Work Text:
Something has changed about Bobby. Well, okay, a lot has changed about Bobby since she came out. The more pressing issue is that something has changed about the way Luke looks at Bobby.
Before Bobby came out, Luke’s stomach never flipped whenever Bobby looked at him. He never spent hours thinking about how the corners of her eyes crinkle when she smiles. He never laid awake at night dreaming about what it might be like to kiss her. But now…
Luke knows the change isn’t because he knows she’s a girl now. He likes boys the same as he likes girls, and he never felt this way about Bobby when they all thought she was a boy.
He doesn’t know what else has changed though. He doesn’t know why he feels this way all of a sudden, but it’s really fucking annoying because the boys are all trying to make sure Bobby knows nothing about their relationship has changed but something has and Luke needs it to change back.
He’s sitting in the studio contemplating this when the voices of Alex and Reggie bickering in the driveway alerts him to his friends’ arrival home from school.
Bobby is the first in the door, not even sparing Luke a glance as she beelines past him to the bathroom. This is fairly standard procedure; she still has to dress like a boy at school, but at home she refuses to leave the bathroom until her outfit is perfect and her makeup is just right.
Alex and Reggie follow closely behind, and Reggie immediately throws himself into Luke’s lap.
“What’s up, Reg?” Luke laughs.
“Missed you,” Reggie shrugs, wrapping his arms around Luke. “What did you do today?”
Luke hums and grabs his notebook to show Reggie. “I think I finally figured out the chorus for ‘Lakeside Reflection.’”
“I still think Lex should get a solo in that one,” Reggie says, reading over the new lyrics.
“Absolutely not,” Alex says. He drops down next to Luke and Reggie on the couch. “I do want one in ‘Now or Never,’ though.”
“How about a vocal solo in ‘Now or Never’ and only a drum solo in ‘Lakeside'?” Luke bargains.
Alex groans, dropping his head onto the back of the couch.
“Please, Lex?” Reggie begs, shuffling into Alex’s lap instead. “It’ll sound so good.”
Even as Alex lets out a long put-upon sigh, he wraps his arms around Reggie’s waist and pulls him closer. “Fine.”
“Yes!” Luke quickly scribbles a note to add solos for Alex into both the songs. He’s so excited about it that he almost misses the sound of Bobby coming out of the bathroom.
“You guys ready to go?” she asks.
Luke looks up and nearly chokes. Bobby’s wearing her favorite yellow sunflower dress, the very first one she stole from her mom’s closet. She has her wig on even though her natural hair has grown out past her chin, because it makes her less recognizable in case they run into anyone from school. There’s something glittery on her cheeks, and the sunlight coming through the studio window catches it just right to give her a sort of ethereal glow. It takes all of Luke’s energy to keep his expression neutral.
He must fail, because Bobby shoots him a look like she’s wondering how many brain cells he has. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing,” Luke says too quickly. “Where are you going all dressed up?”
Reggie wiggles free from Alex’s arms and bounces to his feet. “To the boardwalk!”
Alex gets up as well, holding out a hand to help Luke to his feet. “Roberta–”
“Not my name–”
“--wants some new jewelry, so we’re going shopping and then getting ice cream.”
“Oh,” Luke says. “Fun.” He wishes Bobby would have told him she wants new jewelry. He would have bought her some. Well, stolen her some. He’s not exactly liquid right now.
“You coming?” Bobby asks. Luke thinks he maybe sees a bit of hope in her eyes, but that might just be wishful thinking.
“Duh,” Luke says, throwing an arm around her shoulders. He tries not to think about the way his heart pounds as he does so. God, Luke, get it together . “I’d never pass up ice cream.”
Bobby makes a face and pushes him away. “You need it. You’re all sweaty.”
Luke pouts and takes a moment to sniff his arms to see if they’re as sweaty as Bobby says they are (they’re not), then bounds out of the garage after his friends.
