The Jock and the Bad Boy (COMPLETE)

THIRTEEN

I go back inside, because what else am I going to do? I'm not going to keep thinking about Thayer. I don't want to. I can't. Somewhere, deep in the back of my mind, there's a part of me whose entire universe is crashing down around them. I decide to ignore that part of me. They're being a drama queen.

"Thayer seems nice," my dad laughs sarcastically. I scoff. "You known him long?"

I shrug. "Met him the first day. He sits behind me in Math."

"And you two are... friends?" This question catches me off guard because I don't know. Are we friends? Thayer made it abundantly clear that we're not more, and he slept in my bed last night so we're not less. Friends. I guess we're friends.

I take ages to remember how to speak. "Yeah, we're friends," I reply. Now my dad is looking at me like I'm the strange one.

My dad continues, "Do you know if he's..." I hold my breath. Any number of things could finish that sentence. "...gay?" The dramatic change in his tone of voice would be hilarious in any other context. "Not," he hurriedly tacks on, as if there's a possibility that a gay person is listening, "that there's anything wrong with that." Good job, Dad.

I shrug and shake my head. He looks embarrassed. I feel embarrassed. No one laughs. It's not any of his business, anyway.

He soldiers on. "Were you two drinking last night?" It's a valid question. I nod slowly. "Listen, You're not in trouble. In fact, I'm proud of you for calling Sara to pick you up." I consider pointing out that I don't know how to drive anyway. "But even so, teens can get into... dangerous situations at these parties. A lot of adults would have been in a lot of trouble if you had done something stupid and gotten yourself hurt while under the influence."

Personally, I feel like getting Thayer out of that bathtub, bringing him home, falling asleep next to him, letting him kiss me, and then not saying anything and letting him run away from it all was the stupidest possible thing I could've done. However, I can see how someone coming at it from an outside perspective might disagree. I realize my dad isn't done talking.

"My point is," he sighs, "this year is important, bud. You don't want a teenage mistake to screw it up. I think you should be really careful about the kinds of people you associate with." He thinks I was drinking because of Thayer. He's not exactly wrong. I nod. "Now, I'm not saying you need to stop hanging out with anyone, or that you shouldn't be friends with all different types of people, but be careful, okay?" I nod again and leave.

-

Thanks for reading! What do you think will happen next?