by insert_creative_username
Karen loved taking pictures of her son, mostly on Christmas, Halloween, and school dances. Especially school dances. School dances were the dates to remember. Karen always smiled when she held her camera since it took her back to her middle school prom when the boy she'd stare at instead of the chalkboard at History asked her to dance. Her mom snapping pictures of her filled her with excitement that seventh-grade night. She recalled feeling so pretty, giggling at her reflection in the mirror. Who wouldn't want to remember their school dance?
Little did Karen know, her son wouldn't.
Mike stared in the mirror, adjusting his tie for the tenth time. Even though he knew he had it on right by the third time, he still had to focus on something other than the nervous butterflies in his stomach he really shouldn't have. After all, he was about to ask the girl he liked (and was pretty sure liked him too) to dance. That's nothing to be nervous about. El would say yes and Mike would be happy. They would be slow dancing for the night, like every other couple on the floor. He would spend hours staring into El's eyes, and it would be just about them. No one else. Mike couldn't gaze the other way or go back to his friends. Not even his best friend. Hell, they shouldn't even be crossing his mind right now. Mike had a girl to dance with. Everything was perfect, but why did Mike not want to remember tonight like his mother did?
Mike's thoughts were interrupted by his mothers screaming from downstairs.
"Mike Wheeler! The Snow Ball is about to start and pictures need to be taken! Get down here this instant!"
After taking a deep breath, Mike left his bedroom to go downstairs. It was time.
"What do you mean, "What happened"?" Dustin asked, his expression turning from confident to confounded.
"What?" Mike said in disbelief that his friend just asked that question.
"Dude!" Lucas agreed.
"Your hair!" Max laughed, as Lucas tussled Dustin's carefully styled hairdo.
"Is there a bird nesting in there?" Lucas said in a teasing tone. Dustin, who was not having it, took Lucas's hands off his hair.
Mike laughed with his friends as they (lovingly) mocked Dustin's new hair, trying to forget about the lingering worry slowly taking over him. At least the slow songs weren't playing yet. Mike hated those.
Dustin began to grow frustrated about the teasing, because he "worked hard" and wasn't in the mood for criticism to bring down his anticipation of the night. Mike was unsettled about how excited his friends seemed. He was pretty sure he was the only one who had these doubts.
Suddenly, a romantic song started playing. El wasn't here yet, so Mike wouldn't have to ask yet. He would instead have to watch Lucas attempt to be smooth.
"Hey, Max." Lucas said with his dorky yet adorable smile.
Max rolled her eyes, but was still clearly holding back a grin.
"Hey, stalker, are you asking me to dance?"
"No, unless you want me to."
Max chuckled, grabbing Lucas's hand. Lucas looked back at his friends, beaming and blushing. Dustin looked at the floor, suddenly looking sullen. Mike could tell he was jealous, but knew Dustin didn't want him to say anything, so he just let him be.
Dustin walked away, took a swig of what Mike hoped was fruit punch, and went to ask girls to dance. Mike knew it would be awhile. Now, it was just him and Will.
Mike started adjusting his tie again. Will stared at him with wonder in his eyes.
"You know your tie is perfectly fine the way it is, right?"
Mike gulped, realizing he'd been caught in the act of participating in one of his many nervous habits.
"Are you saying I look perfect?" Mike said half-jokingly before processing the words that just came out of his mouth. Blurting out stupid things was also one of Mike's nervous habits.
Mike thought he could see Will more-than-slightly panic and blush at that, but then again, he didn't think he could trust himself any longer. What he said was... flirtatious. He told himself it wasn't a joke, but with each passing moment and every racing thought, what Mike said felt more and more-
Luckily, Mike didn't have to finish that thought. He was interrupted by a girl from his class.
"Hey, zombie boy. Wanna dance?"
Will was speechless, visibly panicking. Mike could tell Will didn't want to dance with her, but it would free him from the nightmare of a conversation Mike just caused. Mike gave Will a look and practically pushed him towards the girl. Will let himself be led to the dance floor. The way he looked back at Mike while his dance partner dragged him out made Mike want to cry, run out the room and smile uncontrollably all at once. No matter how much of an idiot Mike looked like, Will was still somehow watching. And somehow, Mike found himself watching too.
No. Mike couldn't watch. He knew he would find himself watching Will for hours. Even though he was doing nothing seemingly interesting, just giving a girl his awkward yet genuine smile. Mike knew Will never used that smile on him. Will's soft, joyful, teary, too-good-for-this-world smile was saved for Mike. It was always just waiting for him, making him feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Even though it's happened a little too many times, Mike still could never get enough. That smile gave him too many feelings, and worse, too many questions. It made Mike ask himself what it would like to lightly graze his hand or say something flirtatious or ask him to-
Nope, nope, nope, nope. Mike couldn't. After all, it was better this way. Mike was happy with El. Mike should always think about asking her to dance, not his best friend. He wasn't into him. Just because Mike all wanted do was to spend his weekends just the two of them playing DnD till 1AM, then falling asleep on the pullout couch together to wake up in Will's arms and give him a kiss didn't mean he was hopelessly gay and in love with his best friend. Some homies just have to kiss each other to say good morning, right? ...wait.
Mike's eyes widened at the sudden thought that hit him. He couldn't be here anymore. He had to run, like he always did. Mike bolted out of the auditorium, refusing to let himself look back.
