Own Me

Chapter Eleven

NEW CHARACTER! Well, not really. She's new to this book, and I'm sure you'll all enjoy or laugh or hate at her. I just find it so funny to write stupid people. Idk why. Tell me what you think of her, by the end, though. 'Cos I think she's just a hilarious, stupid bitch. Xoxo, Clay.

"I love Dolce & Gabbana. I love Versace."

-Lady Gaga

♔ Chapter Eleven ♔

"See you whenever."

I knew Fletcher was mad at me, but at the same time, I didn't really care. It didn't bother me when Fletch got angry at me anymore, because he got angry at me at least three times a day. He'd get all stroppy, like a child who doesn't get its own way, and he'd pull tantrums or give me the silent treatment, I knew all his moves. He got especially pissy about my sex life, time and time again reminding me that romance was dead and falling for the clientele was a terrible idea. But like every other time, I just ignored him and let him get on with it.

Fletcher was the kind of person you could call a realist. He believed that love was the most stupid thing in the whole world, especially the kind that involved boys. Which, of course, because we were both big fat fags, tended to be every romance we were involved in. He probably wasn't wrong, either. Love could be toxic and wrong and bad, but at the same time, it could be a whole lot better.

Ever since I met him, I'd been trying to understand why he was so closed off from the world, why he hated people so much. I'd known him for so long, and yet I knew so little about him. A part of me guessed that he'd been made that way through years of rejection from his family, or maybe he'd had a bad experience with a lad that he'd fallen in love with who didn't love him back, something tragic like that. So he closed himself off from people, made it harder for people to get to know him, to understand him, or help him. A part of me would like him to understand that I only wanted to help him.

I think most gays will tell you of a boy they'd fallen so deeply in love with, only to have their hearts broken when they found out that the guy was straight. Something like that had never happened to me, though, because I only saw straight guys as a challenge. A challenge that, at least this far down the line, I'd managed to beat time and time again. My only guess was Fletcher had been fucked over or tossed aside that he'd lost all faith in guys.

But I wasn't stupid. It was easy to see the signs. I knew he had a guy out there, and I knew that he hated how easily I'd figured it out. But I wasn't bothered, I knew he'd get over it eventually, and when he did, I'd be ready to forgive him. Until then, I couldn't be bothered to deal with his bullshit, so I'd ditched him to mope around in the flat until he came to his senses.

It was too early in the day to go down to the Junkyard, so I headed into the centre of the village to kill some time. Usually, I'd stay in the old brimstone, but long exposure to Fletcher just made me grouchy and unstable. It was just as I was turning the corner onto the main road that I saw someone I'd never expected to see. Or just someone I hoped I'd never see again. A flash of pink and blond and more pink. I tried to turn back and hide, but they'd already seen me and waved me towards them.

"Darby, is that you?" she asked, her voice high-pitched and annoying. "Darby Darling?"

"Shit," I mouthed, realising who it was.

"It is! Darby! Hi! Darby, over here! Darby! It's me!" she squealed. "It's so nice to see you!"

"Hebe," I murmured. Tom's old best friend, and Isaac's fucking ex-girlfriend. The last bitch in the whole world I wanted to see, and yet, there she was, running over the road to talk to me. "Hey, how have you been?"