Yours

The Ball

“Hey,” Boun says, waving a hand in front of Earth’s face. “Ai’Earth?”

They were standing in a random corner of the huge room, gushing over every important person they saw. The waiters with trays of hors d’oeuvres already knew to come to them first, and anyone could tell that they were the ones having the most fun. Well, except maybe for Earth.

“I thought you were excited about the open bar? Prem and I have gone back like three times and you’re still working on that one glass of champagne? What’s wrong?”

“Yeah,” Prem says, his cheeks starting to show signs of a pink flush. “Your mood totally changed.”

Boun drapes his long arm over Earth’s shoulders and chuckles. “Are you worried about Fluke? I knew it. Underneath all that sass, you’re just another softie, aren’t you?”

“Of course not! Leave me alone and eat your escargot, there’s a whole tray of them coming over here now,” Earth says, shrugging Boun’s arm off.

“Escargot? You can have them all to yourself this time, P’Boun. I’m adventurous with food but I think I draw the line at snails – even if they’re free,” Prem says, faking a gagging gesture.

“Why are we talking about snails, no one is going to eat snails okay?” Boun replies, making a polite declining gesture to the waiter. “Come on, Earth. What is it? You know I’m not gonna let this go until you tell me.”

The young man rolls his eyes and sighs, resigned to his fate. “Fine. That guy who came to greet us was kind of a dick.”

“Huh? K’Kao?” Prem asks, scratching the back of his head. “He seemed really nice to me.”

“Really? Didn’t he seem like he was being mean or whatever? He’s cute and all that, but he looked at me from head to toe, and NO ONE can look at me from head to toe, except for my Mom… And maybe Mariah Carey but she’s my Mom, too, so...”

“He was just probably figuring out how to police your outfit,” Boun replies, trying to reach for Earth’s bowtie with his free hand. “I told you not to wear that pin.”

“Hey! This is an expression of my individuality! Did you ever see Lady Gaga go to an event looking like everybody else? Of course not. This pin is my meat dress. Besides, why are you taking his side? Aren’t you always screaming ‘F the Monarchy’?”

“SHHH,” Boun says, his eyes wide with panic. “Don’t say that HERE. Do you really want me to get arrested or something?”

“If it’ll make you leave my pin and I alone, then YEAH,” Earth replies, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know, Earth… I think you may have gotten it all wrong about K’Kao,” Prem says.

“What makes you say that?”

“Look,” Prem says, lightly patting Earth’s cheek. “I just met you and I usually don’t meddle in people’s lives, but I’m a little tipsy, and this is a special night. That wasn’t a look of scorn, my dude. He was checking you out.”

“He was not.”

“Holy crap… I knew he looked familiar! Isn’t he the guy that was with the Prince when he went to the café? The one you couldn’t stop gushing about for days?” Boun says, grabbing Earth’s arm in excitement. “We better go after him! Someone liking you back is damn-near impossible! We can’t let him get away!”

“Would you stop grabbing me?? You’re wrinkling my suit!” Earth whisper-shouts.

“Calm down, guys, that old guy is giving us the stink eye,” Prem mutters under his breath as discreetly as he could.