“You keep your eyes and your hands to yourself. Got it, twerp?”

Hale nodded, only half-hearing what his older cousin, Michael, had to say. He was too busy eying the house in front of them to concern himself with what Michael was saying. It wasn’t that it was particularly large or outlandish, but Hale had heard what was happening behind its doors, and he was still in shock that Michael was trusting him to come along.

At fourteen years old, he’d never been to a house party before, let alone one being hosted by high school seniors.

Michael stopped abruptly before they arrived at the top of the driveway. Hale almost ran right into him. He sucked in a startled breath and hopped back, not wanting to cause Michael to second guess his decision. If he could just get through the front door...

“And another thing,” Michael said, spinning on his heels to face Hale. “If you embarrass me, or if you make me regret the fact that I’m bringing you along tonight, you’re never going to have a social life ever again. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Hale nodded dutifully. His heart raced. “I’m not gonna do anything to make you embarrassed. You’re not even gonna know that I’m there. It’ll be fine.”

“It better be.” Michael cleared his throat, smoothed back his hair, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the front door. “Now, what are you going to say when we get in?”

“Nothing,” Hale promised.

“That’s right. Nothing.” Michael paused, then smiled affectionately. He ruffled Hale’s hair. “I trust you, kid. Maybe it’ll be the death of me, but I think you’re good for your word. Just don’t be weird, okay?”

“No weirdness. None at all. I promise.”

“And if someone offers you something to drink?”

“Don’t drink so much that I puke or otherwise embarrass you,” Hale said. He looked up into Michael’s eyes, determined. “I’m not gonna do anything bad, Michael. I promise. I know that you’ve got a lot riding on this... but I’ve got a lot riding on it, too. I’ll either be the coolest freshman in history for going to a senior party, or I’ll be forever remembered as the kid who made a fool of himself in front of the senior class.”

“You got it.” Michael turned. For as harsh as he could sometimes be, he had a big heart. He’d been so much more distant since he’d started high school, but Hale understood where he was coming from. Reputation was everything, and in a small town like Hidden Creek, one wrong move could lead to a lifetime of humiliation. “Let’s go.”

They left the driveway and headed up the few short stairs to the porch. Hale’s heart raced faster with each step, and by the time he arrived on the porch, he was fairly certain his heart would explode from his chest. Michael pressed the doorbell and waited. The door opened.

Hale’s heart went supernova.

“Mikey-dude!” the gorgeous young man standing in the doorway said with a laugh. “Good to see you could make it. I would’ve kicked your ass if you ditched my party. Who’s the twerp?”

The young man in the doorway looked Hale’s way expectantly, like he believed Hale could sweep up the ashes of his supernova heart and bring himself to reply. Hale’s mouth was dry, and his tongue felt five sizes too big. He opened his mouth, not sure if he could string together two syllables, let alone two words, when Michael stepped in for him.

“That’s my kid cousin,” Michael said. “Remember, the one I was telling you about? Hale?”

“Right. I remember.” The man in the doorway beamed at Hale, and Hale was certain the cartilage in his knees was about to turn to gelatin. “Well, keep this on the down-low, little man, but no one here tonight is...you know. So don’t go barking up any trees, because they’ll be the wrong ones, and no one wants to see you get hurt.”

Hale’s cheeks burned. He nodded, unable to verbally reply. His jaw was locked in place so hard that his teeth ached.

“But you know, girls are totally into that. If I were you, I’d dance with them all night and try to score. You’re a freshman now, right?”

Hale nodded again.

“You’d be a legend—the kind of kid teen movies are made about. You wanna be the next Ferris Bueller?”

Hale didn’t really aspire to that, but he found himself nodding, anyway. Internally, he winced. He had to look like the world’s biggest dweeb, standing there and nodding at a senior like that. Who the hell was he, anyway? Hale didn’t remember him, and he was fairly certain he knew most of the kids in Hidden Creek, even if only by face.

“Then here’s your chance. Get in there, go find Mary Chilt, and let the rest of the night sweep you off your feet. Mary’s going to go wild for you, and once she’s got her claws in you, I know the rest of her friends are going to take you on as a pet project. I think she’s three beers in already, so you won’t even have to try. Venture forth and you will find happiness.” He winked. “Oh, and by the way? This is to both of you, so listen up—if the cops come, you need to go out through the sliding glass door in the dining room and hop the fence, okay? It’ll let out into the woods and everyone can scatter from there. Help weaklings and dweebs out before you hop it, so everyone gets over. I don’t need drunk under-aged kids crying in my backyard because they’re getting thrown in jail for the night all because no one would help them get to safety. Got it?”

