The Only Exception [BoyxBoy]

01 | ιf ιт'ѕ ℓσνιn тнαт уσυ ωαnт

I won't push too hard or break your heart
Because my love's sincere

Chapter 01 ~ If It's Lovin' That You Want

Ryan Rivera

It started with a kiss.

A kiss that shouldn't have been that big of a deal.

It wasn't like I was trying to kiss him. It was only because everyone else in the second grade had already had their first kisses, including my brother. All my friends had begun to tease me, saying things like no one wanted to kiss me because I had nasty diseases, so I wanted to lose my kiss virginity as soon as possible.

To do this, I decided I just needed to lay one on an insusceptible candidate, and that candidate just happened to be Bobby Cooper. At the time, my prepubescent self didn't think there was anything wrong with kissing another boy and didn't know what kissing another boy really meant, so I just went for it—in front of the entire second grade class.

It had been eight long years since the incident, and I was almost positive that Bobby didn't remember it because he never mentioned it outside of his initial freak-out.

But I did. I remembered it.

Because on that day, I fell in love with Bobby Cooper.

I knew better than to pin after a straight boy because those things rarely worked. It was never my intention to disturb any happiness Bobby received from having sex with multiple girls. Then again, it wasn't my intention to swoon every time he was near.

The point was that I was thankful to have him as a friend because I knew that was all he ever would be. And that was okay with me. He didn't need to reciprocate my feelings for me to know that he was my best friend and I was his. And as his best friend, I promised to get him and his future one-week girlfriend tickets to the galaxy show next week, which was proving to be a hell of a challenge.

"Please, please, please!" I begged in a desperate cry with my hands clasped together and my mouth pulled into a full pout. "I promised Bobby that I'd get him these tickets, and you're the one who told me that promises are a big deal. You're not supposed to break a promise."

Jamie barely looked at me as he padded through the living room, pushing past me and moving into the kitchen. "Exactly, which is why you should have thought about it before you promised him."

I let out a loud groan and followed him into the kitchen, refusing to back down.

Jamie used to be my foster brother back when we were both in the system. The minute he was of age, Jamie took that opportunity to get his own place with his boyfriend, Scar. Five years later, however, when the two heard word of my foster mother's alcoholic liver disease and impending death, they rushed to adopt me and my twin brother. We had only been living with them for three years, but even though we weren't related, I saw them as the parents that I never had. And sometimes my parents were really cool. Other times, not so much.

"I don't get it," I countered. "You're in charge of it! You can't save me two measly tickets?"

Jamie stopped in his long strides and faced me, a blond eyebrow raising. "Let me think about it." He brought his hand to his chin and glanced up at the ceiling, pretending to ponder the thought. "No."

I groaned. "But I—"

"You have homework, right?" he questioned all of a sudden, completely changing the subject.