Page 115 of Everything's Better With You
Thirty-Two
Spring Fling
Leslie
Leslie wasn’t a big pouter, but he definitely was a sore loser.
The fundraising numbers were in and he was kicking himself for losing focus. Not too hard, though, because when it came to life, he had won the best prize of them all. Joe Judd. Twinkle Toes. His true love.
The week in Hawaii had been emotional and emotionally satisfying. He and Barry had shared some harsh words when Barry learned the full extent of Leslie’s secret project. Brother Barry wasn’t sure he was ready to relive all of their family trauma and he declined his time with Malcolm. He didn’t say never, he just wanted to think about it. Malcolm was more than willing to wait if it meant Barry was more comfortable. The family did have a nice dinner together where Evelyn announced she was pregnant. With twins. She surprised even Barry, who fainted. Flat on his face. Agnes was overjoyed and Evelyn really opened up to her, which Leslie had counted as a win.
Joe had to return to LA after New Year’s for rehearsal and Lesliespent another week with Malcolm wrapping up the interviews. Agnes stayed on, too, and spent a lot of time with Malcolm, which was…interesting.
January was winter term at Greenvale so the students didn’t return to class until the end of the month. That gave Leslie plenty of time to orchestrate Joe’s move to Payton Manor as Joe liked to call it. For two guys who’d spent fifteen years dancing around each other, they quickly learned how to move together without stepping on each other’s feet. Leslie was happier than he’d ever been.
He reminded himself of that as he sat in shorts and a T-shirt on a frigid March afternoon for Spring Fling…in a dunking booth. Losing the wager had gotten the football team assigned to the dunking booth and Leslie was the highlight of the day, apparently. He’d already paid a ridiculous amount to have his brothers dunked repeatedly during their time slots, so he was fully prepared for his dunking. At least he tried to be, but he was, again, a sore loser.
Until he saw Joe.
Then he grinned.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Joe had one of the balls in his hands, tossing it back and forth between his hands as a crowd grew around the dunking booth.
“You gonna do something with that ball?” Leslie asked him, raising an eyebrow. “I’m freezing over here.”
Joe pressed his lips together. “Maybe. I wouldn’t want you to suffer. But I have a question for you first, Coach Payton.”
Leslie leaned forward, linking his fingers on the cage. “Anything, Twinkle Toes.”
Yeah, his nickname for Joe had gotten out during basketball season and the cheerleaders had T-shirts made—Team Twinkle Toes—which raised them enough money to surpass the football team’s fundraising total.
Joe linked his fingers around Leslie’s on the cage and leaned in. “How much do you love me?” he asked in a voice only loud enough for Leslie to hear despite the fact that the crowd around them was growing by the minute. His smile was cocky, but his eyes were wet and wide.
“Desperately,” Leslie growled. “You know that. What’s this about?”
Joe sighed. “Just checking.” He stepped back and hauled back his arm to throw the ball super hard at the target, but at the last minute, he tossed it over the cage and Leslie juggled it before catching it.
“What’s this?” he said, realizing the ball was actually a plastic sphere.
“Open it,” Joe said, linking his fingers and pressing them to his lip. “Carefully.”
Leslie struggled to get the two halves of the sphere separated and when he did, there was a small black box in the middle.
He looked up so fast he lost his balance and slid off the plank and into the frigid water.
“Oh no. Leslie?”
“Shit,” Leslie had dropped the box and he spun around trying to find it. Thankfully, it floated. He grabbed it and held it up.
Joe bit down on his lip as he leaned close to the cage. “Leslie? Will you marry me?”
The crowd gasped and Leslie froze.
“What?” He shook his head, opening the box. Inside was a gorgeous platinum band inset with three diamonds. “No!”
