The Prayers in Rossford

It was Adele who screamed when there was a knock at the door.

“Mama!” Layla said from upstairs.

“I’ll get it. I’m getting it,” Adele shouted, joyfully. She opened the door and said, “Aidan, you look so nice.”

“Thank you, Ms Houghton. So do you.”

Adele nodded, “I’m going on a—” she mouthed the words, “hot date.”

“With Mr. Davis? Way to go?”

“I have no personal business, do I?” Adele said, shutting the door behind the boy.

“Nope, and neither does Mr. Davis.”

“Layla!” Adele sang up the stairs. The instant her daughter’s name came out of her mouth, she envisioned Layla saying something smart in response to the singsong.

Instead, very much aware that this was her moment, and the first one she’d had since confirmation, Layla came down the steps slowly, in black shot with sequins, baby’s breath in her hair. Adele noticed that Aidan had a baby’s breath corsage, so she applauded them for being coordinated.

“Oh…” Adele breathed.

“Mama, you just saw me a few minutes ago.”

“But not like this,” Adele said, shaking her head. “Not coming down here.”

“You’d think,” Layla started to say to Aidan, and then noticed the look on his face too.

“Wha—?” she began.

“Just,” Aidan put up a hand as he came to her. “For a minute. Let me see you. Let me see how beautiful you are.”

In the car Layla commented, “You do know…Wait a minute, can I talk again?” she was in earnest.

Aidan laughed.

“Yes, it doesn’t matter how much you chatter, you’re still beautiful.”

“I do not chatter. I converse,” Layla told him. “And you’re pretty beautiful yourself. But… I was just going to say, at this very moment I suppose Will’s at your house watching Annie come down the staircase?”

“Yes,” Aidan said. “It’s a good thing we bought that house. Before we lived in a ranch, and coming out of the bathroom and down the hallway, just isn’t the same.”

“So this is prom,” Annelise said.

They all nodded and Annelise said, “Do we do anything else besides sit at this table and look at people? Half of them are on prom court.”

“Well,” Kenny gestured tentatively to the middle of the dance floor, “a few people are up.”

“I want to dance,” Annelise said.

Brendan looked at Kenny and said, “You wanna dance?”

“I dare you guys,” Dena said.

“Are you serious?” said Kenny.

“Of course, I’m serious.”

“But…”

“I don’t care about these folks,” Brendan said.

“Well, then I really don’t care about these folks either,” James said, and offered his hand.

Noah looked at him and James said, “This is the thing you can’t do?”

“Yeah,” chimed in Radha. “I don’t mean to get all up in your former line of work, but…” and then she got up, holding her hand out to Mark.

“I,” Layla announced, “am not going to dance to this shit. We need to get something… older up in here.”

“How about this,” Aidan got up. “I’ll get some good music, and then we can dance?”

As Aidan walked away, Noah grabbed James’s hand and whispered, excitedly, “We’re going to dance.”

“Should we ask Father Malloy if it’s okay?”

“No,” Brendan decided. “No we should not. I’m never going to ask anyone if any part of my life is okay again.”

And just then, across the band music cut:

At last
My love is come
My lonely days are over,
And life is like a song…

First James and Noah, and then Brendan with Kenny and next Radha and Mark came onto the dance floor. Aidan rounded the table, and offered his hand to Layla.

“You know what?” she said as, taking his hand, she rose from her chair, “I think I’ll keep you.”

Aidan grinned and kissed her as they moved to the dance floor.

“How do you know I’ll keep you?” he said.

She pounded him lightly with her fist. “You worked too hard for me. And you know I’m too mean and evil for anyone else. I’d be alone for the rest of my life—whoo!”

Aidan dipped her.

“That was nice!”

“I’ve been working on it all week. And no,” Aidan said, “I do not think you would ever have to worry about being alone.”

“Look at em,”Kenny said, nudging his head toward Noah and James.

“Yeah,”

“Just… look. You think that’ll be us one day.”

“Well, not unless one of us turns Black.”

Brendan kissed Kenny on the head.

“A year ago neither one of us even wanted to admit that we were…”

“Gay?”

“Yeah. And now… Look how far we’ve come.”

Kenny placed his hands on Brendan’s hips.

“Look at how good you look.”

“Really?”

“You should wear a tuxedo everyday.”

“It feels like we’re back there again. My prom,” Noah said, his head on James’ shoulder. “I always thought that if something bad happened, really bad, then you couldn’t make it up again. And now I feel like you can. It’s like we’re back there.”

