Marco woke up the next day in an uncomfortable position face to face with the floor. It must have been from that dream he had last night…

He was so absent minded that morning. He put his jeans on backwards, used his Colgate for Right Guard, and didn't even bother shampooing his hair. All he could think about was his possible first boyfriend Dylan. His face, his hair, his body, his personality, and everything about him. He just couldn't wait for eight o'clock tonight. Only thirteen and a half hours to go!

"Hey Marco!" a familiar voice beckoned.

"Oh, hey Ellie!" Marco said more peppy than usual lately.

"I heard from Ash who heard from Paige who heard from Dylan that you two are going on a date!" She said it in a kind of childish voice.

"Yeah." Marco became red in the face. "Dylan talked to me last night and…"

"Ooh. Night. Anything…"

"No. Of course not." He sounded kind of disappointed.

"Well, I gotta go to MI class. So, I'll see you tomorrow. I don't want to keep you from your date." She got immature again.

"Ellie cut the crap." He nudged her. "I'll call you to tell you how it went, alright. It'll probably be between ten and eleven."

"That early? Geez, not planning much are you?

"It's just to the mall. That mall's so terrible anyway. So, adios."

"Bye. Have fun." Huh, he thought. I hope I have loads of fun.

Marco's eyes were glued to his bedroom alarm clock. Five after eight, it read. He's just fashionably late, he thought in anticipation. Marco thought Dylan would be early by the way Dylan was talking about it today in the library at school. Marco then heard the bass pulsing to Fountains of Wayne, Dylan's favorite band.

He ran downstairs and ran out the door still putting his Abercrombie & Fitch jacket on himself because he didn't want his overprotective parents giving two year older Dylan the third degree. He jumped into Dylan's forest green SUV, but on Dylan's side.

Marco then said, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I'm just so…"

"Excited?" Marco and Dylan giggled together in perfect unison. After Marco got in the car on the right side, Marco put his arm next to Dylan's on the arm rest. Marco really wasn't sure what to do. Do I hold his hand? Will he do it first? He kept "fixing" his hair just to give the appearance of calmness. Marco could actually kind of tell Dylan was nervous himself.

"Have you ever been…been with a guy?" Marco hesitantly asked.

"Well, sit back. Let me tell you a little story." Marco eased back into the leather upholstered seat. "It goes a little something like this. One of the cool guys at school came out of the closet. This was after he found out I have a crush on him. We hung around each other all the time. I was absolutely crazy for him. I hated to be separated from him. When we finally went on our first date. It was to a movie. It was one of those 2002 chick flicks. But anyway, during the movie, I started snuggling up to him and he backed away. I kept trying to make an advance on him, trying to get somewhere with him. We had been together for a month already. He continued to back away and eventually walked out of the movie without me. And he drove! The next day I saw his crowd of friends giving him twenty bucks each. So, it turned out, he wasn't even a virgin and he got a total of two hundred dollars for going out with me. I never spoke to any one of those guys ever again."

"Wow, that must have really crushed you. I can't even imagine how devastated I would be if that happened to me. Man." Marco really did feel sorry for him. He never really cared about ANYONE like this before.

"Yeah. I saw the guidance counselor at school for a month everyday. It broke my heart. That's probably why I was the only openly gay at school. Now I'm one two." They both smiled. Before they knew it, they arrived at the mall.

"Wow. It's deserted," Dylan said.

"Well, no crowds, closer parking spots," Marco said with a smile.

They walked in the mall very close together, almost like they wanted to hold hands. Marco wanted to real bad, but he didn't want everyone staring at them. They decided to go shopping for clothes, then catch a movie.

After their mini shopping spree at American Eagle, which Dylan totally paid for, they went and saw a movie. Dylan grabbed Marco's hand and dragged him to the back of the theater. Marco knew exactly why.

Once the movie started, Dylan looked down at Marco, like he was expecting something. Ten minutes through, Dylan slowly put his hand on Marco's knee. Marco looked down at it and looked at Dylan. It was a look of approval. Half an hour later, Marco slouched down into his seat and put his head on Dylan's shoulder. Their hearts were pounding with excitement. They couldn't believe this was happening. They were actually having a relationship with someone who they liked and liked them back. And they were showing it in public. The people ahead of them looked back with a disgusted look on their face, but Dylan saw them out of the corner of his eye and put his head down on Marco's who was already leaning on Dylan. Marco saw that he did it to prove a point to the people ahead, but Dylan rubbed his head on his, and realized he did it for another reason.

After the movie was over, they got up and held hands all the way to Dylan's car. Neither of them cared what people thought of them. Marco liked that feeling of carelessness. He smiled while he was holding hands, laughing, and just plain enjoying his night with Dylan. He was, well, happy for the first time in a long time.

Boy, happiness, that's something Marco hadn't felt for, who knows how long. He's been having difficulty with his life ever since he entered junior high. He actually felt happy, healthy, and good.

Dylan and Marco hopped in the big SUV. But not exactly in the passenger's seat…