“Got it,” Hale tried to say, but his tongue tripped, and he was sure he sounded like a total idiot. The young man in the doorway pinched his eyebrows together and looked at him, like he was trying to figure Hale out, then shook his head and made eye contact with Michael.

“We were just getting started on a game of strip poker down in the basement. Tiffany Chen, Victoria Carrow, and Amanda Dyson are there. You in, Michael? I know you bring the pain.”

“How naked are they right now?” Michael asked.

The young man shrugged. “Like, not naked at all... which is why I need your help. I’m only okay at poker, but if we play strategically, I think we could have them stripped down in like, half an hour.”

“Yeah, I’m in.” There was a wicked glint in Michael’s eyes that Hale had never seen before. “You going to be okay up here alone, twerp?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m going down to the basement with Austin. Remember what we talked about.”

Hale nodded. He sneaked another look at Austin, committing his name to memory. He was the kind of gorgeous that Hale didn’t think should be allowed to exist, let alone on someone so completely off-limits. Light brown hair with stunning golden undertones, a clear complexion, strong, muscular shoulders, a tight, toned body that made Hale wish he could be a fly on the wall in that basement room...

Austin was as close to perfect as Hale could imagine, and that was saying something when he took into consideration how much porn he secretly watched online.

“Alright. We’re good, then. Have fun at your first senior party, kid. Remember this moment the next time you want to start shit with me over something stupid. This should grant me immunity for at least, like, four months.”

Four months sounded fair. Hale nodded, still unable to put his thoughts into words, and watched as Michael and Austin disappeared into the house. The stairs to the basement were within view of the front door, and Hale stood by and watched as both men descended. When they were gone, he stepped over the threshold, closed the door, and took a deep breath. The place already smelled like stale beer, and the music blasting from the living room was deafening. Hale looked down the hall to his left, then down the hall to his right, and made a decision. The tiny sitting room he’d entered after coming through the door wasn’t where the party was happening, so he followed the music down the hall to the left and emerged into the living room where almost the entire Hidden Creek High School senior class was gathered.

“Oh. My. God!” a girl shrieked from across the room. Her voice made it over the music blasting from the surround-sound stereo system. Hale looked her way only to find himself swarmed by a group of senior girls. One of them—the brunette with the beach-wave hair—was Mary Chilt, the girl Austin had been telling him about. Hale recognized her face, but had never had the chance to speak to her in person before.

“Who are you?” Mary demanded, voice strained over the music. She grinned at him like he was a particularly adorable kitten and ran a hand through his hair affectionately. Hale shivered. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. You are so stinking cute.”

“Ohmigosh, isn’t he?” another girl asked.

“The cutest!”

“He’s so tiny. What a babe!”

Hale blinked. No one had ever treated him like this before, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. “Um, I’m... Hale McMillan.”

“Oh!” Mary clapped her hands together. “The gay McMillan! So that’s who you are! My parents have been talking about you, but I had no idea who you were. I’m so glad to meet you. You’re like, so brave.”

“Totally brave,” another girl volunteered.

“The bravest.”

Hale looked around the room, trying to get a feel for where he stood. The hair stood up on the back of his neck. He knew that the adults had all been talking about him—for a while, some of this kids in his grade hadn’t been allowed to sit near him in class, and they’d told him it was because their parents didn’t want them to be influenced. Hale didn’t really care—he’d never exactly been Mr. Popular—but there was something crushing about isolation that still got to him even now. It wasn’t that his classmates hated him... they just weren’t allowed to like him, and somehow, that made it worse.

“Girls,” Mary said, lifting her hands to cover her mouth as she giggled. “I just had a super fantastic idea. Are you guys ready to help me out? I’m going to need all your help.”

“What is it, Mary?”

“I’m like, so totally ready to help! Just tell me what to do.”

Mary dropped her hands, revealing her grin. “Do you trust me, Hale?”

Hale didn’t know what to say, but she was a senior, and she was one of the most popular girls at Hidden Creek High School, so he nodded.

“He trusts me!” Mary squealed. She took Hale’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t you worry, honey. When my girls and I are through with you, there’s not going to be a single secretly gay boy in the house who isn’t going to wish you were legal.”

