Several hours passed after I talked to my mom and found out she’d known for several years now. Still smiling as I got ready for bed, I messaged Char and Dante to tell them about it.
[Harley: Oh my god, I’m so happy right now. Mom came to talk to me about the stupid trip and I pretty much went off on her and even said “there are things I need to tell you but I’m scared” and she admitted that she’s known I’m gay for a while. She even said she understood why I never told dad and that she loves me no matter what, even if I’m gay and chose to do something other than being a doctor.]
[NerdyWannaBe18 (Harley): Oh my god, I just spent the last few hours talking to my mom and apparently she’s known I’m gay for a while but never said because she was waiting for me to tell her myself. She said she understands why I never told either of my parents but that she loves me no matter what even if I’m gay and don’t want to be a doctor. Oh my god, I’m so happy I’m literally crying as I write this.]
Within seconds, I receive messages back from both of them.
[Char: Oh my god! That’s great news baby. I’m so happy for you and I’m glad she understands. I would’ve been worried had you been in the closet with both of them your entire life.]
[HellBoy007 (Dante): Wow, I’m so happy for you. I know how hard it is to come out to the people you love most and the fact that she even told you she loves you no matter what even if you’re gay and don’t want to be a doctor is amazing. I hope that this is a step in the right direction for you and your future. About earlier though... I’m sorry I didn’t answer. I was just in shock, I still kind of am, but I’m glad you don’t think of me as a “Pretty Boy” though. Do you really like me that much?]
[Harley: Yeah there is that. Oh my god, Dante just asked me “Do you really like me that much?” I think I scared and surprised him by telling him what I really think about him. I’m scared to answer him but I know I should tell him the truth.]
[NerdyWannaBe18 (Harley): The short answer is yes, I do. But since you told me the truth, I’ll give you the same. I’ve had a crush on you since about sixth grade but I never said anything because I always assumed you were straight. Honestly, it was your honest smile that caught my attention but then last year when that smile disappeared, I had to stop hoping for things I thought would never happen. Then when you told me you had a crush on a nerd and I figured out it was you, my heart beat so fast.]
“Oh my god! What am I even doing? Why did I tell him that?” I moaned aloud covering my face again as tears began to form in my eyes once again just as my phone went off again.
[Char: I’m proud of you just try not to freak out too much. I know that will be hard and I’m here for you. Just try and relax.]
The rest of the night and weekend passed without a new message from Dante or another mention about the stupid trip. When Monday finally rolled around, I pulled into the parking lot of the school to see Dante and Char hiding behind an SUV talking and laughing until they looked up and saw me. Putting my car in park, I watched them for a minute as I shut the window and shut off the car. Climbing out, I quirked a brow but said nothing as I walked towards the school. A few minutes later, Char was at my side saying “good morning sweetie.”
“Morning, what were you two conspiring about?” I asked glancing over at her with a raised brow.
“Oh nothing. He said he wants to actually talk to you later. Not message but talk” she smiled at me as I gave her a quizzical look and asked “how do you plan to accomplish that exactly? I’m assuming he had an idea, right?”
“We’re going to meet him on the roof of the gym during lunch” she smiled as we stopped at my locker. A few seconds passed as I dug through my locker. When I turned around, I caught sight of Dante standing with his football buddies out of the corner of my eye and when I turned to look, he was staring straight at me. When I met his eyes, he winked as the rest of his team just glared at me as I turned away to head to first period barely able to contain my blush as I put in my headphones. Taking my seat, I thought “god I love him even when he is an idiot for being so obvious.”
Several hours passed before it was time for lunch. As Char and I walked towards the gym, I suddenly had a bad feeling about this meeting. Glancing at Char, I said “are we sure he’s going to show up?”
“He promised he would but I guess we won’t know for sure until we go and wait” she shrugged as we entered the gym to head up the stairs to the roof. When we had finally made it to the top step just inside the door, I took a deep breath before putting my hand on the knob and pushing it open to find no one waiting for us. We waited there the rest of lunch but Dante never showed.
