Dirty Little Secret

School started back up a few days later, much to everyone’s disappointment. Winter break seemed to fly by quickly. I was sitting with my friends at lunch a few days after school started when Alex finally voiced a complaint.

“You know, we didn’t hang out at all over break, Jack. It was like you fell off the face of the earth,” Alex said.

“He didn’t hang out with anyone,” Rian added.

I frowned, “I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. I sent you guys texts. And every time I wanted to hang out, you were busy.”

“You only wanted to hang out once,” Alex said, rolling his eyes.

“Your point?”

“What did you do all break?” Rian questioned curiously.

I looked down at my food, shrugging, “I played video games and slept. And I occasionally watched TV.”

“Loser,” Evan snickered.

“Look who’s talking – you and Grieco seemed to disappear over break too,” Rian pointed out.

Evan’s face turned red, “We hung out with you guys twice!”

“Did you two ever get past whatever fight you were having?” I asked. Evan’s red face told me something was up.

“I’m going to go find Grieco,” Evan said, ignoring my question and standing up with his lunch tray.

Alex called out, “Hey, come back! You didn’t answer the question!”

“Bye!”

“Well, they definitely stopped fighting if he’s running off to find Grieco,” I mused.

“Forget about them – I’m still mad at you. Why didn’t you want to hang out with us?” Alex asked, pouting at me.

I sighed, “I’m sorry. Do you guys want to hang out tonight?”

“I’m busy tonight. Let’s go to the mall or something on Saturday,” Alex suggested.

I grimaced. I had plans with Zack on Saturday. “This weekend might not work.”

“Why?” Alex demanded, sounding annoyed.

“Never mind. It wasn’t anything important. Saturday will be fine,” I said quickly, making a mental note to cancel my plans with Zack. Friends first. Boyfriend second.

--------------------

“Why do we always come to the mall and walk around like a bunch of teenage girls?” Rian whined, walking beside Alex and I. It was Saturday afternoon and the three of us were hanging out at the mall together.

“Because I love to shop and spend my mom’s money,” I smiled innocently.

Rian rolled his eyes at me, “Yet another reason to add to the list of ways you show your homosexuality.”

“Well, we know why Alex likes coming to the mall,” I said, smirking at him. “He wants to visit the music store and stare at Martin Johnson.”

“That’s not true! I just like to check out the music they’ve got there,” Alex defended.

“And he likes to check out Martin,” I whispered to Rian. Alex punched me in the shoulder.

Rian chuckled, “Have you even talked to him since you guys hooked up?”

“Of course I have. We’ve been texting each other,” Alex said.

“Sexting or texting?” I grinned.

Alex scowled, “Jack. Shut up.”

“Oh, look at that! The music store is just a few feet away from us!” Rian teased, pointing at it. Alex immediately turned around to walk the opposite way, but Rian and I grabbed him by the arms to stop him.

“You guys! Quit it!” Alex hissed, trying to break away from us. We dragged him into the music store, pushing him through the entrance and blocking the door so he couldn’t run out. Alex glanced around the store and relaxed a little, walking away from us as he spoke. “Ha. I don’t think he even works toda-”

Alex turned to go down an aisle and ran right into Martin, knocking a box of CDs out of his arms and falling backwards onto his ass. I covered my mouth in an attempt to not laugh.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Martin apologized, holding out a hand to help Alex up.

Alex’s face was bright red as he took Martin’s hand and stood up, fixing his hair, “No, I’m sorry, I should have been watching where I was going. I’ll help you pick up these CDs.”

“Thanks,” Martin said with a small smile, after they had both picked up the CDs and put them back into the box. “What brings you here?”

“My friends and I were hanging out in the mall and thought we’d stop in here,” Alex said, pointing at Rian and I. We smiled innocently, waving at them. They both walked down the aisle away from us, and Alex gave us a look that said if we followed them, he’d kill us.

“I think we did the right thing by dragging him in here,” I mused, and Rian nodded.

Martin finally told Alex he had to get back to work, so we all left the store and continued walking around the mall. Alex was completely giddy – apparently they had been flirting and it led to Alex asking Martin out on a date.

“I’m nervous about the date. Oh my god. Why did I choose tomorrow night for the date?” Alex groaned.

“Because you like him and wanted to date him sooner rather than later?” I suggested, shrugging.

“I’m so dumb. I should have made the date next week so I have time to get ready.”

I rolled my eyes, “Chill out, dude. I’ll come over tomorrow and help you get ready.”

“This is why you’re my best friend,” Alex said, sighing in relief.

“Hey!” Rian complained.

“You’re my second favorite. If you give me money to buy a slushy, you’ll be my favorite,” Alex said, pointing at the slushy counter. Apparently we had wandered into the food court while Alex was obsessing over Martin.

Rian ended up being persuaded into buying slushies for the three of us, and we drank them as we walked around, still listening to Alex freak out over his date tomorrow. We heard a group of guys laughing and I frowned, looking around. I recognized those laughs.

Shane, Logan, Danny, Matt, and Zack were walking together, heading toward us. I guess Zack had decided to hang out with them, since I was hanging out with my friends today.

“Oh, shit,” Rian groaned. They seemed to notice us just then and grinned, walking over to us.

“Hey, it’s the gay boys!” Shane said, he and Logan stopping right in front of me. Zack, Danny, and Matt walked up with them, looking a little uncomfortable.

“Is it necessary to harass us at every possible moment?” I asked, frowning and taking a drink of my slushy.

Logan shrugged, “Why shouldn’t we? We have to knock the gay out of you somehow.”

“If the gay could be knocked out of me, it would be long gone by now. You’ve probably given us brain damage from the amount of times you’ve shoved us around,” Alex scoffed.

“Obviously – your brain damage turned you into a faggot,” Shane said.

“Come on, leave them alone,” Zack spoke up, but they ignored him.

“What are you boys shopping for? Makeup? Dresses? Dildos?” Logan taunted.

“Dildos – haven’t heard that suggestion before. Maybe I’ll stop by there and get one on the way out,” I smirked.

Shane gave me a look of disgust, “That’s nasty, dude.”

“Maybe I’ll get one too so Jack and I can use them together,” Alex piped up, joining in on the teasing and winking at me.

“You two are the biggest fucking faggots ever. Seriously. There’s nothing worse than being gay – that’s why you guys are such losers,” Shane scowled.

“Being an asshole is way worse than being gay,” I argued back, and they both laughed.

“You want to see an asshole?” Shane asked. Before I could react, he had taken my slushy out of my hand and dumped it over my head. I gasped, my mouth hung open as the cold slushy dripped down my hair and face.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Rian yelled immediately, shoving at Shane.

Shane laughed, “Who’s going to make me?”

“Leave us alone, guys. No one fucking bothered you. There’s no reason to do that to Jack,” Alex growled, fists clenched.

“Aw, the gay boy can’t even fight his own battles. He has to have his friends fight for him,” Logan taunted.

I wiped some of the slushy off my face, out of my eyes. I looked up at Zack, hoping he would say something. Zack looked at me apologetically and mouthed, “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

I held back tears and stomped away from the chaos happening between everyone else. I shoved past Zack, making him stumble back a few steps. I ran outside and sat down on the curb, trying to shake the slushy out of my hair. Angry tears started to trickle down my face along with the slushy drink.

I should have known Zack wasn’t going to stop being an asshole.