A Good Enough Reason Page 3

  “I should be home in a few days.”

  “I know. Stop worrying so much.”

  “Love you.”

  “I love you too, Mom. I’m giving Alicia the phone, okay?”

  “Yes, please. I’ll call tomorrow, okay?”

  “Yeah. Bye.” Dale handed his sister the phone and grabbed the pasta on the counter. He dumped it in the water and used a wooden spoon to move it around so it wouldn’t stick, before putting one portion of tomato sauce in the microwave. His mom cooked gallons of it every month and froze it so Dale and Alicia would always have something to eat in the house.

  “Monkey, say bye to Mom. It’s almost ready.”

  Alicia nodded, but Dale knew it would take her at least another five minutes to actually hang up. In the meantime he set the table and took care of draining the pasta and putting the sauce on it. He mixed it and portioned it onto two plates he set down on the table.

  Alicia hung up just as Dale was grabbing the parmesan cheese and some water from the fridge. “Put your homework away, and go wash your hands.”

  Dinner went smoothly, like usual. Dale was lucky his sister was a calm kid, because he didn’t know what he would’ve done otherwise.

  After washing the dishes, he helped her finish her homework and allowed her a half hour of cartoons before she had to shower and go to bed. Dale took the opportunity to go over his own, but he was already up to date with everything except his new AP English project, and he couldn’t do much about that on his own.

  His thoughts wandered to Ellis. Dale couldn’t say he knew the guy. He usually noticed Ellis’s T-shirts more than Ellis himself, but he had to admit, if only to himself, that Ellis was cute.

  He was clearly a geek, but then if people knew what Dale liked to read and watch on TV, they would label him the same. He was a geek at heart with a jock facade, or at least that was what his girlfriend liked to say.

  Ellis was an unusual geek, though. He did have the T-shirts, but that was about all the geekiness he had.

  Ellis’s hair was shaggy and fell in front of his eyes, but it was clearly intended to be that way. He had a nose piercing that probably not a lot of people noticed, but Dale had been close enough to see it, even if it was tiny. It made Dale wonder if it was the only piercing Ellis had.

  He thought about Ellis’s lithe body, about the way he always kept his back straight and how he seemed to have a pen in his hand most of the time. He always paired his T-shirts with tight jeans that molded to his lower body, and Dale had peeked more than once at what they revealed.

  If things had been different, Dale knew he might have hit on Ellis. The guy was a mixture of sweet and smart, but Dale didn’t want anyone to know he was bisexual, not while he was still in high school.

  He knew how most people would react to the news if he ever came out, and Dale didn’t want to find himself isolated. He hadn’t even told his family or his girlfriend, and he did feel a bit guilty. Stephanie would probably react well, but he wasn’t ready to chance it, not when their relationship was so new. They’d gotten together over the summer, and apart from a deep liking, Dale didn’t know what there was between them.

  Dale slid his fingers over the list Mr. Shea had given them. His glance went to the topic he’d chosen. He hadn’t done it to make fun of Ellis, obviously, but he could understand why Ellis had thought he had. He couldn’t know Dale could see himself in the topic, as much as he could see Ellis.

  Sure, Dale hadn’t been certain Ellis was gay, but Ellis’s reaction had been revealing enough, even before he’d told Dale. There was also the fact that Mark always said Ellis was gay, but Dale wouldn’t have trusted him on it, not with the way he was always making fun of the guy.

  Dale thought there was probably more to it than the insults he’d heard, but he’d never seen anything, and as far as he knew, Ellis had never complained. Dale knew Mark didn’t have an easy life, but it wasn’t a good reason to bully Ellis.

  “Dale? I’m ready for bed.”

  Dale looked at Alicia. She was adorable in her pink nightgown, and he found himself wishing she didn’t have to grow up. “You want me to tuck you in?”

  She nodded, and Dale followed her down the hallway to her room. She climbed into bed, and he pressed a kiss on her forehead before pulling the covers up and tucking them around her.