As we came out of the building that afternoon, we were met by Dantes’ sister Grace leaning against my car. As we approached her, she gave us a sad smile and said “hey guy, could you come with me. I’ll explain in the car but I need you to come with me please.” Glancing at Char, I quickly looked back at Grace and nodded before saying “okay, now I’m really worried. Is everything okay?”
“Yes and no. It’s better for you to see to believe before I tell you what happened” she said pulling out of the parking lot in the direction of down town as my anxiety spiked. The closer we got to the hospital the more terrified I became. As we pulled into the hospital parking lot, I began to panic as Char looked back at me from her spot in the passenger seat before she whispered “relax, we don’t know if there is a reason for you to panic just yet, okay.” Following Grace into the emergency entrance, we passed a guard who asked “who are you here to see?” as Grace answered “they’re with me.”
“Okay, go on back” the guard said pushing a button to let us back into the emergency wing. As we walked through the halls, Char took my hand and just kept whispering “relax, everything is fine. There is no need to panic just yet. Just relax, okay?” Nodding, we followed Grace in silence until she stopped outside a room with the door closed before turning to look at us. Taking a deep breath, she said “now I need you to know, there was nothing you could’ve done and no one blames either of you for this. Mostly, we brought you here to warn you” before opening the door to reveal Dante sitting on the edge of the bed holding his mom. Confused, I looked at Char and back to the scene in front of us before Grace cleared her throat drawing their attention. As Dante released his mom and turned to look at us, I gasped covering my mouth with one hand at the sight of his bruised and cut up face as tears began streaming down my face.
“Really Grace, you didn’t warn them?” Dante asked exasperatedly as he let go of his mother completely.
“No because I wanted them to see you first before we told them what happened” she said ushering us in and closing the door. Moving to stand in front of us, she gestured at Dante as she said “this is not your fault, either of you. One of his team mates was reading his BeYourself chat over his shoulder as he was reading back through old messages between the two of you and somehow his team mate figured out that he was HellBoy. So, they beat him up for being gay and tried to beat who his friend was out of him. Luckily, they never saw the messages about Charlotte or the ones where he’d figured out it was you or they would’ve figured it out by now. So, please just be careful. Both of you and keep an eye on each other.” After a short pause, Dante asked “are you guys okay?”
“No, we’re not. I think I’m more okay than Harley but no, neither of us is exactly okay. He’s going to be stuck like this for a little while because he got genuinely hurt when you didn’t meet us on the roof and now we find out that it was because you were beaten to hell. You may have broken him more than I thought it was possible” Char said as I squeezed her hand unable to speak.
“Why would that have broken him?” Dante asked confused.
“Can I tell him sweetie?” she asked moving to stand in front of me so that she was between the two of us. Sobbing, I whispered “it’s the only way he’ll understand right?”
“I think it is but are you sure you’re ready?” she whispered back.
“No, but I think my reaction would make it pretty obvious” I told her as more tears escaped. Turning to face Dante, she said “just know that you mean more to him than you think you do and you getting hurt doesn’t sit well with him.”
“Okay. Can you all give Harley and I a minute to talk?” he asked looking over at me. Nodding, his mom and Grace headed out of the room as Char squeezed my hand and whispered “it’ll be okay. Remember, he doesn’t know anything for sure. He may have his suspicions but he doesn’t know anything for sure. So, just breathe” before letting go and leaving the room. Once Dante and I were alone, he stood up and limped over to where I was still standing sobbing as I watched him. Pulling me into a hug, he whispered “I’m fine, really. They didn’t break anything and I would do it all again if it meant being able to talk to you anytime I wanted. I will protect you as long as I can even if it costs me my spot on the team that I wasn’t so attached to anyway. I know most of the school will know what happened by tomorrow but no one will know who I was talking to, I promise.” Pulling back to look at me, he whispered “I love you and I will protect you. Do you at least believe that?” Wrapping my arms around him, I buried my head in his shoulder before sobbing out “I believe you but I can’t stand seeing you like this. Please, I want you to be healthy and happy not beat to hell.” Chuckling, he said “I’ve definitely been in worse shape but I will try, okay.” Sobbing, I said “you better or I’ll be the one beating you.” Pulling back from the hug as he laughed, he leaned his head against mine and said “is that a promise baby?” Taking a shuttering breath, I whispered “wouldn’t you like to know?” before he leaned in and kissed me. A full thirty seconds passed before I made the decision to kiss him back as it was undoubtedly a kiss I'd been dying to have since sixth grade. Breaking the kiss, he smiled and said “I guess I get the honor of being your first kiss, huh?”
