Figuring Myself Out

Chapter 5

January 15 4:13 pm Thursday - Aspen POV (Continued)

By the time I had gotten home from school I was physically exhausted and I just wanted to go to sleep.

I knew that if I just closed my eyes for a couple minutes I would be fine and then I could pack my clothes before going to Darla's house but I didn't.

So I went to my closet lazily and pick out my school uniform, three shirts that I love, two pairs of jeans, and under clothes.

When I was done I sent a quick text to my mom letting her know where I would be for the next couple of days, made sure the door was locked and made my way to the bus stop.

"Damn." I said.

I looked up and saw that the bus was passing so I tried to run to the next bus stop that was on the next block.

Luckily the street that I was on was a red light and I was able to make it to the bus stop and get on the bus in less than 10 minutes.

9 long stops later I made it to Darla's baby blue two story house even more tired than before.

I knocked on the door and I got two knocks in when the door went flying open and I saw Darla.

"You finally made it we're all here we were just playing a few games." she said.

"Cool" I said tiredly.

I walk into her house and we go into the living room. I put my bag down before sitting down next to Kades and putting my head on her shoulder.

They looked like they were getting ready to start playing uno because Victory had cards in her hands shuffling them.

"You wanna play?" Kades asked me.

I shook my head no. Kades told Victory not to give me any cards. They started play and I was getting bored so I started to take a nap.

"Put your head on my lap if you wanna take a nap." Kades said.

As soon as she said that, that it is exactly what I did. While Kades was playing uno she was playing with my hair which helped me go to sleep faster.

Kades POV.

Once I saw that Aspen was sleeping I was able to play the game without waking him up.

The girls were looking at us but I wasn't sure why but it made me think about what Mr. Branden said about us being a couple.

I knew that Aspen liked me and vise versa but I didn't want to ruin the friendship if we were to ever break up so I didn't want to purse anything.

I was in my head so much at this point that I didn't even know that the girls had stopped playing and was looking at me.

"Sorry." I said.

"What you think bout?" Markayla smirked.

I blushed and avoided eye contact with her and put a +4 card down and changed the color to red.

Markayla was still smirking but I didn't care. I knew that she knew what I was thinking since I told her that I liked Aspen.

Uno ended when Victory was the first one out and she was boasting around the house doing her signature victory dance.

"We should watch Friday." Darla suggested.

Darla didn't really wait for us to reply she went into her room to go get it. Victory and Markayla went to the kitchen to get snacks and drinks.

When Victory and Markayla came back so did Darla. Darla put the movie in the they had sat down on the couch.

~ 45 minutes later

As the movie was getting closer to the end I felt movement coming from my lap. Aspen got his head off my lap and put in on my shoulder.

"What we watchin" he mumbled.

"Friday but it's almost over and I think we are going to eat after this movies over." I said.

I felt him nod his head. He hugged my waist and was trying not to fall asleep again. The movie had ended and we were moving into the kitchen.

Aspen was holding my hand as I guided him into the kitchen where we started to get everything ready for pasta and garlic bread

"We need some tunes." Darla said.

As she turned on her kitchen radio the rest of us had gotten the ingredients out of the fridge and pantry.

Darla was on pasta, Victory was on seasoning the chicken, Markayla was on cooking the chicken and Aspen was making the garlic butter.

I had the easiest job which was spreading the butter on the bread and setting the table.

While everyone was doing there thing I had started setting up the table and when I was done Aspen gave me the butter to put on the bread.

As my friends were cooking I had went into the living room with Aspen so we could talk.

"When do you want to tell them?" I said.

"I want to tell them but what if they stop being my friend. I don't want that to happen . My friends are everything to me, I don't know how to keep healthy relationships with people. I'm just scared." He admitted.

I hugged him and I felt my shoulder get wet and I knew that he was crying. I didn't mean to make him cry.

When we stopped hugging, he wiped his tears with his sleeve and we walked back into the kitchen.

The timer that I set for the bread was done and I took it out of the oven and put it on the table.

Soon enough they were bringing the food out into the dining area and we all sat. We started to put food on our plates but before we could eat Aspen cleared his throat.

"Um I have s-something I n-need to s-say." he said.

"I-I'm a ... I ... please ... um pleases use he/they pronouns please." he said.

By the end of his sentence he was looking away from everyone and it looked like he was trying to shrink himself back into his chair.

I was sitting next to him and I put hand on his knee. He finally looked at me and I smiled at him for reassurance.

" okay we can go that right guys." Victory said.

Darla and Markayla nodded and that made Aspen visibly recoil himself back his posture and now he was smiling.

Everyone as taking as much food as they wanted on there plates. We were just talking, laughing and having fun.