"I don't see how this is going to help anything," Dirk stated bluntly.
Cronus looked away from the window to shoot him a glare. "Wvell, vwhat'd'ya wvant me ta do, then? I'm bein' "subtle." You're the one bein' negative an' doubtin' me."
Dirk rolled his eyes with exasperation. "That's because this is a stupid idea. Meenah hates you. If she shows up to run lines with me, and you're hanging around, all she's going to do is ignore you. If anything, you're pushing her away."
Ignoring the obvious flaws with his plan, Cronus shook his head. "No, see— I'vwe been givwin' her some space in preparation for this. Wvhen she sees me, she'll be pleasantly surprised," Dirk scoffed, but Cronus ignored him, and continued, "and she'll wvanna stay. Then, you go off an' take a shit or somethin', I don't really care wvhat you do, and I'll take over your part as Danny and run lines wvith her. It's a gradual process." He turned to look back out the window, waiting for Meenah to show up over the horizon. "Wve'll start with friendship, for nowv, and then you'll help me go for the kill. Y'knovw, metaphorically," He added.
If Dirk wasn't being blackmailed by this asshole, he probably would have slapped Cronus. Rehearsal hadn't even started, and yet, he wanted to start running lines. And when Dirk had texted Meenah to invite her along, she had actually said yes. What kind of teenager wanted to spend a Wednesday afternoon running lines for a play that hadn't even started yet?
Theater kids.
"Are you ready to order?" The prompting of someone's voice caused Dirk to look to the side, and he looked up at their waiter. It was a kid from their school, unsurprisingly, and Dirk thought that he seemed kind of familiar. His name tag said "Rufioh," and Dirk was pretty sure that they didn't have any classes together. He might have seen Rufioh in the halls during passing. "Can I interest you in today's special?" He asked.
Having a server didn't surprise Dirk. After all, that was the kind of "no shit" consequence that went with meeting up at a café. "Not evwen if ya paid me. Go awvay," Cronus snapped impatiently, growing more and more anxious the longer he stared out the window.
Rufioh and Dirk shared a look, and the blond shrugged. "Ignore him. He's got an extra large stick up his ass today." Cronus huffed, but otherwise didn't acknowledge that Dirk had even spoken. "Can I get a black coffee, then? And, uh, a strawberry parfait?" He asked.
"Oh, sure, definitely." Rufioh smiled and nodded. "I'll be back soon with your order, yeah?" He wrote down what Dirk had asked for, and walked off to help the next table.
Dirk's gaze lingered on him for longer than it should have. Rufioh was kind of cute. Maybe. He had a smooth voice and an almost calming way of speaking. It wasn't like Dirk was in love with him or anything, but he wondered if it was okay or not for him to be thinking about guys this way frequently. Blue still talked to Dirk regularly, and after that miserable fuck up with Jake, Dirk was starting to look elsewhere for who Blue could really be. Rufioh was just another guess.
"Hey!" Cronus's unpleasant voice snapped Dirk back to the real world, and he grimaced, turning his head to face Cronus again. "Don't start hittin' on guys here," he hissed. At least Cronus was considerate enough to keep his voice down while discussing the topic he was blackmailing Dirk with. "God, fuck, I knewv that fags vwere like little wvhores, but that bullshit is wvhy you're here in the first place." He paused, and then added, "Also, you'd betta pay for that shit yourself. I wvon't be doin' it."
Unfortunately, Dirk decided to be the bigger man. He would love to really rip into Cronus, but instead, he took the high road and only sighed. He didn't care if Cronus called him "fag," or anything like that. Dirk didn't consider himself gay, so it was almost a moot point, like telling Einstein that you didn't like his paintings.
Suddenly, a weight came falling down into the spot next to Dirk, and he abruptly moved over as another person came to occupy the booth. "Wha's'up?" Meenah asked, grinning. "Ya two ready for this shit?" Dirk was surprised that she had acknowledged Cronus at all, but she actually seemed happy to see him there.
