Burn it Down

~Luke's POV~

For several reasons I was thankful for Megan these last couple of weeks.

First, she had managed to make friends with the girl Tyler had had the biggest crush on for years. He was extremely shy and talking to Tiffany Clarke for him was a no-go. I didn't even want to try because it's lame as shit for your friend to go up to the girl you like going "Hey, hey, yeah my friend likes you. You should date him." So I didn't bother.

Secondly, she managed to get Tiffany Clarke to talk to Tyler. Turns out, they hit it off immediately. It was so fast, Megan and I would stare at each other and know exactly what the other was thinking; it was hard as fuck to tolerate being around them. By day like...four? They were dating. So they were going to the dance together.

Third, within weeks my grades improved. Mostly thanks to Megan. My mom ended up adoring her for the fact Megan got me to do my homework, kept me entertained and out of the house. And was female. She also couldn't get over Megan's sheer amount of hair, just like I couldn't. So I'd go to Megan's house, or she'd come to mine and we'd talk and work on our homework together. We'd finish quickly, and we'd spend the rest of the day just running around the park or going to Starbucks and sitting outside talking about any bullshit we could think up. Sometimes Tiffany and Tyler would come along, or we'd meet them and run around, having a blast.

My mom was overly grooming me at some point getting ready for Homecoming. Megan's mom had already given me a haircut, which I think made every female in my life beyond thrilled.

"You can see your face!" My mom gushed.

My hair wasn't even that fucking long, so what are you even talking about?

She got my hair into place and helped me straighten my tie out and make sure I looked as good as possible. I hated looking this polished, so I roughed my hair up a little.

"Why did you do that?" My mom whined.

"Because you made him look like a shiny turd." My dad commented. "That isn't the style these days Kat, just leave him."

"Thank you!" I said, appreciative someone understood.

I didn't know what to expect from Megan by way of what she'd wear. Her mother probably dressed her just like my mother was doing to me. We'd decided on a scheme of black and gold, Megan's mom's idea. But when I arrived, I found myself getting butterflies. I was a man, getting butterflies over a girl I already knew.

But this was a date.

We arrived, my parents and I, to Megan's house. Her parents were already sitting out front, fiddling with the camera.

Oh goody. I thought.

"Hi!" Megan's mom turned to us, a smile spreading across her face. I think I was fucking sweating. Why I was so nervous, I didn't know.

While I did my best to tune out the introduction of my parents to hers, I just leaned against the car. It was a few minutes before Megan's mom looked over at me.

"Luke, sweetie, did you want me to get her? I think she's dawdling."

"Sure." I said, trying to be cool.

My mom gave me a look. I knew what it meant.

"Yes, ma'am." I said. "If you could, I'd appreciate it."

That was better.

"Megan!" I heard her mother bark. I could faintly hear Megan responding, but again I tuned the conversation out. Instead I watched the setting sun. The way the warmth was leaving the day.

I guess I underestimated her mother's ability, because what Megan walked out in shocked my parents and I.

She looked nice but it was older than I expected her to wear. I'd been to homecoming and seen what the girls wore, and it wasn't as nice as this. I'm guessing, again, her stylist mother had something to do with it.

(I'll post a link here.. I don't like doing polyvore stuff, but I figured it helps.)

Megan's hair was up in a bun and she seemed uncomfortable without it to hide in but when I walked up to her, she seemed to relax.

"Hey," she smiled. "You look nice."

I extended my hand as she stepped off the porch. If there was one thing I knew, it was how to be a gentleman.

I was so fucking nervous that I damn near forgot everything that was happening. I was posing for pictures, laughing. Talking between both families. Most of all, I was happy right then, which was nice because it wouldn't last the whole night.

We went to the McDonald's next to the school to meet up with Tyler and Tiffany and when Megan and I arrived, they were already sucking face in a booth to the right of the door. Megan facepalmed.

"Seriously, how are they doing that so fast?" She asked. "It's been not even two weeks and they are stuck together like someone put super glue on them."

Yeah, but so are we. I thought. Just not at the lips.

When Tyler decided that he should probably come up to fucking breathe, he damn near jumped over the table. I guess I was just surprised he didn't blow out the crotch of his pants doing it.

We did our usual odd handshake and I didn't have to look at our dates to know they were ashamed, but they already knew how we were. It shouldn't have been a surprise.

"How's it going, man?" I asked Tyler. He seemed different from even a month ago. Then again, we both did.

"Oh, you know." His stupid grin wrinkled his face. I didn't know it but Tyler was scared of saying his thoughts up front with our dates present. He was simply excited that we didn't have to be excluded from this event.

We didn't hang out at McDonald's for too long once Tyler and Tiffany started up again with the face sucking. Megan and I grabbed our food and did a cartoonish James Bond style slink out of the booth and to one farther away from the wet, disgusting sound of tongues writhing against each other. Even thinking about that noise made me want to vomit my fucking dinner onto the cheap tile floor of the restaurant.

"I'm sorry we didn't go anywhere nicer." I said to Megan. I really didn't worry much about it, but I still felt like this was pretty cheap.

Megan looked up at me and just smiled, shaking her head like it was silly of me to want better.

"We're only here because it's right next to the school. Not because it offers fine dining."

I laughed and nodded. That was true. We only came here because Tyler and Tiffany had wanted to meet us here and now here we were, avoiding the awkward noises coming from those two.

I really did not want to admit, thanks to my male stubbornness or some shit, that I may have been a bit jealous of what Tyler had going on. I didn't want to be that gross about it, a bit more subtle, but still. I wouldn't have minded some kissing. Megan however, seemed to be embarrassed to watch them though, and following the advice of my dad, I waited for her to make the first move. 'We don't want to scare her off,' he told me. 'If she's shy, you'll just make her uncomfortable and she won't want to keep going.' So here I was, just waiting.

I didn't even know where to begin when it came to trying to get my point across to Megan. I wanted more than we had, but I was scared if I came right out with it, she'd flat out reject me and we'd not even be friends anymore. I think she liked me, but I was too scared to take the chance. Either way, my point was that at some point I would like her to be my girlfriend. I debated between holding her hand or putting my arm around some part of her body. I was taken back when her arm linked through mine as we were just standing at the door to the school, waiting for the dance to start. We were just talking to Tyler and Tiffany, but since she had done that, I encouraged it by pulling my arm in a bit so her arm was closer to my body. She seemed to relax and smile. Huh, maybe my dad wasn't bullshitting me. For once, not only did I feel like I wasn't a complete loser, I actually felt like a man.

But when I heard yelling at the back of the small crowd gathered at the door, I knew that my manly feeling was going to be squashed, it would be over, and probably would be for the rest of the night.