  “Good night, Monkey.”

  “’Night, Dale.”

  Dale closed the door and headed to the bathroom. He showered and brushed his teeth, then went to bed, grabbing his laptop before sliding under the covers. There was a movie waiting for him.

  ELLIS LOOKED around, unable to stop himself from tapping on the open notebook in front of him. He cleared his throat, earning himself a glare from the dragon lady who worked as a librarian, and quickly looked down. He pretended to be oh-so-interested in his notebook for a little while, but his glance kept on drifting to the door, where Dale should have entered the library over thirty minutes before.

  Dale was late.

  Ellis wasn’t sure whether he should wait another half hour or give up and go home. They hadn’t even exchanged numbers, so he couldn’t call Dale, and most importantly, Dale couldn’t call him, so if something had happened, Ellis wouldn’t find out until Monday.

  Ellis sighed. His homework was done—he’d put the hour he’d already spent in the library to good use. The only thing he could and should work on was Mr. Shea’s project, and he couldn’t do that without Dale. Well, that wasn’t exactly true.

  Ellis could start researching and give the results to Dale when and if he showed up. Ellis had no intention of getting a bad grade because of his partner, not even if it meant he’d have to do most of the work himself. He should have expected it. Dale might not be a classic jock, but he was still part of the sport group. Soccer was probably more important to him than the assignment, and it made Ellis wonder why Dale had ended up in advanced placement English.

  Ellis gave the door one last glance and reached for his pen. He didn’t remember the exact wording of the topic Dale had chosen, but he couldn’t have forgotten what it was about even if he’d wanted to. He still couldn’t believe Dale wanted to do that one when he could have chosen any other.

  Ellis started to work on a list of what they needed to do. The list was still fairly short when the door opened, and Ellis looked up to see Dale walk in.

  Anger swelled in Ellis’s mind when he finally realized why Dale was late. It was obvious. Dale’s hair was mussed, his lips were swollen, and he had a hickey the size of Texas just above the collar of his T-shirt.

  Ellis narrowed his eyes at him and put his pen down.

  “Hey, sorry I’m late.”

  “Yeah, I noticed.” Ellis made a show of looking at his watch. “You’re nearly an hour late.”

  Dale grimaced. “I’m sorry.” He sat next to Ellis and leaned toward him to read the list, but Ellis slammed his notebook shut.

  “You’re one hour late to work on a project that’s worth 20 percent of our final grade because you’d rather spend the time we need to work on it sucking face with your girlfriend, and I shouldn’t be angry? You think I should just—just forget about it?” Ellis realized his voice was rising and clamped his lips together.

  “I get what you’re saying, and I apologized. What more do you want from me?”

  Ellis took a deep breath. It wouldn’t do any good for him to start yelling in the middle of the library. “You can shove your apologies where the sun don’t shine,” he hissed.

  Dale’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “You heard me. If you’re not going to be serious about this, I’ll ask Mr. Shea to work on the assignment alone. You might not care about getting a good grade or even need it, but I do, and I won’t let you pull me down with you.”

  Dale held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. It won’t happen again, I swear.”

  Ellis gave Dale a nod. “Good.” He opened his notebook and flipped to the right page.

  Dale chuckled. “
I’d never have thought you could be so fierce. You’re always so quiet and calm.”

  “I care about my grades.”

  “I noticed.”

  “Are you ready to get to work?”

  Dale rolled his eyes, and Ellis almost smiled. Almost.

  While Dale was busy opening his bag and gathering whatever he needed from it, Ellis looked around the room to check if they’d bothered anyone. Luckily for him, the dragon lady wasn’t anywhere in sight and the few other students were busy with their work. It looked like no one had been disturbed.

  “So, what do you have?”

  Ellis looked at Dale. “What I have for now is a partial list of things we need to do, like deciding on a regular schedule to meet and following it.”

  “Is that sarcasm I hear in your voice?”

