Chapter 10B

I dialed Lacy's number Sunday afternoon, and we casually went over our plans again. She would be getting a ride with Ryan and everyone else and I would meet her there with Aiden. Of course, that didn't stop her from breaking her promise about not trying to dress me. When I mentioned that I'd 'throw something together, ' she took it upon herself to demand my address and then she said she'd be over in ten minutes.

Funny thing about school dances. They can say 'casual dress' but everyone always seems to feel like dressing up anyway. Before Lacy decided to come over, my way of dressing up involved combing my hair, and if I felt like it later, I might have put on a cleaner shirt.

Instead, I had Lacy Chapman digging through my closet while I stood by trying not to look as bored as I was. It wasn't every day I had a girl in my room trying to dress me, and there really was no appeal in the idea.

But despite being a little annoyed, I couldn't help noticing that I felt at ease with Lacy. It reminded me of when I was dating Anna Crossle. We had been so at ease with each other back then. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't miss the friendship. But, even thinking about Anna and the way she betrayed me to my father hurt.

In the back of my mind I wanted to be wary of Lacy, but she was just too damned easy to be around for it to have any effect. She seemed to make herself completely at home wherever she was, and the confident way that she was digging through my closet you'd think was an everyday occurrence.

"Don't you have anything that doesn't swallow you alive?" Lacy asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. She still had her head in my closet, her arms stretching to see what was hanging in the back.

I shrugged. "What you see is what you get. Are you hungry? I'm gonna make some lunch."

"Owen, I'm always hungry." Her back was to me and her voice was muffled in the closet, but I could hear her. "And, just because you feed me, doesn't mean that you're going to distract me into leaving you alone."

"I thought you said that you didn't care what I wore," I argued. "You know, I could just back out of this whole thing; I'm sure that Ryan has any number of guys who would be lining up to go with you."

Lacy turned around and narrowed her eyes on me.

"Don't get smart," she stated.

"Stop trying to dress me then," I remarked.

"Don't think of it like that," she said with a smile, obviously picking up some of the annoyance in my voice. "Just think of this as two friends trying to get to know each other better, and, one friend giving the other a little fashion advice."

She had walked up to me between her words and now she was gripping my shirt, pushing it back, tight against my chest.

"I mean, you're a good-looking guy, Owen, why hide it?" She put her hands on my sides and suddenly spun me around. The girl was stronger than she looked. Must be all that food she could shovel away.

"Hey!" I objected as she suddenly grabbed my ass. "We are not getting to know each other that well!"

Lacy giggled as I spun around again, protectively covering my butt with my hands.

"Sorry," she said, "it's just that there's so much of you hiding under those clothes."

I looked down at my black jeans and t-shirt. I felt so comfortable in them, whether they swallowed me alive or not. Which they did. I could hardly remember the days when I cared about what I looked like.

"The hair is good," she continued. "Before you got it cut I couldn't even see your eyes."

"You didn't even know me before I got it cut," I reminded her.

"That doesn't mean I didn't notice you, Owen." She rolled her eyes, ignoring the indignant look I was throwing at her. "Now, we just need to find you some clothes. I think a trip to the mall is in order."

Mall? Huh? Me? It was embarrassing enough having Lacy Chapman in my bedroom, going through my clothes, and grabbing my ass. There was no way I wanted her to do any of that in public. When she picked up her purse from where she had dropped it on my bed, I started getting worried.

"Lacy, wait," I insisted. "Let's not make any shopping trips just yet, okay?"

"Look, Owen, I'm just trying to help..."

"I know," I replied, kneeling down in front of my bed. Lacy stepped back as I pulled out the old trunk that had been collecting dust since I got to town. "You can look in here."

Lacy curiously opened the trunk as I sat back, watching her go through all of my old things. My old life. Maybe I shouldn't have thought of a bunch of clothes that way, but it was hard not to. My physical image and self-image had changed so much in the past few months; I wasn't sure how comfortable I was with going back to the old me.

But I was the one who made the decision to let Lacy look in the trunk. I don't know, maybe I wanted to change. Maybe I wanted to go back to the way things used to be, where I wasn't in the shadows, when people would look at me and acknowledge me, where I looked at who and what was around me, instead of the ground. Nah.

I didn't need any acknowledgement. I had my brothers, and the beginnings of a few good friendships. Even if one of those friends happened to be making a mess of my room at the moment.

I thought about telling Lacy that I changed my mind, that I'd dress myself and I didn't need her input. But she seemed so happy when she found a pair of jeans that would actually fit me and an old red mesh shirt that she swore would match her chosen dress, that I found myself agreeing to wear them.

After Lacy was satisfied with my wardrobe, I made her lunch as promised, and we spent a few hours just hanging out and talking. I guess as long as there was no threat of her grabbing my butt again, I was okay.

