The Little Mistakes (boyxboy)

Chapter 8

Near the end of the day, it was once again time for gym. I slowly walked into the locker room, following behind three guys. They were talking about girls. I wrinkled my nose at them and finally went to the back of the room once they got out of my way. I unlocked it and pulled it open.

I dropped my bag to the floor next to me and reached into my locker. Kicking my shoes off, I pulled out my t-shirt and shorts. Then I set them on the bench behind me and grabbed for the button on my jeans. I undid the button and pulled down my zipper, slipping my thumbs in the waistband, about to pull off my pants.

“Why are you talking to Kieran?”

I jumped at the sudden voice, completely surprised. Eyes wide, I turned my head. Rikert was standing right next to me, his face only a foot away. I took a step back and narrowed my eyes at him.

“Jeez! Personal space--ever heard of it?” I asked, heart still racing.

Rikert crossed his arms. “Kieran,” was all he said.

I rolled my eyes. “He’s my friend. Now go away, I need to change.” I saw him hesitate. It was the weirdest thing in the world. I grabbed the waist of my jeans again, waiting for him to leave. When he didn’t, I raised an eyebrow at him. “Well?”

Rikert quickly uncrossed his arms. He had an annoyed look on his face. He didn’t say anything more to me, but I heard him grumbling something before he stormed away. I shook my head, looking after him. I had no clue what his deal was.

Rikert and I stayed far away from each other for the rest of the class period. I avoided doing more work than I needed to, and I didn’t talk to anybody. After I changed back into my street clothes, I grabbed my bag and went out to meet Kieran.

We walked out to his car and got in. Then we started to drive to his house. I had no idea where we were going. So far, the only places in the city I’d been to were my house, Phoebe’s house, and school. I just stayed silent, enjoying the ride and trying not to think about how freaking weird Rikert had been earlier.

Kieran parked on the street, right in front of his house and we both got out. I followed him across his yard and to the front door. He unlocked it and led me inside. I looked around. It was nice. A little plain, maybe, but definitely nice.

Kieran tapped my wrist. “Come on.”

I followed him down the hall towards the stairs.

“Kieran!” a woman yelled.

He stopped in the middle of the hall. It was so quick, I smacked into his back. Kieran laughed a little at me. I scowled at him.

“Sorry, that’s my mom,” he whispered.

I heard footsteps behind me. We both turned and I saw his mother walking up to us. “Oh,” she said, resting her eyes on me. She raised her brows at her son. “Kieran?”

“Uh, this is my friend, Caise,” he said. “He’s new.”

She nodded her head and stuck her hand out to me. I hesitated, not very amused with the situation, but shook her hand anyway. “It’s nice to meet you, dear. Where did you move from?”

I sighed inaudibly. This question was getting old. “New Zealand,” I said.

“I see,” she said, studying me.

“Mom,” Kieran hissed. I smirked a little. “We need to study for French. Do you mind?”

His mother clasped her hands in front of her. She had a tiny smile on her lips. “French, huh?” she asked, looking between us.

“Yes,” Kieran said shortly. He pulled my arm and nudged me towards the stairs. “Can we go now?”

“Uh huh,” she muttered.

I looked at them both. I wasn’t really sure what was going on. Whatever it was, though, I found it somewhere between mildly entertaining and extremely odd. Kieran turned around and pointed for me to keep walking. We got upstairs and I followed Kieran to his room. He opened his door and held it open for me.

“Behave, Kieran!” his mom yelled up to us.

I walked into the room, confused. “Mom!” he yelled, angrily. I laughed at him as he slammed his bedroom door shut. He pointed at his bed so I walked over and sat down on it. A moment later Kieran came and joined me.

“Is she always like that?” I asked.

“Unfortunately,” he grumbled.

The corners of my lips twitched. “Are we really going to do French?”

He shrugged, losing some of his irritation. “I don’t know. It was just the first thing I thought of.”

I nodded. “Right. So then...what should we do?”

I looked at the side of his face. Kieran was a nice guy. Hell, he was the only guy at school who bothered to befriend me. The rest of them either ignored me like the plague or gave me stick like Rikert. A lot of the girls were like Candy and Chantay--trying to hit on me and acting like total slags. It drove me crazy. I just wanted someone to be nice and normal. Not sex-crazed.

He glanced up at me with a side-long glance. I watched him blink. That was when I realized how quiet it had gotten in here. My lips parted slightly. I hated myself as I found my eyes flicking down to his lips. I wasn’t supposed to do that. But I was curious.

Kieran turned his head to look at me. He looked so sweet and innocent. I gulped. As he blinked, I swear my heart rate picked up. I bit my cheek painfully. This was so wrong.

“We could do this,” Kieran whispered.

