Girl Meets Closet

Chapter 11: Girl Meets The Past

------Jason's POV------

Luke rushed up to me and gave me a hug. I instinctively flinched from the contact, but eventually caved and embraced the other teen. This is why I never went to Central Park anymore.

"Jason! How's it going man?" Luke said, stepping back and looking me in the eyes. He seemed genuinely happy to see me. Like last time he saw me had never happened.

"It's… going…" I said, causing him to laugh.

"Ah Jason, you always had the funniest jokes."

"Yeah, right… jokes….” I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Oh man, you have no idea how much I've missed you, and even Ravi just the other day asked about you!" 

"Oh really, how is the guy?" I asked. I’d always been fond of Ravi, even if Luke hadn’t been close with him at school. He’d always made me laugh when I didn’t feel like it. He was a good kid. It’d been hard knowing I hadn’t said goodbye.

We began to walk in the direction of Times Square, falling into a routine that we’d created back when we went to the same school. I vaguely remembered the names of the various statues and areas we walked through. Eventually we’d made it to the playground we used to hang out at.

"Well, he's still a huge nerd, and kind of the reason I'm here right now. I'm looking for his best friend, although who would've thought I'd run into mine!"

My heart skipped a beat. "Really?" I guessed my voice must have sounded funny because Luke stopped and turned to me.

"What do you mean, 'really'? Of course we’re best friends! We’ve been through too much together to not be!”

I started to smile. Maybe he’s forgotten the incident. Maybe we can move past that. We began to catch up, me sharing a bit about my new friends, and him sharing about his family and friends. It was almost nice.

“Do you remember all the pranks you pulled? When you dropped that sticky syrup on Alex's desk? Or when you accidentally dropped Desi's favorite pen in front of our teacher? Oh! Or when you told that kid he had his pants on backwards? Classic!”

My heart sank. I thought maybe he could've changed, but he's still just the bully he used to be. Hopefully he wasn’t doing anything worse like I had since. I was an immature student back then, and what I’d done since was much worse. 

I did remember what he was talking about though. Both of those were genuinely accidents, but Luke thought I had genuinely meant it, and maybe that was the only reason he wanted to hang out with me.

I couldn’t blame him. I’d been worse than he’d ever been. Maybe he was the only one who could actually like a monster like me.

"Luke, I don't-" 

"Oh! Remember the time you told the class you were gay?"

I stopped in my tracks. So this is how it was going to go. I really thought that maybe Luke had changed (the grapevine travels fast when the bully is the richest kid in any school in New York). His new nanny was supposed to be good for the Ross kids, but it seems like the old days are here to stay. 

I gently pushed Luke away from me and looked in his eyes. "Luke, I am gay."

There. I said it. I’d finally admitted it out loud to myself, and no one was going to take that from me.

He laughed again, but when I didn't say anything, he stopped. "Wait, you're serious?"

I nodded, staring at him, feeling slightly fearful.