It’s a nice spring day, which is refreshing after being cooped up in the studio all day. The nice weather only serves to exacerbate Reggie’s perpetual good mood, and he goes skipping ahead of the group, occasionally stopping to look at wildflowers growing on the side of the road. Luke watches him with a smile as Alex and Bobby talk about their chemistry test today beside him.
When they’re only about a block away from the peer, Bobby elbows him, her mouth slanting in a mischievous grin, and says, “Race you.”
She takes off, way too fast for someone who’s wearing wedges. As soon as Luke registers what’s just happened he bolts after her, yelling about the unfair start.
Bobby makes it to the boardwalk first, though Luke is right on her heels as they come to a stop. She lets out a victorious laugh, something light and happy , and all of Luke’s breath leaves his body.
That’s it, Luke realizes, watching the afternoon sun light up Bobby’s beautiful smile, that’s what’s changed. Bobby never smiled like that before. She used to be all broody and grumpy and serious, but now she moves with a newfound levity and laughs openly and smiles all the time.
It’s insanely attractive, and Luke is screwed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It wouldn’t be such a big problem if Luke wasn’t living in Bobby’s garage. As it stands, it’s a huge fucking problem.
Because Luke is just sitting in the garage, minding his own business and trying not to think about Bobby–and desperately failing, he’s already written the first verse of a song about her– when the devil herself comes in and drops her head into his lap like she belongs there. Luke quickly turns the page of his notebook so she can’t see it.
“Hi,” Bobby grins up at him.
Luke’s hand moves without his permission to card through Bobby’s hair. She’s not wearing her wig since it’s just the two of them, but she has a long skirt on with a blouse that rides up a bit when she happily presses back into Luke’s hand. Luke tries not to fixate on it, but that little sliver of stomach is far too enticing.
He manages to choke out a “What’s up, Bobbers?” His voice is only slightly too high. He counts it as a win.
“Bored,” Bobby shrugs. “What’s up with you?”
“Just writing, I guess,” Luke says.
Bobby glances over at the notebook she displaced. “That page is blank.”
“Well, it’s not going great,” Luke huffs, tossing the notebook aside.
Bobby hums understandingly. “Writers’ block?”
“Something like that.”
“Can I help?”
Well how the fuck is Luke supposed to answer that? No, because actually I have inspiration but it’s all love songs about you and I can’t do that?
“Sure,” he squeaks.
Bobby’s face lights up in a delighted grin, and God , Luke wants to kiss her so bad. “I’ve got this melody that’s been stuck in my head all day, let me get my guitar.”
Bobby scrambles off Luke’s lap, and Luke tries hard not to pout at her absence. She grabs her guitar from its stand and quickly tunes it, then starts to pluck out a soft melody. After a moment, she closes her eyes and starts to sing, not lyrics but quiet da da das that match the melody in her head.
Luke is transfixed. His entire world narrows down to just Bobby, just her beautiful voice and the way her throat moves and the small smile on her face as she sings. He’s not even listening to the melody, just watching her graceful fingers move over the fretboard.
It takes him a moment too long to realize she’s done playing.
“Well?” Bobby asks. “What do you think?”
Like the eloquent songwriter he is, Luke opens and closes his mouth a few times, stammers out an unintelligible “Uh, um,” and then books it into the bathroom and hides there until he hears Bobby leave the garage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the others get home from school on Friday, Bobby’s in a bad mood. Luke immediately tenses, worried he did something to upset her, but he quickly forces himself to relax. The last thing he could’ve done to make her mad is running off after she played her song, but she clearly didn’t think much of that. When he finally emerged from the bathroom, he found a note from her reading Use the air freshener if you took a shit , which is a mortifying note to get from the girl you like, but at least she’s not mad at him.
“What’s wrong, Bobbers?” Luke asks as she stomps past him towards the bathroom.
“Nothing,” she growls, then slams the bathroom door behind her.
Luke looks to Reggie and Alex for help. Alex sighs and sits down next to Luke.
“Student council wants us to play at prom.”
“No way!” Luke leaps off the couch in his excitement. “How is that a bad thing?”
