Tongue-Tied (Boyxboy)

Chapter Seven

Jesse's POV

"Jesse! Wait!" I huff in annoyance and dart around the corner and into an empty classroom. It has been almost three days since I had the fight in fight with Todd in the bathroom of Pierre's, and he was getting on my nerves. Ever since I told him to stop talking to me, he's been taking every possible chance he has to constantly be in my face. He waits for me to leave my house in the mornings before school and tries to talk to me. He kicked Miles out of his seat in yesterday's History class so he could sit next to me, and then he follows me to my locker and then home at the end of the day.

I'd be flattered and would bask in the attention if I thought he was doing it to be nice. Unfortunately, the stares and snickers I hear behind my back when I'm at my locker or walking to classes tells me otherwise. I swallow past the lump in my throat. I can get through this. I've been treated like a joke before. I kept my head held high then and I can keep my head held high now. How is this any different?

I peek around the corner and watch Todd walk past looking confused. Todd. That's how it's different. Last time it wasn't the person that gave me butterflies and my chest tighten with happiness that turned me into a joke. This time it is. I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat and tentatively moved towards the doorway to see if it was safe to come out.

I glanced both ways down the hallway before ducking my head and mingling with a group of students that were heading towards my locker.

"Is he still following you?" Miles asked suddenly from behind me, making me jump in shock. I scowl down the corridor and nod.

"Pathetic." Miles snorts. I roll my eyes at him and quickly glance around the corner before breaking away from the group and heading for my locker. Miles tagging along while bitching about Todd.

I stop at my locker and start yanking out my bag so I can head home.

"There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere." I hear Todd say behind me.

Miles scoffed. "Maybe he doesn't want to talk to a douchebag."

"Maybe he can talk to me himself and doesn't need his chunky lapdog to do it for him." Todd retorted. I winced. Miles was pretty sensitive about his weight. My face started heating up as I noticed all the attention we were getting from other students.

"He doesn't want to talk to you arsehole. Even if you were serious about him and not being your usual jerk wad self you still wouldn't have a chance." Miles said and watched gleefully as snickers erupted through the students and Todd's face reddened. What on earth is he talking about?

"That's not... I don't..." Todd spluttered, the tips of his ears turning red in embarrassment. I turned to look at him properly but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Don't you? Because that's not what Jennifer said." Miles smirked. Todd clenched his teeth and took a deep breath.

"What Jennifer is saying is irrelevant. She's just shitty because I broke it off with her." Todd said, striving for calm before turning to face me.

"I only wanted to apologise Jesse. I'm really sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it. At all." Todd said sincerely. I considered his words for a few seconds before opening my mouth to reply.

"Apology not accepted." Miles said. Todd and I both turned to glare at him.

"He's only trying to get in your pants Jesse." Miles said defensively. My eyebrows shot up. Well this is new to me, considering what he said in the bathroom Friday night.

"I am not! I'm not gay! I had a girlfriend!" Todd snapped.

"Yeah, exactly. Had a girlfriend. According to her you couldn't even get it up because you were too busy wanting Jesse." Miles said smugly. Todd paled before colour flooded into his face again. I just wanted to cuddle the poor guy.

"Miles, enough. You're not funny." I snapped at him. I turned to Todd but he was already backing away.

"At least I can get someone Miles. Have you looked in the mirror lately? If I were you, I'd be too embarrassed to come out in public." Todd said bitterly before turning around and striding away. Miles clenched his teeth and stormed away, leaving me standing in front of my locker, speechless.

I sighed, swung my bag onto my back and went to find Miles. After checking the library, behind the dumpsters outside and in the abandoned stairwell that no one ever goes into because the door at the top is broken, I was almost ready to give up and just call him later.

On a whim, I made my way outside to the male locker room out by the school oval. All the jocks came in here to shower after a game. It's usually empty after school on Mondays but the coach leaves it open until about 5pm in case anyone takes the initiative and trains after hours. Opening the door, I scrunched my nose at the smell of sweat and dirty gym gear before slowly making my way past the rows of lockers and finding Miles sitting on a bench in the corner, looking at the ground.

Leaning back against a locker, I crossed my arms and just quietly watched him. It's impossible to make Miles talk about something if he doesn't want to. A few minutes pass of silence pass before he sighs and looks up at me.

"I don't know why you put up with his crap. He's treated us both like crap for years and now you're just going to forgive him? I don't get it." Miles said, scuffing the bottom of his shoe on a gross looking black spot on the floor. I looked down at it in disgust.

"People change Miles. And stop doing that. It's giving me creeps." I moved over and nudged his foot away from the spot before sitting next to him. Miles scowled at it before tucking his feet under the bench and crossing his arms.

"People like Todd don't change. They stay arseholes forever." Miles said bitterly.

"You need to forgive him for that Miles. It's been two years and he didn't know you couldn't swim. Hell, even I didn't know you couldn't swim then." I replied quietly.

Miles jumped to his feet and started pacing. "I nearly drowned Jesse! He nearly killed me. He was an arsehole before that too. He knows you're terrified of spiders and he still put one down your jumper. He's not worth your time or forgiveness."

"What if it was me that pushed you in Miles? Or Julian or Sebastian? You know what those two are like. It just happened to be Todd. He's been trying to be nice ever since. Maybe you should give him a chance Miles. Everyone else has." I reasoned, watching him pace.

"What about the spider?" Miles demanded, stopping to look at me.

"He didn't know I was scared of spiders. No one knows that but you. It's embarrassing." I admitted, shrugging. Miles started pacing again.

"Jesse..." Miles started before cutting himself off. I cocked my head and waited patiently for him to continue. Miles swallowed audibly and looked away, and I watched his ears start to get red.

"Do you... Do you think my weight is the reason I'm still single?" Miles whispered, avoiding eye contact. I frowned at him and gave him a quick look over. I knew he was self-conscious about it, but I didn't realise it was bothering him this much. Miles was a bit chubby, but he definitely didn't have a weight problem. He was in no way unattractive. His issue was low self-esteem. Anytime someone he liked started hitting on him, he somehow managed to convince himself they weren't and got really shy. He just needed a confidence boost.

"No I don't. You just need a confidence boost. You're attractive, you just need to believe it and wear something that shows it. That hoodie is doing nothing for you." I teased gently. He looked down at himself and scowled. His hoodie was a disgusting orange that clashed with his red hair, and was so large on him that it just looked like it was sitting wrong.

"It's warm." Miles said, defending himself.

I shrugged at him. "Just my opinion."

Miles sighed and smiled at me. "Home time?"

"Home time." I agreed and we made our way out of the locker room.