Three Weeks Before Prom, Thursday
Kevin and Nat were goofing off at the end of practice, resulting in them having to put up all the equipment by themselves, which resulted in them goofing off even more. By the time Kevin got home, it was much later than usual. Edd did say to come over whenever, but I know he's pretty strict on schedules. Kevin decided that he needed to rush, and so he did. As soon as he was done with his shower, he texted Edd, saying he would be over within two minutes. Kevin hastily got dressed, raced downstairs, got scolded for running down the stairs, and sprinted towards Edd's house.
When Edd opened the door, he was a little taken aback since Kevin wasn't wearing his hat. That's when he also noticed that Kevin was breathing a little hard and appeared to be sweating. Edd stepped aside and allowed Kevin in, while asking, "Did you run here from the practice field?"
"Nah, just from across the street. Came right over after my shower." When Kevin dragged a hand through his still wet hair, Edd realized that Kevin wasn't sweating, it was just his hair still dripping from the shower.
As Kevin took off his shoes, Edd turned around and pulled his hat down over his face, attempting to muffle a groan into the fabric. Teaching Kevin to dance for Nazz. Being in close proximity to Kevin to teach him to dance. Being in close proximity to Kevin fresh from the shower and still smelling of soap. This is how I die.
Edd quickly composed himself and made his way to the living room, pushing the furniture aside to make more space.
Kevin rushed to help him and asked him what they will be going over for today's lesson.
"Well, if I recall, the first dance on that VHS was the waltz, so I figured we do that one. Did you watch the tape?"
"Oh, yeah, for a bit…" a lie, "I found it very… informative…" a bigger lie, "though I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing, so this in-person stuff you're doing for me is much appreciated," surprisingly not a lie at all.
Edd nodded, "That does make sense. One learns more by doing than watching."
Edd starts the lesson, trying to show Kevin a simple box step. They practice the simple motion side by side, then add the first turn, then the next, until both boys were solo-ing the box step in the middle of Edd's living room.
"Dude, I think I actually got it!" Kevin exclaimed, looking up from his feet for the first time, just in time to stumble on his last step.
"Splendid!" Edd moved closer, stopping Kevin, "Now for the real test."
"The real test?" Kevin trailed off, as Edd grabbed his hands, placing one around his waist and holding the other one up. "Shouldn't you ask me if I wanted to dance first?" Kevin smirked.
Edd let go of Kevin, but kept his hands hovering in place. He gave him an annoyed look as he asked, "May I have this dance?"
Kevin went into a ridiculous falsetto as he trilled out, "Of course! I was wondering when you would ask!"
They both started laughing loudly, but Edd regained his composure quicker as he felt Kevin's hand move from his waist towards the small of his back. Edd took a few deep breaths between his awkward giggles, before clearing his throat. "Perhaps we should continue the lesson."
"Right. You're right," Kevin said, still laughing.
Edd tried to focus on assessing Kevin's progress on the box step, be he soon found himself distracted. Twice, Edd would remove his gaze from their feet or their clasped hands, when he felt a drop of water from Kevin's hair hit his hand that was placed gently on Kevin's shoulder. When he looked up to see the water droplet trail down his hand, sending shivers up his spine, he soon found himself staring at Kevin's face.
The last time Edd felt the droplet of water, he trailed his gaze upwards, focused on the freckles framing Kevin's ear lobe. He then looked further to the side until he was watching Kevin's mouth as he softly counted out the steps. His gaze drifted up, until he was examining the small portion of Kevin's green eyes that he could barely see through the lashes and Kevin's downward glance. Finally, Edd's focus would trail up to the still wet hair that started this lack of focus. The water made it darker than normal, and it was slicked back, though a little messy on one side when Kevin had mussed it while laughing earlier.
Edd though back to their previous interactions, and he couldn't remember the last time he saw Kevin without his hat. Maybe middle school, when he kept it buzzed. But since then, he's grown out quite the fringe, though Edd couldn't tell with the hat and the faded sides.
Edd kept trying to think if he has seen Kevin without his hat since middle school, and couldn't recall a single moment, even after dwelling on it while laying in bed, long after Kevin had gone home for the night.