Gord set off to his English class early again. He hadn't been talking to his friends much in the past couple of days, so there was no reason to stay in Harrington House after he had eaten his breakfast. He hadn't had the ability to think of anything but Vance recently; this whole situation was getting out of control. When he got to his class, he was fifteen minuets early. He expected it to be empty. But when he entered, he was greeted by the sight of Hopkins.
"Good morning," Jimmy said.
"Hello there," Gord replied monotonously.
"So what's wrong this time?" Jimmy questioned.
"Whatever could you mean, Hopkins?" Gord sat down next to him.
"Come on, Gord. I can tell something's up. I'm not as dumb as I look."
Gord took a minute to consider his options. Jimmy had no right to pry into Gord's personal business. On the other hand, this whole thing was killing Gord inside. Jimmy was the only one that knew that Gord was gay, making him really the only person he could talk to.
"Fine," Gord sighed. "Vance Medici told me that he's in love with me."
Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that good?"
"I don't know. It's rather complicated really, James. I don't know if I feel the same way. I can't bring myself to talk to him about it. I don't know what I want."
"Oh. Well… maybe you should explore your options?" Jimmy answered.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you should see how you feel about other people. How can you know that Vance is right for you until you know what it's like to kiss someone else?"
"But then I'd feel… guilty," Gord shuddered at the last word. Guilt wasn't something he had felt often until recently. "I don't really want to hurt Vance."
"What he doesn't know can't hurt him. And if he really loves you, he'll understand."
"But who would... who would I try?"
"There are a few people. And there's always me," Jimmy smirked.
Gord's jaw dropped. "Are you suggesting what I think you are, James?!"
"I sure hope so. What do you say?"
Gord frowned. "I don't know."
"Aw, come on, it probably won't mean anything anyway. I'm here for you Gord. I'm only helping you out," Jimmy explained.
"…Okay, fine. But Vance can never find out about this."
"Not now, class is starting soon. How about we meet up tonight, at the lookout in Old Bullworth Vale?" Jim suggested.
Gord nodded in response. He couldn't help thinking that this really wasn't a good idea. At least the lookout was one of the more private places in Bullworth. It overlooked the carnival and the lighthouse and was quite a nice place to go. There weren't usually many people there either. While considering this, Gord's thoughts stopped short. He's just agreed to a date with Jimmy Hopkins. A date with Hopkins?! Gord, in his own opinion, had hit a new low.
Despite the fact that he was having second thoughts about the date, Gord still made an effort. He wore a light blue Aquaberry polo shirt and beige slacks, so as not to look too overdressed, and put on a brave face. He had a mixture of feelings, swirling around in his stomach: guilt, nervousness and, for some reason, excitement. He sat on a bench and waited for James.
A pair of hands squeezed his shoulders softly from behind, making him jump. "Hey Gord." He could hear the amusement in Hopkins voice.
"James! For God's sake, don't scare me like that!" Gord looked up at Jimmy, who was holding something behind his back.
"Sorry" Jimmy grinned. "You look good." He sat down and Joined Gord on the bench.
"Thank you." There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Look, Gord, I realise that you're probably quite nervous about this. Don't worry. And look, I brought you some flowers!" He produced the flowers from behind his back.
Gord was genuinely rather touched by the gesture. "You're such a sentimentalist! Thank you!" He took the flowers. He was really quite surprised.
"Well, I try," Jimmy smiled
"I'm sorry, but I didn't bring anything for you."
"It's alright. You didn't need to."
"It's weird. I've never seen you like this before. You don't strike me as the romantic type, and… I feel strangely attracted to you," Gord rushed.
Jimmy leaned in to kiss Gord fervently. Their arms wrapped around each other as their lips pressed forcefully together. Jimmy's fingers ran through Gord's hair as they sat and made out. When they pulled away Gord's confusion rushed back into his head. He had enjoyed the kiss a lot more than he had expected andhoped to. It felt so wrong, but so right.
"So, how was it? Do you know how you feel about Vance yet?" Jimmy asked.
Gord shook his head silently.
"Oh. So what're you gonna do?"
"I don't know. I thought this would make it better, help me decide but… it's worse now," Gord answered.
"Why?"
"Because I didn't expect to enjoy kissing you."
"I have to say, Gord, out of all the people I've made out with you're possibly my favourite," Jimmy sighed.
"James. Please stop playing with my emotions," Gord frowned sadly.
"What're you talking about?"
"You're so rude to me, but then you're really nice. You give me advice on what to do, but only so you'll gain something from it. It's not fair. I know I'm probably not even your favourite, you just think I'll be stupid enough to believe you."
"I don't think you're stupid, Gord. And… you are my favourite, kind of. When you punched me, all those months ago when I won the boxing challenge, I liked you more because you stood up to me and that was cool. You may be a bit prissy but underneath all your snobbery, you're a nice guy. I mean, for a Prep, you're very accepting of Vance and that's admirable. I'm sorry if I've made this all more confusing for you, but I really, really like you. Just… give this whole thing some thought. See you around," Jimmy said before getting up and leaving.
Gord let out a groan of anguish. Now he really didn't know what to do.
AN: Eh. I kind of have a plan from here on out. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it. Thanks for reading, as always.
