I look. It’s Jake…
It’s Jake!
He rushes to the stage and takes my hand, looking at the judge defiantly. I can’t stop staring at him. Is he really doing this? Is this happening for real or is this just one of my dreams?
The judge is obviously appalled by the idea of two boys dancing together. The crowd is surprised as well, but nobody is booing us off the stage so far.
“You can’t dance together!” he exclaims. “You’re both are boys!”
“Who says that two boys can’t dance together?” Jake asks firmly.
“The rules clearly state…” the judge begins.
“Do you think that we can’t dance just because we are two boys?” Jake shouts, addressing the crowd. “Do you want to see us dance or not?”
“Dance! Let them dance!” the crowd starts cheering. Of course, not everybody in the crowd is cheering, but the majority is, including Melissa, Kenan, Andrew, Chef Alan, and to my surprise Janine. I’ve never been prouder of her in my life.
“I don’t care about what they say. The rules are the rules! And you two can’t dance!” the judge squawks in response.
Jake approaches him then. “Do you know who my father is?” he says so quietly that only the three of us can hear it. “Does Anthony Timbers say anything to you?”
The judge squirms. “Well… If you two want to dance, then dance,” the judge says simply, not disguising the aversion on his face. I smile. No matter who you are and what you believe in, there is always someone sitting higher than you.
Jake waves to the audio guy and turns to me.
“Ready?”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask softly, though there is obviously no backing out of it now.
“Are you?” he asks with a quirk of his eyebrow.
I nod.
He puts his hands around me and draws me closer.
“I heard what you said at the door,” he whispers into my ear.
“Did I out you to your mother?”
“You did,” Jake answers with a grin. “Thank you.”
The music starts and we begin.
I don’t know how I’m doing it, but I’m actually following the routine. It’s surprising because I didn’t think I even remembered it. But my body seems to remember. And this is all that matters.
I don’t know how it is that Jake knows the routine either. I guess he memorized it when he was watching me and Melissa practice.
We feel the beat and it seems that we can feel each other’s hearts beating. We synchronize and become one again. I stop thinking about the technical side of the routine and start simply enjoying it.
The touch of Jake’s hands is intoxicating. And the way he looks me in the eyes makes me feel so happy. I want nothing more in the world then just to dance with him, right here, right now…
But the song is coming to an end, unfortunately. People begin applauding and cheering, but we are not done yet. There’s one more element to show, the most important one, the lift.
Jake approaches me.
“Are we doing this?” he asks.
I nod, confident as hell. I did bump my head real badly in kindergarten, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy my “flight” on the cardboard airplane. Sometimes you just gotta take risks, or else life is going to become so boring that there’s no point to even living it.
“Are you sure?”
I get closer to him. “Do you trust me?”
He looks at me and nods.
I back ten feet away from him. He gets into position to catch me and gives me a nod when he’s ready...
“Go,” he mouths.
Perfectly in unison with the music, I run up to him and jump…
People in the crowd are beyond themselves. They cry out in astonishment.
I jump into Jake’s arms and he catches me.
I forget about everything in the world for a second. Jake is holding me in his arms and I know that he will never let me go, not even if I tell him to. I trust him completely. There is no fear at all.
Jake starts to spin me in the air and the crowd goes wild. They are cheering so hard, I can barely hear the music.
And then I twist in the air and land safely in Jake’s arms.
People are applauding and screaming. Some are even whistling.
But all I care about right now is Jake’s eyes, his eyes that are locked on mine.
He sets me down. There’s one final element that needs to be done here, even though this element has nothing to do with dancing…
We kiss.
And people are still cheering. I can’t hear a single sound of protest. This is amazing!
When I pull away from Jake, finally, and take a look at the crowd, all I see are smiling faces. People are happy for us.
I see dozens of eyes, radiant and cheerful. Well, except for one pair.
These eyes are sad…
Mitch’s eyes!
My heart sinks.
There are no tears in his eyes, although I know I’ve hurt him badly. He almost looks as if he expected it.
I watch him turn around and walk through the crowd.
I’m not even gonna try following him. He wouldn’t want to talk to me right now. He needs his time; I know him well enough to know that. Whenever he’s ready to talk, he’ll come to me. Now I just need to wait until that happens. Maybe I’m gonna be able to figure out what to say to him before then. Maybe...
30
The actual wedding ceremony takes place the next morning, as planned. I gotta give it to Janine, she might be cheap, but everything she plans works out perfectly. Well, maybe my little stunt yesterday wasn’t in her plans, but she doesn’t seem to be mad at me or anything. She actually came up to me before the wedding and said something I didn’t expect her to say at all.
“So look who’s a big fruitcake,” she exclaimed and gave me a hug, and a kiss on a cheek actually. “And here I was trying to set you up with one of my girlfriends! Why didn’t you tell me you liked dick?”
