Lawn Boy

During my next Class, I went to the bathroom to check my ribs and see if they were bruising. They were a little yellow, but I knew they would get worse. On my way out, I ran into another jock. He stopped me dead in my tracks. He towered over me at over six feet tall and had this big, buff body.
“It’s the faggot,” he said.
“Look, I already got grief from your little friends. I don’t need anymore.”
“I don’t like faggots.”
“Maybe we should talk about this,” I said as he backed me into the wall.
“Maybe I should pound your face in.”
I tried to fight him off, but he easily had fifty pounds on me. His fist ended up colliding with my face, leaving me on the floor again.
I took a few minutes and then I got up. I looked at myself in the mirror. My cheekbone was cut and bleeding. I wiped it with a paper towel, but that’s when the bell rang. I walked to the my classroom, got my things and walked to English.
When I walked into English, Mr. Parson’s looked at me with a worried face. I mouthed “I’m okay” to him before I walked to my desk. Asher was already sitting down. He was looking down at his desk, but looked up when I made sounds of pain as I sat down.
“Holy shit, Max, what happened to you?” He asked in a loud whisper.
“Nothing, just…just don’t pay attention to my face,” I said, holding my ribs.
“What’s wrong with your side? Max, what happened?”
“I, ah…I fell…”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I thought you wanted me to leave you alone.”
“Max, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I said that.”
“I know,” I said. “But maybe you were right. Maybe we shouldn’t hang out at school. It’ll just make things worse.”
“Did someone do this to you, Max?”
“I’m fine, Asher.”
Mr. Perkins started class. It was hard to pay attention because my ribs were really starting to hurt. He interrupted his lecture to talk to me.
“Max, are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?” Mr. Perkins asked.
“Yes, he does,” said Asher.
“No, I’m okay,” I answered.
“Max, go see the nurse,” said Asher in a whisper.
“I’m fine,” I whispered. “I’m fine, Mr. Perkins.”
“You can barely, move, Max. You’re going to the nurse. Asher you can go with him and help him walk.”
Asher walked over and helped me up. Once we were out of the classroom, Asher started to ask more questions.
“They did this to you because of me, didn’t they?” He asked.
“No, they did this because I’m gay, Asher.”
“Yeah, but they wouldn’t have found out if it wasn’t for me.”
“They didn’t beat me up because of you, Asher. So just stop.”
“Okay, okay…I think I have a little room for panic when my boyfriend gets the shit kicked out of him.”
“I wasn’t your boyfriend earlier. I tried to help you earlier and you didn’t even look at me.”
“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry about that?”
“Now you’re sorry, now that I’m like this.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
“Maybe it is, but I still care about you. I always have and you know that.”
We reached the nurse’s office. She cleaned my eye and bandaged my ribs. She didn’t ask any questions about what happened to me. I was shocked. She must’ve heard about Asher and me and assumed that’s why I’ve been beaten up.
“You should go home,” said the nurse.
“But the day is almost over. I’ll just go back to class.”
“Do you need me to drive you home?” Asher asked.
“Yeah, I think I’ll take you up on that. Ever driven an SUV?”
“No, but I’m sure it’s just like driving a really big Honda.”
I laughed but it hurt. “Don’t make me laugh.”
“Sorry. Can I settle for make you smile?”
“And how are you going to do that?”
“Like this,” he said, pecking me a kiss on the lips.
I saw the nurse smile and look away. I smiled as well and instantly felt better. It felt like forever since the last time I kissed Asher. He helped me back to class.

• • •

“What the hell happened to you, Max?” Ashley asked when we met in the parking lot.
“Is this about the whole thing going around school about you and Ash?” Jack asked.
“You know?” I asked.
“My friends have been giving me shit about it all day, Max,” said Jack. “Thanks a lot.”
“It’s not exactly my fault your friends are homophobic assholes, Jack.”
“Jack, give your brother a break okay,” said Asher.
“Oh, yeah, like I’m gonna listen to you,” said Jack, smartly.
“Don’t talk to him, like that Jack. If you think you’re going through some shit, you don’t know what we’ve been through.”Ashley stayed quiet and we all got into the SUV. “What about your car?” I asked him.
“I’ll have Peter bring me by to pick it up later.”
When we got home, Asher helped me up to my room. Ashley knocked on the door not too long after. She slowly walked in.
“Max, are you…are you okay?”
I smiled and adjusted myself onto the bed. “Yeah,” I said. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really tell anyone. It’s never really been a big deal to me.”
“Then why not tell me?”
“Like I said; to me, it’s not a big deal. So there was no need to tell you.” I paused. “Rebecca found out a while ago.”
“So, she knew?”
“I didn’t tell her, though.”
“How did she find out?”
“You don’t wanna know,” I said almost laughing, but refraining.
“So…you and Asher are, like…”
“Boyfriends,” I finished.
“That’s…different.”
“Come here,” I said. I patted the bed next to me. Asher went to sit down at my desk. Ashley came and sat next to me. “You know this doesn’t change who I am at all. I’m still the Max that you’ve always known.”
“I know, but it’s just…”
“Weird,” I finished again.
“Yeah,” she agreed.
“It’ll take some getting used to.”
“Does mom know?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “Are you gonna be okay? You’re not getting any shit from anyone are you?”
“No, mostly my friends think gay guys are hot. So, they don’t really care.”
“Good, I’m sorry ahead of time if you get any shit from anyone.”
“You don’t have to apologize. It’s not your fault.”
“Jack seems to think so.”
“Jack is a dumbass. Don’t pay attention to him.” She paused and looked like she wanted to ask me a question, but was afraid to.
“What’s up?” I asked. “Go ahead.”
“Who did this to you?”
“It’s not important.”
I knew if I said that it was Brenda’s brother, Asher would get really mad, do something he’d regret and get hurt. I couldn’t chance that.
“Yeah it is. You can get them expelled or something.”
“People don’t get expelled for beating up fags. It’s just the way things go.”
Ashley sighed, got up, and then left. Asher came over and lay on the bed with me. He put his arm around me and I rested against his body.
“I don’t know why you just don’t tell me who did this. We can go to the principal and get this settled.”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“What if it’s worse, next time, Max? I can barely stand to see you like this. I don’t know if I would be able to handle it if it was worse.”
“I told you, I’ll be fine. There’s no need for you to worry.” I sighed. “So…now my whole family knows.”
“Yeah,” said Asher.
“What about your family?”
“It’s just my dad and me.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Max…I can’t tell him.”