Boy Next Door

Notes: *melts into a puddle because she is a review whore*

CorneredIn A Tub: I swear, you read my mind. ^-^

Yue: You speculated a long time ago about Greg, but I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to give it away, but just know that you were right about him. Can’t say exactly what you were right about just yet at the beginning of the chapter, but I think you know what I’m talking about. ^_^

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Chapter Seven: Make It Up to Me

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The next morning, I stood at the bus stop again. There was a piece of my mind that hoped that Kyle would show up again. Even if I was supposed to hate him right now, I couldn’t help but admit that it was still comforting to have him next to me. I stood around for a while, glancing at my watch a few times. The bus drove up and stopped at the curb. As I got on, I looked back at Kyle’s house, thinking that maybe he would come rushing out of the door and to the bus.

He didn’t.

Actually, Kyle avoided me for the next few days. It was, for lack of a better word, disheartening. I kind of thought that it would be like one of those cliched teen movies, and he would do everything to get me back. He didn’t, so I was stuck eating lunch alone again. I would occasionally glance at their table, see Kyle laughing with those assholes, and hate everyone even more.

Because I had nothing else to do anymore, I went home every day after school and hung out with my bird and little brother. They were cute and all, but it was starting to get depressing. I was almost a college student and the only way I had to pass the time was with a sassy bird and a little boy. Might as well become a child molester and bird-fucker right now.

Yes, so, I was guessing it was Friday. I wasn’t very sure; I had started not to pay attention to the days, as they had started to run together anyway. Monotony and all. Whatever day it was, it was towards the end of it. I was walking back to the buses so that I could spend it again the same way I had been for about a week. I wasn’t in a big hurry anymore; the seat I wanted was always empty now.

As I walked, staring blankly at the ground in front of me, I hardly notice the hurried footsteps behind me. A strong hand clapped me on the shoulder, jerking me to a stop, the grip tight through the fabric of my shirt.

“Hey,” I started, irritated, “who the hell do you—”

When I turned to look at this random person, I stopped, my mouth flapping confusedly. I finally settled for the look of stupidity, because that was what I felt as I stared at Kyle’s determined face in front of me.

“Uhh…?”

He turned me around without a word and kept his hand firmly attached to my shoulder. I was in a daze as I was led to towards the football field. Not until we had reached the gate did I regain my senses.

“Whoa, hey, what do you think you’re doing?! If you think you’re going to humiliate me again—”

Kyle put a finger to my lips to silence me, and suddenly that goofy smile that I hadn’t seen for days was on his lips. A calculating glint played in his eyes and I stared back at him, frowning. His hand dropped from my shoulder and he grabbed my hand, gently intertwining our fingers.

As soon as we stepped onto the track, Greg and his groupies turned to look at us. Most of the track members were already jogging around, and the others who did field events were practicing somewhere off the track. Greg and his friends were the only ones just standing around, just to the side of the blacktop. Greg raised an eyebrow at us, giving me the usual disgusted look. His eyes traveled down to our hands, and stared at Kyle.

“Holy fuck, guys! Look!” Greg cried, putting some extra drama into it. “Kyle! What has the fag done to you, man?!”

I watched Kyle out of the corner of my eye and that wacky smile never left his face. He walked us towards the group; he must have felt my slight tremors, because without looking at me he squeezed my hand in reassurance.

“Aw, Greg, you know this is your dream,” Kyle said, punching his arm.

“What are you talking about?”

“Everyone knows how much you want Ryan. You can’t take your eyes off this studmuffin. Just look at his thick black hair, his stunning green eyes…” He ran his free hand through my hair and down my cheek, giving me that intense stare. “You can’t help but want this.”

I stood helplessly, feeling awkward and embarrassed. His eyes were the only things that kept me from leaving. That, and the fact that the buses had already left.

I looked to Greg, breaking the eye contact with Kyle, and saw that his face was reddening. He stared at Kyle angrily, his fists clenching at his sides.

“Don’t be jealous, Greg. Not everyone can be as lucky as I am.”

His constant grin was infuriating Greg, but it was starting to become obvious that his red face wasn’t only because of rage. A small smile made its way to my lips. Greg tried to calm himself and assume his self-proclaimed superiority, but he was failing miserably.

