Awkward (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 2

The rest of the day went by pretty normal. Except that I could hardly concentrate because I was thinking about Damien. And when the day was almost over, BAM! There he was again. We only had two classes left in the day, and he was in my English class.

I tried to keep myself from staring in his direction. I tried to listen to the words coming out of teacher's mouth. But I couldn't. Damien said hi to me when he first came into the classroom and saw me, but that was the only time we spoke. I don't think he was ignoring me this class, though. When I looked at him, which was a lot, he was intently concentrating on what the teacher was saying. I guess he wasn't kidding when he told me that English was his favorite class.

Finally my attention was drawn back to the teacher when he said we'd be doing a 10 page research essay that was going to be 40% of our grade. I felt the air tense up as the panick rose in everyone. It was lessened slightly when the teacher told us that to make it a little easier, he was going to allow us to choose a partner to work with, and to choose wisely so that we weren't stuck doing all the work. And we were free to work alone if we wished.

There were two other guys in English that I talked to a little, but they automatically chose each other as partners and I was left alone. At first I was afraid that I was going to be stuck with the entire 10 page essay to do on my own until I saw someone's shadow cover my desk.

Everyone was walking around now, since we only had seven minutes of class left, so I didn't acknowledge the person at first. Until he cleared his throat. I rose my head up off my arms and looked up to find Damien standing in front of my desk. I just looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

And finally, he said, "So, uh, do you have a partner for the assignment?"

"Doesn't look like it," I said back, looking pointedly at my other two friends that ganged up and left me alone. "Well," Damien said, "Would you want to work with me?" I sighed and leaned back in my seat. I didn't know if I could handle working with him after what happened earlier in the day.

"You don't have to worry about...that again..," Damien said when he realised what I was considering. "As long as you'll actually help with the assignment, I'd appreciate having a partner since you know more about what the teacher is expecting out of it than me."

I shifted uncomfortably. He was being a lot more laid back now. It was sort of weird. I thought for a moment before saying, "Sure. We can work on the project together. But if you try anything--" But Damien cut me off and said with a little grin, "Don't worry." Then the bell rang and he started to walk away. He looked back at me once and said, "See you at hockey practice?" And I replied, "Sure," before he walked out the door.

Then I picked up my bookbag and papers and headed to last hour, trying not to run into people in the hall because I was so distracted thinking about how different he was just then than he was earlier today when he kissed me. And even the day before at hockey practice when he brought up me being gay.

~~~~~~~~~~~

At home, I tried to finish some homework without much success. I just couldn't get Damien off of my mind. I was so confused by him. The next day of school was a little better. In art, I was the first one out of the three of us to make it to class. After me, Damien showed up. He sat in the same spot as yesterday, but scooted alot further away. I felt a little more comfortable and a lot less intimidated.

"Hey," Damien said. "Hey," I said back. There was a pause, not quite long enough to be called an awkward silence.

"Ember," Damien started saying. "I'm not going to try anything anymore. And, uh, sorry about yesterday...," he trailed off. He continued after a second, saying, "But be assured, I won't do that again, unless it's your call, of course." He was grinning. I thought I heard him saying something about our English assignment, but I couldn't help remembering the kiss again. The way his lips felt on mine, the way they tasted...