"Why don't you just ask your crush?" My friend Audry asked.

"It's fine, if you guys already have dates I'll just stay home" I shrugged.

"Unacceptable" She countered "We always go to school dances together, every year, since elementary"

"well then I'll keep waiting for someone to ask me"

"the dance is tomorrow, we have no time, just go ask the person you want to go with, you never bring around your love interests" She pouted.

She was right, the dance was tomorrow but there were two problems:

I'm gay

And I don't know if my crush is even slightly into men.

I've been trying to wait and see if anyone would ask me first but it seems like nobody even considered me an option, my friends all already have a date and I wanted to go with them but if we were going to go together it's most likely that I'm going to be ignored halfway through and not have a ride home, honestly, it was my only choice since Audry would be crushed if I stayed home and she's like a little sister to me, I couldn't do that to her. I sighed, giving in "fine, I'll go ask them, but if they say no I might as well stay at home"

"good luck Tay," she said happily and squeezed me.

I playfully rolled my eyes and pat her head, despite she only a year below me she acted young, not that I mind, it was actually refreshing considering how most of the seniors in my school act, I'm sure at least two have been to jail already.

I went to search for my crush, hoping he was free, it was a low possibility since people started asking each other out two weeks in advance but I didn't want to ruin the night for my friends, eventually, I found him in a secluded area on the third floor probably waiting for his next class like usual.

Keith Vince was something else, he could classify as a jock but acted like a dork, his pitch-black hair was wavy and curled at the end just above his shoulders, his skin tanned from his summer job, his full lips always pursed, his lean muscles pressing against his t-shirt and his thick black square-framed glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose bringing out those pale sky blue eyes, I wasn't one to go after looks but everyone can agree that all of his partners got lucky, what made him even more attractive was his sense of humor and ability to admit when he fucked up, I really wanted to get to know him more.

I stood in front of him, trying to look casual but on the inside I was nervous as hell, there were a million reactions he could have to what I'm about to ask him and most of them aren't very pleasant, him looking up at me above his glasses didn't help either, curse me being almost two inches taller.

"What's up?" He asked.

I gathered my courage and tried to keep my voice from cracking as I spoke "I was just wondering if you had a date to the dance yet"

Keith raised a brow and smirked, this boy is going to give me a heart attack if he doesn't stop being cute, "Nothing confirmed, why?"

I shrugged "Wanna go together then?"

"what like a date?"

I looked away from him at the window next to us feeling my cheeks heat up, desperately trying to keep my voice from lowering into a mumble, "I mean if you want it to be we can go as a date"

"Cool, so I'll see you after school?"

"yeah"

Just then his phone was in my vision, I looked at it confused then gently grabbed it, my eyes trailed over to him wondering what he was trying to do, he cocked his head to the side as if it was obvious to him, "Put your number in there, I'll text you next time I'm free"

"o-oh" I stuttered, mentally kicking myself in the shin.

I put my number in his contacts and added my name to make it easy to find me then hand it back to him, "I gotta head to class now before the bell rings, make sure to wait on me by the front door"

"Okay" I nodded and started walking down the stairs, hurrying before I became a red tomato and smiled like a dumbass in excitement.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The next day

"Are you finally going to tell us who it is? we've been waiting since yesterday!" Wendy, Audry's other best friend whined, pulling on my tux sleeve.

"not until we get there" I answered for the sixth time.

Honestly, I wanted Keith to ride with me in the car since everyone else had their dates but I was still so deep in the closet my back touched the wall and I wanted to come out in a public place so at least if their reaction is bad there's a chance someone will step in if it gets nasty, at least two of them come from very conservative families with strong opinions on certain topics, but they were good people who don't constantly shove their beliefs down others throats, in fact, the only time they mention it is when someone incorrectly spouts something, I was still uneasy though.

"come on, we're not Dan" Wendy pouted, I cringed at the mention of that name, "We aren't gonna tease you or say something about your taste"

"Just be patient" I sighed.

Audry, getting jealous that Wendy was touching me for so long slapped the other girl's hand away and laid on me like a clingy sibling, Wendy shot a small glare at her and all Audry did was stick her touch out at her friend, it was dangerous for her to lay on me the way she was but there was no point in arguing with her again, her mom was a careful driver anyway so it wasn't likely anything bad was going to happen on the road.

"Are you sure y'all are going to be okay? I don't mind coming to pick you up after the dance" Audry's mom piped up.

"It's fine ma, we left our cars in the school parking lot with an extra can of gas in the back just in case, go ahead and enjoy your date with dad, Lexi has been driving all of us insane"

"If you say so, but if any problems come up don't be afraid to call me"

"we will Mrs. Laurence" My friend Gage's date, a cute little quiet girl named Baily, spoke for the first time since we met up.

"Don't ditch Tay please, I know he's not allowed to be driving right now"

I grimaced at being reminded I was technically grounded after a failed science experiment with Wendy and Audry, yet I was the only one to get in trouble despite the experiment being worth almost half our grade and it wasn't even my fault it failed, but I had my keys taken away afterward anyway.

"We won't" Gage said, looking up from his phone when Baily tugged on his arm.

Finally, we arrived and all fell out of the car, our legs numb from being squished together, especially mine after having someone lay on them. we all said bye to Audry's mom and went inside making a beeline for the room the dance was being held, surprisingly it was a lot fuller than last year and thankfully less awkward, I carefully slipped away from my friends to go find Keith and gather my senses in order not to shit myself while thinking of what I was going to say when we went back to the group. I spotted his mop of hair sitting on his head after a short while and walked over to him, shifting from foot to foot nervously as I waited for him to stop talking to his friend, the guy looked at me from the corner of his eye a few times before Keith finally turned to see what he was looking at and smiled when those pale baby blues landed on me, "speaking of the devil here he is!"