“Only the first time you were at home eating ice cream, and I was dancing to some Alanis Morisette song.”

“I was at home crying,” Noah said.

“Really?”

Noah nodded and laced his fingers with James’.

“And now we’re here.”

“And now I’m a much better dancer.”

Noah hummed to himself, chuckling a little.

“We’re not so much dancing as moving really slow. Together.”

“My parents used to call that nigga dancing.”

“Can I say that too?”

“Not here.”

“Is that… Is that ‘N’ Dancing just moving slow and close up?”

“Slow and close up like you’re about go home and fuck.”

“So this… N dancing…”

“Just say it,” James whispered. “You’ll have to say it in my ear.”

Noah leaned into his hear and said, “I’d actually rather not. But this N-word dancing… I thinking I’m going to enjoy it.”

“You will when I get you back home.”

“This shit is so awesome!”Radha cried as the dance was coming to an end. “This completely makes up for missing this shit back in high school.”

“And now m’lady, it’s time for Afterprom.”

“Afterprom!” hooted Corin Matthews, his girlfriend throwing her head back and laughing.

Radha ran to Noah and James calling: “Afterprom at the downtown Y.”

“Oh, I don’t know about Afterprom,” Noah began.

“Com on,” said Radha. “You all can fuck later. Now it’s time to party.”

“Hey, I’ve had a really nice time,” Charlie said as they came back to the house.

“Would you like to come in?” said Nell.

Charlie gave a little chuckle and touched his chin.

“Actually, that’s what I’ve been hoping for all night.”

Nell looked at Charlie, squeezed his hand and kissed him quickly, making up her mind.

“Come on up, then.”

They were making out when her cell phone went off.

“I have to take this,” Nell said.

Charlie gave a little whimper when they parted. His hair was a mess, and she was hot and damp with him. It had been, literally, years. But she knew the signs. Nell answered the phone.

“We’re at Afterprom, Mom.”

“They have that?”

“Yeah. And then there’s this sort of after after prom thing. I’m not alone. I’m with Layla and Radha and Noah and—”

“Noah’s there too?”

“Yeah, Mom. And we might not be home until morning. Is that all right? I mean if it’s—”

Nell looked to Charlie, who was flushed and eager, his mouth parted, his hair tousled.

“No,” Nell said. “No. Not at all.”

“Love you, Mommy.”

“Yes,” Nell said. “Honey, I love you too.”

When she closed the cell phone, she looked at Charlie and said, “Would you like to have sex?”

Charlie made a spluttering noise and then, looking eager and grateful said, “Yes.”

“Now I know,” Brendan said.

“You know what?” Milo said.

“Why you wouldn’t come to me? Why you wouldn’t ask me about you and Dena.”

“It’s not time for me and Dena,” Milo said. “We’re not there yet. I don’t think.”

“But I know why you wouldn’t come to me.”

“Why, Bren?” Milo said tiredly.

“Because the idea that dorky, gay Brendan Miller could tell you anything about sex or, whatever, was just too much to bear.”

“You’re really full of drama, you know that Bren?” Milo said.

“I liked Dena a long time ago,” Milo said, “when she was still with you, when you were cheating on her with Kenny. And then I find out that you were sleeping with her, that the whole time I loved her you were sleeping with her, and not even because you loved her. Just… to prove something to yourself.

“And you wonder why I don’t come to you for sex advice, like we’re best friends. I like you, Bren. But sometimes I could just knock you down.”

“Oh, shit! What’s that?”Fenn said as they drove toward his sisters.

“It isn’t…” Todd said, and then he turned the song up and cleared the radio dial.

They looked at each other, breaking into smiles.

“Water Runs Dry.”

Fenn rolled down the window and shouted to Dorr Street as the wind whipped past them.

“You think the kids are having a good time?” Todd said as Fenn rolled up the windows.

Fenn declared: “I hope so they’re having the After Prom of all After Proms.”

Todd asked: “Should we tell them that it only gets better?”

“No,” Fenn said as they approached Adele’s house. “We’ll just let them find out.”

They went up the short path and walked inside the house without knocking, but it was Fenn who heard the crying first.

“Adele!” Todd shouted, and went in the direction of Fenn’s weeping sister.

In the kitchen she was sobbing at the table and Fenn said, “Adele?”

Then he came closer to her and put an arm around his sister.

“Adele, what’s wrong?”

She put out a diamond ringed finger and, as Fenn frowned and Todd gasped, Adele cried, “Simon proposed. We’re getting marrrrried!”