Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist by K. A. Merikan Page A

shook his hand, still unsure where all this pleasantry was coming from. “Yeah, I’m better. Can they manage without you?” He pointed to the group of cheerleaders. Derek was one of only two guys on the team. His green and yellow uniform fitted his athletic body perfectly, but as yummy as he was, Ethan would rather continue ogling Robert’s ass.
    Derek nodded. “I can spare two minutes. There’s something I want to ask you.”
    “Oh, okay… yeah?” Ethan watched him intently. With the green eyes and dark hair, Derek looked as if he was made for his uniform.
    “Do you already have a date for prom?”
    Ethan frowned slightly and had another glance at the gold cross on a little chain over Derek’s neck. Was this guy trying to ‘save’ him? Get him a girlfriend or something? “I’m not even sure if I’m going…” Ethan pulled a few strands of hair behind his ear.
    “Wanna go?” Derek leaned closer with a wide smile.
    Ethan did another take of Derek, but didn’t back away. Was this guy actually gay? Was Ethan being asked out to prom? By a Christian gay boy cheerleader? Maybe this was a parallel universe after all. “Are you asking me out?” he muttered, needing to make sure this wasn’t some elaborate joke.
    Derek nodded. “Yeah, but just so that you know: no sex. I’m too young for committing to anyone,” he said with a bright smile.
    Ethan’s jaw dropped. This was crazy. Was this a pity thing? “Why me? You’ve never talked to me before.” he gently poked Derek’s thigh.
    Derek sighed, looking into the sky. “You’re not bad looking, and I thought you’d like some cheering up after the accident. When I saw you all alone in the cafeteria the other day, I asked myself: ‘What would Jesus do?’ Some people are totally cool with eye patches, but if you got fed up with it, I know of a great prosthetics producer in the area.”
    Ethan swallowed. The skin around the eye, the eyelid, had so much scarring it wasn’t even just a question of a glass eye. The whole area looked gross, and he’d need plastic surgery before he’d be brave enough to show himself to anyone without the eye patch. “And who’s better to cheer me up than a cheerleader, huh?” Ethan chuckled and let the other comment slide. Why not go with Derek? It could be fun. It wasn’t like Rob was ever an option. Rob would come over to Ethan’s to get a blow job, but he’d go to prom with Kelly.
    “That’s what I thought.” Derek fumbled with his pocket and produced a card with his photo and social media contacts. “Add me on Facebook, and we can chat about the details.”
    Ethan’s eye widened. Derek actually had a social media business card? Was this a thing now, and he’d missed it altogether? “So what’s the boundaries if there’s no sex?” Ethan had a weird déjà vu about the question. “I mean, I don’t mean anything has to happen. I’m just curious, you know.”
    Derek pursed his lips. “Err, holding hands, maybe a kiss on the cheek?”
    “Sounds good to me.” Ethan shrugged and tore out a page with one of the rat drawings. He wrote his phone number on the back and passed it to Derek. “That’s actually really nice of you.”
    Derek grinned and got to his feet, already taking one step down toward the stairs. “It’s the Christian thing to do to put a smile on a fellow man’s face,” he declared and walked away, whistling some merry melody.
    Ethan followed him with his gaze, still shocked, but why would he not go with it? They probably wouldn’t spend God-knew-how-much time together at the party, but even if he’d be wallflowering, at least he would get to watch other people dance and whatever other prom-y things people did. Though he still couldn’t believe a guy invited him to the prom. Ethan just hoped this wasn’t some Carrie scenario.
    When he looked back at the field, the football players were gone. Damn, he’d missed watching Robert some more!
    The cheerleaders were already starting to