Confusion, but they go along with it.

Amy was the first person I saw after my encounter with Talia.

"Ian, if I had known that you were considering going stag, I would have asked you myself."

We were stretching for our regular run, and she was making a show of her flexibility.

"I'm not going stag. Talia, Rachel, and I are going as a threesome. I have my reasons for not wanting to ask one of you girls. What if someone felt jealous?"

"You dumbass. That's exactly it. We wouldn't feel bad about you asking any one of us, but somehow, it feels...wrong for you to see someone outside of our group."

"Stephanie did. She and Simon are great together." I looked up from my stretch and caught her eyes. "And of course Talia did, and now I can't imagine us getting together without Rachel." She stood up, and suddenly I was looking up at her sizable rack. "Besides, Talia doesn't want me to get a real date. It's just for prom night."

Amy reached an arm down to me, helped me up, and kept her eyes on mine. "I suppose I can understand the utility of a good one night stand. It certainly always clears my head. Kinda brilliant, actually, trying to get you with the exchange students. They'll all be gone right after we graduate."

In the days that followed, I had similar conversations with Stephanie and Corrine. Simon gave me a weird look, like I was asking for a third helping of ice cream. There was an awkward moment with Elizabeth. She understood my reasons, but her averted gaze and slumped posture told me that she had had other hopes for me. Some real part of me still wanted to be her first, and I surmised that's what she wanted to. But it seemed unfair to her, since I couldn't stop thinking about that hotel room, with Talia and Rachel.

A few days out from the dance, I got a phone call from Rachel.

"Hey, meat stick, time to pick out tuxes. Pick me up from the back of the school after tech and we'll go to Dapper Dan's."

Once Rachel finished her theater rehearsal (she was running lights for the school play), we hopped in my car and went to the tux shop. Miraculously, they weren't completely out of stock.

We even managed to find a matching pair.

It was so close to the event, the clerk told us to just keep them and return them after the dance.

"Hey, Ian, are you free for dinner? My folks are headed out, and Talia's coming over. I know she would love to get a sneak preview of our monkey suits."