Give Me A Chance (boyxboy)

Eighteen

"Where exactly are you taking me?" I ask again.

"Shh," he says again, reaching over and putting a finger over my lips. I roll my eyes and let him have his little moment. But I'm smiling.

It's getting easier and easier to ignore the self-hatred in my mind the longer he holds my hand. Because no matter what I might think in my head, he wants to be holding my hand. And it makes my chest all fuzzy. I think there's some semblance of happy in my heart right now.

I end up just watching him, thinking about how, just minutes ago, he was kissing me. It feels surreal, because I never expected something like this would happen to me.

I keep remembering the feeling of his hands on my face. I felt enveloped in a barrier, protecting me from bad thoughts. Because they were constantly there, at the fence, trying to crawl under, climb over, and get me.

I squeeze his hand tighter.

He looks over at me and smiles and my heart flips. In a really good way.

"God, I like you so much," he says, and my stomach flips even more horrendously. The playful smile on his lips is taking all my attention right now. And the fact that he does like me "so much" is making the part of my brain that just wants to be here, in this moment, win. For once, I let that part of my brain dictate what I feel right now, and the other part of my mind fades away for now.

"I'm glad you do," I say slyly. "Because if you didn't, I'd be questioning what you did back there."

He laughs.

And when we pull into the school parking lot, it's my turn to laugh. "What are we doing here?" I ask him. "As far as I'm aware, it's nearly midnight on a Tuesday night."

"Smartass," he says, climbing out of his car. He comes over to the other side and helps me maneuver out of the seat because, even though the boy of my dreams just kissed me, it doesn't mean my ribs miraculously healed. Nope, they're still broken. That's what they don't tell you about big movie moments; everything is not perfectly happily ever after when it's over.

I wince as I straighten up and immediately he splays a palm across my chest to steady me. I can't help it. I giggle.

"What?" he asks.

I shake my head. "Nothing," I tell him quickly.

He eyes me weirdly. "Come with me," he says, still not letting me go. His arm is still around my shoulders, and his hand is still on my chest.

"You know I can walk by myself, right?" I say.

He seems to notice that he's still holding on to me and hastily steps away. "Sorry," he mutters. I smile. It's getting easier and easier to do that.

He jimmies the handle on the gymnasium door for a couple seconds before it pops open. I narrow my eyes."Please tell me we are not breaking and entering,"

He shrugs. "It's not breaking and entering if it's already open," he says, winking.

"Arguably, it is,"

He kisses me quickly. "Stop talking, please,"

I don't stop talking. "Why did you do that?" I ask him, putting my hands on my hips.

"Because," he tells me, throwing the door open and gesturing me inside. "I can do that now. Nothing's stopping me." He tilts his head slightly. "In fact, nothing's stopping me from doing it all the time."

I turn to face him. My ribs hurt a bit as I do. "I'm sure that'd get old fast," I say solemnly.

He doesn't flick the light switches on the walls. Instead, he leads me to the maintenance room off the side of the gym. At this point, I don't even question it. "I doubt it," he tells me, grabbing my hand. "You up for testing that theory?"