The Unfortunate Occurence at Shenandoah High 2020 - 10. Chapter 10

“What are you doing?”

Keisha’s opening my closet door. At the foot of my closet is an old trunk I inherited when my grandfather – my mom’s dad – passed away. Inside is where I keep all my personal things. My very, very personal things. Keisha knows all about them and even knows the combination to the lock I keep on the trunk because she’s the one who bought me those very, very personal things.

Every Christmas and birthday, instead of buying me an Amazon or iTunes gift card like a normal person, Keisha likes to borrow her dad’s credit card to buy me the most ridiculous stuff she can find online. My current collection includes handcuffs, glow-in-the-dark condoms, several sex toys of various shapes, sizes and colors, books on how to pleasure my man and several articles of the most scandalous clothing I’ve ever seen.

“It’s time to take it up a notch,” she says popping the lock off the trunk. “You’ve seen the inside of Finn’s bedroom so we can’t afford to play it safe, Tristan.”

“So, you want me to wear something out of there?” I ask pointing at the trunk.

“I have an idea.” Keisha starts rummaging through the vast assortment of items inside until she pulls out something black. She tosses it at me.

I unfold the piece of black cloth and notice that it’s a sleeveless T-shirt that could probably fit a six-year-old. On the front of the shirt in large, neon purple writing is the word BLOW and directly below it in a much smaller font is ME.

“There’s no way I’m going to fit this.”

“That’s the point. While you’re just standing there, go grab those black skinny jeans out of the bathroom.”

I toss the shirt onto my unmade bed and dark across the hall to grab the jeans Keisha’s referring to. I return to my bedroom to find a bright red jock strap laying on top of the black T-shirt.

“Oh no – no, no, no.” I reach for the jock and hold it up so she can see it. “There’s no way I’m going out in public with this.”

Keisha rolls her eyes and finishes putting the lock back on my trunk. “For the last four years all I’ve heard is you talk about is Finn Montgomery. Do you wanna get his attention or not?”

“I know,” I say. “But this is so unlike me.”

“That’s the point, Babe. Was Sandy able to get Danny’s attention when she was wearing poodle skirts and cardigans?”

“No.”

“So how was she able to get his attention?”

“She changed her hair, put on some makeup and some really slutty clothes so she could dance with him in the Shake Shack.”

“Exactly,” Keisha says with a smile. “For the last four weeks Finn has seen the adorkable version of you. Tonight he will see the fuckable version.”

I audibly gasp. Keisha rarely curses but when she does it always takes me by surprise. She picks up the pile of clothes I’m to wear tonight and hands them over to me. I slowly walk back across the hall. The T-shirt and jock strap are very tight but the jeans might as well be a second skin.

When I finish dressing, Keisha takes some of my styling gel and slicks my hair back. She then goes into the bag and digs out eyeliner.

“Be still,” she says. “This is going to make your eyes stand out.”

I sit as still as I can on the edge of my bed as she applies the eyeliner. When she finishes, she steps back to admire her work.

“You look hot. If you weren’t my best friend and a total homo I’d do you right here on this bed.”

“Um, thanks? I feel like I should be standing on the corner trying to get rich businessmen to sleep with me.”

“Let’s save that for college. Tonight is all about enticing. Nothing more. Nothing less. Now scoot … we need to leave so we can swing by and pick Sheldon up.”

Dad’s watching TV in the den when Keisha and I make our way downstairs. I’m super grateful the lights are off because I really don’t want my dad to see his youngest son dressed like a low-rate rent boy.”

“Heading out?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say. “We’ll be home before one.”

“Thanks again, Mr. G. for talking to my dad,” Keisha says.

“Just make sure you let him know the moment you arrive and the moment you get home or else it’s me he’s coming after.”

Keisha chuckles and says, “Will do. See you, Mr. G.”

I nearly stumble over a pair of dad’s sneakers as I walk over to plant a kiss on the side of his head.

“Goodnight, Dad. Don’t wait up.”

“Ha,” he says. “Like I’m going to be able to sleep with both of you going out. I’ll just be sitting right here watching Law and Order marathon until you return.”