Cronus looked stunned and opened his mouth to try and say something, only to be interrupted. "Alright, here we go." Rufioh placed Dirk's coffee in front of him and set the parfait down between him and Meenah, which is what Dirk had been hoping for. "You guys enjoy." He winked and then walked off again.
Immediately, Meenah grabbed the parfait, pulling it over to herself. "I love these things." She stated, impressed. Mentally, Dirk thanked Jane for having such reliable information, and for always finding it crucial to know her friend's favorite treats. "Did you get it, Dirk?" She questioned.
Dirk shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. "No. Credit goes to Cronus, 100%. He ordered it and is willing to pay for it, too. Right, Cronus?"
For a moment, Cronus squinted at Dirk and looked between him and the parfait carefully. It looked like he was trying to decide whether or not taking credit could possibly backfire and explode in his face. After some quick deliberation, he finally nodded. "Uh, yeah, definitely my idea," he agreed.
"What a nice guy," Dirk said, his voice deader than dust. He hung his head back and poured his entire cup of coffee down his throat before setting the emptied cup on the table. "Wow, that sure goes right through you. I think I need to go to the bathroom." Meenah looked confused, but when Dirk waved her away, she still got up and let him slide out of the booth. "It feels like it might take a while. You two should start on lines while I'm busy." He didn't give Meenah the chance to say anything before he turned and walked away. Not the most subtle move, but Dirk was pretty much done caring. If he needed to hold Cronus's hand just to keep him from saying something stupid and fucking up his relationship with Meenah, then maybe Cronus wasn't ready to be dating at all. He heard the two of them start up a conversation as he walked away, and that was good enough for him.
He turned the corner, and leaned against the wall, out of sight of the table. The girl's restroom was on the other side of the restaurant, so hopefully, Meenah wouldn't accidentally stumble into him. It didn't matter if Cronus did, because Dirk had to deal with him again at some point, anyway.
He highly doubted that this stupid "wingman" thing was going to be the end of it. Cronus had Dirk by the ear, and he knew it. But there was only so far he could go before Dirk decided "fuck it," and stopped caring about blackmail.
But, at least for the time being, those things were far in the future. For now, Dirk pulled his phone out, checking his messages. He didn't have any new ones from Blue, so he quickly sent a few.
KAMINA: You're not normally so quiet.
KAMINA: Are you out on another nature walk, or did you finally take my advice and pick up a job?
KAMINA: Having the thighs of a god is nice and all, but it won't really get you into college.
Dirk knew that he was probably being annoying, and insufferable, and clingy, but he couldn't help but be nervous. He really wanted Blue to like him. And, sure, they were friends, but what if he wanted to be something more? Honestly, Dirk still wasn't even sure if he wanted that. He tried not to think about it most of the time. He was trying hard not to acknowledge the huge, flamboyantly homosexual elephant in the room. If he acknowledged it, then that would be that, and he wouldn't be able to keep lying to himself.
And it just so happened that Dirk was very good at lying to himself.
"Oh, hey." Dirk jumped and abruptly shoved his phone into his pocket as he heard himself being addressed. "Dirk, right?" It was Rufioh again, which was much better than Cronus, so Dirk almost felt happy to see him.
"Yeah." He sighed, taking a discreet breath. "And, I'm just guessing, but you're Rufioh?" He pointed to the nametag on his chest, drawing a laugh from the other male.
He held his empty tray against his hip, his notepad and pen for orders placed on top. "Guilty as charged." He winked at Dirk, which made the blond feel very anxious all of a sudden. "So, what're you doing over here? Did Cronus steal your girl? Didn't think that he could get anything for himself, other than a swift kick in the ass."
Dirk snorted. "Truer words have never been spoken. No, I'm supposed to be playing "wingman" for him, so I thought that I would give him and Meenah some time alone." He let out a sigh. "Not that I think it's going to work. It would take a miracle to get that guy a girlfriend."
Rufioh grinned and nodded. "He doesn't exactly strike me as being good with the ladies. I just walked by their table, and he somehow managed to get a cigarette into her ice cream. I can't even begin to guess how that happened." He joked. "I'm just surprised that he doesn't have a restraining order yet."
