~Mirrored~

Chapter 6

"So what else do you like?" I ask hoping to start more of a conversation. "I like to write a lot, but my family isn't supportive of that either" he says sadly. I look at him seriously. "Jack, are you okay? You seem to talk a lot about how your family isn't very supportive". "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just sick of it is all. I just can't seem to do anything right and no matter what I do, I get picked on and my family thinks I probably deserve it-". I cut him off by saying "none of that is true Jack. You do a lot of things right, I'm sure of it. You don't deserve how you've been treated by any means and that's so unfair of people to be picking on you" I say angrily. I see him struggling not to cry so I place my hand on his back and rub gently. He looks up at me now crying. "I just want to be accepted. Is that so hard to ask?" He says while crying. He hugs me tightly and I return the hug. This poor kid. I thought I had a bad home life but to have you family tell you that you deserve to be bullied? That's way more messed up than my life could ever be. I rub his back gently and say quietly "I accept you". He releases me and looks into my eyes. "My family life isn't the greatest either. My family are either off at a bar or off on a business trips so I basically live alone" I say sadly. He says quietly "guess we both have that in common" he giggles. I wipe his tears and sit back. I look into his glossy eyes and smile at him. He smiles back and laughs nervously. "Do you maybe want to play a game or something?" I ask him. "Sure! I love games!" He exclaims. I turn on the play station and set up Mario cart. That's been my favorite childhood game so I thought maybe it'd be fun for us to play it together. I hand him the controller and press play. "I think I'm going to play as baby bowser" I say laughing. "Then I'll be toad because I just like toad" he says while also laughing. Gosh even his laugh is adorable. I select the map and wait for the count down. "3,  2, 1 START!". I instantly pull ahead of Jack and ram into a bunch of other cars. He hits me with a red shell and he pulls ahead of me. "Did you really think you'd beat me?" He says teasingly. "Well, I mean, yeah I kind of did" I say laughing and judging him. He stays in first the whole 2 laps then crosses the finish line keeping the same place on the last lap. I sigh as I come in 5th place and laugh realizing I'm not nearly as good as I use to be. "It's been ages since I played this game" I say while clicking the play again button. "You'll probably get the lead back Mark" he says. I was a little shocked to hear him use my name for the first time and I kind of liked it, even though it is in fact my actual name. We play a few more rounds but he still manages to beat me every single time. "Wow you're really good at this game" I exclaim. "Nah, I'm not that good" he says jokingly. "Hey, can I ask you something" I ask nervously. "Yeah, sure" he says more calmly now. "Are you" I pause. "Are you gay by any chance?"