“Don’t say anything to Cooper, okay?”
I mimicked zipping my lips closed. “Not a chance.”
We walked into the kitchen and found Mom and Roger fawning over Coop while fumbling over his tie, so I motioned them out of the way. I unraveled their messy attempt and then made a perfect bow tie.
My mother looked perplexed. “How’d you do that?” she asked. “You’ve never worn a bow tie, Michael.”
“I’ve worn one several times,” I countered.
“When?” she insisted.
Oh fuck.
I tried to play it cool and adjusted mine to sell my made-up story. “In my dreams when I was thinking about this day,” I quipped, feeling pretty smooth.
Mom’s eyes narrowed when she stared at me. I smiled and she averted her eyes for a moment before looking at me a second time. Something in her expression said she wasn’t convinced by my explanation.
“Pictures,” Roger said. “Lots and lots of pictures.”
“Daaaaaad,” Coop whined, looking at me and mouthing the wordsorry.
“I agree,” I hollered over the racket our date had caused with our folks. “Let’s get a ton of ‘em.”
* * *
“We’re just gonna walk straight in and act normal?” Coop asked. “Like nothing’s going on?”
“Exactly,” I answered, feeling the butterflies. “We’re just another couple going to our high school prom.”
“Except you’re a four-year starting quarterback who’s cheerleader girlfriend is in there,” he argued.
“Ex-girlfriend,” I corrected.
“Even worse.”
We arrived thirty minutes past the prom start time and stood quietly in the full parking lot looking around at all the cars. The gymnasium lights were low for a romantic ambience, and the sound of dance music vibrated through the brick walls. I noticed Jennifer’s car parked in the front row closest to the front entrance. Where else would she have parked?
“Let’s do this,” I said, grabbing Coop’s hand and heading for the door. “We’ll go in, people will be shocked, and then we’ll just go about our business.”
“You don’t have to do this for me, Mikey,” Coop said, slowing down the closer we got to the main entrance. Two classmates were at a table outside the door collecting tickets. They were the first to notice us holding hands. One of the girls covered her mouth and leaned toward the other.
“Hey, Tina,” I said, waving as I pulled Coop behind me. “Just two guys holding hands here.”
“Yeah, only the two hottest guys in school,” the other senior classmate,Sara, quipped before running to the door.
“You hear that, Coop? Thetwohottest guys in school. Hastings isn’t gonna like that news,” I joked, squeezing his hand.
Coop stopped before we went inside. “I can’t do this?”
“You can,” I encouraged. “I’ve got you.”
“They’re gonna hate us,” he said. “It’ll ruin you, Mikey.”
I pulled him away from the door and behind a huge column supporting the gym’s overhang above the sidewalk. The entrance door opened and four students peered out, I assumed to see what the hell Sara was talking about.
“I’ll leave if you want, Coop,” I began. “But this won’t be the only time folks will stare at us or make nasty comments. You get that, right?”
“I know,” he spoke softly. “But your reputation at school.”