While the thought was intriguing, Dirk just shrugged it off. "I don't think that Meenah… actually can? Their parents are best friends or some shit like that, so she has to tolerate Cronus or get all of her funds pulled. And as much as Meenah tries to be an independent badass, no one wants to lose a three-story house." Dirk frowned. "Don't you have a job to do? I don't know why, but the nametag and uniform strike me as something that implies you should be working." He said.
"Haha, you don't say." Rufioh rolled his eyes. "No, we don't get a lot of business here, surprisingly enough. There's only a handful of other servers, and we all work different hours." He sighed, looking around the mostly-empty restaurant. "Unless someone empties their glass, or a new customer walks in, I don't need to do anything. And I get paid less than minimum wage to do it." He laughed a little. "What about you? How do you keep money coming in, doll?"
Dirk didn't know how to explain it, but something about Rufioh was disarming. He had an unusual sort of charm about him that was hard for Dirk to put his finger on. Not to mention, his smile could probably melt gold and he had the perfect complexion of an Aztec god.
Not that Dirk was gay, or anything. He was just making friends.
Half of the time they talked, though, Dirk found himself doubting if Rufioh was really as straight as the status quo implied. According to Roxy (who knew everything that happened in the social lives of the people at school), Rufioh had recently broken up with his girlfriend. Dirk didn't know her, but according to his source, the ex-girlfriend was, "like, tots crazed for him," and Rufioh had done the reasonable thing and broken up with her. So, it wasn't like Rufioh was gay, but now that Dirk was thinking about it, hadn't Blue mentioned that he only found out he was gay after dating a few girls? And if Rufioh's breakup was as recent as the post Blue had made about being gay, then maybe…
"Dirk? Dirk!" Rufioh snapped his fingers in front of Dirk's face, looking confused and worried as the blond finally snapped back to reality. "Woah, are you alright? You looked pretty out of it for a minute there."
A frown on his face, Dirk just nodded. He hadn't meant to start zoning out, but he was never very good at multitasking. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that. I was just thinking about something."
Rufioh still looked somewhat concerned, but his attention was pulled away when the bell over the café's door chimed. "I've got to go get that." He sighed, getting his notepad ready. "I'll see ya later, Dirk. And try not to let Cronus get all of the hot girls, huh?" He winked, and walked off, a smile on his face as he greeted the next customers.
Dirk sighed, watching him leave. Well, Rufioh wasn't exactly British, but the way Blue talked could just be an online trait to help obscure his identity. He wished that he could know for sure if Rufioh was gay or not, though. It would be almost impossible to be sure unless he asked, and Dirk wasn't stupid enough to follow that path. At the best, Rufioh answered him, but at the worst and most likely end of possibilities, it would raise some uncomfortable questions about why Dirk was asking in the first place.
He took his phone out, checking his texts. Nothing. Biting back his disappointment, Dirk pushed off of the wall and walked back over to the booth where he had left Meenah and Cronus. He suspected that things had somehow gone well, based on how Meenah was feeding him a spoonful of her ice cream. He had only been gone, what, fifteen minutes? Maybe Cronus had more talent with this than Dirk had thought. That, or he was incredibly lucky.
"Finally, you're back!" Meenah moved over for him to sit down, and pulled Dirk down next to her. "I was lettin' Ampora try some of this ice cream. It's fuckin' good — 'm gonna have to come here more often." She didn't let Dirk get a word in, eagerly shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
Dirk was going to have to rethink his previous assessment — it was also possible that Meenah was just easy.
Dirk was ready to leave, but he kept his pessimism to himself while Cronus and Meenah continued to chat. He noticed that very little practicing was happening, with their scripts forgotten in front of them. He kept himself entertained by playing stupid games on his phone, bouncing between a basic coding app and Tetris. He was only there to be a wingman, and as far as Dirk cared to notice, Cronus was managing just fine on his own. At the very least, Meenah hadn't yet slapped him or tried to leave.