“Bobby doesn’t want to,” Reggie says.
“What?” Luke yelps. He marches over to the bathroom and bangs on the door. “Bobby, why wouldn’t we play the dance?”
The door flies open, revealing a scowling Bobby in a black dress. She doesn’t have any makeup on, which is never a good sign. “Because I don’t want to, okay?” she snaps.
“But—”
“You shouldn’t want to either,” Bobby interrupts, stalking over to her guitar. “You’re a missing person, you can’t just play a school gig.”
“She has a point,” Alex concedes.
“Okay, fine,” Luke says, “so let Reg take over as lead for one gig. Bobby can play my guitar parts. This is still a great chance to get our names out there.” Sure, he hates the idea of not being able to play a gig with his band, but it’s one night, and it could win over the rest of their classmates who aren’t already fans.
“Reg and Alex can do whatever they want, but I’m not doing it,” Bobby says. “End of discussion. Can we rehearse now?”
“But why?” Luke demands.
“I said end of discussion.”
“But–”
“I can’t, Luke, okay?” Bobby shouts, whipping around to glare at him. “I can’t do it. I can’t–I can’t stand up there and wear a suit and–and pretend to be someone I’m not when all I want to do is wear a pretty dress and dance with a boy. I can’t do it.”
Luke takes a step back, his eyes wide and stricken. “Bobby, I–”
Bobby slams her guitar back down onto its stand. “I’m out. Rehearse without me, I don’t care.”
“Bobby, wait–” Luke reaches for her, but she’s already out the door. He tries to follow, but Alex holds him back.
“Let me talk to her,” Alex says.
Luke nods, sinking back down onto the couch. Alex probably knows what Bobby is feeling better than anybody, since he won’t be allowed to take the date he really wants to prom. He had apparently wanted to ask a boy from his dance class that goes to a different school, but the school wouldn’t allow him to bring a boy as his plus one.
Luke looks to Reggie as Alex slips out the door. “Did you know she was so upset about it?”
Reggie shrugs, dropping down next to Luke. “I figured she wouldn’t want to dress as a boy for prom. I didn’t know she was thinking about it that much.”
Luke nods, then remembers something else Bobby had said. “Who’s the boy?”
“What?”
“She said she wants to dance with a boy,” Luke says. “What boy does she want to dance with?”
Reggie looks at Luke like he’s expecting a punchline. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?” Luke frowns.
“I thought it’d be pretty obvious.”
So it’s a boy Luke knows? He tries to think back to all the guys he’s seen Bobby talk to before. She never really gave anyone the time of day at school, but last week when they went to the boardwalk the guy running the ice cream stand had been pretty flirty with her. He was in Luke’s algebra class, before Luke dropped out. He can’t remember his name though. John or Jake or something like that.
“The ice cream guy?”
Reggie blinks at him, trying to make sense of that comment. “You mean Jordan Presley?”
“Yeah, him,” Luke nods. “Is that who Bobby likes?”
Reggie laughs, shaking his head.
“So who is it then?” Luke demands.
For one glorious second, Luke thinks Reggie is actually going to tell him, but then he just shakes his head. “Bobby would kill me if I told.”
“What?” Luke whines. “Reggie!”
Reggie gets off the couch, scampering towards the door. “Nope. Not going to get murdered by Bobby today, thank you.”
“Reggie!” Luke chases after him out into the courtyard. Reggie gets as far as the top of the stairs before Luke tackles him into the grass, the both of them rolling over each other a few times before Luke comes out on top and pins Reggie to the ground.
“Get off!” Reggie squirms, trying to push Luke off.
“Tell me!” Luke insists.
“No!”
Luke growls and uses one hand to pin both of Reggie’s above his head. His other hand drives into Reggie’s side, tickling all the places he knows Reggie is most sensitive.
“Luke!” Reggie squeals, writhing beneath him. “Stop!”
“Tell me!”
“Luke!”
Luke prods Reggie harder. “Tell me!”
“It’s you!” Reggie shrieks.
