Out of the Closet
by Victor Thomas
Chapter 10
Kenny
I quickly realized that Javier wasn't joking. My excitement at him sitting at my table vanished as quickly as it had arisen.
"Why do you think we did it?" I asked in a small voice.
"Was it you or Chris?" he repeated, still staring at me. "I saw you driving past my house."
Shit! My cheeks started to feel warm; actually, my entire upper body was getting hot. I placed my fork and knife on my tray and rubbed my hands together. It took a while before anything sensible came out of my mouth.
"I went to see a movie with my girlfriend," I said. I raised my gaze to see his staring eyes. "I was just driving home."
He snorted.
"Yeah, that's the most logical route to your house, isn't it?"
"I mean… I was…"
"Was it Chris who sent you there to spy on me?"
"No!" I blurted out.
It must have sounded convincing because the expression on his face softened.
Some students at the nearby tables were looking at us, which made me feel uncomfortable. The whole morning my classmates had been telling me about rumors about a new gay kid at school, which was obviously true, and I had known it already. Acting nonchalantly, I had kept my emerging interest in the topic hidden, and now I was sitting in the cafeteria with the very gay kid all my friends had been talking about.
"So, you didn't spray my car?" he said, with relief in his voice.
"When did you tell your teammates?" I asked.
"I spoke to Coach on Monday before practice," he said, and laughed shortly. "The rest of the team heard it when we were showering after practice."
"And you found your car vandalized when you walked to the parking lot after practice," I said, emphasizing my words.
"If it wasn't you, then Chris must…"
"Don't you understand? Someone sprayed your car before anybody at school knew about you."
He stood still for a moment, moving his eyes slowly from left to right and back. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. Finally, he leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
"Jorge," he said, swiping his hand, almost spilling his milk.
"Who?" I asked.
"Never mind. Just some idiot," he said. "And sorry for assuming it was you."
I nodded and took a bite of the chocolate cake I had saved. It was dry and tasted artificial, but it didn't matter. Actually, I hardly noticed it because Javier was now smiling at me. His black hair, brown skin, and deep dark eyes caused a stirring in my crotch, and I blushed slightly.
"Do you play any sports?" he asked, as he began eating his lunch.
My mouth full of food, I shook my head.
"So, you're just studying? Straight A's I assume.
A's, yes; straight, not so sure I thought.
"Yeah, I get a lot of A's," I said shyly.
He studied me for a while, and the corner of his mouth pulled upward in a mischievous smile.
"If Chris didn't send you, why did you drive to my house?"
For the second time, my upper body was on fire. I cleared my throat, and I could feel my face turning red. My mind was running a million miles per hour to come up with a logical explanation. Unable to find a good enough reason, I just shrugged.
"Maybe I just wanted to check that you were okay," I said.
With the same sexy grin on his face, he said, "I'm okay."
I focused on the cake again hoping the normal color would return to my face. Now and then I glanced at Javier, who sat there digging into his lunch, eating like he hadn't eaten in a week. He was a bit shorter than me and looked so cute. I lingered with the cake to spend more time with him, but far too soon, his tray was empty.
"Fuck! I need to rush," he said after checking the time on his phone.
"Mr. Douglas?" I asked, stuffing the rest of the cake into my mouth.
"God no. History."
He stood up and I followed him to the corner of the room where we left our trays. The whole way there, I admired his muscular shoulders and his swinging waist. Still, his butt that his blue jeans were hugging got most of my attention. Our arms touched when we put our trays on the trolley. The touch was soft and electric, and I couldn't convince myself that it was an accident.
When we walked toward our lockers, a few students glanced at us. I was too afraid to turn to look, but I sensed their stares at my back. They must think we're dating or something, I worried. Javier seemed to ignore the others and was talking to me like we were the only students in the hallway. It encouraged me and helped me relax.
"Um, would you…" I started to ask, but the words stuck in my mouth.
He looked at me with his big eyes, and I forced out the rest of the sentence.
"I mean, do you need a ride home today?"
It wasn't what I had planned to ask, but it was the closest I could manage. Full of hope, I waited for his response, which wasn't what I wished for.
"Dad fixed my car already. But thanks, man," he said, poking me in the shoulder when we got to the lockers.
"Sure."
I hesitated and scraped my left hand. The opportunity was shortly fading away and I had to act quickly.
"I was thinking… would you like to hang out after school?"
He had already taken a few steps, but he turned around, raising his eyebrows.
"What?"
"Just forget it. You probably have other plans," I muttered, regretting my words.
"Sure. Let's go to the mall. I love the smoothie bar in the food court," he said, flashing a smile, the sexy one. "See you at six, okay?"
I followed when he walked along the hallway. A small smile rose on my face as I wasn't able to hide my satisfaction. He had hardly disappeared around the corner when a hand touched my shoulder.
"Don't tell me that was him," Chris said.
"Huh? Who do you mean?" I asked.
He looked around and lowered his voice.
"That fucking idiot who got me kicked off the team."
My jaw dropped, and I just stood there and stared at my best friend. In some weird way, he looked angry and mortified at the same time.
"What happened?" I finally asked.
"I called him a faggot and the coach heard it."
"Oh." My face flashed hot, and I avoided his gaze. "Does it bother you so much that he's… gay?"
"Yes… no… I mean, that's a long story," he said, agitated. "You think it's perfectly normal to fancy other guys? Huh?"
I didn't know what to say. Of course, I understood that he was frustrated, but the discussion was going in a direction I found really uncomfortable. Luckily, he hadn't seen me and Javier eating lunch together.
"That sucks," I said. "When will the coach let you return to the team?"
"Never," he snorted. "Apparently I'm a bad example for the younger kids."
"What if he changes his mind?"
He shook his head.
"Let's play some video games after school. I need a distraction from all this shit."
"Um, I can't today," I said, quickly adding, "I have a date with Hannah."
He blew air out of his mouth.
"Great! Whatever! See you later," he said, patting my shoulder before he left.
Feeling like I had betrayed my best friend, I opened the door to Mr. Brook's classroom and was relieved to find he wasn't there yet. Slowly, I opened my book and pretended to read through a couple of paragraphs in our last assigned chapter, but my mind was preoccupied with lying to Chris about my plans after school.
Date with Hannah. It was yet another ugly reminder that me and her should talk soon.
All of a sudden, I felt myself go cold. My heart pounded like speakers at a rock concert as I remembered the message I had sent to Hannah. I buried my face in my hands; I hadn't lied to Chris after all.
I'm screwed.
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