“Oh my god, are you talking about Dustin?” one of the girls asked. “Because I’m pretty sure he’s into guys.”

“She’s talking about Jake. Duh.”

“No. No, I’m not really talking about anyone.” Mary shook her head. “Just, you know... no matter what our parents say, there’s no way that Hale is the only gay kid here, you know? Like, how many girls do you know who are kind of secretly dating their BFFs?”

“True.”

“You’re so right.”

“So,” Mary said. She smiled. “We’re going to make sure that if there is another gay boy here, he’s going to want this cutie. Expert level teasing, right?”

Before Hale could make a comment, he was dragged from the living room and brought down the hall. He had no idea where they were going, or what was going on, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t in for the kind of night Austin had promised.

“Claire, your little brother is like, the same size as Hale, right?” Mary asked. “And you live down the street, right? Could you run home and put together something nice?”

“Of course I can!” One of the girls split from the group and disappeared from the house. Hale watched her go, desperate to know what was going on. He had an idea that whatever it was likely wouldn’t work in his favor.

Mary brought him to a spot outside a closed door. She knocked three times, waited, then turned the knob and pushed Hale inside. The lights were already on, allowing Hale to latch onto the bathroom sink to keep himself from slipping on the tile. Someone had spilled water all over the tiled floor and hadn’t cleaned it up.

Mary sighed. “Stephanie, Tracy, can you guys find some towels and take care of the floor? Meredith, Brianna, I’m going to need access to The Stash. Do you have it?

The Stash? Hale looked between them, completely lost.

“Yeah, of course!” Two girls stepped forward and opened their purses. Hale craned his head to look, but before he could see, several other girls flooded into the bathroom.

“We heard that you might need help,” the newcomers said. Hale wasn’t sure who they were talking to, but he assumed it meant more trouble for him. He held back a sigh and braced himself for the worst. Whatever was about to happen couldn’t be worse than getting swirlied at school or beat up behind the bleachers, could it?

He could ride this out.

Maybe, if it got bad enough, he’d have an excuse to crash the game going on in the basement. The thought of Austin, stripped down to his underwear, his cock flush against the woven cotton, gave Hale the strength he needed to see his potential torture through.

* * *

If it was torture, it was the strangest kind of torture he’d ever endured. Mary poked him in the eye with a black eyeliner pencil a few times, but apart from that, he found he almost enjoyed what was happening to him. One of the girls stood behind him, massaging his scalp as she worked some product into his hair. Another took care of his jagged, dirty nails, filing them down until they were uniform and scrubbing them until they were pristine. Claire, who’d gone back to her house, returned with clothes in his size that didn’t belong to him, but that weren’t hand-me-down, patchwork disasters. She promised he could wear them at least for tonight. Mary, her face tight with concentration, had been dabbing at his face with tiny sponges, fussing over this, then that. When she was content, all the girls stepped away, and Hale was allowed to look at himself in the mirror for the first time.

He didn’t recognize the young man who looked back at him.

It wasn’t that he was fundamentally changed—Mary’s touch was subtle, and he wasn’t suddenly wearing a full face of colors—but she’d amplified the natural beauty of his face, smoothed his skin tone, and brought out his eyes with a tasteful application of barely noticeable eyeliner. His hair was tamed and full of life, glossier and more vibrant than it had ever been before. The russet undertones were played up, and for the first time in his life, Hale thought he could get behind what his mother had always told him—that he was a redhead who just didn’t know it. But more than that, the clothes he’d changed into fitted his body and gave him a sense of style he’d never had before. Worn T-shirts and jeans were comfortable, but for the first time, Hale understood that they had their place. He looked classy as fuck in a button-down and a pair of simple gray pants.

He had a body, which was a weird thing to realize at fourteen, since he’d always had one, but it was something he hadn’t really noticed before. If he could find himself attractive, then other people could, too, right? Other guys?

Hale had never thought he had a chance, but now?

“You. Look. Amazing!” Mary said. She clapped her hands together and smiled at him. “Girls?”

“He’s gorgeous!”

“Any guy would be lucky to have him. He’s super cute.”

“I think he’s ready for the party now.” Mary beamed. “You wanna come dance with us, Hale? You’re like, totally cool and everyone is going to love you. Want to go flaunt what you got?”

Flaunt wasn’t a word previously in Hale’s vocabulary, but he took a liking to it very quickly. He smiled at Mary, hoping to express some of his gratitude. Before he could speak, Mary and her friends gasped.