Luke sits back in shock, and Reggie slaps a hand over his own mouth with a terrified squeak.
“What?” Luke breathes.
Reggie takes advantage of Luke’s shock to shove him off, then takes off running. “Don’t tell her I told!” he calls back, and then he’s gone.
Luke is too preoccupied to do anything about it.
Bobby likes him . Bobby wants to take him to prom.
What the fuck is he supposed to do with that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It takes a few days but eventually Luke figures out exactly what to do about it. It’s a pretty good plan, if he does say so himself. Plus, if he can pull it off, Alex will get a date out of it too. Miraculously, Alex gives his blessing on the plan, but advises Luke to make sure everything is lined up perfectly before broaching it to Bobby. If he’s not one hundred percent certain he can pull this off, it’ll only give Bobby false hope.
That’s why Monday night after school, he finds himself accompanying Alex to marching band practice. He has a hoodie, baseball cap, and sunglasses on, hoping none of the band teachers will recognize him. Alex introduces him as his cousin Pierre from France, and as stupid as it sounds, they buy it when Luke introduces himself in French.
Once they’ve made it past the teachers, Alex leads him down to the corner of the football field where the drumline does their warmups. The drumline is mostly guys, with the exception of Vicky Spencer, the center snare. Luke’s terrified of her. Her girlfriend, Kathy, is a sweetheart and Luke would much rather be dealing with her, but she’s on the color guard and apparently there’s no inter-section fraternizing during rehearsal, so they’re stuck trying to reason with Vicky.
Alex greets her with a bump. “Hey, Vicky.”
“Hey, Mercer.” Vicky turns to Luke, looking him up and down with critical eyes. “What’s up with the celebrity disguise, Patterson? You’re not that famous.”
“How’d you know it was me?” Luke asks.
Vicky snorts. “I’ve never seen someone look that uncomfortable in sleeves.”
Luke wants to point out that Vicky is currently wearing a cut off so deep it shows off more of her sports bra than can possibly be allowed by the dress code, but he reminds himself that he needs to be on her good side for this.
“Alex and I have a favor to ask you,” Luke says, cutting to the point.
Vicky raises a skeptical eyebrow.
“Can we maybe talk somewhere more private?” Alex asks, nodding to the rest of the drumline. They don’t really look like they’re listening–one of the guys is trying to saw a drumstick in half with a cowbell while the others encourage him—but Luke guesses it doesn’t hurt to be too safe.
Vicky leads them over to the equipment shed where they keep the drums. She leans against the wall and crosses her arms, studying them expectantly. “Well?”
“Okay,” Luke says, “so here’s the deal. Alex wants to bring a dude from another school to prom and I want to go with the girl I like, but I can’t go as a registered student.”
“We were wondering if you and Kathy would take Luke and Chris as your official plus ones,” Alex explains.
“Why can’t Luke’s girlfriend take him?” Vicky asks.
“She’s not my girlfriend–”
“Yet,” Alex interjects.
“--but it’s complicated.” The school checks IDs for every guest, and while Luke has a fake, Bobby’s still waiting on her new fake since she came out. She’ll have to come to the dance as a registered student dressed like a boy, then change once they’re past the greeters. Since she’s a boy in the school’s eyes, they won’t allow her to bring a male plus one, same as Alex.
“What would me and Kathy get out of it?” Vicky asks.
“Queer solidarity?” Alex offers hopefully.
Vicky levels him with an unimpressed stare.
“And we’ll pay for your tickets,” Alex sighs.
Vicky considers it for a moment, her eyes shifting over to where Kathy is warming up with the guard. “I’ll have to talk to Kathy about it,” she says. “We weren’t going to go.”
“Why not?” Luke asks.
“Kathy doesn’t do dresses and they won’t let her wear a suit.”
Alex and Luke share a glance. It’s the exact problem Bobby’s facing. Maybe they can find a way to make it work for both of them, though. Luke tugs Alex down so he can whisper in his ear.