It’s cooler than I expected as Keisha and I step outside. The air smells crisp and a shiver passes through my body. I tell Keisha I’m going to head back in and grab a jacket but she stops me.

“My boobs are on full display and I’m wearing a crop top and low-rise jeans. I’m freezing but do you see me complaining? No – and why am I not complaining? The answer’s because I look hot and so do you and sometimes when you want to look hot you have to suffer a little bit.”

“Fine,” I say as I open the passenger door to her car. “No jacket. But can you at least turn the heat on?”

Keisha slides in behind the wheel, starts the car and turns the heat on full blast. “There – you happy now?”

“Yes,” I say rubbing my hands down the lengths of my bare arms.

“Now put on your seatbelt and quit complaining,” she says reaching for the radio.

I fasten my seatbelt and slump a bit in my seat. I watch as Keisha attempts to pair her iPhone with the car’s Bluetooth system. She then presses play on a playlist I made for her a month ago. Pink’s “Get This Party Started” starts playing as Keisha backs out of my driveway.

As we make our way to Sheldon’s, I close my eyes and let the warm air coming from the vents wash over me like a wave. I’m in my best friend’s car dressed like an underaged prostitute heading to a party in hopes of seducing, no – enticing the most popular guy in school in hopes that he falls in love with me or something?

What if in some bizarre twist of fate, Finn really does fall for me? I’ve spent so many hours, days, weeks – months even – building this fantasy in my head, I’ve never considered actually happening.

“You okay?” Keisha asks taking her eyes off the road momentarily to look over at me.

“Yeah,” I say immediately. “I’m fine.”

“Nervous?” she asks.

“Quite,” I say. “This is all so ridiculous. Finn is straight. You know he’s straight. I know he’s straight. The entire school knows that Finn is straight. So what the hell am I even doing?”

Keisha remains silent for a moment and then reaches for the volume knob to turn Maroon 5 down.

“Tristan, Babe, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m driving fifteen minutes out of my way to pick up the biggest nerd I’ve ever met who is in a grade lower than me and who doesn’t have a driver’s license nor permit. Sheldon is the complete opposite of everything I’ve ever wanted out of a guy.”

“So why are you dating him?” I ask.

“Because he’s honestly the best thing, outside of my family and you, that’s ever happened to me. He asks me what I think about certain things and then he actually listens when I talk. He brings me Skittles right before my psychology class because he knows it’s my least favorite class. He texts me to tell me goodnight before I go to bed and he messages me to say good morning while I’m getting dressed.

“Not in a million years did I ever expect to be in seriously like with someone like Sheldon Lockhart – but I am. He’s totally changed my expectations on what I thought I wanted out of a guy.”

“Wow – I knew you liked him,” I say. “But I didn’t know you were in serious like with him.”

“Trust me – I didn’t want to be. The last thing I ever wanted to do during my senior year was tether myself to an underclassman.”

“Oh my god – you’re just like that Hailey chick Nick’s brother is dating.”

“Tristan Caleb Goolsby, I swear I will pull over this car and kick your ass from here all the way to Finn’s place.”

“Fine,” I say. “I take it back.”

“So, speaking of expectations” Keisha continues. “I want you to get rid of yours. Whatever you’re expecting this night to be, I want you to throw all of that out the window. I want you to have fun tonight. Stop worrying so much about Finn. If he likes you more than just friends then awesome – but keep in mind, there are going to be a lot hot guys at this party and you, my friend, are a total snack.”

I’ve been so fixated on Finn, I’ve never really considered there might be other gay or bi-curious or open-minded straight guys at our school, someone that isn’t myself, Andy or Nick.

Tristan Goolsby, you only get to do your senior year of high school once – unless you’re Ryan Milligan and you do your senior year of high school three times because Ms. Faragher keeps failing you. Before I know it, it’ll be time to walk across that stage in May. Fall semester is already a quarter of the way done. I really got to make this count.

I want be kiss a guy for the first time. I want to a guy to hold my hand. I want a guy to be my boyfriend.

Maybe that guy won’t be Finn Montgomery.