Boy Next Door

Notes: Wow, I was really surprised to see that I actually got reviews for this! ^_^ Thank you all so much!
St.Remy Asylum: I had actually planned for Kyle to be a football player, but at the last minute changed my mind. He’s still an athlete though. And Ryan, I’m not exactly sure what he is. Maybe I’ll figure it out before the chapter is over. ^^
CorneredIn a Tub: I hope that I can keep you interested! A good first chapter is usually a jinx for me though (as the following chapters are never as great), but trust me, I do plan for there to be a plot somewhere in here.
Parod Vor: Glad you like it! I actually didn’t even think about what Ryan looks like… But since it’s first person I don’t really want him to just talk about the way he looks. Descriptions about his physical appearance will probably show up in scattered places.

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Chapter Two: As If You Were Gay

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Those two and a half hours passed with excruciating lethargy, and I sat in my classes with one eye always on the clock. Instead of hearing the teacher and his boring explanations, I heard the seconds of the clock tick by. The lead in my mechanical pencil broke constantly as I pressed too hard on the paper. My nerves were shot, but I tried my best to focus and take notes. Staring blindly at my notebook, I watched without registering as my hand scribbled indecipherable penmanship across the page.

What the hell are we talking about…?

I was currently suffering through AP Biology, because last year I thought, when I was signing up for classes, that I would just be a brilliant student and take a college course right before I got there. Just send my grade point average spiraling into the ground right before I graduate.

The seconds ticked by louder now, and I watched the clock with practically all of my attention. The bell would be ringing any minute, finally releasing us from this dungeon. I glanced around and saw the other students with even less concentration than I had. Eyes were glazed over with the highest degree of boredom, and fingers twitched spasmodically as they longed to be holding a car key. The boy next to me slept, his upper body leaning towards me, invading what little personal space I had on the lab table. Drool oozed out of his mouth and onto the desk; I couldn’t stop my smile.

The teacher droned on and my eyes stayed on the clock. Just a little more and we would be free from this agony. Three…two…one.

The sound of backpack zippers and slamming books could be heard as we hurriedly put away our things. The teacher didn’t have a chance to call out homework as we raced from the classroom. I walked out into the hallway and into the crowd of students as they rushed to leave the campus. Their conversations were loud and excited, but I ignored them as I walked towards the gym. Freshmen were still leaving the gym as I stopped in front of the wide stairs. I was barely able to hyperventilate properly before I saw Kyle bounding up to me with a broad smile on his face.

“You’re here,” he said, staring at me with his pretty brown eyes.

“Did you expect me to forget something like this and just ride the bus?”

Shrugging shortly and still smiling, he placed a hand on my shoulder. The contact made me involuntarily flinch, as people didn’t usually just touch me like that.

“Coach says he wants to see what I’ve got,” he said importantly.

I stared blankly at him. He said it as if I were actually supposed to know what he meant. I smiled uncertainly and was about to congratulate him when he continued.

“I missed conditioning, but I told him I had been working out during the summer. He told me to come to practice this afternoon so that he can see if I’m worth putting on the team.”

“Team?”

“Track. I’m not sure if I’ll just sprint or not yet.”

“You want to be on the track team?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He tilted his head at me and a small wrinkle marred his forehead. “Why not? I like to run. It’s fun. You should run with me.”

“How about no?”

“Aw, Ryan. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I have to be at practice today.” He winced. “If you ride home with me, you’ll have to stay too. Is that okay?”

I waved my hand in dismissal, not really wanting to but willing to do so anyway. I knew nothing about sports; I liked to draw…birds and stuff. Yeah.

“I guess so. I’ve never been to any track practices before.”

“Great!” he said, the hand that was still on my shoulder sliding around my neck. He pulled me to his side and I wasn’t sure if he noticed my discomfort or not. Grinning, Kyle led me towards the football field. “Maybe you’ll see something you like and you’ll decide to join the team.”

“Probably not.”

“You never know.”

“No. I do know. I hate the jocks, and that includes the track team.”

Kyle was silent for a long moment, his arm falling from my shoulders. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, trying to push back the fear that I had upset the only person who would talk to me.

“You won’t hate me…will you?” he asked somberly.

Kyle stared down at the asphalt of the small parking lot, specifically for students who had paid for reserved spots, as we crossed it, so he missed my surprised reaction. I walked beside him stupidly for a moment, and when I didn’t respond fast enough, he looked up to see if I was ignoring him. I shook my head quickly, attempting a smile.

“Of course not. You’re different.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Why do you hate the jocks?”

It was my turn for silence, and we walked through the small gate to enter the field. The coach was standing next to the bleachers, yelling at some kid for something that I didn’t understand and wasn’t really listening to anyway. A few boys, that I immediately recognized and made me wish I had just rode the bus home, looked up from their stretching. Sarcastic grins played on their lips and they strolled over towards us. I tried to pretend like I found the other guys stretching or jogging around the track to be the most interesting things ever to walk the Earth, anything to ignore those boys, but it was no use. It only set me up to be the butt of a bad joke.

“Oh, look, it’s the fag,” Greg said, raking his fingers through his bleached hair. “Guess he wants to see us real men flex our muscles.”

I rolled my eyes. Kyle frowned, glaring at them. Greg noticed his gaze and laughed derisively.

“Oh no! Don’t get your boyfriend on us! Please, anything but that!” he squeaked in a girlish voice.

Kyle opened his mouth, about to retort, but the coach walked over to us, frowning.

“McCaster! Get your ass on the track! Keep running until I tell you to stop!”

“Yes, sir!”