“Lex,” he says, “would you say Kathy and Bobby are about the same size?”
Alex glances over at Kathy. She’s doing pushups with the rest of the guard. She’s tall and broad and buff, just like Bobby. Alex gives Luke an impressed look.
“You know,” he says, “you may be an idiot but you sure have your moments.”
Luke grins and turns back to Vicky. “I think we can fix that too. I can’t tell you how without talking to my date first, but if this plan works Kathy will be able to wear a suit.”
Vicky thinks about it. “Okay,” she says finally. “I’ll talk to her and see what I can do.”
“Yes!” Luke cheers. “Thank you, Vicky. We owe you big time.”
“Oh yeah,” Vicky laughs. “You’re gonna be doing my English homework for the rest of the year, Patterson.”
Fair enough, Luke supposes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that Vicky and Kathy are on board, it’s time for Luke to do the hardest part: convince Bobby it’s a good idea.
He waits until after rehearsal Wednesday night. Bobby heads up to the house almost as soon as they’re done for the day. She hasn’t quite been avoiding them these last few days, but it’s clear that the whole prom argument is still bothering her. She’s had less of a tolerance for socializing than usual, and her outfits have been darker and less attention-grabbing, almost like the all-black she wore before she came out. Luke misses her yellow dress. He misses her smile.
Alex and Reggie wish Luke good luck before they leave, and as soon as the door shuts behind them, Luke hurries up to the loft to grab the bouquet of flowers he hid up there while Bobby was at school.
He quickly fixes his hair so it’s not quite so messed up from rehearsal, then makes his way up to the front door of the house and rings the doorbell. He hides the flowers behind his back as Bobby opens the door with a confused frown.
“The fuck are you doing, Lu?” she asks. “Since when do you use the doorbell?”
“Since today, I guess,” Luke shrugs. “I wanted to do this right.”
“Do what?”
Luke takes a deep breath and pulls the flowers out from behind his back. “Bobby Shaw, will you go to prom with me?”
Bobby blink at him, surprised.
Then she slams the door in his face.
“What–” Luke pushes the door open and follows Bobby into the house. “Bobby!”
“That’s not funny, Luke,” Bobby says as she stomps up the stairs.
Luke scrambles up the stairs after her. “I wasn’t joking!”
“You know I can’t.” Bobby retreats into her bedroom and almost manages to close the door before Luke catches it and pushes it open. “You don’t get to rub it in my face like this.”
“I’m not trying to!” Luke insists. “Bobby, listen, I have a plan–”
“I don’t want your fucking pity date, Patterson,” Bobby snaps.
“It’s not a pity date!”
Bobby snorts, but there’s something hurt in her eyes. “Yeah, right. Then what the fuck is it, Luke?”
“It’s a date date!”
Bobby goes deadly silent. She studies Luke with a completely guarded face; Luke couldn’t guess what she was thinking if he tried.
“Bobby,” Luke breathes, “I want you to be my girlfriend.”
Bobby stares at him for another long moment. Finally, she grits out, “Why?”
“Why?” Luke repeats.
Bobby nods, her face still revealing nothing. “Why would you want to date me?”
Luke decides to throw caution to the wind. He steps forward and takes Bobby’s hands in his own. She doesn’t pull away, so Luke takes that as a good sign. “Because you have the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen, and I want to be the one who causes it.”
There’s a horrible moment where Luke thinks Bobby is about to yell at him or throw him out, but then something in her face breaks and all of a sudden their lips are pressed together, Bobby’s hands fisting in the front of Luke’s shirt.
“Is that a yes?” Luke asks breathlessly when Bobby finally pulls away.
Bobby smiles at him, that gorgeous smile that makes Luke forget how to breathe. “Yes. I’ll be your girlfriend.”
“And will you go to prom with me?”
“I’m gonna need to hear your plan first on that one.” Bobby sits down on her bed and uses Luke’s hand to tug him down with her.
“It’s a good plan,” Luke tells her. “Even Alex thinks so.”
“I’ll believe that when I hear him say it.”