His hazel eyes softened and his long lashes brushed along his cheeks as he blinked yet again. I hadn’t realized, but he had been moving closer to me. The second his lips softly touched mine, I shut down. I couldn’t move, my body tensed and froze.

I felt Kieran’s hand gently resting on my inner thigh, right above my knee. It wasn’t too much, it was careful and almost nice. He touched my wrist with his other hand, his fingers cold and questioning as his skin met mine.

Kissing Kieran was almost like kissing Eryn. It was weird. I didn’t move my lips at first. My mind and body had gone into shock. I had no clue what was happening. Kieran’s lips were soft and when he kissed me a little firmer, I involuntarily responded. It was completely a physical reaction, my mind was still clouded in confusion.

Although, as soon as my brain finally checked back in and found out what it was allowing me to do, it panicked. I jerked my head back, eyes wild and angry--possibly even worried. Kieran was like a fish out of water. He didn’t understand what just happened.

I hastily shoved his hand off of my leg and jumped to my feet. He toppled over on his bed before catching himself. He looked up at me, wonder written all over his features.

“What the actual fuck?” I screamed. I was breathing heavily, terrified.

“I-I--” Kieran started to say.

“I’m not gay!” I said. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and clutched my hair in my hands until it started to hurt.

Kieran’s jaw dropped. “I’m so sorry, Caise. I-I didn’t know.”

He got up and took a small step towards me. “Don’t come near me! Please, just don’t.”

Kieran cast his eyes down to the carpet. I couldn’t do anything but gnaw harshly on my bottom lip.

“My mistake,” he mumbled.

“What the hell would make you think I’d want to kiss you?” I asked, quieter now, but still riled up.

“You were just so nice,” he said. “I thought that’s why you agreed to come over...”

“I only wanted a mate! Just one person to hang out with. That doesn’t make me gay, Kieran. Jesus!”

He nodded, a frown on his face. “I’m sorry.”

“I have to go,” I muttered quickly. Luckily my rucksack was still on my back. So I darted for his door, pulling it open and rushing out into the hall.

“Caise, wait!” Kieran called after me.

I didn’t respond. I only went straight down the stairs as fast as I could. I ran out of the house, fortunately never being seen by Kieran’s mum. I speed walked away from Kieran’s house. I finally stopped when I was about two streets away.

I looked around. I had absolutely no clue where I was. Everything was so different from Oamaru. I slunk down and sat on a curb. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to go home. Not back to my uncle’s house, but back to New Zealand. I missed it like crazy, even if I didn’t really want to admit that to anybody.

I felt tears come to my eyes. I balled my hands into fists and placed them over my eyes, trying to prevent myself from crying. I steadied my breathing after a few moments, pulled my phone out, and hit a few buttons. The phone started ringing and I pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?” Phoebe asked.

“Hey, I need your help.”

“Are you okay?”

I sighed. “Yes, I’m fine. I just--I don’t know where I am.”

Phoebe laughed. “What is going on?”

“Nothing. I’m sitting on the side of a street. I don’t know how to get back to my house from here.”

“Where were you?”

“Kieran’s,” I said shortly.

“Why isn’t he driving you?” she asked, confused.

“Phoebs!” I said.

“Did something happen?”

I groaned frustratedly. “Enough with the questions. Can you just tell me how to get home? I’ll walk.”

She paused. “Sorry, Caise. I don’t actually know where Kieran lives. You’ll have to call Patrick.”

I blanched. “You have to be joking.”

“Sorry,” she repeated. “Just call him. He can go pick you up.”

“We hate each other,” I deadpanned.

She chuckled. “Well get over it. I have to go, bye!”

I stared down at my phone. Phoebe just hung up on me. I scowled. If this thing wasn’t so important, I would have thrown the stupid device into the middle of the road and stomped on it.

My phone started to ring in my hands. I looked down, the number was unfamiliar. I answered it anyway.

“Where are you?”

“Patrick?” I asked.

He huffed into the speaker. “Duh. Phoebe just called me, said you needed a ride, and then hung up,” he said, sounding annoyed. “Where are you?”

I frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t be such an idiot,” he grumbled. “Look for a freaking street sign. I don’t have time to play games all day.” I got to my feet and swore at him. “You want a ride or not?” he asked.

“Shut up,” I said, walking towards the street sign. “I’m on the corner of Blue Mesa Street and East Black hills.”

Patrick didn’t say anything for a second. “What the hell are you doing over there?”

“Do you know where that is?” I asked, ignoring his question.

“Yes,” he said. “I want to know why you’re there.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “Just please come get me.”

Patrick didn’t say anything and then the line went dead. I cursed. Well, he didn’t say he wasn’t going to come get me. So I guessed, I should just wait and see if he showed up. I looked around. I shrugged and sat right on the curb behind me.

