Together forever

4

"What are you going to do then, just be alone for the rest of your life?"

"The Snowball is such bullshit."

It's been Dustin's mantra since they first announced the dance in late November. They're all 11 now, and the curly haired boy has asked every girl from Sarah Johnson to Emily Fitzgibbon without the slightest bit of luck.

"I'm telling you, Will, it's these stupid, goddamn teeth."

"Your teeth are fine," Will assures. "You said yourself they're coming in."

"Yeah, but I need them to come in now, or I'll never get a date for this stupid dance."

"So, what?"

"What do you mean so what?"

"I mean, it's just a dance, right? There are like five every year. You've got plenty of time."

"Yeah," Dustin sighs, exasperated, "but this is the Snowball. The big one. It's like prom for middle school."

Dustin flops on the couch next to Will, hat askew on his head. They're at his house for once; his Mom's at work, Jonathan's at work, and for a rare moment it's just the two of them. Lately, Mike and Lucas have been spending a lot of time together, bonding over Star Wars and the fact that their homes are nearly side by side. Will and Dustin can't quite match it, and while they're still a party in every sense of the word, at times, they still end up separated, and it can get a little lonely.

"I bet that son-of-a-bitch Lucas has a date," Dustin fumes.

"Kathy," Will confirms.

"Kathy with the tits?!"

"Mhm."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

Will knows that coming out to Mike didn't change things. They're still friends—good friends. But spending less time with him hurts, and not just because of his stupid crush. In a selfish way, he misses being the most important person in Mike's life. He misses late night phone calls, and Mike jumping through his bedroom window to avoid his dad. He misses sleepovers in the blanket fort, just the two of them, and Mike sacrificing his favorite pizza in favor of Will's. All the stupid things that made him fall for him in the first place.

"What about you?" Dustin asks.

"What about me?"

"You thinking about asking anyone to the dance?"

Will shrugs his shoulders.

"Nah," he answers.

"Is it 'cause of Mike?"

The smaller boy feels his face scrunch up.
"What does me asking someone to the dance have to do with Mike?"

"I mean, you like him right?"

The way Will's blood runs cold could be compared to being dunked in ice.

            "I-I don't—"

His stomach drops like being on a rollercoaster and he leans forward to fight off the nausea. Did Mike tell? He wouldn't do that would he? Will's heart is racing in his chest and he's suddenly developed a stutter and can't seem to stop.