Save a Dance for Me

Author’s Note – Well, what shall I say about this story? The title’s kind of lame, but it comes in towards the end of the story… kind of. Anyway, I’ve kept the chapters fairly short, so hopefully it will hold your interest. Also, I named some of the characters after characters in my favorite TV shows. But they’re still my characters. Anyway, enjoy.

Chapter One: Dance

"Whose idea was it to play Elton John?" Adam asked, handing me the soda I'd sent him off to get for me. We were attending our high school's third "Alternative" dance of the year. "Alternative" basically meant that it was specifically for GLBT students at our high school and other neighboring ones. They called it Alternative to avoid discrimination. Straight people were allowed to come too – but I could pick out only a handful of them, and they were huddled together in the corner talking amongst themselves. I think they only came because they wanted to see lesbians making out with each other.

"What's wrong with Elton John?" I asked, not because I wasn't a huge fan of the musician. Some of his songs were good, though. The one playing right now was "Your Song", which was slow enough that some people were close dancing. I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is, now you're in the world.

"Just because the man's a fag doesn't mean we have to play his music," Adam said with a sigh. I rolled my eyes and sipped my soda.

"At least they're not playing Cher."

"God, if I hear Cher, I'm leaving." I knew he meant it, too. Adam was a little serious when it came to what kind of music he liked and what kind of music he didn't. To me, music was music.

"What are you girls arguing about now?" Jarrod appeared out of nowhere, hair mussed and looking flushed. Yep, he had definitely just come from making out with … well, someone. This wasn't surprising. Jarrod was certainly the most attractive of the three of us. He had the quintessential All American good looks – blond hair, blue eyes, six-pack abs, and a year-round tan.

"Adam is complaining about the choice of music," I explained, and Jarrod nodded. He took my soda from my hand and downed the remains.

"It must be pretty hot in the bathroom." I glanced sideways at Jarrod, who was fanning himself with his hand. The song changed to "Save a Horse" and there were a few whistles from the redneck section.

"Is this fucking country?" Adam growled. I watched as he walked – marched, rather – towards the DJ's station.

"I ran into Parker in the bathroom," Jarrod said nonchalantly, answering my previous statement. I had to turn and face him now, because Parker was Jarrod's first boyfriend. They'd broken up more than a year ago, but they didn't seem to have broken it off completely.

"Jesus, Jarrod." I didn't offer any other words; he knew my thoughts on that topic.

"Oh, come on, Daniel, a man has urges." I couldn't help laughing at that.

"What you mean is you're horny," I said, resisting the urge to pass any more judgment and instead scanning the crowd of dancers to see if there was any sign of Parker. He was over with his friends, dancing. Parker was good looking too, kind of Mediterranean with brown hair and eyes and full lips. I could see why Jarrod liked him.

"It's my business because I have to fucking LISTEN to that SHIT!" Adam's voice carried over the crowd to where we were standing. He was definitely angry, that was for sure, and if I was right, he was going to get into trouble if I didn't go do some damage control. I was always the damage control. I found Adam standing near the DJ's station looking like he was ready to throw some punches. The DJ, a skinny guy with black hair eyeliner, and a lip ring was looking slightly amused but nowhere near as angry as Adam was. Adam could probably crush the guy with one punch.

"If you have a problem with the music, then you should just leave. I'm the DJ and it's my job to play a variety of songs. I told you that already. If you don't calm down I'm going to have you removed." The DJ said all of this calmly and was still able to change the music at the same time. I reached out and put my hand on Adam's arm.

"I oughta punch your lights out," Adam threatened, shaking his fist. I rolled my eyes. Adam was so clichéd sometimes.

"Maybe we should head home," I said, trying to bring Adam with me. He jerked his arm out of my grip and launched himself at the DJ, knocking both of them to the ground. I stepped forward, ready to pull Adam off. However, the DJ wasn't as weak as he looked, and he managed to flip Adam onto his back.

"Next time you'd better listen to your friend. Don't fuck with me," he growled. Then he got up and dusted himself off. Adam lay there on the floor for a minute until I reached my hand out and helped him up.

He didn't speak for the entire drive home, though that didn't seem to be a problem, because Jarrod filled up the silence with chatter about this and that and the other thing, like he always did. When Jarrod dropped me off at my house, I waved and went inside. My parents were sleeping and the house was dark. I made my way up the stairs and into my bedroom at the end of the hall. I was so tired that I just slipped my shoes off before climbing into bed. I was just thankful that I didn't have to get up for school tomorrow.

Author’s Note – Because I feel like it, here’s a tiny preview of the next chapter:

"Look, I need to get a good grade in this class," he said, "and I'm not going to sit around waiting for you to tell me what to do, okay? I don't give a shit if you are the smartest nerd in the fucking world," he said. I jerked my arm out of his grip and glared.

"If you call me a nerd, or a fag, or geek, or anything other than Daniel, you're going to be doing this project on your own," I growled.

Hmmm… how exciting!