I was actually surprised at how much I seemed to have in common with Lacy. At least, I had one thing in common with her. She had identical twin siblings, sisters. I told her all about my brothers and she told me about her nine-year-old sisters. We both decided that it could be fun to have twins in the family, but equally annoying. But, unlike my ability to tell Chris and Tony apart, Lacy didn't have the same gift with her sisters. She said the only way that she could tell them apart was because one's hair was cut shorter than the other.

After a slow afternoon with Lacy she left to go home and get ready, and I began to wonder about Aiden again. Neither of my brothers were home. Actually, neither of them had been home all day.

Chris had ended up staying at a friend's house the night before and had called me earlier to say that he was working, but I hadn't heard from Tony at all. I took that as a good sign, considering that the last time I saw him he was with Jake. But, with no brothers around to talk to, I seemed to have plenty of time to think. Aiden just happened to be the one topic that I couldn't get out of my head.

I hadn't heard from Aiden all day, but as far as I knew our plans hadn't changed. I was driving him down to the school at eight o'clock. I decided to kill as much time as I could, getting dressed and flipping channels. At eight o'clock I went downstairs to knock on Aiden's door and was pleasantly surprised when I found him waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. He hadn't bothered to dress up, but he looked just as good as ever. Only, instead of a camera he had a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder.

I had almost forgotten that I let Lacy 'dress me, ' until I got closer and Aiden literally looked me up and down, from head to toe. I swear I blushed--and worse, I wanted to run back upstairs and hide, especially when that cocky grin spread across his face.

"Wow, new you?" he asked.

"Old me, actually," I mumbled, and then before he could ask any more questions, "Come on, let's go." And I headed to my truck. Aiden got in on the passenger side and tossed his bag behind his seat before he buckled up.

"So I hear Lacy came to see you." He smiled as I started to drive.

"You heard about that, huh?"

"Ryan called me," Aiden explained. "He suggested I go up and rescue you."

"And you didn't?" I asked incredulously.

Aiden just chuckled and shrugged, and maybe I didn't see it right because I was driving, but I swear he looked me over again, right before he said, "If Lacy did that, I'm not going to complain."

Okay, that had me blushing all the way to the school, and confused to no end. Maybe guys complimented each other all the time, but something about the way that he was looking at me felt like... I don't know. My brain couldn't wrap around it. But one question kept popping into my mind: Was Aiden hitting on me?

I didn't have much time to think about it. Before I knew it, we were at the school.

The sun had just started to set when we arrived and the parking lot was already packed. I really hadn't been expecting so many people to be there, and I wasn't sure I liked the idea of a huge crowd, but I found myself following Aiden in anyway.

The gymnasium was decorated with corny streamers and glittered floors, mostly low-budget stuff, but there was a DJ, and although the music wasn't great, it could be danced to. As we walked in through the crowd of people, Aiden reached back for me without looking. I smiled to myself and moved so he could grab my arm, as he always seemed to do, so that we wouldn't get separated.

I realized that he was looking for our friends, so I did the same. Unfortunately, the first face I made eye contact with was Dennis Gordon's. He was looking at me like it was a capital crime that I even showed up for the dance. I decided to pretend I didn't see him and continued to scan the crowd.

I caught sight of Ryan first. He was over at the refreshment table eating cookies that someone had volunteered to bring in, with Heather under his arm. Lacy was right next to him, also stuffing her face. But Janie wasn't anywhere to be seen, not that I was heartbroken over it.

I tapped Aiden's shoulder and when he turned back to look at me I pointed out Ryan. Aiden smiled and we made our way over. Ryan greeted us in Ryan fashion: handshakes before he threw his arms over us.

"About time you guys got here," he said...

"Where's Janie?" Aiden asked, obviously concerned that she wasn't there. "Shit, Ryan, please tell me you picked her up, if you didn't she's gonna..."

"Relax," Ryan interrupted. "We picked her up alright, and I'll tell you right now, that's not an experience I'd care to repeat. She complained about everything the whole way here and then she disappeared into the bathrooms."

"I went to check on her a while ago," Lacy added. "She was reapplying her makeup and sort of gave me the brush-off."

Aiden sighed and shook his head.

"I better go see if I can find her," he said. "I'll catch up to you guys later."

"Good luck." Ryan rolled his eyes.

I watched after Aiden until Lacy appeared in front of me and I forced myself to turn my attention to her.

She smiled. "You clean up nice."

"Oh?" I replied. "I hope that doesn't mean you're gonna grab my ass again."

Ryan gave me a questioning look, raised eyebrows and all, but Lacy just giggled and swatted my arm.

"I might," she remarked.

I shook my head, hoping that she was joking.

"You look nice," I told her.

"Thanks. So, I believe you said you could dance?"