“What the hell would I want with a fag like him?” He narrowed his eyes at Kyle. “And I seem to remember you saying the same thing.”

Greg smirked, and I chewed my tongue, both of us thinking that his statement would get a reaction out of Kyle. Kyle simply shrugged his shoulders, his hand loosening from mine and snaking around my waist.

“So I lied. What’s your point?” he remarked casually. “I let a silly thing like popularity get in the way of who I really cared about. People do it all the time.”

Mark, the red headed kid, spoke up for the first time. His expression was revolted but at the same time curious. “Hey, when you say care, do you mean…?”

“Of course.”

Greg sneered. “So you are a fairy? Should have known.”

“Yes, you should have,” Kyle said, raising one eyebrow. “You can always recognize your own kind, you know? But you can quit lusting after Ryan now, because he’s mine.”

Greg clenched his teeth, the redness returning to his face. “If you say that one more time—”

“Honestly, Greg, I don’t see why you go out of your way to hide it. The whole team has been going on about it since I got here.”

“Wha—?!”

Kyle nodded. Greg glanced at the boys around him and none of them could look him in the eyes. I grinned and Kyle winked at me.

“Bastard…” Greg said through gritted teeth.

“No…actually my parents were married when I was conceived…” He gave another one of those innocent, infuriating smiles.

“You guys are…touching…” Mark said, almost like he had never seen a gay couple before. “Like…touching…”

Kyle’s grin only widened. “Well, let me take this opportunity to really gross you out.”

He turned my head and planted a very long, very passionate, open-mouthed kiss on my lips. One of his hands was in my hair and the other was on my ass. He moaned into the kiss, and I stood there like his rag doll, responding because Kyle demanded nothing less.

When he pulled away from me, he licked his lips in that very sexy way that you see only in movies. Giving a sidelong glance to the others, he laughed, enjoying himself immensely. The group around us wore horrified expressions, except Greg, who stared dangerously at Kyle.

“Levewitz!”

It was Coach Knight. He was stalking up to us, his usual frown in place. Kyle turned to look at him, and Greg folded his arms across his chest, smirking.

“We’ll have none of that lovey-dovey shit! Save it for when you get home. And all of you, get to work!” He pointed at me. “You new or somethin’?”

“Oh, uh, no. I’m just visiting.”

“Lazy ass kids…there was one just like you a while ago. Looked kinda like you…hoodlums, all of ya.”

“That was me, sir.”

“Whatever. Levewitz—”

“I quit, sir.”

We all stared at him. Even Greg was surprised by his comment. Coach Knight narrowed his eyes at him.

“What you say, boy?”

“I said I quit, sir. I won’t be returning for another practice. My grades are slipping, and I can’t continue to be distracted by track. I’m sorry.”

“Levewitz, you’re one of our star runners.”

“Yes, I know, but my grades come first.”

“He’s lying, Coach, sir!” said Greg. “His grades are fine! I saw his report card.”

Kyle moved his hand from his side to behind his back and raised his middle finger to Greg, his eyes never leaving the coach’s.

“I know it’s unexpected but you can ask my dad if you want. He’s asked me to quit. Sorry. I can’t stay though. I have to get him home,” he said, pointing at me. “Can’t be late.”

Coach Knight’s frowned deepened.

“Coach, I swear he’s lying!”

“Shut up, boy!” he snapped at Greg. “He wants to go, let him go. And shouldn’t your sorry ass be hoppin’ around that track?!”

“Yes, sir.”

As the others disappeared down the track, Coach Knight patted Kyle on the shoulder.

“Come back anytime, boy.”

Kyle nodded and tugged me towards the gate. I stared at him then at the retreating figure of the coach. Suddenly, I was confused again. About everything. We had reached the entrance of the parking lot when I finally stopped and turned him around.

“Wait, what the fuck just happened?!” I sputtered.

Kyle smiled innocuously and started for his car again. I followed, staring at his back and frowning. When we were seated in his car, I asked the same question again. He looked at his lap, his fingers drawing invisible lines on the bottom of the steering wheel.