When a car drove up a second later, it stopped at the stop sign right next to me. A little girl in the passenger’s seat was staring at me. Angrily, I made a nasty face at her. She looked away and her mother glanced over, frowning at me. I scowled and gave her the finger. Then the car sped off. I just laughed humorlessly. That’s when I realized what a shite mood I was in.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I turned around and looked behind me. “You have got to be kidding me” I said. Could this day get any worse? I looked at Rikert standing on the street a good ten feet away. “What, are you stalking me?”

“You’re the one sitting right outside of my house,” he argued.

“Shit,” I said. I pointed at the large, white house behind us. “That’s your house?”

“Yeah,” Rikert said, walking closer to me. “Any particular reason as to why you’re randomly sitting in front of it?”

“None of your business,” I hissed.

“Jeez, pull your thong out of your ass,” he said. He stopped right in front of me. His arms were crossed as he looked at me. “I just asked a question.”

“Yeah, well you can go away.”

“Are you lost?” he asked. I didn’t say anything. “Oh, I get it. You were at Kieran’s, weren’t you?”

I stood up immediately. “Shut your mouth, Rikert.”

He smirked at me. “What happened? Find out he was a queer?”

I clenched my fist by my side. “Watch your mouth, you disrespectful moron.”

He laughed. “Not a homophobe, I see,” he sneered. “Did he kick you out after you fucked, then?” He eyed me up and down. “You were the bottom, right?”

That was it. I brought my arm up. I pulled back my elbow and punched him in the face as quick as I could. He yelped from pain and shock. While he was dazed by the impact, I backed away from him.

“I’m not fucking gay!” I yelled at him.

He moved forward. I stepped back, trying to get out of his reach. I was so not about to let Rikert get ahold of me. He was taller and he looked a lot stronger than me. I just got lucky with that first punch because I had the element of surprise on my side.

I heard a horn honk. I looked over and saw Patrick sitting in his annoyingly fancy car. I saw movement. Rikert was moving towards me with more determination. I held tightly to my bag and took off for the car. I wasn’t going to waste any time.

“I’m going to kill you!” Rikert yelled after me as I slid into the passenger’s seat.

I slammed the door shut. “Go!” I said to Patrick. He didn’t say anything but hit the gas and sped off. I looked behind us through the back window. Rikert was kicking angrily at the road. I started to laugh as I put my seatbelt on.

“Are you for real?” Patrick asked me.

“What?” I asked.

“Fighting with Rikert? You must be out of your mind.”

I glared at him. “Whatever. Just shut up and drive.”

He shook his head. “Why were you in that neighbourhood?”

I crossed my arms and looked straight in front of me. I watched the road as we drove. I really didn’t want to talk to Patrick about this. If he found out about Kieran kissing me, that would just be humiliating. Then it dawned on me. Rikert had just seen me. And he’d talked about Kieran, clearly already knowing that he was gay. I threw my head back against my headrest.

“No, no, no,” I mumbled quietly.

It was common knowledge that Kieran was gay. And pretty much everybody at school knew I’d been hanging out with him the last couple days.

“Dude,” Patrick said apprehensively. “Are you okay? Don’t you dare throw up in my car.”

I scrunched my eyes shut tightly. This freaking sucked. Everything was ruined. People were probably going to start assuming I was gay. I swore. This was so not good.

We kept driving and I stared out of the window. When we got home, I went straight to my bedroom. I locked the door immediately, and threw my bag on the floor. I laid down on my bed, thinking back over everything that had happened.

Kieran was gay. I just could not believe that. He seemed so straight. Then again, I’d been best friends with Eryn for years and I’d never pegged him for liking guys.

I stared at my ceiling. Why was it that every damn friend I seemed to make ended up kissing me? It just wasn’t fair. I didn’t want to be kissed by them. I just wanted to be normal. Was that really so much to ask for?

I closed my eyes. But when I did that, all my thoughts did was wander back to Eryn’s words and the taste of Kieran’s lips. I groaned. I didn’t want to think about this stuff, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Kieran was nice. And damn me for thinking that he was slightly attractive.

I wasn’t lying when I thought that kissing Kieran was weird. Because it was. Only, the reason it was weird wasn’t because he was a guy, but it was because before Eryn it had been ages since I’d kissed anyone. So the action itself was unfamiliar.

Having Eryn kiss me was bizarre. He was my best friend and I just didn’t have feelings like that for him. Kieran, on the other hand, was different. I’d just met him and already he’d kissed me. It confused the crap out of me because I liked the closeness between us. I liked his hand on my thigh. I liked the taste of his lips. I liked his personality.

The only thing I didn’t like was that he was a guy. I shouldn’t be gay. I had enough problems when I had myself convinced I was straight. Allowing myself to be with guys and to enjoy it was just going to complicate my life even more. And I really didn’t have the energy to deal with that.