It was an understatement to say Carson was nervous. He had spent all last night struggling to bake and frost nine cupcakes that had to be redone several times. His whole family had gotten in on the baking process and he quickly learned why his dad and sister never stepped foot in the kitchen unless food was already there waiting to be devoured. By the time they were done, everyone begged him to figure out an easier way to ask someone to something as meaningless as a school dance. It didn’t just stop there though. As rich as Carson’s family was, he was broke. Too broke to pay for sheet music, but he was dead set on singing to Micah. While his sister often said that he sounded like a dying toad whenever he tried to sing, he had enough people tell him otherwise to decide it was a good idea. But singing a song he couldn’t afford to properly learn meant having to play by ear, which was never a good idea. He didn’t have very long to ask before someone else could, so he spent every other minute struggling through learning the chords as well as the lyrics. At this point, they were etched into his brain, but he was still afraid he would forget them. He bribed the front office ladies to give him Micah’s schedule and got to each of his classes early, asking the teacher where he sat, and put a cupcake on his desk. The first one came in a box with a note asking him to put them all there in order. All together the cupcakes said Will You Go To The Dance With Me ? It was perfect as long as he didn’t put one on the wrong desk or worse, if Micah didn’t show up to see them. That was the worst case scenario and honestly, he didn’t know what he would do if that happened. By the time last period came around, he was sitting on the teacher’s desk with his guitar waiting for him to show up. When he finally got there, Carson just started strumming so it would be too late to chicken out.
“Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?
Phone lights up my nightstand in the black
Come here, you can meet me in the back
Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you
Oh damn, never seen that color blue
Just think of the fun things we could do
‘Cause I like you This ain’t for the best
My reputation’s never been worse, so
You must like me for me
We can’t make
Any promises now, can we, babe?
But you can make me a drink Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you’re in my head?
‘Cause I know that it’s delicate
Is it cool that I said all that
Is it too soon to do this yet?
‘Cause I know that it’s delicate
Isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it?
Isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it? Isn’t it?”
Carson stopped singing and stayed silent for a while before muttering “So, will you go to the dance with me?“
Micah could not believe as he walked into class, Carson was there playing his guitar. “Carson, what are you-” Then he started singing. “Oh my God.” He let out a chuckle and turned away, moving to his desk, which had a box of cupcakes in them that he was afraid to even look at. His face blushed, his cheeks were on fire and Carson was singing him a damn song in the middle of class. He covered his mouth as he glanced around awkwardly, shaking his head. “Why are you like this…” He muttered. And after it was all over, Carson asked him to the dance. “Oh my God, okay.. Yes, you didn’t have to do that just to ask me to a dance.” He started grinning like an idiot. As embarrassing as it might have been, nobody had ever gone through these extremes to ask him to anything before. “You’re nuts, by the way.”