“Are we okay?” he asked instead of answering me.

“What?”

“Are we okay?” He looked up at me. “I hate that you’re mad at me. It’s been tearing me up inside, you know? I couldn’t stop thinking about you, so I figured that if I ignored you then it would all just go away. I mean, you didn’t want to talk to me anyway.”

“Kyle…”

“I’m really sorry, Ryan. I really like you, and I don’t want you to hate me. I said all that stuff for you. I quit the team for you. I…I’m really sorry. Just talk to me again.”

I stared at him, seeing the pleading in his eyes. I smiled a little, because no one had ever wanted to be around me so much before. It felt nice to be cared about by someone other than a relative.

“But…why? If you liked me so much, why did you say that about me? Was I not good enough for you then?”

“No…no, that’s not it. I just didn’t want to lose the friends that I had made. Back in Iowa, everyone knew I was gay. They didn’t talk to me. I was the weird guy. I was…”

“Like me?”

He nodded. “Yeah. That’s why I sat with you that day. I had kinda heard about you when I got to this school from random conversations. They never said you were gay or anything. They just said you were different. Besides, I had seen you getting off the bus after school a few times when I was coming home and figured that since we were neighbors, it wouldn’t be so hard to start a conversation with you.

“Anyway, I didn’t want to be that weird kid anymore. I had finally gotten some people to like me and I didn’t want to let that go. I thought that if they found out that I was gay…they would talk about me like…like they talk about you.”

I stared at him, frowning, his words resurfacing feelings that I had pushed down a long time ago. I had learned to get used to the way people acted around me and the way they said things about me behind my back, but hearing it from Kyle was like cutting open an old wound.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. He gave a short laugh. “Hindsight’s a bitch, you know? I treated you just like they treated me back in Iowa. That was all I could think about after that day, that I had made you feel what I had felt.”

“But I thought you said you liked Iowa,” I said. “You threw a tantrum, remember?”

“Yeah, well, I hated Iowa. The move was the best thing dad could have ever done for me. The reason I was so upset was because I thought that if I left, then I would be leaving mom behind.”

“Oh…I’m sorry.”

I didn’t know what else to say. Kyle shrugged, his eyes drifting back to his lap.

“I really want to make it up to you, Ryan.”

“Hey, you did. I mean, you’re willing to be the weird kid again for me. That really means a lot to me.” I laughed to myself. “The looks on their faces when you kissed me was priceless! I still can’t believe you did that! And Greg…what’s with him? Is he really gay underneath all that? I mean, doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”

Kyle grinned. “I’m pretty sure he’s bi. Only the track team knows about it…well, has speculated about it. No one really knew for sure. But I kinda figured he did, you know, with the way he picked on you more than anyone else did.”

“I never noticed…” I said sheepishly.

Kyle smiled, his hand settling on mine.

“You quit the team though,” I began. “I thought you loved track. And…the coach. I thought he would have eaten your head off for sure.”

“Well you know, I can run anywhere. And as for the coach, he probably figured I would quit.”

“What?”

“He knows about the two of us and the ass I made out of myself.”

“What?” I asked again, watching him incredulously.

“Yeah. Turns out he was in the war with my uncle. Same squadron and all that. So I’ve talked to him a lot more than I’d like to admit to anyone.”

“Oh. That’s weird.”

Kyle nodded. “So you still want to hang around me?”

“Of course.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

He smiled and started the car. Biting my lip uncertainly, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. He looked at me and grinned.

“Hey, you wanna go to my house and get freaky?” he asked wiggling his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, smiling. “Not today.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh hell yeah.”

Kyle’s grin widened and he drove out of the parking lot. I smiled, suddenly finding myself actually looking forward to going to school on Monday.

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Oh…dear…this is it. It’s over. A lot sooner than I expected it to be. I don’t even know what to say. I do want to give out my heartfelt thanks to everyone who reviewed, because I didn’t think this story would get this much attention. I really hope this last chapter made you guys smile. It’s a particularly big feat for me, since I’ve started so much crap (posted and most definitely unposted) and never finished it. Well, I’m happy, and I guess that’s what really matters when you get right down to it. ^_^ Thank you all again!