The Bartender | BoyxBoy

||Thirteen||

Gabrielle^^

"Hey man," I greeted Andrew when I got to our usual lunch table the next day at school.

"Yo, sup ma dude?!" he cheered as I sat down with Gabrielle right at my heels. She was a bit angry at me for ditching her yesterday but after I explained to her that I had to do something for my mom, she calmed down. I knew I didn't have to lie about hanging out with Andrew but I didn't want her to say I was choosing my friends over her and start a whole argument about it.

I fist bumped him and dug into my lunch.

"Okay guys," Diane said, coming to sit next to her boyfriend. "There's a huge party tonight at the frat house just outside of town."

"Oh my god really?" Gabrielle squeaked. "Babe, we're going! Right?" she said, turning to look at me.

"On a school night?" I asked.

"Holy crap!" Andrew chuckled. "You? Caring about a school night? What's happened to you, bro?"

"Yeah, I know right? You've been acting weird all day," Gabrielle said.

Goddammit. I knew I had been acting weird and that was because I'd had a lot on my mind. I just didn't think Gabrielle would've noticed. Hoping to get her mind off it, I pressed my lips hard against hers and she immediately relaxed.

"I don't know man, it's just school's been stressing me out lately," I replied to Andrew. It was not the whole truth, but he didn't need to know that just yet.

"Yeah, Ms. Whatshername been bugging you? You gotta study hard," he said and I paled.

"How did you hear about that?"

"Uh, my mom's the principal? Keep up!" he laughed and I rolled my eyes.

"So?" Diane asked. "You coming?"

"Sure. Count us in," I said, looking anywhere but at them. My eyes landed on Kyle's usual table where he sat with that faggot waste... oh... sorry. I mean, Niall. Not faggot. Fuck, I really needed to stop doing that. It was wrong and I needed to accept people for who they were.

Ah, but why was it so difficult?

Kyle and Niall weren't at the cafeteria and I wondered if either of them had come to school? Because I was avoiding him, I made sure to not be in places where he could easily find me and so, I hadn't seen him all day. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted him, ignoring the texts from my mom.

Just as I typed the text, I remembered what he did and deleted it as fast as I could. Yeah, I was still angry with him.

Thinking of him, my mind immediately went to Brian. For some reason, tingles shot up my spine. He was really nice to me which was something I really needed after what I had witnessed, even after all I'd said about gay people.

He sounded so mature and caring when we talked. I loved the way he held me too. However, thinking about Brian brought back the exact words Kyle had said about a half-blind person seeing my scars and I Immediately pulled down my jacket sleeves to cover them up even more.

"Babe, let's go," Gabrielle said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I quickly followed her and Andrew to our next class of the day as I tried to will myself to get rid of all thoughts of Brian.

Soon enough, the time for the party came and Gabrielle had forced me into promising to pick her up. I tried to get out of it, but that girl wouldn't take no for an answer.

After dressing up, making sure I'd worn one of my long sleeved jackets, I left the house without saying goodbye to my mom. Not that I wanted to, she was still my least favorite person in that regard.