hate is a strong word (bxb)

19

"I held my tongue the entire day, and even on the bus," Braxton started off the second their feet left the school bus and touched the ground, "because I knew that we were in school and you would throw a hissy fit if I asked, but I mean, when Scar asked what you were going to spend the rest of the week doing, you kind of looked over at me. Is that supposed to mean something or what was that?" 

"It was nothing," Ben answered, "you just so happened to catch my eye."

Braxton knew that there was much that he could say about that, but he chose to keep the eye on the real prize, "so, since you have nothing else to do, would you want to hang out again?"

"I'm not having sex again today," Ben said bluntly and sternly.

"Then what if we didn't do that," Braxton suggested, "we could, you know, hang out. And I don't mean that in a suggestive way."

"And what would we do if we hung out?"

"Well, we could go on a walk right now."

Ben thought that it would be rude to turn him down, and it wasn't like he had anything better to do, so he accepted, "yeah, sure, why not?"

The two first stopped off to Ben's house so that he could place his book bag down. The house was still empty, and it would stay that way until five o'clock. They went to Braxton's house shortly after, which contrasted Ben's house greatly. The second that they entered, it was bursting with energy.

"Brax! You're home! You're home!" Braxton's younger sister came running quickly at him.

"Only for a minute," he said, "I have to go. But I'll be back soon."

"Hij is schattig," (he is cute) the girl nodded towards Ben.

Ben had completely forgotten that Braxton and his entire family spoke another language. After the encounter where he heard them speaking through the fence, he had payed no more mind to it. Dutch isn't the most attractive language. No, it really isn't at all. The words are awfully throaty and it doesn't compare to any of the romance languages in the slightest. Despite this, Ben found the language to be rather intriguing.

Ben had seen the short blonde girl before and had also seen her twin sister (though, he didn't know which one was which) but he had never stood next to them. He found it to be amazing just how short the girl was. 

"What's she saying about me?" Ben widened his eyes, seeing as he was being included in the conversation now. 

"Ja, ik denk het ook," (yeah, I think so too) he responded to the girl, and then turned to Ben, "she didn't say anything. Don't worry about it," and though he said that it was nothing, the girl seemed to giggle at the lie.

"Is hij je nieuwe vriendje?" (Is he your new boyfriend?)  The girl added on.

Braxton hadn't kept his sexuality a secret from his family. His mother was incredibly accepting of it, his father didn't mind, and his two little sisters were too young to judge something of that nature. They didn't fully understand the politics behind it. The only person in the entire family that minded it was his older brother.

"Nog niet." (Not yet.)

"What are you guys saying about me?" Ben whined.

"Nothing, Benji, let's go," Braxton brushed it off, "wait!" 

Without explaining himself, Braxton takes off to the kitchen and Ben follows him all the way there. He had attempted to ask where they were going and why, but Braxton didn't even bother to explain before they were in the kitchen. In the kitchen, a woman is stood cooking something. She had the same blonde hair that Braxton did.