“I…” I mumble. Janine can be brutally straightforward sometimes. But that is something I like about her actually.
“This is great actually,” she continued, not giving me a chance to say a word. “I always wanted to have a gay friend. Now I have a gay cousin, and that is just so much better!”
“Yeah…”
“And that Jake guy, he is so hot. I wouldn’t have believed in a million years that he was gay if I didn’t see him kiss you with my own eyes!”
I smiled at that.
“You have to call me and tell me everything about him, okay?”
“Sure,” I agreed, amazed once again by the love and acceptance within my family. I just wish every gay kid could be just as lucky.
She married Mark at 9:30 in the morning at a beautiful church downtown. Yes, me and all the guests had to pack up at the crack of dawn to be able to make it back to Newton and attend the wedding.
We left Crest Hollows behind us. Some of it was good, some of it was bad, but that weekend was finally over.
We’ve talked with my mom in the car this morning and she told me that she and dad decided to support my dream. They are going to let me go to the Film Academy.
“At least you want to get an education and that’s all that matters,” she said, agreeing to the prospect of film school at last. “I’m proud of you, son.”
Jake and I didn’t win the Dance-Off, naturally. They didn’t even judge us. Melissa and John did win, however, and now Melissa can give the money to her mother so she can hire an assistant and lay off her case, finally. So I guess it worked out for the best.
Kenan and Andrew are officially a “thing” now. Me and Jake kissing in front of his eyes seemed to inspire Andrew to come out as well, well at least to a couple of people. Kenan told me all about it this morning and he said that he accepted my apology. It’s nice having my friends back on my side.
As for Jake and I, this is the beginning of something wonderful, I think. I would have been 100% happ
y right now if I didn’t have that conversation with Mitch to look forward to.
He sent me a note saying that he wanted to talk to me after the wedding. Now, as I’m sitting at the front steps of the church, watching all the guests get into their cars and drive away, I’m trying to figure out what the hell I am going to say to him.
“Hey,” Mitch says, coming up from behind. He sits down next to me.
“Hey,” I say, guiltily.
He doesn’t look at me at first, just down at his shoes. I give him a moment to collect his thoughts.
He looks at me then and I have to sum up all of my courage to meet his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” is all I can come up with.
“Why?”
I say nothing. He searches my eyes for an answer, and I guess he finds one.
“Do you really love him?” he asks, voice pained, but steady.
“Mitch, I love you too but…” He looks up at me.
“But I’m not him…” he guesses. It sounds almost as if hes known this would happen from the start. Which I suppose he did; he saw me crushing on Jake from the beginning and decided to take the risk anyway.
But I still feel guilty.
He touches a lock of my hair. “I’m not gonna give up on you, you know that, right?”
“Mitch…” I try to speak, but he puts his finger against my lips and stops me.
“I’m not giving up on you,” he repeats.
Reluctantly, I nod. I can’t deny him the right to believe that there’s still a chance for us, but I’d much rather he found himself a really good guy, one who’d deserve him and love him the way I never could.
He leans closer and brushes my cheek with his nose, not even a kiss.
He stands up.
“We’re still friends, right?”
“Of course we are,” I respond immediately.
“Promise to call me every morning like you used to?” he asks, biting his lip, unsure of himself. .
I nod and smile.
He nods back once, affirming, and then he is gone.
I thought I was gonna feel empty inside after talking to Mitch, but I actually feel much lighter. This decision is a good one; I’m sure of it.
I hear car honk and look up.
Jake’s red Porsche is idling on the other side of the road. Jake is standing outside of it, leaning against the side in his usual devil-may-care manner. He is looking at me.
I smile.
This is the beginning of something wonderful, I know. I know because I’m happy now.
It’s really that simple. I no longer feel restricted or imprisoned. I’ve worked all of those feelings out of my system and now I finally feel free.
I stand up and walk towards him.
“I thought you might need a ride,” he says. “Is everything alright?”
I nod. Then I draw him into a kiss.
I let everything fall out of my mind except for the feel of Jake’s lips on mine. This is a moment of our lifetimes. This is a memory that I will cherish forever… This is the true love!
The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I'd never let you go.
So won't you say you love me,
I'll make you so proud of me.
We'll make 'em turn their heads every place we go.
So won't you, please, be my be my baby
Be my little. baby my one and only baby
Say you'll be my darlin', be my be my baby
Be my baby now, my one and only baby
Wha-oh-oh-oh.
(The Ronettes “Be My Baby” Dirty Dancing OST)
P.S. I’m going to college next fall and I’m sure you want to know how that goes. Stay tuned!
Perie Wolford, Sam Dorsey and His Dirty Dancing
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