𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 || 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐨

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧.

there weren't very many things that zak swore not to do while he was in high school. in fact, not attending a school dance was one of the only ones he could think of off the top of his head. he didn't think that was too much to want out of life. yet here he was the next weekend, standing alone in his bathroom, trying desperately to figure out how to tie a tie.

he had tried everything from youtube videos to wikihow articles, but he just couldn't seem to figure it out. he trudged downstairs to look for his mother. at least he had the sense to start getting ready early. even if everything went terribly wrong, he'd have plenty of time to try to fix it. he found his mother sitting at the kitchen table, reading an old novel and drinking from a small mug. she looked up from her book as he approached and hummed. he simply stood with a blank expression, tie held loosely in his hands.

she shook her head and smiled. "i take it you have no idea what you're doing." he shook his head, looking down at the floor. "sadly, i don't really know what to do, either, but..." she glanced at the clock - five-thirty, on point - and then at the front door, which promptly swung open. she grinned. "he does."

zak followed her gaze. his father stepped into the house, a mix between an exasperated and relieved expression plastered on his face. he stopped, briefcase in hand, and looked at his wife and son. this was a rare occurrence; he was almost never home during the day. coincidentally, he managed to get out of work early today. he was extremely thankful, as this was the first free saturday night he'd had in a long time.

"perfect timing!" zak's mother exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

after zak's father helped him tie his tie and zak actually succeeded in learning how to do so himself, his mother ushered the two into the living room. she insisted on getting pictures of the two of them together. this was zak's first dance after all. who knows if she'd ever have another chance to do this?

she couldn't help but fawn over the two. zak was a spitting image of his father (minus the greying hair, of course). he cringed as she bragged about what a "handsome boy" she had. he barely managed to escape back upstairs to finish getting ready.

he didn't have much left to do besides brush his teeth and comb his hair. he took in his appearance in the bathroom mirror. it was only a semi-formal dance, despite the technical name, so he didn't really feel the need to dress up that...flashy? he was just wearing a standard light blue, collared dress shirt, a plain black tie and dress pants, and some black shoes. he didn't really deem it necessary to dress any more formal than that.

he ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. naturally, he was a bit nervous about tonight. he hoped that everything went smoothly. he didn't know if he could handle anything going terribly wrong. as he was trying to give himself reassuring words, there was a knock on the door downstairs, and his mother called up to him. he quickly grabbed a black coat from his room and headed down the stairs.

of course, his mother insisted on getting pictures of him and darryl as well. and the way darryl so casually draped his arm over zak's shoulders as his mother took the pictures made him want to scream. he tried his best not to stutter as he said goodbye to his parents and left with darryl.

"i can't believe my sister actually agreed to let me borrow her car," darryl said offhandedly. they both climbed into the little red car that was parked at the end of the driveway. "she never lets anyone borrow this thing."

they had gotten milkshakes, as promised. darryl even insisted on paying for both of them, though zak said he could pay for his own. zak had gotten strawberry, and darryl had gotten chocolate. as they sat outside on the patio of the ice cream parlor and cracked dumb jokes to each other, all of zak's worries seemed to disappear. he wasn't nearly as scared about going to this dance as he had been previously.