b l a k e *
The phone rings in the middle of history class. My teacher, Mr. Fawkes, crosses the front of the room to answer.
"Hello? Yes, I do. Yes, ma'am. Alright, I'll tell him," he hangs up the phone. "Blake, you're being signed out,"
I go to my locker and grab my things. This is odd, I didn't ask to be picked up early, and I don't have any appointments... I walk out of the double doors and into the office. My brother's best friend, Anthony, is standing there.
"Why are you here?" I ask him.
"I'll tell you in the car," he mutters and then turns back to the receptionist. "Thank you,"
Anthony and my brother, Brendon, graduated last year.
"I texted your brother to ask your mom if I could pick you up early," he tells me once we've gotten in the car.
"Why?" I ask him.
"I don't know," he shrugs. "You just seem like you've been having a rough time lately,"
☏
Anthony and I go back to my house to hang out since I have a key.
"Do you want anything to drink?" I ask Anthony. "We have Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mtn. Dew, water, tea, lemonade..."
"I'll take a Pepsi," he says.
"I'll be right back,"
I go downstairs to the kitchen and grab two Pepsi's and then go back upstairs to my bedroom, where Anthony is. I hand him the bottle and he opens it as I sit down beside him on the bed.
I feel like now might be a good time to mention that I've got a huge crush on Anthony--like, it's bad.
I check the clock.
3:08 PM.
All of a sudden, I get this courage. I turn to him. He's got his phone in his hand and is looking down at it. I take the phone from his hand.
"What are you doing?" he asks, looking up at me. I wrap my arms around his neck as I drop down onto his lap, smiling slyly at him.
"What. Are. You. Doing?" he asks me once again.
"Don't worry about it," I whisper, tilting his chin up and bending my head to press my lips against his.
He pushes me back, off of him and onto the bed. "What the heck, dude?!" he asks, staring at me in disbelief or disgust, I'm not sure which.
I grab his wrist as he turns to leave and pull him back to me. "Don't go," I whisper. I'm still sitting on the bed; I pull him toward me and start kissing his abs through his shirt, looking up at him through my eyelashes and biting my lip. He looks down at me as if he likes it, but doesn't want to admit it. I've still got his hand squeezed in mine tightly.
"I need to go, Blake," he says. His voice has an edge to it that I can't read.
"No, Ant," I whine softly. "Don't go, stay right here,"
I kiss him through his shirt again. When I release his hand to pull him closer, he takes his chance and walks out. I don't chase after him, though, figuring that I've already done enough.
☏
"Where's Ant?" Brendon asks when he gets home.
"He-uh-he had to run out," I say, not looking at Brendon.
At that moment, the doorbell rings.
Brendon shrugs and walks out of my room, closing my bedroom door as he goes.
I unlock my phone and go to Snapchat. Anthony's posted a snap to his story; I immediately watch it and it's a picture of him driving down the road.
"What are you doing?" I hear Brendon ask whoever was at the door.
I don't hear anything else, though and moments later my door bangs open and slams shut.
I look up and see Anthony standing in the doorway. His hands are behind his back. He starts moving towards me, crawling toward me on the bed when he reaches it with a smile on his face.
"Hi," he whispers as he reaches my knees. I've got my legs propped up on the bed, but they're together. He shoves my knees apart and continues crawling toward me.
I watch him as he reaches me. His face is close to mine.
"Blake," he whispers. "Look at me,"
He grabs my face and turns it to him when I break our eye contact. He leans back a little, pulling me onto his lap. His lips meet mine once again but this kiss feels different. It feels like it actually means something to him. He pulls back to catch a breath, leaning his head against mine.
☏
I look over at Anthony sitting on my bed.
"What about Brendon?" I ask him softly, about an hour later. "What did he say when you came back?"
"He asked me what I was doing, asked me why I left..." he says.
"Did you tell him? That you left because I kissed you?"
"No, I told him I left because I needed to do something."
"What do you think he's going to say? When he finds out about us, if you want to be a thing, I mean,"
"How could I not want to be with you?" He asks me. "Of course I want to be with you, I love you,"
He leans forward and kisses me softly.
"And about what he's going to say..." he continues. "I asked him if it was okay if I dated you,"
"What'd he say?" I ask him.
"He said that it was okay, but not to hurt you, which I wouldn't do, but,"
"What if he said no?"
"We'd still be laying here right now,"
"You'd go against my brother for me? Why?"
"Because I want you, and because I love you," he says softly, leaning in and kissing me again.
"I love you too, Anthony," I mutter.
He smiles and kisses my forehead, and then my lips once more.
☏
At dinner that night, Brendon looks back and forth from me to Anthony.
"So, you two are dating now?" He asks.
"Well, I never thought that would happen," He adds when we nod. "But I'm happy for you, I think you're really good for each other... I should've known you liked each other though, every time I was talking to one of you and mentioned the other, your faces lit up,"
I look over at Anthony and smile. Before I can lean in, Brendon clears his throat.
"Unh, unh, don't kiss in front of me," Brendon says. "It's already weird enough that you're dating, I don't need to see you kiss,"
I laugh. "Are you staying over tonight?" I ask Ant.
He nods. "Don't worry, I'll come and see you too," Ant says to Brendon.
Brendon waves a hand in the air. "Whatever," he says with a laugh.
"Goodnight, B," Anthony whispers in my ear as we lay down for bed.
"Goodnight, Ant," I reply, looking over at him and kissing his lips softly.
4/12/2020