Luke springs up from the bed. “We can go ask him right now–”
“Luke,” Bobby laughs. She pulls him back down and presses a soft kiss to his lips. “I believe you,” she says softly. “Tell me the plan.”
Luke grins and leans into his girlfriend’s-- his girlfriend’s!-- side. “Okay. So step one…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prom comes faster than any of them anticipated. It feels like one moment Bobby and Kathy are going dress and suit shopping together, and the next they’re all getting ready in the garage, Kathy and Vicky included. Alex’s and Reggie’s dates— Chris and Leandra, respectively— are there too, which has turned both of them into stuttering, blushing messes. A small part of Luke relishes in being the most put together one for once.
Of course, he’s only managing to do that because he’s blindfolded. He’s not allowed to see Bobby’s dress until they get to prom, even if Bobby’s not the one wearing it. Luke was forced to get dressed ahead of time and then Reggie had tied a tie around his eyes, so now he’s sat on the couch listening to Alex stumble over his words as he tries to explain to Chris that this is where they rehearse.
Once everyone’s dressed, Alex and Reggie lead Luke to the van and shove him into the backseat next to Bobby. It’s not a long ride to the school, but it feels like an eternity to Luke. It’s torture, knowing that Bobby is right there but he can’t see her. At least she grants him the small consolation prize of holding his hand the whole way there.
As they pull into the school parking lot, Luke feels Bobby tense. He gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, then waits to be transported out of the van by Reggie.
He gets to take his blindfold off for a grand total of two minutes while they make it past the ID checkers. Bobby and Kathy stand behind him and he’s strictly forbidden from looking around. As soon as they’re past the check-in desk, the blindfold is back on, and the whole group sneaks off to find an empty classroom where they won’t get caught changing.
It takes way too long for Bobby and Kathy to switch outfits. Luke bounces on the balls of his feet impatiently outside the classroom, trying to listen through the door to see what’s taking them so long.
Finally, finally , Luke is pulled through the door of the classroom.
“You ready to see your girl?” Alex asks as he unties the blindfold.
“I’ve been ready for hours,” Luke nods.
Alex lets the blindfold fall, and Luke opens his eyes to find the most stunning sight he’s ever seen before him. Bobby’s dress is a soft yellow, with flowers embroidered in lace over the bodice and the top part of the skirt. Bobby smiles at him bashfully as she plays with the skirt, like she isn’t sure he’ll like it.
“Bobby,” Luke breathes, closing the distance between them. “You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
Bobby gives him a full smile then, the makeup on her cheeks glittering even in the dim light of the empty classroom. “You look really handsome too.”
Luke grins and gives her a quick kiss. “I got you something,” he says. He quickly crosses into Alex and digs into his fanny pack, despite Alex’s protest. He pulls out the little carton and goes back to Bobby to show her the matching corsage and boutonniere he ordered special for them.
“Sunflowers,” Bobby grins.
“Because you’re my sunflower,” Luke explains. He pops open the carton and removes Bobby’s flower, then carefully slips the band around Bobby’s wrist.
Bobby takes the boutonniere and attempts to pin it to Luke’s lapel, but she doesn’t have much success.
“How the hell does this work?” she huffs.
“Please don’t stab me,” Luke pleads.
“Well now I want to,” Bobby smirks. She finally manages to get the pin in just right, and she steps back with a proud smile. “There.”
“Alright,” Alex grins. “Are we ready to hit the dance floor?”
“Wait!” Reggie yelps, running over to one of the cabinets at the back of the room. “We need pictures!” He opens the cabinet and pulls out his red Polaroid camera. “I figured we’d be using this classroom. I stashed it in here yesterday.”
Alex gapes at him in awe. “Reg, you beautiful genius.”
They have a whole little photoshoot, with group shots and couple shots and individual shots. There’s a little part of Luke—and Bobby too, he can see it in her eyes—that’s bummed out that they didn’t get to do this with their families like all the non-queer kids get to do, but he pushes that aside. This is their family, and Luke wouldn’t trade it for the world.
