Pride of the 90's

Chapter 13

Breaking up with Madison won't be an easy task, especially since it's been about a week since Brandon and I got together. I know I should have said something sooner, like way sooner, but I was coming up with a plan. I was also a little a little pre-occupied with Brandon. Can you blame me, though? I've been in the closet for so long that I feel like I need to make up for lost time, especially with a face like his. Yes, maybe I'm using him as an excuse not to confront her, but she can be scary, okay? Like really scary.

"So?" Madison asked, standing in my room. "What did you wanna talk about?" I still don't have a plan. I thought about taking her out, one last date to ease the pain, but that seemed like a really shitty thing to do. Break up with her at school so she doesn't make a scene? Nope, she will absolutely make a scene if I don't have a good enough reason to break up with her. Run away to Mexico and stay with Brandon's aunt-niece-cousin-brother for the rest of my life? Maybe, but I don't speak Spanish.

Brandon knows I haven't done this yet and said that in the time I spent coming up with a plan, I could have done it by now. He hasn't spoken to me in two days because he's waiting for me to get it over with. It's going to hurt both of us, no matter what I do, so I might as well rip the bandaid off and let her go about her life. Problem is, it's covering a pretty big wound. The one that says 'I love you' without even meaning it. How do rip that off without getting blood on everything, all while finding a good reason to break up that doesn't tell her I'm gay?

I was sitting in my swirly chair, surrounded by broken parts and dirty clothes. I'm not good at keeping up with cleaning. Not like it's any worse than what Brandon has going on in his room. If she does get mad enough to break something, at least it's already broken. It's doubtful, though. She can be mean when she wants to, but she's never been the violent type.

But I also thought I would ever be with a boy, so I guess there's a first for everything.

"Okay, first off, I'm sorry," I said, nervously rocking side to side. It's hard to keep still, especially when I have to do something I don't want to. "I know we were supposed to be 'fixing' our relationship, but I've been busy. I've been doing a lot of thinking. About us."
"Who is she?" What?
"Who?"
"Who is she? The other girl you've been sneaking around with. Who is she?"

Should I roll with this? No, this is a trap. She's trying to make me the bad guy, which I am, but she doesn't need to know that.

"Maddy, I'm not sneaking around with someone else."
"Then what's this?" She handed me a note I passed to Brandon a couple days ago. We're keeping things hidden, but he says he knows how to get the best of both worlds. We don't show affection in public, either, for obvious reasons, but I do little things, like passing him notes in the hall and 'accidentally' brushing my hand on his when we pass by each other. Guess I dropped this one.

We talked a little about going out, like on an actual date, which is a terrible idea, so he tried convincing me it was a good idea while we were in class, since he didn't want anyone hearing. He did, of course, convince me, saying he knew a place nobody would even notice or care. Tonight is that night, if I can do this, so I had to break up with her fast. She knows now that I've been seeing someone else now, but not that it's Brandon, so I can least keep that a secret.

"Okay. Okay, you win. You caught me. I've been talking to someone else."
"How could you?" She said, getting defensive. "You said you loved me!"
"I didn't say I loved you. What I said was I love being with you."
"How is that any better?"
"I...don't know."

Forget the knife, you would need a warhammer made of Adimantium and Vibranium to break the tension between us.

"If you hate me that much, why didn't you just say so?"
"I don't hate you, Madison," I said, steadying myself. "But even you have to admit this was bound to happen at some point."
"What, you cheating on me?"
"No, us breaking up."
"Who said anything us breaking up?"