Beautiful Boy
Disclaimer: Slash. Don't like it? Don't read it. I don't own the Newsies either
He is the most beautiful boy I have ever laid eyes on.
That thought echoed in my head when I was twelve years old. It was my first indication that I was different. I knew something was up with me, but have always come up with some random excuse to rid my mind of any wrongdoings.
I was in sixth grade at the time, and a new kid, Jack Kelly, had just transferred into our class. When he walked into the room, I fell and fell hard. Of course, I originally denied it, pushing those ever persistent evil thoughts from my head. But by eighth grade, when he was my study-buddy partner in a few of my classes, I finally gave in to the voices and thoughts in my head, and recognized that I was, in fact, gay.
But the fact that I was only in eighth grade forced the silence, and I stayed closeted to friends and family for years. I put on an act, joining in on the conversations about the 'hot' girls in our grade, and even entered the dating world. To say those few times I went out to the movies with girls were awkward is a huge understatement. The way I justified it was that I was indeed semi-awkward myself, and had not yet fully matured.
Fortunately, the awkwardness of middle school melted into high school, and I was immersed into whole different world. I busied myself into my academic studies and extracurricular activities, and gave the excuse that I was way too busy maintaining a 4.0 GPA and being the freshman rep of the school newspaper to even think about the opposite sex.
And that was true. I was extremely busy and I didn't think of the opposite sex. But to say I didn't think of the same sex was a different story. Jack, my first boy crush and study-buddy from middle school, had become one of my closest friends, almost my best friend, and had grown into one of the hottest boys in the school, as the freshman girls put it. His trademark red bandana and ever-present cowboy had made girls, and obviously some guys, swoon. Every time I hung out with him, it was hard not to think about him in a sexual manner; even when I wasn't around him, I thought about some of the R-rated things I would do to him if ever given the chance.
Around the middle of freshman year, things became very complicated. He began to date my older sister, Sarah. When I found out about that, I was crushed. I had known that he wasn't gay and nothing would ever happen between the two of us, nor would I ever get to perform those R-rated fantasies of mine on him. The fact that he was now dating my sister was definitely a devastating blow.
Things began to get serious between the two of them, and it caused quite a rift in our friendship. It was not uncommon for Jack to cancel plans with me or with the rest of our group to hang out with Sarah, his girlfriend What hurt me the most was that he would come to my house to hang out with me, whether it be playing videogames or watching movies, but eventually end up in my sister's room doing God knows what, leaving me to play videogames by myself.
The summer between freshman and sophomore year was filled with arguments and childish name-calling back and forth between us, my sister caught in the middle. By the beginning of sophomore year, we weren't speaking. Sarah couldn't handle being in the middle, or rather, the actual cause of the destruction of our friendship, and ended their relationship. My supposed best friend in essence blamed me for their break-up, further cementing the final end to our friendship. All the while this was happening, I still had that ever-present school boy crush on him, and it was devastating to me to lose that friendship.
The split between him and me had also produced a domino effect in our group of friends, but it was in his favor. More than half of our friends were on Jack's side and stayed in his favor, mostly due to the fact that he was considered one of the 'popular' boys, and they wanted to stay in that clique.
Because of this, sophomore year was incredibly bad for me. I buried myself in school work and working at the newspaper even more than I had my freshman year, trying to drown my unhappiness in the only things I truly loved: academics and journalism.
I found new friends in the newspaper staff. The Junior editor Kyle Harrison, nicknamed Skittery because of his jittering nerves during the crunch time of getting the papers out on time, was the most prominent. We first bonded late one night in March of my sophomore year, while trying to get the latest edition of The Weekly finished, and quickly discovered we had quite a lot in common. The most obvious one was the fact the both of us were gay. After Skittery confided his secret, I felt obligated to do the same; it was the first time I had ever said those words aloud, and it felt good. But I wasn't immediately attracted to him in the sexual sense, but as time passed and our friendship progressed, I soon began to feel the butterfly sensation in my stomach (the ones I had felt, and still slightly felt, for Jack) toward the Skittery whenever I was around him.
And finally, on another late night scramble to make our deadline, something happened between the two of us. We shared a moment that night; it was almost midnight and it was just the two of us in the office. In that moment, our lips met in a simple and slightly scared kiss; both of our first with a boy. Soon after, he became my first boyfriend. Things had started to look up for me.
But I still had that lingering voice in my head echoing the 'beautiful boy' phrase whenever I saw my ex-best friend, and the ache to be close with him again was still eating me alive. Sure, Skittery had filled the void left from that dissolved friendship, but in my heart, Jack could never be replaced.
Junior year was when things became a bit complicated. Junior year was the year Jack came out of the closet. In actuality, Jack didn't voluntarily come out; he was in essence outed by people he had once considered his friends.
The day I found out, I came home to Sarah in tears on our living room couch. I hadn't known yet, as I had been holed up in the closet that is The Weekly's office with Skittery, oblivious to the goings-on in our school.
When she told me, I literally dropped my school books on the ground, mouth dropping in surprise. She relayed the events that happened after school, how Jack had confided in his best friend Tony, who turned out to be a homophobic jerk and soon the news spread like wildfire around the school.
I ran up to my room soon after I found out, and sprawled out on my bed, to think.
