Chapter 24

By Friday after school, the butterflies in my stomach were in full flight. I knew I shouldn’t be nervous. It was just Sam. It was just a dance. Mom and I sat in the living room while I put the dark blue polish on my fingernails. Mom helped me get it on my toenails without smearing. I couldn’t keep the stupid grin off my face.

“I was curious,” Mom started. She seemed a little nervous and that made me nervous. “Do any of the kids at school have a problem with you and Sam being a couple?”

“Dan and a few of the other asshole jocks tried to give us shit one day. But Simon ... You remember the big catcher on the softball team? He basically told Dan he’d rip off both of his balls if he spoke to us again.”

Mom frowned, but I could tell she was amused as well. “God, don’t hurt Dan again. His mother threatened to sue us until I pointed out her little angel was engaged in sexual harassment at the time you nut-checked him. Once she figured out he could get expelled for doing that, she dropped it.”

“I didn’t know she called.” I worried that I might have gotten myself in more trouble than I thought if Dan’s mother was calling around.

“It wasn’t important to tell you since she backed down, but that family is like a reality TV show. Don’t let him goad you or Sam into doing anything tonight.”

“I won’t,” I promised. “The softball team treats me like their little sister, especially Simon. I think he liked Sam until he figured out she was gay, but instead of being an asshole about it, he just became her good friend. They won’t let anything happen to us.”

“I was worried about that part of things. Being out was a lot harder when I was in school and college.”

Sam wasn’t the only out girl in school, but she was the only one I liked. The gay guys had a harder time than we did by a long shot, but I didn’t want to worry Mom more by telling her that.

She finished with my toes and I rested my heels on the coffee table while my nails dried fully. Sam had asked if I could stay in her room after the dance, but I wasn’t sure if Dad would let me. Mom flipped channels on the couch next to me, so I figured I’d give it a shot with her alone first.

“Hey, would be okay if I stayed with Sam after the dance? That way you guys wouldn’t have to come get me since Joe can’t go tonight.”

Mom rolled her eyes and tilted her head to look at me. “You know what we would say if you were dating a guy.”

“Yeah, but you let Sam stay over last weekend.” I gave her my cutest grin.

“Uh huh. And I also told you to keep it quiet up there.”

“We weren’t that loud.” I felt the heat burn right up my neck. “Were we?”

She gave me a blank look. “I had to keep your father distracted for about an hour. Not that I’m complaining.”

“Mom!” I couldn’t believe she just told me that.

“How did you think you and Joe got here?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to hear about it.” The idea made me shiver. “Ugh!”

“And that’s how your father feels about someone being with you.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t considered that. It must be as gross for him as it had been for me listening to Joe was going through a what’s-her-name a week. “So does that mean I can stay with Sam?” I asked, still holding out hope.

“I’ll talk to your dad about it and let you know.”

“How about I pack an overnight bag just in case.”

Mom chuckled and shook her head. “Fine.”

After my nails were dry, I hopped upstairs to pack and dress. I put on thin, red cotton panties and matching bra. The red wasn’t a perfect match to the red squares on the gingham top, but it was close enough. My jeans were a touch too small, but they didn’t give me a muffin top so I wore them anyway. I put on the red top and tied it off under my bra.

Getting the boots on required laying back on the bed and pulling until the straps nearly broke. My skinny jeans wouldn’t go on the outside of the old brown boots, so I tucked them inside.

I teased my hair out a little with a hair dryer, spraying to keep it from falling back into its usual straight blonde lines. I put on slightly more blush and eye shadow than I usually wore, but didn’t overdo it. Sam and I had bought matching shades of red lipstick at the mall so we could kiss without anyone knowing from the mismatched smears of color.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I had to admit that Sam’s drawing was closer to reality than my own internal perspective. The pretty woman looking back at me from the mirror barely resembled the person I expected to see. I had breasts now that filled the cups of my bra. My stomach was flat and smooth. When I turned in the mirror, I had to admit my ass was working in those tight jeans.

“Holy shit!” I turned to find Joe staring at me with wide eyes. “Who the hell are you and what have you done with my kid sister?”

I jumped in his arms to hug him tight and kiss his cheek, leaving red lip prints behind. “Thanks.”

“You’ve gotta have fun for both of us tonight,” he said when I pulled back.

I smoothed away the mark of my lips with my thumb and smiled at his goofy embarrassed expression. “I wish you could go, too.”

“And I wish I hadn’t been a dumbass.” He shrugged and backed away. “Go get ‘em, Steph.”

