locker room-dnf

chapter two

TW-mentions of smoking

clays pov

"TOUCHDOWN!!!" The little british boy screamed at the top of his lungs, I toppled over with laughter at him. I eventually got up as he ran over to me. "Good job lil Davidson!" I ruffled his hair while smiling down at him. George rested against the wall nearby, watching silently with a smile on his face. He started walking over to us, checking the time on his phone.

"Clay, thanks so much for coming out. I guess he's just tired of playing football with me all the time," he pauses, chuckling slightly, "maybe it's because I beat him every time." Hearing these words, his brother scoffs and runs inside to his mother.

George turns to me and motions towards the door. "I'm sure dinner is ready if you want to come inside." I pause, looking at my phone to make sure I didn't have to return home. "Alright then, let's go."

We both walk in and wash our hands, sitting down at the Davidson dinner table next to each other. His mum sets down a pot and sits in her spot. George's brother sits next to his mother as she starts serving herself, passing the pot around.

As I'm getting my serving, George's mum clears her throat. "Clay, I truly do appreciate you coming over to play with Mikey. He's needed this." She glances at Mikey with a concerned look as he eats, not paying attention.

I nod at her. "No problem, it was fun." I say with a wide smile. She sighs lightly, changing her glance to be directed towards George.

"I'm truly grateful George found you and your friends. I was so worried after he came out." George sets his fork down and gives his mother a warning glance. "Mum." he hisses. "Stop."

She holds her hands up as if surrendering and continues to eat in silence.

I had never really thought much of George coming out, I mean Karl had come out as well and our group was very accepting despite being the "popular" kids. George had mentioned cute guys in the past and I had never really been grossed out or appalled by it, more of just accepting it and letting him live his life. I myself was probably on the bisexual spectrum, but I was happy with Emma and that's all I needed.

Karl had talked to me a while back about liking someone in our friend group but never mentioned who. Who knows? Maybe it was George and the two of them could actually be happy together since George always seemed so alone when Emma and I were together or even Nick and his crush.

I felt a kick on my leg and snapped back to reality. I look for the source of the kick only to find Mikey looking at me with a concerned look. "Are you okay?" he mouths at me. I nod with a small smile.

We finish eating with small chatter between the four of us until my father texted me to come home.

"Thank you so much for having me-" I begin to say until George's mother pulls me into a large hug. "Anytime, dear. Seriously. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Mum!!" George whines out, his mother stifling a laugh. "I'm only joking dear. Partly. Bye Clay, drive safe." She says to me, her eyes squinted due to how hard she's smiling at me. I give Mikey a fist bump and turn to George.

"Thanks for coming over." He whispers and turns away, pausing for a moment before turning around. "Sorry for the embarrassing talk." And with that, he heads upstairs and I head to my car.

———

The next day at school , George seemed to avoid me. This wasn't a huge issue due to the fact that I was much closer with Nick anyways, but the vibes of the group were off.

Eventually as we all sat down for lunch, Alex spoke up. "So are we all going to walk on eggshells around each other today? What's going on?" George sets his tray down firmly and pulls his lips into a tight line. "Nothing." He speaks firmly.

Alex hold his hands up like he's surrendering and begins eating his food. Emma glances at me with a worrying glance and rubs my thigh comfortingly. I shrug and eat my food in silence. Nick and Karl are discussing something that nobody else is paying attention to.

"I'm going to my car, I forgot something in there for my next class." I stand up quickly and make my way to the doors, throwing my tray away on the way.

I burst through the school doors and dash to my car and unlock it, basically throwing myself into the drivers seat. I pause for a moment before opening the glove box and digging around for a familiar carton. I find it and pull out one of the slender sticks in it, grabbing a lighter as well.

As I sit in my car smoking and thinking, I hear my passenger door open and someone sit down. "Clay." I open my eyes and look over to see Emma.

"Hey love, what's up?" She sighs deeply and then coughs slightly. "I could ask you the same thing. You smoke when you're stressed." I look down at the cigarette in my hand. "I smoke all the time. I don't know what you're talking about."

She shrugs and pulls her phone out, smiling slightly at the screen. "Oh?" I raise my eyebrows at her. She turns her phone off quickly and sets it down. "It's Dean. Don't worry about it." My stomach churns slightly at the name.

Dean was very... interesting. He was known to get between couple and break them up for fun. I didn't trust him with any ounce of my body but he was friends with Emma so I had to deal with it.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't talk to him, you know." I say quietly. "If not for me at least for your relationship." Emma scoffs. "Clay, you know I'm not that social of a person. He's my only friend besides you. Besides," she hits my shoulder playfully. "I would never leave you for Dean."

My nerves aren't calmed at all by her comment. I simply fake a smile and throw the cigarette butt out the window. "We should head inside, yes?" Emma says cheerfully. I nod and we both exit the car and head towards the building. I'm nervously twisting my promise ring with Emma on my hand and thinking about her words. I should be nicer about Dean, it's not Emma's fault that she doesn't trust many people. It's just her nature to not have many friends. But it was odd, what about Alex? Or Karl and Nick? Or even George? What were they to her?

———

george's pov

I felt gross and slimy and awful when I woke up. I felt like a horrible person. My mum had a talk with me once Clay left about how she will accept me even if I develop feelings for a man. And yet, every time I bring someone home, she hates them.

She doesn't hate the person. She hates the fact that someone could love me for who I am.

She constantly has talks with me about my sexuality and I always feel horrible for days after. I usually fake a smile and continue my life but this time I couldn't. And yes, I knew in return everyone else would suffer due to the bad vibes, but I am so tired of faking happiness for everyone else's sake. What about me? Does anyone think about what I want?

word count- 1284 words