Stranger Nights

Chapter 11

By the time Henry got to his house Freddy was a flustered mess and his mother was cackling.

"Oh! Henry your back!" Linda Baker giggled, "Freddy was just telling me about your crush on....oops! I wasn't suppose talk about that."

Henry's face turned bright red. He looked at Freddy, whose face was equally bright red, for an answer. Of course he gave him nothing of the sort. Instead he quickly turned away and avoided the blonde boy's gaze.

"I have got to get back to work! I'm sure my breaks almost over."Linda said standing up, "You kids can enjoy yourselves here if you like."

And just as suddenly as she arrived, she left her home, leaving two very red and nervous boys.

Henry and Freddy looked around the small living room desperate to avoid eye contact. Henry, eventually, took the first step.

"S..So...er...how...I mean.."

"She asked me if you were into any girls!" Freddy burst out, blushing even more. Henry stared at him for a second before snorting.

"Who did you-"

"Mary Catherine." Freddy answered quickly. He was a nervous mess. Henry bit his lip desperate to hold in a laugh.

"You mean the church girl?" he covered his mouth to hold back his giggles.

"Y..Yeah." Freddy said avoiding his gaze. Just like that Henry started to laugh, barely trying to contain it anymore. He fell on to the chair,where his mother was sitting, and wiped the tears from his eye's still giggling.

"This is all your fault!" Freddy glared at him, "She's probably going to set you guys up now!"

Then Freddy was laughing too, burying his face in his hands.

"This is ridiculous." Henry said breathlessly.

"We're such idiots." Freddy laughed. He looked up at Henry. His cheek was still swollen. Freddy stopped laughing. They had been laughing like this after Freddy did that to him and before Henry ran away.

"Hey, what are you going to do about your cheek?" he asked quietly. Henry looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Henry softly touched his cheek.

"This? It's not as bad as it looks." Henry smiled at him rubbing it. This didn't seem to console Freddy though. Henry sighed. "Hey, you know when you asked me if I was pretending to be happy?"

"Yeah.."

"I wasn't lying you know." Henry grinned at him, "I really am happy."

Freddy Wordlessly sat up from his spot on the couch. He leaned over and flicked Henry's cheek, which made him yelp in pain.

"Liar." he said walking toward the door.

Henry's cheek stung, he still laughed though.

"Maybe." Henry called to him not moving from his chair. Freddy stopped in front of the door not looking at the boy who was staring at him. "Maybe I'm not happy....maybe I'm just okay. Maybe that's alright. It is kind of hard to be truly happy these days. I'm fine with being okay."

Freddy placed his hand on the doorknob, but before he could turn it Henry spoke again.

"So, Freddy Elliot, are you okay?"

Freddy squeezed the doorknob. He forced a smirk.

"See you at the ball Baker."

And he turned the doorknob and quickly left. His feet couldn't carry him fast enough.