Dad did a double take when I walked down the stairs with my overnight bag. For a second I thought he was going to protest what I was wearing, but Mom had been there when we bought everything and had warned him about what we’d planned. He visibly swallowed and nodded, then grumbled, “You look great.”

For Dad, that was effusive praise. I gave him a quick hug while Mom got her purse and keys. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Let’s go,” Mom said as she walked to the door.

The drive to school seemed to take forever. My stomach was flipping over from the nerves. Mom must have picked up on my anxiety.

“It’ll be fine. You look wonderful.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to my first dance,” I laughed. “All these years I dreamed someone like Mark would take me and now I’m going with Sam.”

“Hey, that reminds me. Do you know what happened between Mark and Joe? I know we told Joe he couldn’t have friends over while he was grounded, but it seems like something else is going on. I don’t even see them speak to each other in passing anymore.”

I bit my tongue. Mark was probably picking up Lydia. Even though I knew it would never work out between us, it still burned me that he’d lied. “I don’t know, Mom. You’d have to ask him.”

“I figured I’d wait until after Joe wasn’t grounded anymore to see if things go back to normal first.”

Normal. Yeah, things hadn’t been normal for a couple of months. “Sounds like a good idea.”

“Do you know if Bethany is going tonight?”

“Not really. If she is, she’ll probably be going with Collen.”

Mom glanced at me as if my tone had given something away. “You don’t sound happy about that.”

“She’s being stupid and won’t listen to me.”

“Is she sleeping with him?” Mom whispered.

“Yeah,” I said, knowing it would get back to her Mom. I didn’t care.

Mom just took a deep breath as she turned into the school loop. “I didn’t mean to bring you down on your big night.”

“It’s okay. I’m not as nervous now,” I said and gave her a thin smile. “Thanks for everything.”

“Have fun,” Mom said as she pulled up to stop. “And you can stay here tonight, but I want you to call me when you go back to Sam’s room so I know you’re safe. And speaking of Sam...”

My door opened and I looked up to see Sam holding out her hand to help me out of the car. “Good evening, Missus Larson,” Sam said to Mom.

“Hi, Sam,” Mom said. “Have fun tonight, you two.”

Sam shut the door and Mom pulled away. When I turned, Sam was staring at me like I was a luscious scoop of ice cream. “You look amazing.”

She was wearing Mom’s boots, but otherwise looked like my darker, blue-banged twin. I gave her a quick kiss and said, “You do, too.”

“So you ready to cut a rug?” she said, affecting a southern twang as she picked up my overnight back without comment.

“Sho ‘nuff, sugar pants,” I replied. “Let’s hoof it.”

Sam walked me into a lunch room that had been transformed into a country barn, complete with bales of hay and paper on the walls painted to look like rough cut wood. Country music blasted from the DJ’s speakers and a few brave couples were on the dance floor. Tables were set up around the room with centerpieces made of red ribbon, green pine needles, and battery powered tea lights which gave the dark room an intimate glow.

“Wow,” I said. “They went all out.”

“It was fun.” Sam tossed my overnight bag under a table near the dance floor. “Plus, it kept me from going crazy all afternoon.”

I realized then she’d been just as nervous as I’d been. “What part did you do?”

“I painted the walls. Simon helped me get that reddish-brown paper taped up, then I added streaks of red and black to make wood grain and knot holes.”

I squeezed her hand as she pulled me to the refreshments table. “They catered in barbeque. You’ve got to try the brisket.”

We nibbled as we wandered around talking to people. Some hadn’t heard we were going out, but I discovered it was fun to watch their reactions when I told them Sam was my girlfriend. We even took a few turns on the dance floor. I tried to let Sam lead, but she didn’t know what she was doing either. We ended up just swaying to the music.

While we were swaying together later in the evening, I caught Mark giving me a pained look over Lydia’s shoulder. I just shut my eyes and squeezed Sam tighter. She kissed my neck under my hair, which made me giggle. It also escaped the notice of the chaperones who would have broken us up if they’d seen.

“Would you stop staring at her?” I heard Lydia’s shrill voice cutting through the music. She was a trained singer after all, so it was no surprise she could make herself heard.

Sam pulled back to see what Lydia was yelling about. I opened my eyes to find Lydia and Mark squared off in the middle of the dance floor.

“I wasn’t staring at anyone,” Mark lied. I knew he was lying because I knew he’d been staring at me.

“I couldn’t see why you were so fixated on her, but I’m starting to figure it out.”

I tugged at Sam’s arm to lead her off the dance floor. “Is he the one?” she whispered in my ear as we went.

I really didn’t want to have that particular discussion in the middle of the school dance, but I wouldn’t lie to her. “Yes.”