Let Them Speak

It wasn't late when I came home. Maybe six-thirty, but I'd skipped school after my lunch room thing. I ran to the theater and looked for the knife that would prove that Johnathan Karlis had murdered Daniel Tarus. And after several hours of searching, I found it.

I called 9-1-1 right away and when they came, I had no idea what to tell them. They asked how I'd found the knife. Why I'd been at the theater. How I'd found Daniel's body. And I couldn't explain it. Then, I fed them lie after lie. Eventually they bought it and let me go home- so they could arrest and convict Johnathan. I was proud of myself.

But, when I arrived home, I was surprised to find to boys in my bedroom. Aiden Neider and Tyler Voda. Great. The one who stalks me and the one who I made out with at a party. Aiden's eyes were narrowed, but Tyler had a huge grin on his face.

"Uh, what are you guys doing here?" The question was more directed toward Tyler, but Aiden answered, turning to Tyler.

"Yeah, what are you doing here. Addii, tell him you're my boyfriend."

"I-"

"Addison, please tell him that you're my boyfriend." Tyler sounded pretty pleased with himself, but I wasn't pleased with either of them.

"To be honest, neither of are my boyfriend." Aiden didn't look as startled as Tyler. His eyes shone in disbelief.

"But me and you-"

"Made out at a party," I finished for him. "That doesn't mean we're dating. I was just having a good time. I'm sorry. I really am. I like you Tyler, but I don't think a relationship is what I want with you. And you-" I turned toward Aiden, scowling.

"What did I do?"

"How many times did I tell you to stay out of my room and to stay away from me?"

"Ah, come on! That's not fair! You know you want me!" His words were cocky, confident, and arrogant and it made me angrier.

"Look, I'm going to go. I'll talk to you some other time, maybe I'll change your mind about that relationship." With that, Tyler left my house. Aiden smirked and patted a spot on the bed.

"Now that he's gone, we can have some fun." He winked and his grin grew wider. I faked a gaging noise.

"No, what I want you to do is leave me alone. Your my best friend's brother. That's it. Maybe it'd be different-" I stopped myself. What could I say? That it'd be different if I didn't have feelings for Darryn? "That's all you are to me."

"Are you sure I can't change your mind?" He got up and stalked over to me. For being thirteen, he was tall. And for being sixteen, I was short. I was about five-four. He was about five-ten. He pressed me against the wall, letting me feel his defined muscles. Being a gay, and still going through puberty, this made me weak. Made me want to give myself to him, but I quickly came to my senses.

"I'm very sure, now get off me." Aiden back off a little.

"Why won't you even give me a chance?" His eyes grew a little blurry, not crying, but close to it.

"You've been trying to hard to seduce me, Aiden. A relationship isn't just sex. It's passion, it's that spark when they touch you. It's what puts the shine in someone's eyes." I smiled slightly. He nodded and made his way toward the window.

"Just to let you know, you're kind of a slut." His words kind of stung- and had a bunch of irony to them. I'd said the same thing about him.

"How?"

"That Tyler kid was the second guy who came here looking for you."

"What? Who?"

He shook his head and put a foot out the window. "Why should I tell you."

I was ashamed of what I had to do, but it needed to be done. "This is only one you're getting, you understand?" Before Aiden could answer, I wrapped into a huge kiss, one that I even had allowed to escalate as far as Aid en sliding his tongue into my mouth. When I pulled away, he spoke.

"I understand. And, yeah, some guy came looking for you."

"Who?"

"David, Derek, Darnell. Something with a D." That's when my interest spiked. I knew who he was talking about.

"Darryn?"

"That's it!" He smiled at me, ready to leave, but I caught his shoulder. "What?"

"What did he say?" I asked, but then something else occurred to me. "Oh, God! What did you say?!"

"Well, he was here before I was. He caught me crawling through the window."

"That's not what I asked. Tell me what was said."

"He asked why I was there and I told him we had 'a thing.' He got angry and stormed out."

"You asshole!" I screamed at him and he quickly slipped out of my bedroom. I sighed heavily, reached out my phone. I didn't have Darryn's number, so I called Haven -who has like everyone's number- and got it from her. So, I dialed the number she gave me, and waited for him to pick up. Thank God he did.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Who's this?" Darryn's voice sounded like he didn't want to talk, like he was hurt.

"It's me." When that didn't clear anything up, I spoke again. "It's Addison, I think maybe we should talk."