The Geek and His Artist (42 page)

Simon’s jaw fell, his throat dried, the drool pooled in his mouth, and his cock hardened embarrassingly. From the simple black dress shoes, to the soft black wool pants, to the satin-trimmed peak-lapel jacket, Jimmy was
gorgeous
. The shirt was the wing-style in white, and the emerald green herringbone bow tie and vest looked perfect with the suit and Jimmy’s natural tan. Simon was pretty sure he didn’t look half as good as his fiancé did. Especially with the huge, bright smile Jimmy gave him.

“Wow.”
Intelligent, Simon.

The smile widened. “I think that’s my line. The green is perfect with your eyes.”

Simon shook his head to clear it. “I… you look amazing.”

“You look better,” Jimmy countered. “I love how you did your hair.” He reached back and tugged at the tail at the back of Simon’s head.

Simon ran his fingers through Jimmy’s hair, which had grown out in the months since they got together. It hung down around his collar now, curling at the ends. When Jimmy mentioned getting a haircut, Simon had made the comment that he loved running his fingers through it, and that had been the end of haircut discussions. Simon loved that Jimmy wanted to make him happy like that.

Mom cleared her throat, and Simon gathered his wits. They turned to see her beaming at them. “You two look so handsome!” Simon blushed, but she waved at him. “You
do
. Stop. Oh!” She dashed out of the hallway, and Jimmy and Simon exchanged looks.

“What—?” Simon started to ask, but a few seconds later, she came back with a clear plastic box holding two white rosebuds with tiny white flowers around them Simon didn’t recognize.

“Boutonnieres,” she said, opening the box. She took one and handed the open box to Jimmy, turning to Simon. “Stand still,” she muttered, pulling a pin out and fighting with the lapel on Simon’s jacket. She tilted her head, then messed with it some more. Finally she stood back and nodded once. “Good.” She went through the same routine with Jimmy, then stood back, beaming. “Yes! You both look so handsome!”

Simon and Jimmy exchanged looks, grinning. “Thank you,” Jimmy said, laughing.

“Now, uhm… pictures! Hang on!” She started out of the room. “Oh, now, Simon?” she asked.

The blood drained from Simon’s face, but he nodded. “Yeah, now. Thanks.”

She dashed from the hallway again, and Simon turned to see Jimmy with an eyebrow up. “What now?”

“Uh….” Simon fumbled into the inside breast pocket of his tux, his palms suddenly sweating.
What if he doesn’t want it? What if he thinks—
Simon shut the ridiculous worry down and pulled the box out. With a hard swallow, he opened the box in his hand, staring at the ring inside. It matched his in every way except, where his engagement ring had amber stones, Jimmy’s had green. He remembered what he was supposed to do and turned the box toward Jimmy.

“I, uh, got this. I thought you might, you know, want one too. If you don’t, it’s okay. I just, well, I know you asked me, but, uh—”

Jimmy cut his words off with a quick, hard kiss. “I love it,” he said, grinning, and held out his left hand. Simon’s hands shook, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he felt like he could handle not dropping the ring, he took it out and slipped it onto Jimmy’s finger. “There, that wasn’t so bad,” he murmured, pulling Simon in.

“Uh, I don’t even really know why I was nervous, just….” He shrugged a shoulder and kept his eyes trained on Jimmy’s bow tie. He took another breath. “I guess… I guess I’m just waiting for me to do something that’ll make you realize you don’t want me.”

“Never,” Jimmy said firmly, putting a finger under Simon’s chin and tilting his face up. Simon met Jimmy’s gaze, and the last of the tension drained from him. Jimmy leaned in and their lips met in a slow, soft kiss.

Which was interrupted by the sound of a click. “What a great picture!” Mom crowed.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Did you do this to Amy?” he grumbled.

“Oh yeah. And then some. Your poor father is a little disgruntled, in fact,” she said, smirking.

“Why?” Jimmy asked.

“He can’t threaten your date like he did Amy’s.”

Jimmy and Simon both laughed. “True. My boyfriend has already compromised my innocence.”

Simon elbowed Jimmy. “You compromised mine first.”

“I don’t want those kind of details!” Mom said, making them both laugh. “Let me get a few more pictures so you can get going. You’ve got a lot of running before you can get there.”

Jimmy and Simon dutifully posed for her. Dad showed up to say good-bye, and then they were on the road. They picked up Ronnie and Bailey first. Simon had seen her quite a bit at school lately. Ronnie had finally gotten his head out of his ass long enough to ask her out. According to Jimmy, it was their engagement that had done it. That and he got tired of being the only one of the three of them without anyone.

