A Good Enough Reason (28 page)
There were still those who insulted Ellis when he passed by them, those who made fun of him, but it was okay. He didn’t care about them. He wouldn’t see any of them once he started college anyway. The people who mattered—Ellis’s parents, Dale’s family, their friends—were happy for them, and it was enough. It wasn’t always easy, but they’d made it through high school. Mark hadn’t come back to school after what had happened before Christmas, and it had made Ellis’s life easier and less stressful.
“El?” Mom’s head appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Her expression softened when she saw Ellis standing there, and she smiled at him. “Are you coming downstairs, or do you need another minute?”
“I’m coming.”
Ellis hurried down the stairs and tried to ignore the way his mom started taking pictures as soon as he walked down the last step. Dale was standing at the foot of the stairs, looking incredibly handsome in his black suit. He was smiling at Ellis, the smile wide and happy. Ellis couldn’t stop himself. He smiled back, and his heart beat a little faster.
“You’re very, uh, handsome.”
Dale chuckled. “You too, El.” He raised a hand and offered a transparent plastic box to Ellis.
Ellis looked at it and frowned a bit at the flower. “It’s not exactly a corsage.”
“No, but it’s a boutonniere. You stick it in the pocket, like I did. Mom insisted I had to give it to you. She, uh, she bought both yours and mine, actually. I hadn’t thought about it.”
Ellis looked at Dale’s chest, and sure enough, there was a white rose above his heart. Ellis knew how much that small gesture meant for Dale. His mom wasn’t exactly over the moon about Ellis yet, but she was getting there. Her relationship with Dale was better, and she’d invited both him and Ellis over for lunch next Sunday.
Ellis smiled and opened the box, but his mom stopped him before he could put the rose on his jacket. “Stop! Let Dale do it, huh?”
Dale stepped forward. He gently took the flower from the box and pinned it to Ellis’s jacket, careful not to ruin it. He patted Ellis’s chest and kissed his cheek, and Ellis could have sworn he heard his mother sigh in happiness.
Someone whistled, and Ellis looked up only to groan and look down again. “Did you two have nowhere better to be?”
Damien grinned and threw an arm around Ellis’s shoulders. “Nope. We couldn’t miss our baby brother going to his senior prom.”
Dale moved away, and Connor came to stand before Ellis. He straightened Ellis’s suit and smiled. “You’re dashing.”
“Can we let Mom take the pictures she needs and avoid talking about this?” Ellis whined.
Both his brothers laughed but did as he’d asked. Their mom took what felt like a thousand pictures with various combinations of people in them—Ellis and Dale, Ellis and his brothers, Ellis and his father—and asked Connor to take a picture of her and Ellis together.
It took a half hour for Ellis and Dale to be able to step outside, and Ellis took a relieved breath when they finally did. Dale walked him to the passenger side of the car and Ellis scowled at him, but Dale just smirked. He opened the door, but before Ellis could slide into the car, Dale leaned forward and kissed him.
Ellis was very much aware of the fact that he was standing in front of his house, with his mom probably spying from the window, but he kissed Dale back until Dale moved away.
“Nervous?”
“Yeah.”
“It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
The drive to school was silent, and Dale took Ellis’s hand as soon as Ellis stepped out of the car. He squeezed, and they smiled at each other.
They walked to the school, Ellis’s heart beating like crazy. Dale gave their tickets to the girl at the booth. They could already hear music blaring, even before they reached the gym.
Dale paused before walking in and turned to look at Ellis. “Ready?”
Ellis nodded once. “Ready.”
They walked in.
C.M. LIEVENS
is a penname Catherine Lievens uses when she writes stories with little to no sex, and more specifically, Young Adult ones.
She lives in Italy with her husband, three cats, and her son, who luckily isn’t going to be a young adult for many years to come, because Catherine is not prepared for that just yet. She loves to write about different people and situations, hence the need for a penname.
When she’s not putting pen to paper to plot her next story, writing while avoiding her kid’s questions (he’s way too curious for his own good), or talking to her cats, she can be found hiding in the bathroom, because that’s the only place where she can read in peace.
E-mail: [email protected]
Blog: cmlievens.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CM-Lievens-1659898224299254
By C.M. Lievens
A Good Enough Reason
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
A Good Enough Reason
© 2016 C.M. Lievens.
Cover Art
© 2016 Bree Archer.
http://www.breearcher.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-63477-251-8
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-252-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016900165
Published May 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
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