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10

"Hi", Reece greets me quite simply, and how I perceive it, shyly.

I smile and sit down on the floor before I reply the same way with a quiet: "Hello."

It seems like neither of us knows how to act. Reece awkwardly watches me unpack the maths papers.

"How are you?", I finally ask when I hand him the papers.

He looks over them, frowning and furrowed eyebrows. "I'm okay. Will get crutches soon so I can start walking."

I nod and accept that he wanted to understand my question this way. "As you might've noticed, new topic in maths."

"Yeah, I just saw", he mumbles before reaching to the table next to the bed where his glasses were lying.

I watch him put them on and notice how his face muscles relax obviously. I have to hold back a laugh. He should just wear them. How stubborn can a person be.

He gives me a strange look as if he knew what I was thinking. I collect myself and then start explaining what we did. As we come closer to finishing the exercises together I start wondering what to do after. Should I find some excuse and leave directly? Or should I try my best and stay a while longer? Start a proper conversation, one like I would with my friend?

Reece takes this decision from me when he stops writing and stares at me until I look up to him.

"You know, I didn't want anyone at school to know. Not because I'm ashamed or scared or anything. It's just unnecessary stress I didn't want."

I keep looking at him and hope he continues talking but he doesn't. We're just sitting there and look at each other hoping the other one would say something.

Reece sighs after a while. "And I wasn't too sure about how some people would act. I wouldn't mind if they didn't want to be my friends anymore. I don't need them if they can't accept. But it's so much easier."

I nod.

"George, why did you not care at all? Why did you just ignore when you found out? You didn't even ask or anything. Anyone else would've, even if they didn't mean it in a bad way." He looked at me with a questioning expression.

I think about his questions for a moment, and then I realise that I don't know. I remember how all I thought was if he just forgot when he sent me up to his room.

In the end, I shrug. "I don't know. Just wasn't that big of a deal to me, to be honest."

Reece is frowning, and I'm worried that he'll ask me more questions. Questions I don't have an answer to, again. But then, it might be worse.

However, he doesn't. He just goes back to the task now, quickly noting down numbers.

I think of something I could say so we can continue the conversation, but with another topic. The book on his nightstand is my solution. I point at it and ask: "So these are your favourite books?"

Reece's green eyes widen with surprise when he hears my question, but it quickly changes to excitement. "Yes", he says.

"What are they about?", is the next thing I ask.

Now his eyes fully light up with joy and he lays down the pencil. "It's an amazing story", he starts and then he tells me about it. It's a fantasy story, and he tells me about the universe it is set in, with magic, fairies and gods, about the adventures the characters have to live through. He even suggests I could borrow them so I could read them myself.

After a while of chatting I grin. "And who's the gay character of those you mentioned?"

Reece fake gasps when he hears me tease him. "Not everything I read is about.."

I interrupt him by laughing loudly. "It's the main character, I bet."

"Yeah", Reece admits a bit defeated. "But you still gotta read it."

I roll my eyes. "That won't be the reason why I won't read it."

"But?", Reece asks, and I feel like I hear disappointment in his voice.

"I've told you before, I just don't read as much", I explain.

"I'll make you read it one day", he says and lets it sound like a threat. "What do you do all day anyway if you don't read?"

"I don't know, I might have a life or something", I mock him.

"You? A life? I must laugh", Reece replies. I roll my eyes.

"Of course you can't relate."

We both just stay silent for a moment before bursting into laughter. For once, it was fun to have a conversation like this.

I keep smiling even after we calmed down.

"But I really recommend it. Gay or not, it's a great book. I'm not superficial enough to love a book just because of representation." He looks at me with puppy eyes. "Come on, read it. I want someone to discuss a few things."

"If I have time", I say. "For now I'm busy watching shows."

We then chat about shows and find out that we watch a lot of similar stuff. After that, we find a new topic. And so it goes on and on until I realize that I spend the whole afternoon at Reece's house. If someone had told me a few weeks ago that this would happen, I would have not been amused. We realize how much time had passed when his mum comes home after meeting with a friend earlier in the afternoon.

"Hi, Reece", his mum shouts. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah", he answers.

She opens the door and stops when she sees me sitting there. "Oh. Hi, George. Still here?", she smiles friendly.

I send back a more or less awkward smile. "Seems like we forgot time over studying and talking."

Reece's mum still smiles. "It's not a problem, George. I would offer you that you could stay for dinner but it doesn't seem very logical as Reece can't sit with us."

"Oh, but thank you. My mum will cook anyway. I probably should leave soon."

With that his mum is content and leaves us alone again.

Neither one of us talk until I get up. "I really should leave. My mum might wonder already."

"Okay", Reece mumbles. "See you tomorrow."

I nod and smile. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."

While walking home I think about the afternoon - I had lots of fun, however, it ended being awkward after his mum had come in. Hopefully tomorrow would be just as fun.

After arriving home and eating dinner I see that Blake has messaged me, but after reading the text I can't think of something to reply so I just leave it at it.

I go to bed quite early because I'm really tired. Just before I fall asleep I remember when Reece asked me those questions and I had no idea what to say. And just as I think about it, I recall the questions I hoped Reece wouldn't ask.

Especially one. I've avoided it as good as I could but now it comes to my mind and once again I realize that I don't have an answer.
What is my sexuality?

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here we go :) im trying to update on weekends, so lets hope that works out lmao