Bailey only came to Ronnie’s shoulder, she was so short. She was pretty enough, though that was all Simon could say, since he wasn’t into girls. Her short red hair curled around her ears, showing off long diamond-looking teardrop earrings that had a deep blue stone in the center to match the blue in her dress, which also matched Ronnie’s bow tie and cummerbund. After stowing their stuff for after the prom in the back of the car, she struggled to hold the long skirt up as she climbed into the Pathfinder behind Simon.

Deck came next, tossing his after-prom stuff into the back before Simon could get a look at him. His bald head was freshly shaved and shiny, looking somewhat incongruent with the formal tuxedo he wore. Simon suspected Deck had picked out a picture of James Bond and tried to model himself after the spy because the tux was the exact same style as Daniel Craig’s in the last movie. He kept it to himself and didn’t even tease Deck when they stopped to pick up his date, Lindsey. They’d only been going out for a few weeks, but she seemed nice enough to Simon. She’d spent more than one afternoon with them at the skate park, had never said anything or even looked at Simon’s hearing aid, and didn’t bat an eyelash at Jimmy and Simon or Sean and Kip being together. She fought with her dress almost as much as Bailey did, the long skirt getting caught in her heels, but finally they were able to get going to the prom.

Lindsey and Bailey kept up conversation on the drive to PNC Park and the private Lexus Club inside that held their prom. Simon was grateful he didn’t have to try to talk. He’d never known what to say to girls, so being able to answer direct questions was nice.

Jimmy let the other two couples out at the door. “Do you want to wait here?” he asked, looking at Simon.

Simon shook his head. He’d gotten better about being alone and he wouldn’t
be
alone out there—there were way too many other students around—but he didn’t want to be away from Jimmy. “No, I’ll go with you.” He leaned out the window. “We’ll see you inside.”

Ronnie held up a hand, and Jimmy took the turn toward the parking lot. He paid the attendant, found a spot fairly close, and pulled in. He glanced over. “Stay there,” he said as he turned off the car.

Simon rolled his eyes but did as he was asked. Jimmy came around and opened his door for him. He considered making a comment, but realized Jimmy was treating this much like their other dates, so Simon instead simply said, “Thank you.”

Jimmy kissed him lightly, then took his hand. “You’re welcome. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Simon said, making a face and causing Jimmy to laugh.

He’d half expected to take shit for showing up with a same-sex prom date. But their tickets were separate and it seemed like the guys at the door didn’t even pay much attention, anyway.

The Lexus Club wasn’t exactly what Simon had expected. He’d heard about the other proms that were held in hotel ballrooms, and he’d imagined something to that effect. Instead, large gold Lexus symbols decorated the walls and wide wooden pillars, along with baseball pictures and art. Several televisions hung above the pictures, though they were currently off. A relatively small tiled dance floor filled the center of the room, surrounded by huge round tables on the carpeted portion of the floor. Each table was set for ten with what Simon was sure was expensive china, silverware, glassware, and linen napkins. The center of the table held tall centerpieces of red roses and candles.

His hand tightened in Jimmy’s. He’d never eaten at a place like that and was briefly terrified of making a fool of himself. But he shook the thought away. Even if he was the only senior there who hadn’t been raised in a rich life—and he wasn’t—he wasn’t about to send Jimmy running from him because he didn’t know which fork to use for something.

Ronnie and Bailey sat with Deck and Lindsey at a corner table. Ronnie waved, but before they could make their way across the room, Simon heard Tony’s voice.

“Come on, Mrs. Spaghetti, I—”

“You’re not about to get your way by calling me that,” Mrs. Suzetti said. The senior year English teacher crossed her arms over her ample chest and glared at Tony, who looked abashed.

“Sorry, Mrs. Suzetti,” he mumbled. “Look, it’s all part of the suit!”

She shook her head. “Dress shoes, Mr. Logan. No sneakers.”

“But, the Doctor wears Converse with his suits!”

She snorted. “
Doctor Who
is not a valid reason for breaking the rules.”

Tony deflated and sent an apologetic look at the girl with him, who looked to be trying hard not to laugh. “All right.”

Jimmy and Simon moved over to them, and Simon saw the issue. “Dude, why’d you wear those?”

