Summer Milestone

Betrayal

Chapter 16

~ZACK~

"He what?" Erica almost exclaims in disbelief.

"Yeah..." I say, feeling a hint of shame as I talk so negatively of my best friend. "... He fucking tried to kiss me."

"And he wasn't just messing around with you?"

"No, he was for real. I mean, he even wanted me to sleep in the same bed with him."

"Damn. So what, has he had a crush on you the whole time?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Wanna know what he told me? He said himself that he'd rather date me than his own girlfriend."

"So Josh is gay? And he's dating Anna, so he can what, use her as a beard? That's fucked up," Erica says, becoming agitated as she puts the pieces together.

"And ya know what else he said? He said that he hated her because she was always nagging him. He was obviously just dating her to cover up the fact that he's gay."

"Wow. I can't believe how much of an asshole he is. I have to tell Anna," she says, pissed as hell as she whips out her cell phone.

"Yeah... he is," I reluctantly agree, part of me feeling good as I release my anger over what happened, but the other part feeling like shit as I betray my best friend of twelve years. Or should I say, former best friend.

"I hate telling Anna, but she needs to break up with him ASAP."

"I agree." Of course, I do. It's not like he liked her anyway, might as well just break them up.

She then puts her phone away and says, "Alright. She's on her way. But anyway, tell me everything that happened that night."

We take a seat at one of the food court tables and I continue to pour out my frustrations towards Josh after he rejected me. "We were... smoking in the bathroom and he went on to tell me how much he couldn't stand Anna and how tempted he was to break up with her."

"So why didn't he?" Erica interrupts.

"Guess he didn't want to ruin her trip. I don't know really, he just said that he wanted to like her but just couldn't. I know, it shocked me too."

"Anna's gonna be devastated. Josh was her first to... ya know..."

"I think she was his first too."

Erica scoffs. "What a dick move," she says, shaking her head. "I mean, why can't he just accept himself instead of fucking with a girl's feelings? Did he not think she would get hurt if she ever found out the truth?"

"Yeah..." I don't really know how to respond to that.

"Anyways, what else happened?"

"While we were smoking he started acting really gay and shit. He looked at me all funny and... put his hand on my thigh. Made me uncomfortable so I suggested it was time to go to sleep. I guess he thought it'd be funny to soak me with the showerhead. Next thing I knew, we were both soaked. And obviously, we couldn't go to bed like that so... I think you know where that went..."

"Oh my god, he totally got you wet on purpose!" She deduces, though realistically that's not what actually happened. I'll let her think what she wants to though.

"Psh, yeah," I agree falsely. "Not to mention he was totally checkin' out my ass. I bet he couldn't wait for me to turn around. What a fag."

She chuckles. "So what happened after that?"

"Well, you know how he took the bed right? I was totally cool with sleepin' on the floor but... he insisted that I sleep in the bed. Probably just wanted to feel me up or spoon me or some shit. But yeah, that was... when he tried," I explain, shamelessly, despite how false this story is.

"And you didn't let him?"

"Fuck no! Think I'm ever gonna let another guy kiss me?! Hell no!" I say, almost too defensively. "I got the hell outta that bed and left that damn room. Spent the rest of the night wandering the hotel. Didn't get any sleep but it beats sleeping in the same bed with a faggot."

While I thought Erica would agree with me, she suddenly looks a bit troubled as if unable to agree with my homophobia. "Don't you think that was a bit harsh though?"

I don't respond.

"I mean, he's your best friend, right?"

"Was."

"And you're only mad at him for that?"

"What the hell, Erica? I thought you were on my side?"

"Well, Josh is a dick for what he did to Anna, but not for what he did to you. I can imagine it made you uncomfortable but... do you really have to stop being best friends with him just because he's gay?" Oh so now Erica's the voice of reason? "Just think about it. How would you feel if it was the other way around?"