Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
S pring 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 Leslie spent 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!”
Joe stepped back and the crowd protested.
“No?” Joe asked, horrified. “You’re saying no?”
Leslie sloshed water out of the cage, he moved so fast to the front.
“I was going to propose! Tonight! I had it all planned, dammit! You beat me!”
Joe’s mouth fell open and he laughed as he approached the cage. “Well, yeah, that’s why you’re in the cage and I’m not. But Leslie! Will you freaking marry me?”
“Only if you’ll marry me !”
“Jesus, you two, get on with it!”
Leslie looked over to see Randy filming them. Agnes, Barry, Evelyn and Sandy stood next to him waiting anxiously.
“Yes on three?” Leslie said to Joe.
Joe rolled his eyes. “One…two…three—”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
The crowd burst out in cheers and Leslie kissed Joe through the cage, being sure to splash him and soon the two of them were laughing hysterically, tears streaming down Joe’s cheeks.
“Does this mean we still have to do the stunt?” Terrell asked.
Joe spun around to see his cheerleaders there and he laughed. “You were in on his plan too?”
“I may not have convinced him to play for me, but he had my back when it counted,” Leslie said, nodding to Terrell.
“Well get out of there, already,” Joe said. “Hurry before I climb this damn cage.”
Leslie climbed back onto the platform and Sandy helped him out of the dunk tank. He ran for Joe and nearly tackled him with the force of his hug, neither caring that it was freezing and now they were both soaking wet.
“I love you, baby,” Joe said. “Put your ring on.”
“No fair, yours is—”
“I got it, I got it,” Sandy said, running over with the box.
Leslie opened it for Joe and Joe gasped at the gold band nestled in black velvet.
“I had matching ones made,” Joe said and Leslie laughed.
“I did too!”
They hugged and kissed and everyone cheered.
The Greenvale community had brought them both to the school a year earlier to help bring the community together.
The plan had been for them to initiate a revamp of the athletic programs with alumni who were experts in their fields and to give the school athletics worth rooting for.
Then a tornado ripped through campus and nearly derailed their plans.
Joe and Leslie had nearly been derailed as well. Their fifteen-year courtship was put to the test numerous times before they finally were able to set some ground rules and common language. Their future, however, looked bright, as did the rest of the Jackets’ sports programs.
Joe’s proposal for the dance degree program was approved.
The dance major was created, and Joe was able to hire an assistant, one Marti Simmons, and Joe was able to talk one of his mentors, Mayra Delgado, into leaving Broadway and returning to her Midwest roots to head up the department, which gave Greenvale the academic experience the board felt was necessary.
Joe did, indeed, receive a five-year contract, and he let Dance Machine know he would be available for the summer road show, but after his contract was up, he would no longer be available as a series regular, only a guest. As for Broadway, Joe opted not to audition for Kinky Boots , but Guillermo Diaz wouldn’t take no for an answer to a future collaboration, so Joe got his dream of choreographing a major show, a revival of Hair that would start casting the following year.
Joe would headline the first week and then step down. Leslie had been ecstatic for him.
Leslie’s book did indeed sell at auction for well over six figures, and he donated all of his earnings to CTE research.
Malcolm convinced him that they would write it together, that both of their names would receive equal billing, and Leslie was pleased to be so involved in the project that meant so much to his family.
“So how do you want to do it?” Joe asked him at the end of the night when they were tucked into bed together.
Leslie cupped Joe’s generous ass and sighed. “I was thinking you could turn around and lay with your head that way and we could—”
“I meant our wedding, but I love where your mind is at.”
Leslie covered his face and laughed. “I’m of two minds, really. Part of me wants to steal you away and elope, just the two of us, no stress, just fun.”
“But?”
Leslie gazed at Joe lovingly. Joe had accepted all of Leslie, including his limitations and potential for a difficult future. He’d also accepted Leslie’s more sappy side, therefore Leslie wasn’t sure why he was so afraid to ask.
“But I think there are a lot of folks who are pulling for us and who have a vested interest in our future.”
Joe cupped his cheek. “You want to get married at Greenvale, don’t you?”
Leslie’s eyes flared. “How did you know?”
Joe snorted. “It’s where we met, it’s what ties us together, yada yada. ”
“If you’re going with that argument, we actually met at the Goalpost. We could get married there—”
“No way—”
“I’m kidding. Yes, I was hoping you would agree to a Greenvale wedding. The chapel for the service, the social hall for our reception…”
Joe sighed. “I draw the line at spending our honeymoon in Higdon, or—”
“Our honeymoon should be in Hawaii, don’t you think?”
Joe gasped. “You mean…staying in bed for a whole week with the doors open and the ocean breeze on us? You got it. As long as we can do that, we can get married at The Buzz as far as I’m concerned.”
Leslie wrapped him in his arms. “You’ve made all of my dreams come true, Joe. I’m so glad I waited for you.”
“I’m glad you waited for me too, babe. Thank you for bringing me home.”
Joe kissed Leslie and moaned as Leslie pulled him on top of him, skin to skin, just as he loved to be.
“Now how about we try that position where—”
Joe smiled down at him and went exactly where Leslie needed him. With their hearts, minds and bodies intertwined, all was right in Leslie’s world.
“So good,” Leslie moaned. “God, a tornado could rip through the house right now and I wouldn’t—
“Stop it,” Joe said, pushing up to scold Leslie. “Better not think about disasters. Your brothers are home.”
“Good call.”
So when the smoke detector started beeping a short time later and Randy shouted, “False alarm, false alarm,” neither Joe nor Leslie missed a beat. They took their time bringing each other to mutual satisfaction, taking their time, of course, because they had all the time in the world.
THE END…