Frostbite

"I don't even want to talk about it!" Lee yelled as she opened the front door to let me in and power walked to the kitchen.

"Oh. Well I kinda assumed you did since you, ya know, called me complaining then told me to get my 'hot fucking perfect ass' over here."

She gave me one of those looks over the refrigerator door.

"Don't look at me skeptically and ask me questions with your eyes. I was just filling in the blanks with the appropriate adjectives." Shaking my comment off, Lee launched into a rant about how terrible her date went. A rant that would have been half as long if she hadn't used any cuss words.

I'm kinda glad that things wouldn't work out with Lee and Lineal, then I'd have no one to spend my time with. I mean, yeah I have options. But Lee doesn't hang out with me 'cause of my dick or hockey ability. And, lets face it, no one hangs out with me for my personality. To be honesty, I'm not sure why Lee hangs out with me. But I'd never voice that, she might realize it's a stupid option herself one day and leave me to scroll down her Tumblr alone, wondering why she keeps re-blogging so many pictures of kittens. Wouldn't want that.

"Get out of the fridge, Muffin!" Lee yelled at her kitten, interrupting her rant. "You are a cat! Cats do not go in the fridge!"

"It's okay Muffin!" Hurrying to the fridge, I scooped the cat up and held her like a baby in my arms. "Do you want to be milk? You can be milk. You can be whatever you want to be! Fuck Lee! Fuck reality! I bet you'd taste great on cereal!"

"Am I interrupting something?" Lee's only other best friend, Riley, stood in the entry way to the kitchen. "I could go, I am a little early. My mom's probably just down the street, she wont mind if I just call her and- Oh you're already hugging me, okay." He nodded dumbly, looking just like the air headed junior he is. "Are we still going somewhere?"

"Yep, skating." I answered.

"No." Lee firmly told me. "We're going to the mall and buying me some new shoes, Gin a new jacket, and you a new dress shirt because I'm sick of seeing you in one of your black ones every time you guys have a game."

"I'll go, but I'm not going into American Eagle. That's like home base for all annoying gay guys."

Lee rolled her eyes as she reached into my pocket and pulled out my keys, bouncing away before I could grab her. "As if. Hollister has way better stuff."

"Hey, Benjamin?" Riley called out, surprisingly audible over the disgusted noise coming from my throat. "Why do you like the ice so much?"

"It's the only place I can do the moon walk." I told him as I danced incorrectly to the door, almost falling on my way down the steps.



"I like that one." Riley announced for the fourth time as I came out of the dressing room. All three shirts were the same type but different colors and sizes. This particular one was a dark red that resembled dried blood and clung to me like Mathew.

"Turn around." Lee ordered.

I obeyed, spotting just how many people had 'inconspicuously' gathered to watch us shop. Not that I could blame them. Lee was the perfect picture of cute, short, small, and stylish. Riley was too, short, ginger, and looking ditsy as usual. Then there's me, with that there's enough reason to stare.

"He should get them all." Riley suggested. "He looks good in all of them."

"Gin, is there something you're not telling me?" Lee was visible in the mirror looking down at Riley who sat in a nearby chair, his new jacket already on. "You don't have to be scared, especial not with me. I'll accept you." She gestured to me. "Obviously."

"I'd fuck that." I announced.

"Though I appreciate your interest in my, er, booty." Started Riley.

"Yep." Lee nodded. "Sounds about right."

"Yes, but I am not currently looking for a person to have sexual, or non-sexual, relations with." He told us while his eyes were glued to the ground as always, looking and sounding like he was trying hard to get the words out of his mouth and in the correct order. "And though I am not going to turn down someone of the male gender, I also will not go, er, flaunting around that I will accept them, as with the female gender. My feelings on the sub- Oh, they're in the dressing room, okay."

Soon, Lee had striped me and wrestled me into yet another dress shirt, pushing me out of the cramped space and back in front of the mirror. When I looked at their reflection, I was surprised to find a familiar blond boy standing over Riley.

"Hey Benjamin." Mathew smiled into the mirror. "I've never seen you dressed up."

I smirked at him. "I've never seen you without your di-"

"Hey Mini." Lee cut me off for the sake of those around. "Why don't you introduce us to your man friend."

"I see no man around, but I'm going to assume the lights are hurting your eyes and you meant Mathew. That's Juliet and the ginger bread boy is Riley."

"Aw." Mathew cooed as he looked down at Riley. "You're a cutie."

Scrunching up his face, Riley said "Lee told me that if anyone ever called me that I should inform them that I'm jail bait."

