Pretty Boy

21

"Dan! We're leaving!" dad yelled.
"I don't wanna go," I pouted.
"Yes, you have made that very clear. Now, come on. We have to get you registered by ten o'clock tonight,"
"Yeah, I know. You've only told me a thousand times,"
"So, let's get a move on."

***

"I'm gonna hate it here," I mumbled to mum.
"I know," she sighed.
"Why couldn't you talk dad out of letting me stay home?"
"Trust me, I've tried," she said, helping me carry my luggage to my dorm. "Where do you want me to put this?"
"Anywhere," I mumbled. "It fucking sucks here!"
"Watch your mouth," dad warned. "And you'll learn to love. I just know it," he smiled as he russled my hair.
"Rude," I groaned as I fixed it.
"Oh, hello," a kid smiled.
"Hi," we all said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Michael... You're roommate,"
"Oh, hi," I mumbled.
"Michael," dad started. "Are you gay?"
"Oh my god," I groaned.
"No, sir. I'm not... Why?"
"Just trying to make sure my son gets away from the horrid things his last boyfriend taught him,"
"What? Love?" I snapped.
"You are seventeen! You don't know what love is!"
"Get out of my room!" I spat.
"Fine, we're going," dad sighed.
"Bye sweetheart," mum said as she kissed my forehead. "Call us whenever,"
"Bye loser," Adrian said as he hugged me.
"Bye, dude," PJ said.
"Bye," I mumbled. "I am so sorry about them," I said.
"It's fine, my family is the same way," he said. "By the way, I am gay, your dad just really scares me," he smirks. "But, I'll abide by your dads wishes and let you be," he chuckled. "Plus, I have a boyfriend,"
"Oh, that's cool... What's his name?"
"Chris," he beamed. "Wanna see a picture?"
"Sure," I said.
"Here," he said, handing me his phone. "Isn't he cute?"
"Hey," I laughed, "this is my friend. He was actually my fake boyfriend for a bit,"
"Oh yeah?" he raised a brow. "How do you guys know each other?"
"We went to the same school. I was actually the reason that he came out,"
"Oh, well, thanks, I guess," he said.
"How'd you guys meet?"
"Starbucks. He bought my morning coffee and we met up everyday since,"
"Did you used to go to a public school?"
"Yeah. But, my parents got a shit ton of money so they thought they'd try out a boarding school. How 'bout you?"
"Fucked a guy and pissed my dad off,"
"That'll do it," he said. "By the way, hang whatever you want on the walls. I'm not picky. Play whatever you want on tv and play whatever music you want; I really don't give a shit. I'll be out most of the time anyway,"
"Wait, I thought we couldn't leave the campus,"
"Twelve and thirteen years can but, we have to be back by eleven,"
"Shit, I don't have a car,"
"I'll give you a ride, if you want,"
"Really? That'd be awesome!"
"Yeah, it's not trouble. You live in the same town as Chris, right?"
"Yeah,"
"Cool," he smiled. "I'm gonna go visit him on Friday so, if you wanna visit anyone, just give me the address and I'll drop you off,"
"Great, thanks," I said. I sat on my bed, took out my phone, and started texting a special someone.

Dan: hey
Phil: hi
Dan: wanna hang out Friday?
Phil: how? Aren't you at school?
Dan: yeah but I found a way out
Phil: how?
Dan: look, do you wanna hang out or not?
Phil: yeah, ofc
Dan: great. I'll be at your house on friday
Phil: can't wait

***

"Yeah, it's the house up here, on the left,"
"Okay," Michael mumbled, pulling into Phil's driveway. "I'll text you when I'm back,"
"Awesome. Thank you so much,"
"Don't mention it," he smiled as I got out of the car.

I walked up Phil's driveway and took a minute to observe everything around me. It was all too familiar. I really missed all of this. I slowly knocked on his door and waited for an answer; Phil was the one to do so.

"Hi," he whispered.
"Hey," I mumbled. "May I come in?"
"Yeah," he said, opening the door a bit more. "Um, no ones home so, we have the house to ourselves, I guess. Do you, um, wanna play a game or something? I just bought the newest Call of Duty,"
"Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun," I smiled.

We made our way over to the couch and he handed me my controller; I was player one because he knew that's what I preferred. He had told me that he had ordered a pizza about thirty minutes ago; normal pepperoni because that was my favorite. After about twenty minutes of playing, the pizza had finally arrived. We took a five minute break to stuff our faces but before we knew it, we were back at it; I, of course, was kicking his butt. We decided to play a round where we distracted each other. Neither of us held back. I sat on him, he poked at my sides, I covered his eyes, and he messed with my hair. When Phil's character was about to die, he did something, he never thought he'd do again. He started licking, kissing, and biting my neck; I sat there, frozen. After a minute or two, I swatted him off and fell off of him and onto the couch.

"Stop! Stop!" I said.

I threw the controller at the floor and latched my hands onto both sides of my neck. I brought my knees to my chest and started to silently sob.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.
"You were trying to give me a hickey," I whispered.
"Well...yeah..."
"We're broken up, Phil," I cried. "We can't be doing shit like that anymore,"
"But, I thought you still loved me..."
"Of course I still love you!" I screamed.
"Then what's the problem?"
"Don't you get it, Phil? I can't love you! I'm not allowed to! Just look where it fucking got me... I'm stuck at a shitty boarding school cause we couldn't keep our hands off each other..."
"You're not actually letting that man control who you date, are you?"
"I'm sorry, Phil..."
"Get out of my house..."
"I'm sorry, I-"
"Go!" he cried.

Michael: get out here. Now.

"My rides here anyway..."

I slid my phone back into my pocket and trudged outside. I slowly got into Michael's car and he started driving us back to school; I noticed that he was crying too.

"Rough night?" I asked.
"He's cheating on me," he pursed his lips and sobbed. "We're done... What happened with you?"
"We yelled at each other,"
"Why?"
"I don't fucking know," I mumbled. "Just drive... I wanna go home..."