My Brother's Best Friend - LGBT, boyXman

8

We wandered out of the cinema two hours later, still holding hands.

“Did you enjoy it?” I asked him, seeing his thoughtful look.

“Yeah, actually… I sort of expected it to be a chick-flick, but it wasn’t really.”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“It makes you think though, doesn’t it?” He murmured.

“Yeah, it does… It was all so unnecessary. All that suffering, all that bloodshed, and for what?”

“You take history, don’t you?” Dale asked me.

“Yeah. History, Geography, Biology and Chemistry. How about you?”

“Maths, Physics, ICT and Further Maths.”

“What’re you hoping to do after school, then?”

“I’m hoping to go into accountancy. I’ve already got some work experience lined up with a firm once I leave school, but I won’t necessarily get a job from it. It’s only three weeks, see, so they won’t be able to get a really good idea of whether or not I’m any good.”

“My brother’s an accountant. You could talk to him, if you like. He might be able to give you some advice. Some people to contact.”

Dale nodded enthusiastically.

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”

We were wandering slowly towards the shopping centre, where there were several eateries.

“How about you? What do you want to do?”

“I haven’t got a clue,” I said honestly. “I love music, and I play the violin, but I taught myself. I can’t read music at all, so I don’t think I could go into that line of work any time soon. Maybe a teacher, although I’m not very patient. I’d probably end up wanting to slap half of the kids in my class.”

Dale laughed.

“I’d be like that as well,” he said. “No patience at all.”

“So, where do you want to eat? Do you even want to eat?” I asked quickly. “If you’re not hungry, we can-”

Dale put his finger on my lips and smiled.

“I’m starving. How about a Chinese? You like Chinese?”

“Yeah. The Jade Garden is good. Matt and I get dinner from there every so often.”

“Who’s Matt?”

I thought he sounded a little jealous, and grinned.

“My brother.”

We continued walking through the shopping centre, left through the back entrance and followed the adjoining street to the end of the road.

A bright green lantern was hanging outside the small Chinese restaurant, advertising that they were open.

Dale and I stepped inside, opted for a more private corner booth, and settled down with our menus.

We ordered spare ribs in a honey and orange sauce to start with, and ate them slowly, chatting as we did. We ended up getting all sticky as we ate, as Dale was almost continuously making me laugh, and then laughing himself at my giggles.

We calmed ourselves enough to order our main courses; stir-fry satay beef for Dale, and chicken in a green pepper and black bean sauce for myself.

I excused myself to go and wash my sticky hands and face, leaving Dale to watch our bags.