Mute Songbird (boyxboy) -Complete-

Inseparable

Monday morning, Dan had shown up just in time for us to practically run to the bus stop. Well, he walked with his long legs which meant I had to power walk like one of those 50-year old ladies you see doing laps at the mall. I breezed through my math test; it actually wasn't as hard as I had been worried about. Dan gave me a thumbs up when I got to choir so he'd done well too. I was glad.

We started on a new song which was rather disappointing. I felt close to getting the other one but when we finally did a run-through of it at the end, I barely managed the chorus again. My head was too full of the new notes. I'd have to practice it several times every afternoon on my own; luckily I had Dan's version on my phone.

I had completely forgotten about Mrs. Maldonado's therapy ideas and hadn't even taken the pamphlets out of my book bag over the weekend When she called me in I apologized and told her I needed more time to think about it. She was nice about it and I got the impression that she was only pushing because she really wanted to help. I kept the truth to myself; it wasn't really worth trying. I was hopeless.

Danwas already on the bus when I got there, surrounded by a small gang who were all laughing and carrying on. He waved me back when I got on but I sat alone up front; I wasn't in the mood to be around that many strangers. Besides, he was being insanely nice to me; the least I could do was let him have some time to talk to his friends. They'd probably been riding this bus together since elementary school.

Honestly, I was drained. Starting a new school was exhausting. I'd been there a week but everything was still hard. I had to look at my schedule constantly to remember which wing everything was in. I didn't know the shortcuts. I didn't know which school lunches to avoid like the plague. Mental note, it IS possible to ruin a hamburger and never, ever get the peaches again.

Dan fell into step with me, easily catching up once he'd gotten off the bus. "Hey, I have an idea."

I guess he knew my facial expressions pretty well by now because he grinned and continued.

"No, no, it's a good idea. I was thinking that I should show you my house. That way you'll know where to find me. Besides, my dad's home so I can prove to you that I have parents" he teased. "That also means that he's cooking dinner which means chili which means YUM. You in?"

I nodded, then pulled out my phone to text my mom. Technology is amazing. I have no doubt that life must have been a lot harder for people like me before cell phones. I mean, I could have walked home and left a note but this was sure as hell easier. It gave me a lot of independence which really just means that mom worried less and let me out of her sight more often. So, yay for phones.

*** *** ***

The rest of the week and the few after that fell into a very predictable pattern. I started picking Dan up from his house because it was on the way to the bus stop and I felt better because even if he was late, I would still make it. He told me that he was better at being on time if people were waiting for him and surprisingly, he only ran out of his house without shoes once.

After school we either went to his place and played video games, or came over to my house to study and lay out on the deck now that the weather was getting nice and warm. Soon it would be too hot to be outside, so he said, so we made the most of it. We went to the mall and saw movies on the weekends. His parents took me swimming once, and he went with mine to the carnival.

In other words, we were inseparable. The only times we weren't together were the afternoons I went to speech therapy and Sundays, which my dad declared 'church and family' day. I hated Sundays, and I hated church. Trying to walk around and fit in was hard for me on a normal day. On Sundays it really felt like everyone was staring at me. Granted, some of them were, but I felt like I was wearing an "I'm GAY!" t-shirt with a unicorn and rainbows on the front. I was complaining about it one Monday after school when Dan blurted out:

"I want to come out to my parents. What about you?"

I shook my head so violently that I needed a mirror to fix my hair. Not happening.

"Why not?"

Did you miss the part about church?!

He paused a moment, obviously thinking. "Okay, what about this? I do it first and that way if mine freak, I can stay at your place a few days, right? And then once that settles down, we'll figure you out. We can be each others back-up plan."

I will totally support you but I can't come out. When?

"I want to just do it and get it over with. Maybe Friday so I could spend the night if it goes bad? Would that be okay if I stayed here?"

Of course.

"I don't know what I'd do without you Asher. You're really important to me, you know that right?"

Same.