  “You think?”

  “Aww, don’t be that way. I swore I wouldn’t do it again.”

  “I might forgive you if you stick to the schedule from now on. Maybe.”

  “I’ll do my best, but what if something happens?”

  “Like what? What if your girlfriend suddenly needs a good make-out session?”

  Dale laughed. “You’re feisty. I like it.”

  “I’m surprised you know what feisty means.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m not in AP English for nothing. I meant what if something serious happens? I have a little sister, and my mom often travels for work, so I’m the one taking care of Alicia.”

  “I’ll give you my phone number, and you’ll give me yours, so we can stay in touch.”

  Dale beamed and promptly reached for his jeans pocket.

  “I didn’t mean right now,” Ellis pointed out, “but okay.”

  Dale rattled off his number, and Ellis wrote it down on his notebook before giving Dale his. “Now, if we’re done being all friendly, can we get to the reason why we’re here?”

  “Sure, boss. Shoot.”

  “If you’re still convinced you want to pick that particular topic—” Dale nodded, so Ellis continued. “—we’ll need to find out what the school policy on same-sex couples is. I’ve never actually thought about it, and I’m not sure who we could ask, but we need to find out.”

  “That way you can attend prom with a date.”

  Ellis scowled. “I won’t be going to prom, but thank you so much for thinking about me.”

  “What? Why? Is it because your boyfriend left?”

  “What?”

  “Your boyfriend. You know, the guy you were always hanging around with.”

  Ellis pressed his lips together, but a small giggle still escaped. “Matt was never my boyfriend. He’s my best friend.”

  “Oh. So you two were never together?”

  Ellis shook his head. “No, not really.”

  “Then why don’t you want to go?”

  “Apart from the fact that I don’t find dances interesting, how many gay guys do you know in school?”

  “Well, you.”

  “Yeah, and I don’t want to go stag, so I’ll be staying home, thank you very much.”

  “You can’t decide that now! We’re still months away from prom!”

  “I don’t think much will change in a handful of months.”

  “I’ll find you a date.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll find you a date.”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Oh come on. Or are you scared? It would be the perfect way to show you really believe in what you’re going to say in the assignment.”

  “Are you even thinking of how you could do it? Are you going to ask every guy in school or maybe make an announcement in the school newspaper?” Ellis frowned. He could see Dale doing exactly that. “Please, don’t.”

  “Aww, but it would be such a good piece. Sexy senior needs gay date for prom. Date has to be reasonably cute and able to keep up a conversation on books. Only serious offers.”

  Ellis couldn’t believe it. “Please don’t do it!”

  “Shhh!”

  Ellis turned to see that the dragon lady had returned. He nodded in apology and looked at Dale again. “You won’t do it. I… I forbid it!” he hissed.

  Dale smiled and patted Ellis’s hand. “Don’t worry so much, Ellis. I’d never do it.”

  Ellis didn’t know why, but he wasn’t overly reassured by Dale’s words.

  ELLIS’S LIPS broke into a wide smile when he saw who was calling. He grabbed the phone from his nightstand and answered, forgetting everything about his homework.

  “Matty!”

  “Aww, don’t call me that, El. You know I hate it.”

  “It’s been your nickname for the past ten years. It’s not going to change now.”

  “Can’t you settle on Matt like everyone else?”

  “Nope. As your oldest and only BFF, I’ve earned the right to call you Matty.”

  “That’s your last word?”

  “Yup.”

  “Okay, then, Ely-Boo.”

  Ellis gaped. “You wouldn’t.”

  Matt tsked. “You know me better than that, Ely-Boo.”

  “Okay, okay. You win. No Matty, and more importantly, no Ely-Boo.”

  Matt’s laughter felt like coming home for Ellis, even though Matt was on the other side of a cell phone, hundreds of miles away. Matt was too far for anything better, and Ellis had learned to deal with it and appreciate the little they could have. “So, anything new?”