Blushing, I looked down and whispered “first kiss with another boy but not my first kiss ever.”
“Oh now I'm curious, who was your first?” He smirked at me as I blushed a darker shade of red and whispered “Char.” Tilting my face to make him look at me, he smiled and said “and that's how you both realized you're gay?” Silently nodding in answer, I stared into his beautiful emerald eyes as he slowly leaned in and kissed me again. Breaking the kiss, he whispered “I wish I could do that everyday, Harley. But I know you're not ready and the only reason you're letting me now is because you're so distraught and it's the first time another boy is willingly kissing you. So, here's what I'll ask instead. I want you to think about that kiss and about how much I love you every time you hear someone talking about me for the next week since we both know gossip about the gay football player and his mystery lover is going to spread like wildfire. And if by chance you see someone hurting me, I need you to just take the pain and guilt I know you'll feel and lock it away in a box. I need to know you're safe, so no outing yourself to save me.” Nodding, I almost said “I wish we could too” but whispered instead “I'll try but I can't promise anything.”
“Well, you just have to make it through this week, okay” he said reassuringly before kissing me for a third time. This one was more passionate than the first two, filled with every emotion he held for me. In the midst of us kissing, a knock sounded on the door causing us to break apart without stepping away from each other just before it opened. Leaning my head against his shoulder, he tightened his grip around me as the girls came back into the room. Once the door was closed again, Char came over and put her hand on my back before asking “are you okay Har?” Turning my head to look at her, I gave her a sad smile and said “no, but I will be. Honestly, I’m terrified everyone will figure out it was me he was talking to and start attacking me. The one thing I’m sure of is that Dante won’t be the reason anyone finds out.” Chuckling, he said “I promised I’d never tell them anything. No matter how much or how badly they beat me, I will not give them Harley. I will protect him until I can’t anymore.”
“Oh, don’t you start talking like that. There are far too many people who need you for you to be talking like that” Char said glancing around the room.
“I agree with Charlotte on this one. I also think we all need to exchange numbers just in case. Actually, the only two that shouldn’t are Harley and Dante, as an added layer of protection. That way no one can get ahold of Dantes’ phone and figure it out that way” Grace said as Dante said “I actually agree with that plan.” Chuckling, Kathrine said “you two really are more alike than you like to admit” before Dante and Grace said “no we’re not” at the exact same time making the rest of us laugh. Turning to look at me, Char gave me an ‘I told you so’ look to which I rolled my eyes and nodded slightly drawing Dantes’ attention to me.
“Okay, what just happened there? Did you two have a silent conversation or something?” he asked making both of us chuckle. Standing up to look at him, I said “wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Oh don’t get all flirty with me, Harley” he smiled at me as he quirked a gorgeous blonde brow.
“Wait, that’s Harley flirting? Is he even trying?” Grace chuckled making me blush as Char said “oh, yeah that’s him flirting alright. I know it’s sad but I’m sure even if he wasn’t Dante would still be madly in love with him.”
“Damn straight I would because Harley is just that incredible and boy does he know it” Dante teased making me laugh before deciding to flirt more by saying “look whose talking!”
“Oh my god! Harley, are you okay? What’s gotten into you?” Char asked genuinely shocked as I laughed harder at Dantes’ expression.
“Oh I see what you meant by his sense of humor little brother. He’s definitely got a fun one” Grace laughed. Taking a deep breath, Dante just shook his head and remained speechless as he continued holding me in his arms. After a minute or more so of laughing, Char asked “it’s a wonder he hasn’t figured it out yet” before laughing more. Shaking my head at her, I watched Dante try and fail to figure out what she meant before giving up and quirking a brow at me.
“Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll tell you one day” I smiled at him as I caught Kathrine smiling and shaking her head out of the corner of my eye.
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