They finally get into the gym, much to Alex’s satisfaction, to find it so decked out it’s hardly recognizable.
Luke immediately pulls Bobby onto the dance floor. She moves sort of awkwardly for the first few songs, like she’s not quite sure what to do with her body, but Luke puts her at ease by making a complete fool of himself, and gradually she starts to gain confidence in her dancing.
After their fifth dance, they decide to take a break and get some punch.
“I kinda wish they would play a slow song,” Bobby admits as they take a seat. “I love the fast songs, but I’m getting exhausted already.”
“I have a feeling they’ll play one soon,” Luke says. He looks across the room and makes eye contact with Alex, who’s dancing with Chris. Luke nods at him, and Alex immediately stops and goes to find Reggie.
The song ends a minute later, and instead of the band— who’s nowhere near as good as Sunset Curve, by the way— launching into another song, Reggie’s voice comes on over the speakers.
“Hi!” he chirps. He’s holding his acoustic guitar. “I’m Reggie and that’s Alex, and we’re half of Sunset Curve, tell your friends!”
This garners a large cheer from the crowd, Luke notes with satisfaction.
“Our lead singer couldn’t be here tonight,” Alex continues from his perch upon a cajon, “but he wrote a very special song for a very special girl, and he insisted it be played at prom. So Reg and I are gonna give you a little acoustic gig right now.”
Bobby turns to look at Luke in shock as Alex counts Reggie in. Luke smirks and stands, offering a hand to Bobby.
“Can I have this dance, Sunflower?”
I think that you look good with your hair down
I never liked it tied back
Tell me why you walk around with your head bowed
You're not the kind to blend into the crowd
Bobby takes his hand with a shy smile, and Luke tugs her onto the dance floor. It takes a moment of awkward fumbling for Luke to remember the dance lessons Alex gave him, but he finally gets his hands on Bobby’s waist while she rests hers on his shoulders.
And I think that you look better in yellow
Girl of the future, black doesn't suit ya
And I hope it's not to do with your fellow
Why you've painted your eyelids black and thrown out all your clothes
“I can’t believe you wrote a song for me,” Bobby giggles.
“Bobbers,” Luke says frankly. “I haven’t been able to write about anything but you for weeks.”
Bobby grins and pulls Luke into a kiss.
And I think that you look better in yellow
I think that you look better in yellow
Oh, I think that you look better in yellow
Just so you know
“Thank you for making this happen,” Bobby whispers when they pull away.
“Is it everything you ever dreamed of?” Luke asks.
Bobby nods, giving Luke another chaste kiss. “It really is.”
Why are you always playing the fool?
Your face is creasing, but the joke wasn't pleasing
Forgive me, love, but this just ain't you
Don't think so hard about the way that you move
Luke takes a moment to just study Bobby, study the way her dress swishes around as they sway, and the glitter caught in her hair, and the way her smile lights up the entire gymnasium. She’s gorgeous .
“I think I’m in love with you,” Luke whispers, before he can even think about it.
Bobby blinks, surprised. “You do?”
“I do,” Luke nods. “Seeing you this happy, it’s… it’s everything. I want you to be this happy all the time.”
And I think that you look better in yellow
I think that you look better in yellow
Oh, I think that you look better in yellow
(You look better to me)
I think that you look better in yellow
I think that you look better in yellow
Oh, I think that you look better in yellow
Just so you know
“I think I’m in love with you too,” Bobby whispers back.
Luke smiles so wide his face hurts. “That’s the greatest news I’ve ever heard.”
He pulls her in for another kiss, deeper this time, as the song ends and their classmates cheer.
Luke had never really cared about prom before, had never dreamed of what his might be like. It’s probably for the best, though, because no dream could ever compare to this, to having Bobby in his arms and watching her be truly happy and confident and comfortable in herself.
So things with Bobby have changed, but for the life of him, Luke can’t remember why he ever feared it. He wouldn’t trade this way for the world.