With that, Mathew shook his head and began to help pick out my clothing. After we finally settled on royal blue and dull green shirts, we decided to prep for shoe shopping in the food court, Mathew tagging along. Lee went off thinking out loud about what stores had good shoes and which ones were having sales. The fashion jargon went over my head, though Mathew and Riley seemed overly interested in it.

"I need to piss." I announced as I stood up and headed to the bathroom, the pressure in my head subsiding as Lee's voice faded.

Taking my time in the bathroom, I thoroughly washed and dried my hands, fixed the misplaced pieces of hair, and picked the unnoticeable black strands off of my black T-shirt. With a sigh, I left and slowly started to make my way back to the table, making people stare again. I caught the eye of one slightly familiar looking brown haired boy, staring back as I tried to pinpoint where I saw him before.

Back at the table, a new headache arose as Lee continued to ramble on. Do you really need this much thinking to walk into a store, try on some shoes, and give the cashier some money? Does she really even need anymore shoes? Her room is so fucking full, the last thing she needs if more god damn shoes. And why the fuck would she think I, of all people, would be a good person to bring along shopping? What the fuck is she even thinking?

"Hey Benji." The familiar looking brown haired kid made me pick my head up, finally recognizable as Ian, a kid from my photography class. His presence didn't seem to phase the others, still intently listening to Lee's thoughts. "I'm just going to ask now before I lose my guts. I was wondering, if you aren't seeing anyone, would you like to go out sometime?"

Though he was smiling and his voice was firm, I could tell it took him a lot of courage to come and ask me that. Unlike others that walked up with such a arrogant air, their confidence boiling over into cockiness that called for my highest level of jackass, it would just be wrong to treat him like that. I had to say no nicely.

But would it also be wrong to turn him down if I'm single? Really, I had no reason to say no except for the simple fact that he wasn't my type, in looks or small tidbits of personality I could gather. From the scrawniness of his arms you could tell he played no sports and didn't bother to work out, the rainbow on his shirt said he liked to cause problems, and the way he clung to people in the hallway at school let me know he wouldn't let go of me. His skinny limbs made him look too breakable, awkward stance unattractive, and blue eyes making me suddenly depressed about life and every aspect of it.

I'm gay, not desperate.

"I'm sorry Ian," I smiled up at him, wrapping my arm around Mathew's waist and pulling his attention from Lee. "I'm kind of taken. But maybe we could hang out as friends sometime? I know a cute ginger just waiting to be swept off his feet. Don't I, Gin?"

"Huh?" Riley turned around, the lack of attention making Lee finally shut up." Maybe, that depends on what you're talking about. Unless you're lying, then maybe you should- Oh, you're not listening to me anymore, okay."

I only half paid attention to the mini-conversation I had started with Lee, resisting the urge to rip Mathew's arm from me as I eavesdropped on Ian and Riley.

"Your name's Gin?" Ian asked, sounding slightly shocked.

"Yeah," Riley answered slowly, deep-thought face clear in my mind. "Well, it's a nickname, short for ginger on account of I am one. Not that I'm a fan of alcohol. My full, er, real name is Riley."

"Oh, nice name. I'm Ian by the way. Well, I was just on my way to FYE."

"Really?" Riley perked up. "I haven't gotten the latest Shonen Jump magazine yet. Would you mind if I, er, accompanied you?"

The smile in Ian's voice almost made me jealous. The the lack of space between them as they walked away immediately killed all envy in me.

"Benji," Mathew awed, finally letting go of me. "That was so nice."

"Nice?" Lee scoffed. "He just didn't want to go out with the guy, so he pawned him off on Gin."

"Yeah, but everyone's happy in the end," He shrugged. "so it's okay."

"Can we go?" I finally asked. "The music coming from that store over there is giving me a head ache."

"You don't like Nicki Minaj?" Mathew asked as we gathered our stuff to leave."She's like the black guy's Lady GaGa."

"Three things wrong with that statement. One: I'm not black. Two: I don't like Lady GaGa. And three: don't you have a life, why are you hanging out with us?"

"Mini." Lee hit me in the chest. "Don't be a bitch, he's cool."

"It's okay." Mathew laughed. "I'm used to his bitch by now."

"Pft." Spanking him with the bag, I fell in step next to Lee. "As I recall, earlier this week, you were my bitch."

"Mini!" Lee exclaimed.

"What? Mathew rides it. Mathew rides it like it's a toy pony outside Wallmart and he has a whole roll of quarters."

"Oh my god." Mathew mumbled. "Why do I hang out with high schoolers?"

I left the opening, instead pretending to bay attention to more of Lee's shoe talk. This was going to be a longer day that I had originally planed.