From My Enemy To My Love (boyxboy) ✔

Chapter 34

Chet Watakeekul

I sat waiting for class to start. I was early as I usually was and I wanted to take out my phone and browse through it, but I didn't. Before Saturday night, I would have pulled out my phone and looked at soccer articles. Since Saturday night I had been browsing gay sex. It was obvious Vincent wanted it and I wanted it. It had been difficult Saturday night to not accept his offer of showering together, but I didn't trust myself not to take things too far if that happened. My dreams had intensified. I knew reality wouldn't be the same as dreams though. It

might hurt. I expected it to at first, but that wasn't what held me back. Both Vincent and I were inexperienced. We hadn't talked about the details. Was that something we even needed to talk about? Or could we just go with the flow?

"Hi," Melissa said startling me.

"Hi," I said and hoped she couldn't tell I was blushing.

She sat next to me and pulled out her finance book from her backpack.

I pulled from my pocket the gift card she had given me for my birthday.

"I appreciate the card," I started, "but this is too much." I tried to hand back the gift card to my favorite sporting goods place, but she didn't take it.

"I can't return that and I don't know anyone else into sports," she said.

I looked around to make sure we hadn't garnered attention. I lowered my voice and said, "But $100 is too much. I really can't accept this." I was glad Vincent had never asked me if Melissa had put a gift in the birthday card she had given me. He definitely would not have liked this. He had put a $25 gift card to the Japanese restaurant in his birthday card to me, but he had given me something priceless with the birthday dinner and our intimate experience in the bathroom later that night.

Melissa still didn't make any move to take the card back. "Just keep it," she said. "We're friends."

I took her wrist and physically placed the gift card in her hand. "$100 is too much to give me as just friends," I said.

She gave me a strained smile and nodded. She tucked the card back into her backpack.

The professor walked in and started class. I pretended Melissa discreetly wiping at her eyes meant she had something in them and that she wasn't crying. I felt bad, but didn't know what else I could have done. None of my friends had ever given me anything worth $100. And I knew she had a crush on me. I didn't want her to think she had a chance with me by accepting it. And most importantly I knew Vincent wouldn't like it.

By the end of class, she seemed like her normal self. "Devon and Jimmy seem nice," she said. "I liked talking with them at the party."

"They are nice," I said. I'd only known them for a few months, but they had always been nice to me and I never heard they mistreated anyone.

"Devon asked me out for Thursday night," she went on. "I told him I'd think about it. What do you think I should do?" How could this poor girl still have hope in her eyes? How many times did I need to turn her down? I didn't like doing it.

"You should go," I said. And the hope died in her eyes.

She nodded and swallowed hard. "I will then," she said. "Do you think they'll be okay with me dating both of them because Jimmy asked me out for Sunday."

"As long as they both know about each other and you don't string one of them along if you have more of an interest in the other one," I said.

"Okay," she said. "I'll make it clear to them. Don't worry." Her eyes lingered sadly on me for a moment longer before she picked up her backpack and walked out of the classroom.