One of the Boys.

I woke up, my body tangled with Brendon’s. He was dribbling slightly in his sleep, so I backed away and sat up on the edge of the bed, brushing my bangs out of my face. I needed a haircut, my hair was way too long. It nearly reached my hips, so I always scrapped it back.
Brendon slowly stirred, his eyes fluttering open. He yawned and stretched his arms. “What’s the time?”
“Ugh… half ten.” I nodded.
He sighed and pulled the sheets over his head. I jumped on him and he moaned.
“Come on Bdon, I’ve gotta teach those kids and today I’m teaching them how to blade. Who blades amazingly?”
“Me.” he sighed.
“Precisely. So you’re coming with me this time. Don’t moan, you love those kids.”
I got off of him and he threw the covers off of him, making me blush furiously when I saw what he’d revealed. I quickly turned my head so to no longer see his erection in his pajama pants.
“Fuck, Em, I’m so sorry, gah, this is so weird and-” he rambled, freaking out.
“Hey, it’s okay, just go to the bathroom and get sorted out whilst I get dressed in here.”
“Uhm, y-yeah.” he stuttered and ran out, slamming the door.
I sighed loudly and made the bed, then quickly got changed into some underwear. I put on some jeans and saw the mess that was my hair in the mirror, so I got out my brush and attacked it until it was in a relatively decent condition.
Brendon walked into his room, looked at me and quickly span around. “I’m s-sorry, I should’ve knocked…”
“I don’t care, I’ve got nothing to hide.” I shrugged and quickly pulled on a sweater. “It’s safe now.”
He turned around and half smiled, his cheeks a bright red. I hugged him to try and get rid of his embarrassment. “Bren, is there something wrong?”
“N-no, everything is perfect.”
I let go of him. “I know you better than that.”
He smiled widely, revealing his white, but had braces, teeth. “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, we better grab some breakfast then get going.”
I nodded and we ran downstairs, both eating some toast and drinking some orange juice. We put on our skates, grabbed our phones and he grabbed his keys, then we left. It takes about twenty minutes to get the orphanage, but we took the short cut, so it only took thirteen.
We arrived and I skated up to the desk. I didn’t even need to say anything before the kids swarmed around my legs.
“Emma!” they squealed.
“Hey kids, what’s up?”
A number of responses flooded my ears and I smiled, ruffling one of them’s hair. Brendon waited outside, biting his lip nervously. I wish he would tell me what the hell was wrong.
The woman in charge, Charlie, ushered the kids outside. There were two sessions because they couldn’t afford enough skates or skate-boards.
“Hi Emma, I see you’ve brought your friend. What is he called again?”
“Brendon, Brendon Urie.” I nodded and she smiled back.
We went out to the little park they had and the gathered into their two groups. One would play with Charlie doing games for half an hour and the other would skate with us, then they swapped, but had a juice break in the middle.
“Okay, so since you kids are all amazing at boarding, we’re gonna teach you how to blade instead. Everyone got their blades?”
“Yes!” they chorused.
Ella, Riyah, Sam and Jack came with me whilst the other four went with Brendon.
“Have any of you skated before?” I asked.
Sam said he’d done ice skating once at a party. That was it.
“Right, so first, you see the big lump at the back of your right foot? That’s a brake, so if you need to stop, you tilt your right foot back. But to stop, you need to be moving, and in order to move, you have to skate. Slide your right foot forward, then your left, then your right- Yeah you’ve got it!” I chirped.
Ella wasn’t so happy, so I held her hand whilst she was doing it. She became more confident after a few minutes.
“Okay, so what’s the difference between my skating and your skating?” I asked, skating in circles while they stood there.
They stuck up their hands.
“Yes, Riyah?”
“You’re lifting up your legs!”
“Correct! Now do you want to have a go?”
She nodded and attempted to copy me, nearly falling over. I caught her and she thanked me, close to tears.
“Hey, don’t cry, it took me several weeks what you’ve done already, so don’t feel bad.”
She nodded and the other kids had a go. Ella picked it up the quickest, surprisingly, then Sam, then Jack. Riyah had had her confidence knocked, so I held her hands, and she managed to do it.
“How long have we got left?” I asked.
Jack showed me his watch, which he probably couldn’t read anyway. We had a little under five minutes left.
“Okay, so I’m gonna teach how you to do one more thing before we finish. When I start chanting, you join in, right? The chant is our leg movements. Once you’ve got the chant down, Riyah, you hold my hips, Sam you hold hers, Jack you hold his and Ella you hold his, so we’re like one long line of skaters. Left, right, left, right, left, right-”
“LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT!” they shouted, smiling widely. They all latched onto each others hips and we started skating, still chanting. We skated over to Brendon.
“Yo Bdon, how are your kids going?”
He turned around and smirked. “Show off.”
“It’s not me, these kids are good.”
He chuckled. “They’re going good, one isn’t so sure after he hit his knee, but I think he’s alright now. We have to finish, yeah?”
I nodded.
“Kids, we’re all done, give me high fives!” I smiled, them letting go of me and all high fiving me. “I’ll see you next week.”
“Thanks Em!”
They skated off happily. Bless those kids, they were so happy despite the fact they had no parents and were only six years old.
All the kids went in for a juice break but I stayed out with Brendon.
“Bren, why won’t you tell me what’s wrong? Have I done something.”
He sighed. “Please stop worrying about it. I’m fine, I swear, it’s nothing.”
I bit my lip and decided to drop it, skating around the park. Charlie came up to me so I stopped.
“Hey Emma, can you do tricks with Brendon? The kids have been asking me if you’ll do anything at the end.”
“Sure! If there’s a bit of time at the end and they actually want us to, sure.”
