Good Boy by Megan Lowe
Chapter 32
“What the fuck is going on here?” Chloe asks when she sees our hands.
“We’re um….” I start.
“We’re together,” Thomas says, taking over for me.
“Since when?” she asks.
“Officially? Since now, but I think I speak for both of us when I say it’s been building for a while.”
She quirks an eyebrow at me. “Really?”
I shrug. “Yeah. I mean, it’s no secret Thomas and I have been hanging out, but it um, progressed over the weekend.” I realize that if I’m going to sell this to Cav, that I’m going to have to get more comfortable with being with Thomas.
I move closer to him and snuggle into his side. It takes him a second to realize what’s going on, but when he does, he winds his arm around my back.
“So you’re, like, gay now?” Chloe asks.
“I don’t know about gay, but bi or pan or whatever you want to call it would probably fit better.”
“And you’re sure about this?” she asks me.
My eyes flick over to Cav. His jaw is clenched, eyes still narrowed. His gaze moves to our hands before coming back to my eyes. He then looks over at Thomas.
I feel a breath on my cheek before Thomas kisses me there, breaking the connection I have with Cav.
I look back to Chloe. “Yeah, I’m sure. We get along great and I’m excited to see where this goes.”
“I think we’re going to be great together,” Thomas says.
For my sake, I hope we are. I’m crossing everything in the hopes that this ends how I hope it will.
My eyes find Cav’s across the cafeteria. He jumps up from the table, the contents of his tray going everywhere, before stalking out of the room. He can say that he doesn’t want to be with me, that I mean nothing to him, but his actions say different. I know he wants to be with me. I can feel it. And I don’t think it’s just me being hopeful. Cav and I have a connection. We proved that when he was James and we proved it again on Saturday night.
The news of Thomas and my coupling spreads fast, greatly aided, I suppose, by our—or more Thomas’s—show at lunch.
We walk down the hall hand-in-hand, eyes following us everywhere we go.
“You okay?” Thomas whispers to me.
I nod. “Yeah. Are you?”
He chuckles. “Of course.”
We stop when we get to my locker. His mouth is on mine before I even really realize what’s happening, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips. I let him in, the taste of pizza and Gatorade filling my mouth. It’s a far cry from Cav’s sweet and salty taste.
“Mmm.” He licks his lips when he pulls back. “Is it weird that I’m not weirded out by that?” he asks.
I shrug. “I mean, no? I don’t know. Do you want it to be weird?”
“No, I definitely don’t.” He kisses me again. “In fact, I kinda love that it’s not.”
“Love?” Cav scoffs, coming up to us. “You’re in love with this fairy now?” he asks.
Thomas melts into my chest, his arm going around my shoulders. “So what if I am?”
Cav shakes his head, hands up. “Hey, all power to ya. My deepest congratulations. Where are you guys registered?”
“Come on, man,” Thomas says. “Don’t be a dick.”
“But you like those now, don’t you?”
“I like Connor’s, you know, my boyfriend’s,” he specifies.
“Oh, is it special or something?”
I arch an eyebrow at him, which he studiously ignores.
“It’s the person he is,” Thomas says. “That’s what makes him special.”
“Holy shit, man, have you grown a vagina or something? You sound like a chick.”
“Being man enough to own up to my feelings doesn’t make me a chick, Cav. It makes me a man. You should try it sometime.”
“I’m man enough as it is, thanks.”
Thomas shrugs. “Whatever.”
“Well, this is all very touching, but I’ve got better things to worry about than you two fags.” He starts to walk away then stops, turning back to us. “You know, I thought you were better than this,” he says before walking away again.
He doesn’t say who he was talking to in particular, and neither of us ask, but I can’t help feeling the sting of his words anyway.