  “Ahhh, no, not really. Home, school, everything’s the same.” Matt sighed. “Things were never this boring with you around.”

  “No boyfriend in view?”

  “El, I live in Texas now. I don’t think anyone even knows I’m gay, let alone wants to be my boyfriend.”

  “Any crushes, then?”

  “Nope. It’s a pity, because I thought I’d meet some hot cowboy when I moved here, but they’re all so painfully straight. What about you?”

  “Same, apart from the fact I’m stuck working on a gay rights project with Dale Stephens.”

  “What?”

  “It’s an AP English project, and Dale was actually the one who chose the topic. We have to write an argumentative essay and each try to convince the class to support our views. I’m the pro, and he’s the con.”

  “So what? He’s against gay rights?”

  “Actually, no. He said he’d take the cons only because it’s so obvious I’m gay.”

  “He what? Are you sure you’re not joking, El?”

  “I’m not. He’s… not so bad, I guess.”

  “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Dale Stephens?”

  “Why? Is there more than one in school?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Then we are.”

  “But… why?” Matt sounded flabbergasted. “Did I miss something? Trust one of the hottest guys in school to come out of the closet only after I moved all the way down to Texas.”

  “He didn’t come out, Matt. He even has a girlfriend now.”

  “Yeah? Who?”

  “Stephanie Walker.”

  “Mmm, short, dark curly hair, always wears purple?”

  “Yeah, her.”

  “I guess I can see the appeal.”

  “Please. You’re as gay as I am.”

  “It doesn’t mean I don’t have eyes or that I live under a rock. I remember she was nice.”

  “Still is.”

  “Anyway. Why did Dale choose that topic?”

  Ellis shrugged, though he knew Matt couldn’t see him. “He said one of his cousins is gay and couldn’t go to the prom with his boyfriend. Dale thinks it’s not fair.”

  “Well, it’s not.”

  “No, but you have to admit, not a lot of straight guys would agree on that, let alone try to do something about it. Oh, and you haven’t heard the best part of this yet.”

  “What? He offered you a foot massage?”

  “Nope. First he asked me if I didn’t want to go to prom because my boyfriend left.”

  “Huh
?”

  “He thought you were my boyfriend, Matt.”

  “Oh, eww. No offense, El, but it would be like going out with my brother.”

  “I know, right? That’s what I told Dale, so he decided he’s going to find me a date for prom.”

  “Seriously?”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “How is he going to do it? Put an announcement in the school paper?”

  Ellis scowled at the wall since he couldn’t scowl at Matt. “What the heck? That’s what he said he was going to do.”

  Matt laughed. “Really? What can I say? Great minds think alike.”

  “Actually I was the one who suggested it, but it was sarcasm. I’m not sure he understood that bit, though, so now I’m scared to even look at the paper.”

  “Gosh, I wish I was still there to see this.”

  “I’m not going to let him find me a date, Matt.”

  “I wonder who he’s going to come up with. Do you know any other gay guys in school?”

  “Matt! I’m not going to go anywhere with whoever Dale chooses, if he even chooses someone. He’ll probably have forgotten about this by the next time I see him.”

  “Are you sure he will?”

  Ellis frowned. “He better.”

  “Ah, El. You should know by now not everyone does what you want.”

  “I know.”

  “I still think Dale is going to keep his word and find you a date. I swear to you, I’ll do everything I can to be there and see you.”

  “You want to come here for prom?”

  “It’s not like I’m looking forward to the one here. I’m not even sure I’ll go.”

  “Why not?”

  “El… I already told you I haven’t made many friends here, and I want to go to prom with my real friends, the ones I grew up with.”

  “You could be my date. In a friendly kind of way, of course.”

  “Oh no, you’re not getting out of this so easily, Ely-Boo.”

  “Matt!”

  “And I want weekly reports on what’s happening with Dale.”

  “I can’t believe you’re taking his side.”

  “Are you joking? I can’t wait to see this!”