“Did you see his smile?” one of them asked.

“Could he be any more gorgeous?”

“It’s a crime that he’s not into girls. He’s going to grow up to make some guy really happy one day.”

Hale smiled again. “Um, thank you, guys...”

“Come dance with us!” Mary insisted. She took Hale by the hand. “You’re so hot, and everyone deserves to see it. Do you want a beer? I can get you a beer.”

“Isn’t he like twelve?”

“No. He’s definitely older. Like, sixteen?” Mary blinked. “How old are you, Hale?”

“Fourteen,” Hale admitted quietly.

Mary frowned, then shrugged and laughed it off. “Well, I heard there’s no legal drinking age in Norway. If he’s hanging out with us, then we can just keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, right?”

“Norway is like, so progressive,” someone agreed. “It must be okay.”

“Right? It all depends on perspective. Let’s get our boy a beer and have some fun!”

Hale had no idea how he’d gotten so lucky, but he hoped against hope that his luck didn’t run out. He’d never felt so good about himself. For once in his life, he wasn’t being pushed away or ignored, and all this attention made him feel like he could get through life in his small town no matter what the rumors said about him.

* * *

“Sway. No, no, Hale, honey, sway. That’s it. That’s better. You’ve got it.” Mary grinned at him. “Don’t think you can hide your body behind your clothes anymore. You’re out now, and I’m going to make sure you’re proud of it.”

Hale didn’t think he’d ever swung his hips before in his life, but Mary was a good teacher, and she was patient, even when he was making a fool of himself on the impromptu living room dance floor. He was attracting more eyes than ever, but Hale didn’t notice anyone looking at him with reproach. People were smiling at him. It was the strangest thing.

“There you go.” Mary smiled at him. She’d brought him into her circle of friends, but he was the only one she was paying attention to right now. “You’re going to want to know how to move now that you’re in high school. There are so many dances you’ll have to go to. Homecoming, semi-formal, all the holiday dances, prom...”

“I don’t know if I can go,” Hale admitted. The music was still blasting, and he had to raise his voice to make himself heard. “Lots of kids aren’t supposed to talk to me.”

“You know what you can tell them?” Mary glanced from side to side conspiratorially, then leaned in so that only he could hear. “Tell them to go fuck themselves. You’re so cute that it would be a crime not to have you at dances!”

Hale smiled. He didn’t think she was leading him on.

“And you know what?” Mary drew back from him but lost her balance and stumbled for a second. She caught herself, blinked in confusion, then laughed. “As long as you keep learning from the best, you’re going to be one of the sexiest dancers at any HCHS dance. It’s all in the hips.”

“It’s all in the hips,” Hale mumbled. He mimicked the way Mary moved, following her lead.

“You’ve got it! Yeah! Own it!” She laughed again. “Oh my god, do you want another beer?”

“You drank mine for me, remember?” Hale asked. “I didn’t like it.”

“Oh. Um. Right. Right.” Mary waved him off. “Well, you stay right here and I’m going to go get another beer because Austin’s house party is amazing!”

With nothing more to be said, she left him in the crowd. Hale kept swaying to the music, trying his best to remember what Mary had told him to do.

It’s all in the hips... all in the hips...

Across the room, he spotted Michael. Tiffany Chen was on his arm, and her hair was disheveled. That meant that Austin was—

“You’ve got some smooth moves for a twerp,” Austin said, too close to Hale’s ear for comfort. Hale jumped, his heart clogging his throat. He spun on his heels to face Austin, who didn’t look disheveled at all. Hale was sure he was red in the face. “Has Mary been kind to you?”

“Y-Yeah,” Hale admitted. He looked into Austin’s eyes and, for a moment, he thought he noticed Austin’s expression change. The cocky, confident grin slipped from his face, and he looked at Hale with what appeared to be wonder. But as quickly as the moment arrived, it was gone again, and Hale was left wondering if it was all a trick of his mind.

“Good stuff,” Austin said. He winked. “Have fun with the ladies tonight, Hale. You’ve certainly got them eating out of your hand.”

The only person Hale wanted to have fun with was the one he’d never get to touch. He watched Austin leave the circle of Mary’s friends and disappear down the hall.

No matter what kind of magic Mary and her friends worked on him, he’d never have the one he wanted. Painfully beautiful, painfully straight Austin was out of the picture.

But, no matter how many years passed, he was never entirely out of Hale’s mind.