If We Have Each Other

Chapter 28

Friday, September 24, 2021

Logan got home from school, his pent up excitement about to burst from inside him.

"I cannot believe I get to go to homecoming with my crush!" he thought, barely able to contain himself.

"Pizza night, I don't feel like cooking," his mom said, dropping her stuff at the door.

"Works for me," he replied. Then Logan got an idea.

"Can Dallas come over?" he asked. His mom thought for a bit.

"I guess, if his parents are okay with it," she answered.

"Thanks mom," Logan said, quickly texting Dallas to ask him to come over. About 20 minutes later, Dallas arrived, and Logan promptly invited him inside.

"I'm so excited for tomorrow," Dallas whispered to Logan.

"Me too," Logan whispered back, failing to resist smiling.

"Okay boys, the pizza's getting cold," his mom said, taking 2 slices for herself and going on the couch.

"Okay, we're coming," Logan replied, gesturing Dallas to the table.

"Thank you for inviting me to dinner," Dallas said.

"No problem, sorry for telling you on such short notice, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing," Logan replied, taking a bite of pizza.

"Do you have garlic sauce?" Dallas asked, taking a slice.

"We might, let me look." After rummaging through the pantry, Logan found some leftover garlic sauces from an eternity ago.

"I don't know if they're any good, but I found some," he said.

"Thanks, I don't think garlic sauce really goes bad as long as it's sealed. Dipping the crust in garlic sauce is really good, you should try it," Dallas said, dipping his crust in the sauce. 

"Sure, I'll try it," Logan said, taking the crust off and dipping his own. He inspected the dripping yellow sauce, and took a bite.

"This is actually really good, why didn't I think of this earlier?" Logan said.

"See? I told you it's really good," Dallas said. He went to dip his crust again, but paused.

"Um, do you mind if I double dip?" he asked. Logan thought for a second.

"Saliva exchange, that's really only a step away from kissing," he thought. "Sure, go ahead," he said. They both dipped their crusts and took a bite. Neither could tell if there was any difference in the taste because the garlic was so strong. They finished their pizza, and talked for a little while before Dallas had to go back home.

"Bye Logan, I'll see you tomorrow," Dallas said, smiling as he walked out the door.

"I can't wait," Logan replied, returning the smile.

That night, neither of them could sleep right away. Logan couldn't sleep because of pure excitement, but Dallas had a different reason. He was scared.

"What if people figure out we went as a couple? What would they do? What if they out us?" Dallas thought. He's out to a lot more people than Logan. Then he came to a sad realization.

"I probably won't be able to actually dance with him. Friends don't do that, and he's closeted." Sighing, he tried quieting his mind, hoping that sleep would come to him soon. It took him another hour to fall asleep.

Logan was not as fortunate with sleep. Even after listening to relaxing music, and doing breathing exercises, he still couldn't sleep. Before he knew it, it was 1 am and he was still wide awake. 

"Why can't I sleep? I've been to homecoming before, it's not going to be that different," he thought. Except it was going to be different. He had someone to go with. Someone who wouldn't ditch him to flirt with girls 4 years older than him, and someone who actually liked him for who he was. *cough cough Paul*

Logan tossed and turned for what seemed like an eternity before falling into a shallow sleep.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Both of them awoke earlier than they had liked, around 6 am. Feeling too awake to go back to sleep, they got up for the day. Logan opened discord, and saw Dallas was online.

"He must be sleeping, no one is up this early on a Saturday," he thought, but pinged him anyway. Dallas responded, surprising Logan. Both asked what the other was doing, but they both answered the same. "I woke up and just decided to get up."

"Only 14 hours until homecoming," Dallas messaged. "14 hours is a long time. What are your plans for today?" Logan asked.

"I don't know, maybe go to the mall or something," Dallas replied.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do either, but it's going to be a long day," Logan said.

"I won't stop counting minutes until I see you," Dallas said.

"I won't stop counting either," Logan replied, smiling behind his phone screen.

The day dragged on slowly. Dallas went with his mom to the mall, but didn't get anything. Logan stayed home all day, watching YouTube documentaries.

The dance was in less than an hour, and Logan started to get nervous. He had laid out his outfit, but he was having second thoughts about it.

"It's fine, he won't care," he thought, trying to ignore his self-doubt. He was wearing a black long sleeve collared shirt, black dress pants, dress shoes, and a red tie.

"I wonder what Dallas is wearing," he thought, as he walked downstairs to get his mom to take him there. He had told her they were going as friends, so she wouldn't get any crazy assumptions.