Tony shook his head—and only then did Simon realize Tony’s signature mohawk was combed down, not spiked as usual. “Hey, I had to try, right?” He grinned and Simon rolled his eyes. “Hey, this is Lei. Lei, this is Simon and his boyfriend—”

“Fiancé,” Jimmy corrected him.

“Sorry, fiancé, Jimmy.”

Jimmy and Simon waved, and Lei returned it. She had black hair twisted into a knot with a deep purple stripe in the front. Her dress, made with layers of some sort of sheer fabric, matched the stripe. Tony’s tie and vest were the same purple. The rest of his tux looked pretty basic except for the Converse.

“I’ve got shoes in Sean’s car. I’ll go get them. Back in a minute. Sorry, babe.” He kissed Lei’s cheek—causing raised eyebrows on Simon and Jimmy both—then stopped a few people back in the entrance line. It took Simon a moment to recognize Kip. The blue-and-purple spikes were gone. Instead, his hair was combed neatly back from his face. His tux matched Sean’s, both with a similar style to Simon and Jimmy’s, without the satin trim. They both wore blue for ties and vests.

“Wow,” Jimmy murmured in Simon’s ear.

Simon nodded. “Yeah, no doubt.” They waited patiently for Sean and Kip to get through the line and approach. “I didn’t know you knew how to clean up,” Simon said, grinning at Kip.

Kip flipped him off.

“That’s no way to be in front of Tony’s date,” Jimmy said, nodding toward Lei.

“Please. She’ll flip you off too.”

Lei demonstrated by giving Kip the finger.

“See?” They all laughed.

“Ronnie has a table in the corner with Deck and their dates,” Jimmy pointed. “Go ahead, we’ll wait for Tony.”

“Let me guess,” Kip said. “He didn’t get in with the Converse?”

Simon shook his head, grinning, and Kip and Sean laughed. “Not surprised. We’ll see you in a few.”

“Go ahead. I’ll wait for him,” Lei offered. “He’s the goofball who insisted on trying with the Converse.”

Jimmy raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

She nodded and waved. “It’s cool.”

“Thanks,” Simon said, and they started toward the table.

Before they made it halfway, they were stopped, and Simon tensed when they found themselves faced with none other than Carson Whitney, his best friend Kevin right behind him. “Hey,” Carson said and Simon’s mouth dropped open when he realized Carson looked
nervous
.

“Uh, hi?” Simon said, unable to keep it from sounding like a question.

“Yeah, uh, hi.” Carson stood there for a moment, uncomfortable silence sitting between them, before Kevin poked him. “Right, uh.” He cleared his throat. “So, I, uh, owe you guys an apology.”

Simon blinked and glanced up at Jimmy, who looked just as shocked. He looked back at Carson. “Uh… thank you.”

Carson nodded. “I was a dick to you.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve, uh, well, it’s been pointed out to me that I was. So, sorry.”

“It’s… apology accepted,” Jimmy said, glancing at Simon, who nodded.

“Yeah, it’s cool.”

Carson smiled. “Cool. So, uh, I hear congratulations are in order?” Simon’s eyebrows went up again. “You’re engaged, right?”

“Oh! Yes.” He blushed.

“Yeah, we are. Thanks.”

“Welcome. Well, uh, see you.” Carson waved and turned, walking away with Kevin, leaving both Simon and Jimmy stunned—until they heard his question to Kevin. “So, uh, which one of them wears the dress at the wedding?”

Before Simon could get mad, Kevin reached up and smacked Carson in the back of the head. “They both wear tuxes, idiot.”

“Oh.” Carson shrugged, and Simon found himself laughing.

“What was that about?” Tony asked, stepping up to them.

Simon looked down at Tony’s dress shoes. “Nice shoes. Uh, Carson apologized.”

“What?”

Jimmy repeated the conversation, and Tony stared after Carson. “Do you think… do you think he and Kevin?”

Simon shook his head. “He doesn’t set off my gaydar, but….” Simon shrugged. “Who knows? Closet cases are pretty bad about it.”

Jimmy snorted. “You know, somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if he was gay.” He looked over. “Come on, let’s go get our seats.”

After Carson, the prom was downright mundane. No one at their table seemed to know which fork to use, so Simon didn’t feel bad about that. They stayed at the table a lot, mostly joking and laughing. Simon and Jimmy danced together for a few of the slow dances, and to their surprise, no one even seemed to look at them funny. He saw Sean and Kip dancing, but Sean spent the whole evening nearly silent and very reserved.