I smiled and offered her my arm. She took it and we headed for the dance floor after I waved over my shoulder at Ryan, but I don't think he saw me. He and Heather seemed to be connected at the face.

Lacy and I danced a few fast songs and even some slow ones, and I actually liked dancing with her. We seemed to fit each other well enough on the dance floor, and I was having a lot more fun than I thought I would have.

I spotted Aiden three times the whole time I was dancing. The first time he had found Janie, and she was slow dancing with him to a fast song. Poor Aiden looked suffocated. The second time they were still dancing, only a little further apart, and seemed to be in the middle of some heavy conversation. But the last time I saw him, Janie had dragged him off to a dark corner and it looked like she was screaming her head off while Aiden just stood there, looking somewhat dejected.

Lacy saw where I was looking and rested her head on my shoulder. It was another slow dance.

"God, that girl is such a bitch," she remarked.

"Janie?"

Lacy looked up at me with raised eyebrows.

"Who else? Don't get me wrong Owen, my mother taught me to always look for good in everyone, and after meeting Jamie's brother, I tried to like her. I mean, Adam is so sweet. Who would have thought his sister could be such an ice queen? I mean, she puts on a friendly face, but none of it's real, and if you're on her bad side, she lets you know it. I think she's the reason why I never got to know Aiden better. I mean, Aiden and Ryan are, like, best friends, but every time Ryan brought Aiden around, Janie would show up just to make sure I stayed away from him. I swear to god that's what she was doing."

For some reason, that just wasn't difficult to believe.

"Anyway, she's always been a little possessive of him, just not as bad as she's been this last year. A lot of people know Aiden; I mean, he's always everywhere with that camera of his. A lot of girls like him. Of course, I'll be the first to admit that the guy's hot, but honestly, a lot of girls just want to be his friend because he's so sweet. But when Janie's around, she runs practically everyone off."

"I know what you mean," I replied, now thinking about all of the dirty looks that Janie had given me lately. It was beginning to make sense. Aiden and I had spent a lot of time together recently, especially after the camping trip. I was beginning to wonder if Janie was jealous of the time I'd been spending with him.

I glanced in Aiden's direction and saw that both he and Janie seemed to be arguing now, but then Aiden suddenly turned and walked off with Janie following after him, obviously perturbed that he had walked away. I let go of Lacy as soon as I saw it, and when I realized I had stopped dancing I looked at her apologetically.

"Go ahead," Lacy insisted. "I'll even hunt down the queen bitch for you and try to distract her long enough for you to talk to Aiden."

"Thanks, Lacy. " I smiled. I liked her even more after that.

I made my way through the crowd, moving in the direction Aiden had gone. I thought I saw him head for the restrooms and realized that the men's room was probably the one place where he could go to get rid of Janie, not that I'd put it past her to follow him in there.

I moved into the bathroom where a group was just coming out. By the time I entered, it was quiet. I looked under the stalls at two different pairs of shoes, but neither of them were Aiden's boots. When I realized he wasn't in there I turned to go, but then I stopped cold.

Dennis Gordon was between the door, and me. And from the way he was looking at me I was pretty sure he wasn't in there to take a shit. He had actually followed me in. Asshole. I was not in the mood for this.

"What do you want, Dennis?" I asked in my most neutral voice.

He took a step closer, but I stayed put.

"I don't like you," he said.

"Well, thank you for that touching revelation; now, if you'll excuse me..."

I moved to step past him, but he stepped in my path, putting us practically nose to nose.

"What do you want?" I demanded. I was losing my patience quickly. I did not like feeling trapped, especially by someone like him. When he shoved my shoulder I had to clench my fists to keep from punching him right then.

"Do. Not. Touch me," I warned, straightening and holding my ground.

"You think you're tough, boy?" Dennis continued, obviously ignoring me. I could feel my face getting red, and it had nothing to do with embarrassment.

For some reason, this guy brought out the worst in me, and it was almost sickening how much he reminded me of my father. "You think since you got a few sucker punches in on me, you think you're a tough guy now?"

"I don't assume anything," I replied. "Now get out of my way."

I was starting to feel a little shaky, the same way I felt before I exploded the first time I'd attacked Dennis, and if he had any intelligence whatsoever, he would have noticed it and backed off. He didn't.

Dennis shoved me again, this time with both hands, causing me to take a step backwards, and I still didn't hit him, but the idea was definitely more appealing to me than it was five seconds ago.

"You think I'll let a faggot get the better of me?" he shouted. His words seemed to startle me. I was gay, but in my head I knew that there was no real way Dennis had of knowing that, and he seemed angry about the idea, like having a gay boy kick his ass was unthinkable. "Is that what you are?" he demanded. "Are you a queer, Dovan? Is that why you hang around with Leo Sader? Are you a little faggot?"