The Symptoms of Love (boyxboy)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Dayton's POV

I grimace as I pull into the parking lot while Hunter continues to talk about the Tumblr tags his cousin told him to use in our video. Issac glances at me. Knowing what's coming, as well, Hunter stops mid-sentence to look at the crowd in front of the school.

"There are going to be rumors spread about this...aren't there?" Hunter asks. I look at him and time stops for a second. But it feels like a decade.

Although he's probably not into guys, Hunter has gay traits -metrosexuality. He's feminine in some ways. His attitude, the way he talks and moves his hands when he speaks. Even the way he laughs and smiles is slightly feminine in a way. At the same time, he's masculine. In the ways he stands and walks, in the ways he dresses, and thinks. He's both and I'm finding it really attractive.

"Yeah," I confirm, coming back to reality. "A lot."

"I've dealt with them before. Might as well face them head on," Hunter sighs, and I instantly want to rip the heads off anyone who ever spread a rumor about this amazing guy. I don't show this response to the information, though. I simply nod and remove my keys from the ignition. I get out first, followed by Hunter and then Issac who exits the passenger side,

Eyes that usually look towards me, now look at Hunter, Issac, and I equally. Whispers erupt as Hunter Avoids anyone's eyes. I feel my hands itching to touch him - hold his hand, wrap an arm around his shoulders, hug him around the waist.

But I resist.

Must. Stay. In. Closet.

Finally, we enter the school after a walk that takes much longer than usual. Issac and I walk faster to our usual hallway where Dawn waits. She looks up, hearing our footsteps. "Hey! 'Bout time you guys showed up. Hunter, right?" She asks curly-haired brunette. He nods and holds out a hand for her to shake, but she swats it away.

"Friends of Dayton's are friends of mine and I hug my friends," she says and envelopes Hunter in a huge hug. Issac and I shake or heads. Classic Dawn.

Hunter's eyes widen and he looks to Issac and I desperately. Issac acknowledges his discomfort and pokes Dawn in the side, making her leap away with a yelp. Going directly to Issa, she shoves him playfully. "You said you were never going to do that again!" she laughs,

Issac rolls his eyes. "You actually believed me when I said that?"

They continue to bicker in our hallway. I lean against the lockers like I usually do when they do this, but this time, Hunter is leaning against them next to me. "Do they always do this?" he asks.

I nod. "They're exaggerating right now, though. They're never this obnoxious when it's just us three."

Hunter hums in acknowledgment. While he watches Issac and Dawn argue, i watch him, but not as creepily as I'm sure that sounds.

I notice that when he laughs, his tongue pokes through his teeth slightly. Phil Lester would be proud of how cute Hunter looks while doing that. Hunter's gray eyes are alight with amusement and I guess what could be defined as him feeling content.

When the bell rings, Hunter makes a move to leave, but I grab his wrist and marvel momentarily how his pulse quickens against my fingertips. "Promise to sit with me at lunch," I say, meaning for it to sound like a question but it comes out as an order.

"You sound like a girl when you say that," Hunter chuckles, and when I glare at him he continues on quickly, "But, yeah. I'll sit with you."

"Good," I say, releasing his wrist and immediately missing the warmth it brought me. My imagination leads down the road of wondering what it would feel like to hold his hand, interlock our fingers. That would be a good way to show he was mine without giving him a hickey or something. But he's not mine. Just my imagination giving me false hope.

But still; Lunch can't come quick enough.

Hunter's POV

"You're sitting where?!" Josiah yelps in the middle of pre-calculus, the class we share before lunch. Our teacher, Miss Massoglia, gives us a stern look before going back to her computer and continuing her grade entering.

"With Dayton," I whisper back to him before going back to the worksheet we were handed. Although I may not like math, I am exceedingly good at it. The sheet has 52 equations on it, and even though we were handed the sheet less than 30 minutes ago, and it's supposed to last us all of this class, I am already on the forty-sixth problem.

Josiah continues to babble on about the mistake I'm making, but I tune him out. Instead, I am thinking of Dayton.

In the times I've been in his presence, he's been kind, though stoic. He's smiled, laughed, joked. done things people had rumored he didn't have the ability to do.

Yet, now I believe I have seen the real Dayton McClair. The one he shows around his sisters. The one he was before he became hard and cold. The him before illegal boxing.

I think about how he looks: hard but gentle emerald eyes, well styled blind hair, a charming smile(when he actually smiles), tall, broad chested and wide shoulders connected to muscular arms. A five o'clock shadow, and a very intimidating posture.

He's very attractive and I'm ashamed that I have a crush on a guy who almost certainly, most unlikely, into guys,

The bell rings and I shoot from my seat, eager to be in his presence.

I don't know why, but when I am with Dayton, the simplest things seem as though they could be enjoyable - even grocery shopping. "Eager much?" Josiah teases. I jokingly shove him and he shoves me back.

We continue to shove each other until i have to start walking towards Dayton. As asoon as I am off the concrete where everyone else eats, eyes turn to me. Dayton's tree is around 12 feet away from where everyone else sits, so it takes a while for me to get over to where the mountain of a man lays, a book over his face and his hands behind his head.

I nudge his side with my foot.

"What?" he grunts.

I chuckle. "Why make me promise to sit here if you're not even going to be awake?"

Dayton quicking rips the book off his face and sits up, grinning at me. "I didn't think you were going to do it."

"Of course. I promised, didn't I?" I say, shrugging off my bag and sitting down next to him. Dayton's grin grows as he lays bak down and replaces the book to where it had sat before. I happen to glance back across the grassy area and notice evertone is looking back to us.

"Hey, Dayton?" I whisper.

"Hmm?" he hums.

"Everyone's staring at us."

"Ignore 'em."

"It's not that easy-"

"Sure it is." Dayton mumbles, the book muffling hsi words slightly. "Look away from them and pretend they don't exist." he says.

I grimace even though he can't see it. "Why are they even interested?"

"No one usually sits with me at lunch. Dawn and Issac were in my lunch my sophmore year, and last year Issac was in my lunch. But you? No one's seen you with me except for today. It's something to spread rumors about, so people are going to stare and learn," Dayton explains, lifiting the book up a bit so his words come out clearly.

I hum, completly agreeing with his argument.

Through the rest of lunch, Dayton and I chat a bit but the most of our time together is spent in a comfortable silence. The chatter of our classmates fluttered behind us and the only sound I could clearly decifer other than his voice was the healthy breeze in the tree branches above.

When the bell rings, Dayton stops me once again by grabbing my wrist. "Your house? After school?" he asks. I nond and he nods back before releasing my arm. I walk away without looking back. When I reach the concrete, I glance back but Dayton is no where in sight.

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