“I’m sure they will.” she nodded. “I’ll go tell the kids that if they’re good you might do something at the end!”
She disappeared inside and I skated over to Brendon, who had sadness all over his face. I ignored it, as he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Bren, the kids want us to do something at the end.”
“Okay, cool.” he nodded. “What shall we do?”
“You know the one where we skate round in circles, then we both flip back, you bend down, I jump over you… you know the one.”
“Yeah, sure. Can we try the bit where you flip over me? We haven’t done that in a while.”
I nodded and he bent down. I skated back for a while then jumped up high, somersaulting in the air, just missing his back and landing on the ground. I nearly fell, but Brendon caught me.
“Thanks.” I smiled, dusting myself down. “I’ll jump higher next time.”
He nodded, gulped, and let go of me. “Please don’t be offended if I ask this, okay?”
I nodded. “Fire ahead.”
“Are you a lesbian?”
I smiled, shaking my head a little. “No, I’m not a lesbian, nor am I bisexual. Why?”
“Because… I don’t know, I’ve never seen you with a boyfriend, so I kinda assumed.”
I’ve learnt to control my temper, rather than flipping out at people, so I took a deep breath and calmed myself.
“I’ve never seen you with a girlfriend, either. Are you gay?”
“No! Who told you that?” he shouted.
My eyes widened. “You are, aren’t you? Is that what’s been freaking you out lately?”
“No!”
“I don’t care whether you’re gay, bi, straight… you could be a gorilla for all I care Brendon.”
“You really mean that?”
“Of course.” I nodded.
“I think my hormones have been fucking my brain around, ‘cos Ryan said he went through the same thing, but it’s like I’m a bit gay, if that makes any sense.”
I nodded. “That’s what has been worrying you?”
He bit his lip and nodded.
I pulled him into a hug. “Bren, there’s no need to worry. It’ll pass, and if it doesn’t, does that really matter?”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t. Wow, thanks Em.” he smiled and kissed my forehead. “But please don’t tell anybody else, just in case it does pass.”
“Sure. Hey look, the kids are coming back out.”
I let go of him and the new kids slid across the ground, attempting to skate. I laughed quietly at their cute attempts and joined the group I would be teaching.
Joe, Yasmin, Katie, Kirsty and Freddie.
They didn’t catch on quite as quickly as the other group, so we didn’t get to the line of skating like the others. Yasmin fell over and cut her elbow, so she missed the last five minutes.
“Well done guys, you all did really well, high fives!”
They all high fived me, shouting “Yeah!”
“If Charlie lets you, you can practice all you want, because if you can get the basics right, we can do the tricks a lot easier.”
They nodded and smiled.
“Are you going to do something with your friend, Em?” asked Joe.
“Do you kids want me to?”
“Yes please!” they clapped.
I smiled. “Then sure, I’d love to.”
They skated back inside and took off their skates. Brendon was looking happier when I returned back to him. We knuckle-touched.
“Glad you came out here now?”
“Yeah.” he smiled. “Doesn’t hurt my ego, either.”
I laughed. “Don’t get big headed, ‘cos you don’t do this every week, you do it like twice a year.”
“So? I’m still helping them!”
I smiled. “Yes, I know, and thank you. You ready to flip out?”
“Sure.” he nodded. A little over thirty kids came out and sat on the ground, all eagerly waiting. They were whispering amongst themselves and Charlie stood in front of them.
“So children, what do you say?”
“THANK YOU EMMA AND BRENDON!”
“No problem.” we smiled.
“And they’re going to perform for you, as you were so good. If you practice, when you’re their age you may be able to do what they do too. Take it away you two!”
We got in the right positions and did whatever we felt like doing, ranging from flips, tucks, pikes, dips and spins. We didn’t do it for too long, probably about 45 seconds.
The kids cheered loudly and Brendon put an arm around my shoulders.
“That was amazing!” shoutes Siobhan. “I wanna do that!”
“If you practice.” I smiled. “See you lot next week, be nice for Charlie!”
We said goodbye to everyone then left, returning to Brendon’s place. I kicked off my skates and collapsed onto the couch. He did the same and lay across me.
“I’m knackered.” he yawned.
“That used next to no energy, you shouldn’t be.”
“Yeah, but I’m not fit like you. You know how much I suck at gym.”
“If it was boarding, you’d kick ass.”
“But it’s not, so I suck ass.”
I chuckled, making Brendon’s body go up with each laugh as he was across my stomach.
“I went to the orthodontist a few days ago.” he said. “They said I’ve still got a year. How much does that suck?”
“A lot.” I agreed. “They said I’ve got two weeks.”
“You lucky bitch!”
“Yeah, but I’ve had them on for two years already. You’ve had yours on for six months.”
“I suppose.” he sighed. “So you’ll have them off for the last week of school before summer. Damn you.”
I smirked. “Only three more weeks of junior year, crazy huh? Then we’ll be seniors!”
“I always thought that seniors were so old, but now we’re there, it doesn’t feel like it.”
“I know what you mean.”
“But you know what really bites? I’ll be a senior, and I still haven’t been kissed. I’m so pathetic.” he sighed, getting off of me and walking away. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back onto the couch.
“You’re not pathetic, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“But I’m freaking bisexual! I can’t get kissed by girls, OR boys! You know how bad that makes me feel? It’s bad when you’re straight and can’t get kissed, but when you could literally kiss anyone or anything, but don’t? God damn it!”
“Life isn’t all about getting kissed, B.”
“You can say that, you’ve been kissed, you get offers of boyfriends, I get nothing.”
“Once, Bren, and I didn’t even want to kiss him. You want your first kiss to be special, with someone you really care about, not some jack ass.”
Then he kissed me.