His Safety Net

Chapter 40

       I smiled at him. "I will."

       The school dance was taking place in one of the gymnasiums and it really was a bit crowded. Not too crowded that would make me feel extremely anxious as soon as I walked in. Just enough to make me feel a tiny bit iffy about being here.

       But I wanted to have fun so I was going to try my hardest to ignore the crowd.

       Which was kind of hard to do when I saw Jerome's old friends walk into the gymnasium. Jerome noticed them too so he said, "Don't worry. They won't do anything to us."

       "What makes you so sure?" I asked.

       "Well, they haven't done anything recently," Jerome said. "Not since they outed us, at least. They can't really do anything else to us so let's just focus on us having fun. Enjoying the night together. I guarantee you'll have a lot of fun tonight as long as you're with me."

       "So long as you don't say anything that will make me flustered," I said.

       "Yeah, we know that's not going to happen," Jerome said. He kissed my cheek before pulling me to the dance floor so we could have some fun at the school dance. I was a bit hesitant to dance with him because of the crowd but eventually, I just let loose and I was having the time of my life.

       Eventually, I was getting a bit exhausted so Jerome and I found a table to sit down at. The chairs looked a bit too uncomfortable for me, since they were just metal chairs, so I sat down on Jerome's lap once he sat down.

       "Ooh, someone's getting brave," Jerome said.

       "Shut up..." I muttered. "Th-the chairs are just u-uncomfortable..."

       "Hey, I'll take whatever excuse," Jerome said, kissing my cheek. "So are you having fun tonight?"

       "I actually am," I said. "Which is a good thing. I didn't want my first and only school dance to be a waste of my time."

       "Only?" Jerome asked. "Why only?"

       "Well... You're graduating soon," I said. "This is the last school dance before you graduate."

       "There's actually one more," Jerome said. 

       "Prom," I said. "But I'm a sophomore."

       "And anyone is allowed as long as they're a guest of a senior. Meaning you're allowed to come if you're my date so... Want to come to prom with me?"

       "...Seriously?"

       "Yeah, seriously."

       I smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

       Jerome smiled back before pressing his lips on mine. I smiled back as I kissed Jerome, wrapping my arms around his neck. It just felt so good being free. Being who I was.

       After a few moments when my energy was regained, we got back on the dance floor, having the time of our lives. I didn't even care that Jerome's old friends were here, probably glaring us down. They weren't happy that Jerome was happy with me, but that was their loss. If they couldn't accept Jerome for who he was, then there was no use giving them a second thought.

       The school dance was a few hours long but eventually, I didn't think I could be here anymore. Even more people were showing up, as late as ever. I didn't want to tell Jerome I wanted to leave, but he was able to sense it.

       "Come on," he said, pulling me towards the exit. "Let's go. You look like you've had enough."

       "Yeah," I said. "I did have fun, though. A lot of fun. Thanks for that."