"You plan on getting up anytime today?" Alex lifted his head enough to groan at Roman before pulling the blankets over his head. "It's already noon, Brat. We need to be back from the barber by two and be ready for dinner by five."
"I don't wanna go," Alex whined.
"It's prom! Of course you want to go."
"No, I don't. It's stupid and pointless and--"
"Get up or I'll get you up. Last warning, Alexander. Five minutes and I'll be back."
The bedroom door was closed with a finality that had Alex scrambling to get out of bed. The last time he had called Roman on his bluff, he was dragged out of bed and thrown in a cold shower in the middle of an already cold winter. By the time Alex was done, Roman was sitting on the couch mumbling at the TV as he clicked through the channels. His sandy brown hair was messy and still slightly damp from his recent shower. His honey eyes flickered back and forth while his nose scrunched in slight disgust at whatever he was seeing on the screen. Roman was beautiful. Unlike a touched up magazine model Roman was raw beauty that any alterations would only destroy.
"Are you ready?" Alex stumbled back a step, completely caught off guard at the sound of Roman's voice. He hadn't even realized Roman had looked up while Alex was caught up in his features. He didn't wait for Alex to answer him before he was off the couch and slipping his large feet into his sneakers. "I'll get you lunch on the way."
"I still don't want to go," Alex muttered under his breath. Roman rolled his eyes and snagged Alex by the wrist.
"It's our last hurrah, Exi."
That's what I'm afraid of, Alex sighed to himself.
The barber dragged on about his own prom forty years prior and how he had gone on to marry the girl he had taken. Roman animatedly fed into the older man's story telling as if he actually wanted to know the details; and he probably did. Roman did very little to hide that he was a sucker for romance.
Alex simply watched the small bits of hair falling to the floor and frowned. Soon all of his best friend's hair would be gone by the hand of the military barber. He couldn't picture Roman without hair, especially since Roman had always been a bit hung up over it. By the time they were done, time was becoming limited and Roman hurried Alex back to his car.
"You're not saying a whole lot today," Roman said as he tapped his thumb against the steering wheel.
"Just don't have anything to say, I guess." Alex jammed his drive-thru burger in his mouth to avoid having to say anything else until they got back to the house.
~~
"Man, we're hot." Roman grinned as he straightened Alex's tie before turning back to his own. "You ready?"
"I was ready forever ago. Waiting on you, as usual."
"I'm not that bad," Roman defended.
"Our dates came here because you take so long to get ready, Ro." Alex couldn't hold back his laugh and Roman huffed and shouldered Alex lightly as he headed for the door.
The living room was filled with voices and camera clicks, much to Alex's dismay. Tori was wearing a low cut emerald gown that Alex very much doubted wasn't breaking at least half of the dress code, and his own date, Melani, wore an almost magenta gown with jewels circling her bust and scattered throughout the bottom. Their hair was elaborately curled, teased, and pinned; their makeup was more of a masterpiece than anything. They looked every bit the part they were supposed to. They were ready to have fun and celebrate leaving behind the hell of high school. They looked like their minds were only thinking about the after parties and impending summer of no responsibility.