Jack is gay. That thought ran through my head at lightning speed, alternating with the 'beautiful boy' comment. That new knowledge brought my feelings for Jack back at full force, and before long, the R-rated fantasies with Jack were the only thing on my mind.
Right at one of the most intense moments of my daydream that day, my cell phone vibrated in my jeans pocket, pulling me back into reality. When I checked the caller ID, it was none other than my boyfriend, Skittery. Shit.
While I on the phone with him, all I could think of was Jack. Luckily, Skittery didn't notice anything wrong with me. He actually didn't even mention the whole Jack thing even though that was about the only juicy news going around.
I saw Jack the next day in school. He looked awful, and was basically trying to avoid any and all contact with his peers. Barely anyone talked to him that day, and whenever he passed a group of people in the hallways, whispers filled the air. I couldn't take seeing him like that, and decided to talk to him.
His head was buried in his locker, as if he were desperately trying to be invisible, when I approached him cautiously. I knew people were watching as I tapped him slightly on his shoulder. He whirled around, and I could tell that he was extremely shocked to see me standing next to him. After all, we hadn't talked in over a year.
He cleared his throat, trying to hide his nervousness. "Davey. Hi."
At the sound of his voice addressing me, I immediately became flustered, and whatever I had planned to say to him flew out of my brain. The only thought in my head was you are gorgeous. In that instance I realized just how much I had missed his voice.
Taking a deep breath and slightly shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I responded by asking, "Are you okay?"
Jack sighed, his eyes trailing downward to the ground. "Does it look like I am?"
I nodded, not knowing how to respond to that question, and our conversation stalled.
"Look, I have to get home," Jack mumbled, quickly turning back to his locker, fumbling with his books.
I muttered a quick goodbye, and started to back away. I stopped for a second, and barely whispered to Jack, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about everything. And I don't think there is anything wrong with you being gay."
Jack's body froze, and ever so slowly, he faced me, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Thanks. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry too."
After that slight contact with him, my feelings for Jack were not only back in full-force, but they were also growing at an increasingly rapid pace. As I
watched him walk down the hall, my mind filled with lust for him, wanting nothing else but to feel his lips against my own. Sure, I knew I shouldn't be thinking those thoughts because I had a boyfriend who loved me, but to be fair, I had liked Jack since sixth grade. It was only natural, right?
A slight tap on my shoulder jolted me out of my lust-filled stare following Jack as he walked down the hall. A glance behind me showed that Skittery was the one who tapped me, and I immediately felt guilty. How long had he been standing there? Had he seen me talking to Jack? Could he tell?
One look in Skittery's eyes, and I knew. He saw me standing there, talking to Jack, then staring after him like a lost puppy. Because of this, when he asked me why I was talking to Jack, everything came tumbling out of my mouth. And when I say everything, I mean everything. That included the massive crush I'd had on Jack since the sixth grade. When I was finished, I hesitantly looked up into Skittery's eyes. They were filled with sadness, and I knew I had hurt him. But even so, he assured me that what I needed to do was go after Jack. He also assured me that he would be fine, and all that mattered was that I find happiness, if not with him, then with someone else. I brushed his lips with my own, promising him that I would never forget everything he did for me, and then quickly ran out of the school after Jack.
I found him in the parking lot, right about to get into his car.
"Jack, wait!" I shouted after him, running to catch up with him
He was caught off guard that I followed him, and turned around in shock. "Davey? What are you…"
Jack couldn't finish his sentence because I cut him off by kissing him. As soon as my lips met his, I knew this was the right thing to do. The spark and electricity that flew between our lips ran through both our bodies, and the fireworks? Yeah, those were real.
In actuality, the kiss lasted only a few seconds, but it definitely had a lasting effect. When we broke apart, Jack's eyes were searching my face, looking for any sign of why I did that.
I smiled at him, answering his unspoken question. "I've wanted to do that since I was twelve."
He laughed in disbelief. "How come you never told me?"
I eyed him. "Well, you were dating my sister. That would have made it more awkward than it already was. And then our… falling out… happened…" I trailed off.
"Yeah, about that. That was when I was trying to figure out who I was, and… I've got a confession to make as well…"
I eyed him, interested. "Oh really?"
"I was starting to like you Davey. And it scared the crap out of me, so I did all I could to avoid you…"
I stared at him in amazement. "Are you telling me we could have been together a whole year ago?" I shoved his arm. "You are lucky I like you so much."
His reply? A kiss. I could get used to that.
The next day at school, we walked proudly into school, heads held high, hands entwined, ready for whatever was in store for us. I didn't care about what would happen next; I had the most beautiful boy I ever laid eyes on all to myself.
A/N: Wow, it's been almost three months since I last uploaded anything. Oops. Anywho, this here story earned me a A in my First-Year college writing class. :) We were to write our own creative short story, so I figured I'd use that opportunity to write a new fic. I actually finished writing this about a month ago, but only got the paper back last week, and I had revisions that my professor had given me. But here it is! I hope you enjoyed it!
Oh, and I'm working on the next chapter of Surprise!, I swear. There's only three weeks left of the semester, so I've got final papers and finals to worry about. But I swear, over the summer, I will get some writing done. :)
Anywho, enough babbling from me. It's your turn now... Press the button and Review! (Pretty please with sugar on top?)
-Braids-
