar on the back of his head. Why isn’t he saying anything?
“That’s cool that you’re still friends, though,” Amber says.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Jamal says, and I hurry up and change the subject before the poor boy implodes.
We get to Bo’s house at six thirty, which is nice, because I want a little bit of chill time before people start showing up. All the furniture is moved outside to make room for dancing in the living room, and there’s a bunch of tables and chairs for people to chill at out on the patio. Bo and I go off to the study upstairs and leave everyone else behind.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m super stoked about gay prom, but all I want to do right now is be alone with Bo. I want to savor the time we have until people get here. Then we can dance all night. If my mom was here, she’d scold us for being in a room alone. But she’s not here, and it’s not like we’re having sex or anything. I’m not even close to being there yet. Right now, just holding her hand sends lightning shooting through my nervous system.
“How are you doing?” Bo asks. It feels a little awkward to ask such a small-talk question. But I’m on cloud nine, so I tell her just that.
“I’m great. So great, you don’t even know.”
“I think I know a little bit.” She smiles and slides her hand into mine. Right when she does, I feel my whole body relax. Like she sucked all the tension right out of me. I don’t know how she does that. She’s like a sorceress. I’m about to slip up and blurt out that I think I’m in love with her when I literally get saved by the bell.
27
. . . Me Amo Y Respeto Yo
It’s barely seven, and someone’s already ringing the doorbell. Why anyone wants to come to anti-prom right on time, I’ll never understand. In the five seconds after the bell rings, everyone gets to their stations. Bo and I go back downstairs. David puts on some music. He volunteered to be the “DJ” for the night, which pretty much means setting up his playlist. Bo goes to block off the stairway with a dog fence to keep everyone else downstairs. Her parents are hiding upstairs with the dogs because “teenagers are scary.” I go for the door.