I tensed when he hugged me not expecting it but quickly recovered and loosely hugged him back, Keith looked back at his friend still smiling, "Garret this is Tay"

Garret looked me up and down and I got the feeling he wasn't just sizing me up, "Taller then I thought"

"I just said he's taller then me" Keith huffed playfully.

"usually they arent that taller than you" his friend commented "It's like you've caught a rare basketball player"

I stood there blankly, no proper sentences forming in my head so I just kept quiet, was I taller then I thought? it had been a while since I checked my height and honestly, Keith is kinda tall, speaking of him he just rolled his eyes and waved at his friend, "bye, have fun with Abby"

He pulled me along with him until we were somewhere around the middle of the room then lazily placed his arms around my shoulder like locking his hands together, "so do we just dance or grab something to drink?"

"Actually, my friends are probably going to go apeshit if I don't introduce you soon, they've been waiting since I asked you out"

Keith chuckled and I almost melted but stopped myself since I didn't want to seem weird, he slid his arms down and I laced my fingers through his, heading toward the entrance where my friends were gathered like a group of deer, Audry was the first to notice me, perking up like she had just been bored out of her mind, "there you are! we were about to send a search party"

My nerves started going haywire as Keith came closer to me, "Sorry I just went to find my partner"

"Finally! what took you so long?" Wendy spouted

"I just... wanted to be here to tell you"

"Why? we didn't judge you when you took the weird king to last year's winter ball" She looked confused.

"Kendall isn't weird and just..." I pulled Keith into view, slightly hiding behind him from being so nervous.

"I didn't know you were friends with Keith Vince" Audry spoke up "if you brought him around our social points would boost like five times"

"since when do you care about that kind of stuff" Gage looked at her with a raised brow.

"It was a joke cranky pants" she pouted.

Keith looked at me confused and I sighed, about to nervous puke from what I'm attempting to say, "Keith isn't exactly a friend.... he's-"

"Secretly a potato with glasses?"

I stared at Audry, wondering why she said that, hopefully, she didn't drink a Redbull before coming here because it's hard keeping her from bouncing around when she's hyper, "what? no"

"damn, I'm hungry" she whined.

We all stared at her confused now wondering if she ate something she wasn't supposed to out her real brother's room again before we piled in the car, She didn't seem to notice and if she did she didn't seem bothered, I snapped out of it and just decided to what I needed to say out and just face whatever negative reactions later, "guys, Keith's my crush"

Now everyone's eyes were on me, except Keith since he kind of figured it out yesterday while we were texting, "wait what?" Gage was the first to respond.

"I'm kinda sorta... Gay?"

Silence again, well as much silence as you can get in a crowded room with music blaring like it's a night club, Wendy was the first to speak up this time "okay hold up, so you're saying, that the reason you've basically never dated, was because you're gay?"

"basically yeah...."

"Oh thank god" Audry came up and hugged me, "I thought you were just too embarrassed to tell us what kind of girls you like"

"sooooo, you don't hate me?"

"honestly" Wendy shrugged "we've been friends since daycare and you've never once been creepy so I have no problem with it, though it does make me question some stuff I've been taught"

"Yeah I don't have any problem with it either, I'm not even that surprised after the sixth-grade sleepovers" Gage commented

"You're a better brother than my biological one, it'd take a lot more than preferences to make me hate you" Audry finished.

I sighed relieved that they don't see me any different despite their views, although Audry's date looked slightly uncomfortable, it didn't matter that much since I didn't know him and Audry would dump in a heartbeat if he said anything offensive, after a moment she peeled herself off me and looked at the rest of the group, "Come on let's go have some fun before the night ends!"

We cheered and everyone but me and Keith went deeper into the room, I looked down at him since my attention drifted away after what just happened, he was looking up at me from above his glasses with a sly smirk, "did you just use me to come out?"

"uh, sorta, did you not like it?"

"I have no problem" he ran his finger down my chest and booped my nose when I looked down at it, "just give me a heads up next time something that important comes up"

"O-oh, yeah, I will"

"You're adorable when you're not all big and confident" he grabbed my hand and started dragging me to where my friends wandered off, "come on you owe me a dance"

I smiled and followed him, time started to blur as we enjoyed ourselves and the night went on until it was time to leave, Audry and Gage already left as they got tired quickly so it was just me, Wendy and our dates, "you sure you don't want me to drive you home? it's getting late" she asked, already in the car with her date about to pass out in the passenger seat.

"yeah we'll be fine, Keith has a car"

"If you say so" She started the car, waking up her date from the sudden rumble but he didn't seem to mind, "By the way Keith"

He looked over at her and raised a brow, "hm?"

"I didn't take you as the gay type, didn't you have a few girlfriends?"

"I'm bi actually"

"That makes sense" She shrugged "you two enjoy the rest of your night"

"We will" I stepped in.

We watched her peel out the space and drive off into the road then disappear into the direction of her house, Keith leaned against me and looked up through his lashes with a smirk, I looked at him confused but also smiling, "wanna take this to my place?"

"Don't we need to go to dinner first?" I joked.

"Ooooh, old-timey" He teased "aight bet"

He dug in his pocket and handed me his keys before dragging me over to his car with a wink.

This is going to be interesting.