Marked

Eighteen

"So you'll never guess what I did," Parker said, sitting in a chair that was by the new desk in my room.

None of my old stuff was there, which I had mostly guessed when I had walked into the apartment that was actually decently sized, and barely had any furniture in it. I had no idea how my dad had managed to put this together in such a short amount of time, and he hadn't;t answered me when I asked him.

My room was blank, a bed, a dresser, a desk, and it looked like he had gotten all of my clothes, but he had probably barely gotten those.

"You killed someone?" I asked him. "I always knew that there was something off about you,"

"Nah, though that is on the bucket list," He said. "I came out to my family the other day. It went pretty well, and my mom wants you to come over for dinner sometime soon,"

It did sting a little bit when I thought about how my mom had reacted to it compared to his. But everyone was different, of course, they weren't going to react in the same way. And it was amazing for him that he had an awesome family, so I put a smile on my face. I was going to be happy for him, I was.

"That's amazing. And I'd be up for dinner," I said, laying down on my bed, on my side so I was still looking at him.

"I was really hoping that you wouldn't say that," Parker said, the frown on his face obviously fake. "My family can be so embarrassing sometimes,"

"Have you met my dad? I'm no stranger to embarrassing parents," I said. "The conversation that he had with me the other day? That was one rough conversation to have with a parent,"

"I'm gonna assume it was the same conversation that I had with my parents," Parker said, and the expression on his face made me pretty sure that we were thinking of the exact same thing.

That was something I did not want to go into much detail about. I hadn't even really figured myself out, did not want to talk about that.

"Yeah. Probably was. Anything cool coming up?" I asked him, wanting to change the subject as soon as I could.

"There's a swim meet coming up in a few days, but other than that I have just been bored all of the time because you were gone," Parker said.

Why was he so sweet? And perfect and literally every way? I was jealous.

"I feel like I should for sure go and see that," There were two reasons for that. One of them was he had come to my basketball game, and while he may not have been there for me, he was still there. Plus, maybe I was taking advantage of the chance to see him without a shirt.

But I'm never going to tell you if I was, but I am pretty sure that you don't need me to tell you.

"I would very much agree with that statement," Parker said with a grin. "It's at my school this time,"

"A location isn't very helpful when I don't have time and a date, my dear Parkie,"

"Friday at four," Parker said. "My dear Sebby,"

"I'll be there. If I'm not, you can murder me in my sleep,"

"Already making a murder plan in my head,"

***

I walked into the school, my backpack still in my car. I knew where the pool was from having a few games there, and it was right by the gym. I walked in, instantly smelling the chlorine scent that was so strong, but I also should've expected.

My eyes scanned the room, looking for Parker. If he was even out there yet. I didn't see him and frowned a little bit. He was probably just changing or something.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't and still don't understand anything about how swim meets work. There's all these different events? But I don't know what any of them are, and I just see most of them as being the same thing that just have different names.

I went up to the bleachers and sat somewhere around the middle. Not too close to the back, and not too close to the front. I pulled out my phone and started to play some random game that I had. According to the time, there were still ten minutes until things started.

"Hey! Seb!" I heard a familiar voice yell.

I glanced up from my phone and smiled when I saw Parker, waving.

Holy shit.

The boy had abs.

He came up the bleachers and sat down in the row below me, facing me. "How was your day?"

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to crush this?" I asked him. I wasn't going to lie, I was a little distracted by him not wearing a shirt. He looked good.

"Nah, I'm already amazing," He said with a small shrug. "See something you like?"

"Oh shut up," I rolled my eyes.

"I mean, I'm not blaming you," Parker said. "I do have a great bod,"

"I'm not saying that you don't,"

He smiled at me. "I hate to leave you, but coach is going to kill me if I don't get down there," He said, glancing down at the guy that I was guessing was his coach from the clipboard that he was holding.

"You better do good," I said with a grin, and I waved as he hurried down the stairs and went to stand with the rest of the team.

There were a few people that were from my school sitting in the same area as I was. Samantha was going to come, but then she said something came up with this Axel dude. She had been way more distant lately.

After the meet was over, I started walking down the bleachers to go over to Parker. He had done amazing; of course, he had. He had won almost every race that he was in.

I didn't notice it until we met on the bottom row of the bleachers, but he had been walking towards me too.

"You did awesome," I said. "I shouldn't be surprised, but you're like, really good,"

"Duh, I am pretty good," He said.

I shook my head in amusement, then found myself leaning down to kiss him. And I did.

I had never actually been the one that had really initiated a kiss yet, so I didn't really know if he would kiss me back, but he did, moving one of his hands to the back of my neck.

"Dude, look. Didn't know Sebastion of all people was gay,"

I pulled away as soon as I heard the voices.

I had just fucked everything up.

People were here from both of our schools. I for sure hadn't wanted everyone to know, and I'm sure that Parker didn't either. He had barely just told his own parents.

"I'm so sorry," I told Parker, and I knew that my face was pale.

I had ruined everything that could possibly be ruined.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I don't care about my school knowing," Parker said. "You didn't do anything to me. And if anyone tried to say a word against you, I'll beat them up, okay?" He looked me right in the eye. It was weird to be standing above him for once.

I nodded. "I um... I need to go," I couldn't be there with all the whispers. I saw someone with their phone out, looking like they had been taking a picture.

Everyone would know by tomorrow.

"Okay... bye," Parker said. His shoulders seemed to sink a little as he stepped aside to let me walk by him.

As soon as I was out of the pool, I started to run to my car as fast as I could. Another thing my dad had managed to get from my mother.

I slammed the door as soon as I got in, but I didn't start to drive quite yet. I didn't know if I wanted to drive, when I could stay here in my car for the rest of my life, and where I would be able to avoid all of the gossip and the stares, and the getting made fun of that I knew was going to come. There was no getting around it.

But, I had to deal with it. I would be fine... right?