Greg, followed by his groupies, started a steady jog around the track. Coach Knight turned to us and his usual frown was in place. I had heard from other students’ conversations that he hardly ever smiled.

“You must be that boy I talked to earlier today. Kate?”

“Kyle, sir.”

“Right. Kyle what?”

“Kyle Levewitz.”

“Levewitz. And you,” he said glancing at me. “You here to practice too?”

“No. I’m just going to watch,” I said, adjusting the strap of my backpack.

“Then sit your lazy ass on the bleachers. Kids these days…”

Kyle waved to me as I walked to the bleachers. With my mood significantly deflated, I dropped my backpack heavily on the metal benches and took out my cell phone. While I waited for someone to pick up the phone at my house, I watched Kyle deposit his bag with all the others and take out the shorts and shirt he apparently thought ahead to bring. He rushed off to the gym to change.

“What is it?” my dad said on the other line. He must have looked at the caller ID.

“Well, hello to you too,” I bit sardonically.

“What do you want, boy?”

“I just wanted to tell you that I would be home a little late. I’m staying after school with a friend.”

“Whatever. Eat before you get home.”

He didn’t have to say it; we both knew he didn’t want me in the house. My little brother was there and he didn’t want my “gayness” to rub off on the young, impressionable boy. He couldn’t care less if I came home at all, but he wouldn’t say that because mom was probably standing right next to him.

“Fine. Bye.”

He grunted and hung up. I stared at my cell phone, frowning. My father’s attitude towards my sexual preferences still hurt; I wished he could see that I was still his son and the fact that I was gay didn’t change who I was. I was still the same person; I just liked guys. It wasn’t that big a deal. Shoving my phone back a small pocket of my backpack, I glanced up to see Kyle coming back onto the track. The coach sent him on a warm-up run with the others. I smiled a little as I saw the muscle that his baggy clothes covered. His jogging was actually graceful and every so often he would push away the hair that bounced into his eyes. I watched only him until I caught sight of Greg coming around the curve of the track, a disgusted look on his features. I switched my gaze to the pole-vaulters in the center of the field to get away from his stare.

Sighing, I realized I would be hanging around for a while with nothing to do, so I dug around in my backpack for the bag of chips that I didn’t eat at lunch and my math book. I sat the book on my lap and the bag of chips on my backpack. Grabbing a pencil from the front pocket, I opened my book and my chips. I flipped through the pages until I found the sheet of paper that I had started my homework on, and stared at the graphs blankly. I had slept though math class, waking up just in time to catch the homework assignment, and now I realized I should have paid attention. Polar coordinates? Theta? What?

I stuffed some chips into my mouth to ease my mind. I read through the pathetic blurb of explanation that my book provided for me and tried to follow the examples. Math was my worst subject ever. I did fabulously in all my other classes, with the exception of AP Biology, but math I just barely passed.

It took me the entire practice to finish my math homework.

I had just closed my book when I heard footsteps on the bleachers, coming up to where I was. I looked up to see Kyle, another wide smile on his lips. I glanced back down to gather my belongings, noticing that he was still wearing his shorts. I saw his toned leg muscles out of the corner of my eye. I wanted to touch them.

“Coach says that he could use someone like me on the team,” he said as we both stood.

“Yeah? Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

We walked out into the parking lot along with the other track members, and Kyle pointed in the direction of his car. I saw Greg again and looked down at the pavement, hoping that he wouldn’t come over to bother me. He didn’t; his girlfriend had been watching him run the whole time, so he paid little attention to me now.

When we reached Kyle’s car, he smiled apologetically at me. I didn’t ask him about the look until we were seated.

“What was that look for?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, driving through the row of parking spaces and to the exit. “I didn’t know that guy would say that to you. I should have just taken you home.”

“No, that’s okay. It’s not the first time.”

“No, it’s not okay. He acted like a bastard to you when you hadn’t even done anything to provoke him.”

“I know. He’s always like that. He’s always hated me.”

“Why? …He referred to me as your boyfriend. Does he think you’re gay or something?”

“I am gay.”

“Oh.”

There was an awkward silence between us, and I tried to ignore it by looking out the window. My fingers absently drew circles on the beige interior of his car. The radio played quietly, hardly doing anything to break the reticence.

“Does it bother you?” I finally gathered the courage to ask.

“No. Should it?”

“It bothers everyone else.”

“Yeah. Well, it doesn’t matter to me. You’re still the same person you were this morning.”

I gave a genuine smile and replied, “Thanks.”

He smiled back, and I stared out the window again.

“Hey, you hungry?” Kyle asked after a while.

“Not really…but my dad told me to get something to eat before I came home.” I frowned. “I don’t know what he expected me to buy. I’m broke right now.”

He laughed. “I could pay—”

“No,” I interrupted quickly. “That’s okay. I’ll just go home.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

There was another weird pause. Kyle seemed as though he wanted to say something, so I waited for him to speak his mind. We were turning into the entrance of our neighborhood when he finally started talking.

“Do you have to be home, like right now?”

I thought about my dad and our earlier conversation.

“No, I guess not. Why?”

“Do you want to come over? I mean, my dad’s working late and he won’t be back until probably after dinner. I…don’t want to be alone.”

A smile quirked the corners of my mouth. “Aw…Kyle doesn’t want to be alone…”

“Shut up…” he said, smiling and blushing at the same time.

He pulled into the driveway of his house and looked at me expectantly. Grinning, I nodded, saying I would stay as long as he wanted me there, and hoping beyond hope that I didn’t sound as desperate as I thought I did. We started into his house, and I felt the butterflies fluttering in my stomach again.

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As I said before, I was floored when I read your reviews. I hope this chapter doesn’t disappoint you!