Travis sat at his desk that night, his head in his hands as his notebook laid open in front of him. He was going to write a letter to Sal to explain how he felt, but he didn't know how he felt. He was confused and so damn angry that he went and stupidly kissed Sal. He knew he ruined any friendship he had with him and that hurt. He leaned back in the chair and exhaled shakily. His eyes were trained on the ceiling as he tried to get a grasp on his thoughts, his emotions, but no matter what he did, nothing made sense. Why did he kiss Sal? He's always had a crush on him, but he never done anything about it until now and he didn't understand why. He leaned forward and looked down at the blank pages of his notebook and he tapped his fingertips anxiously against the desk and his leg bounced. His eyes grew unfocused again. I'm overthinking this, just tell him how you feel. He thought. He took a deep breath and grabbed his pencil and began writing. Sal, I'm sorry- He shook his head, quickly erasing that. I- He huffed. He stared at the page for what seemed like forever, his thoughts jumbled into one insane mess. I what? What was he feeling? He didn't know, honestly. He always hated himself for being, well, he would never say it out loud or in his head, but deep down he knew what he was. I guess I'll just start there. He thought. I shouldn't have ran off and called you names but I was scared and ashamed. The truth is I don't like who I am, my dad would never accept me and I don't think I ever could either. You deserve somebody better than me, somebody that isn't me. I value my father's beliefs and god's words above anything else and what I am is wrong and I will burn in hell for that. You're the kindest person I've ever met and I think you're amazing! You deserve somebody that'll love you no matter what, I'm sorry that I can't be that person and I'm sorry that I can't say this to you in person but I'm in love with you and I have been for months. I'm sorry that I can't ever be with you. He dropped his pencil, not realizing that he was crying until tear droplets fell onto the page. He huffed, but didn't attempt to try and dry the page because he knew it would just rip, so he left it alone. He ripped the paper out of the notebook and folded it neatly and shoved it into the front pocket of his backpack. He went to bed after that and the next day at school, he walked to Sal's locker and subtlety slipped the note into the slits of the locker and he quickly walked away, heading to class because the thought of Sal seeing him after reading the note made Travis feel uneasy.
"You wanna play video games after school with Todd and Chug?" Larry asked his short blue-haired friend.
Sal smiled up at him, even though he couldn't see his face, Larry knew he was smiling because of his crinkled eyes and tone of voice. "Sure, man!"
"Cool." They stopped at Sal's locker and Larry leaned against the one next to his, his eyes trained on Sal as he took a moment to open it and his gaze shifted to the folded paper falling flat on the floor. "What's that?" He asked.
Sal stepped back and bent over to pick up the paper. He stood upright and unfolded it. He took a moment to skim the paper before he answered Larry. "It's a note."
"Who's it from?"
"Doesn't say." Sal read the note, every word, and even though it didn't have a name on it, he immediately knew who it was from and his heart grew heavy, it grew heavier when he saw the tear stains at the bottom. Suddenly, he felt Larry loom over his shoulder and Sal instantly hid the note from him, turning to face him with his hands behind his back. Larry gave him a surprised look because they usually shared everything together, so it was unusual for Sal to hide things from him. "Sorry. This.. It's private." He told his step brother and he shrugged it off.
"It's cool." Larry shoved his hands into his pockets and turned. "Come on, you gotta get to class, dude."
Sal laughed lightly. "You have class too, y'know." He shut his locker before following Larry down the hall, his hand extending behind him to attempt to shove the note into his open backpack, but it fell onto the floor without his knowledge.
Larry gave him a serious look, but there was a slight grin on his face. "How long have you known me?" He stated rather than asked, and Sal rolled his eye.
"Yeah, yeah." His smile faded when his eye dropped to the floor and his mind thought back to what he read. What should he do? Should he talk to Travis?