He wished that he could say that the time flew by, but it didn't. As hard as Dirk tried to block out Cronus and Meenah's conversation, it only seemed to make the time pass more and more slowly. He was bored out of his mind by the time Cronus finally said that he had to go. Dirk had no idea what he had planned, but he was too happy that he was finally getting to leave to really care what the reasoning was.
Neither of them spoke to Dirk while they said their goodbyes, which was more than welcome. He was starting to worry that their flirting was making him lose brain cells.
Luckily, all Meenah did was kiss Cronus on the cheek, before waving him out of the restaurant. He was so starstruck that he didn't even bother insulting Dirk before leaving. He got into his car with that same dopey grin on his face, and then he was gone.
Dirk grabbed his jacket, double-checking that he still had his phone. He was ready to leave as well but paused when Rufioh walked up to him and Meenah. "Hey, uh… you guys were planning on paying, right?" He asked.
Paying? Dirk blinked. Wait, that was probably something that he should do. He felt his pockets for his wallet and then grimaced. Fuck, he must have left it at home again. He gave Rufioh an awkward smile. "Haha, well, the thing about that is—"
Meenah sighed and elbowed Dirk in the side. It was probably supposed to be playful, but she was just as bony as Roxy and managed to catch Dirk right in between the ribs. He bit back a groan of pain, and Meenah fished a ten dollar bill out of her pocket. "Here, keep the change." She flashed a wide grin at Rufioh, and he took the money.
"Thanks. That's quite the tip." He smiled. "Hey, are you two going to the game this weekend? I heard that Cronus was going and since you two are dating, I thought—"
"Us? Dating?" Meenah interrupted, looking disgusted. "Ugh, I'd rather get a root canal with a rake." She grimaced. "He's a cool friend, but I'd ne'er date 'em. Has he been tellin' people that we're goin' out again? I swear, I'll take the thickest cactus I can find in this God-forsaken state, and shove it right up his—!"
Rufioh laughed awkwardly, cutting her off. "No, no, calm down, doll. He didn't say anything. I was just, uh, wonderin' if you would be there." He blushed faintly, a detail that didn't escape Dirk's notice.
"Oh," Meenah relaxed, "well, I guess I will be. Might as well, right? Anyway, it's been fun chattin', but I've got some homework due tomorra' that I might as well attempt." She took Dirk by the hand, tugging him towards the door. He went without protest — apparently, he was just doomed to be pulled everywhere by the women in his life. "See ya!" She waved at Rufioh, and Dirk tried to do the same before the door shut behind them.
"Hey, uh, can I get a ride home?" Dirk asked once they were outside. "I came here with Cronus, and he very blatantly ditched me."
Meenah nodded, and Dirk couldn't help but notice that she was still holding his hand. "Yeah, 'course. Just gimme directions and we'll be there in no time." She finally let go of Dirk to open the driver's side of her car, getting in. She gestured for Dirk to do the same, and he got in on the passenger side. Meenah's car looked more like randomly picked pieces from a junkyard. Dirk was surprised that it even turned on, but the engine turned over smoothly as Meenah started the ignition.
His seatbelt was little more than two straps he had to tie together, but Dirk went through the trouble of putting it on, anyway. Meenah drove a lot like Roxy, but she must have had her eyes closed because no one watching the road would have made as many close calls as she did.
She was right about being fast, though. Dirk barely had five minutes to be terrified before Meenah was stopping in his driveway. Normally, it was a fifteen-minute drive from the restaurant to his house. He didn't want to think about how many laws Meenah must have broken to get him there so quickly.
He undid the makeshift seatbelt and started to get out, only for Meenah to put her hand over his and stop him. "Hey, Dirk, I uh— y'know, I just wanted ta talk ta ya for a sec."
Dirk looked confused, but he nodded and sat back down. "Yeah, sure. Just don't take too long. After how late I stayed at your party the other day, I don't want to push curfew with my dad any more than I have to."
Meenah nodded. She didn't look nervous, per say, but she seemed unsure of herself. It was odd. Dirk had never seen Meenah look less than completely confident. "A'right, so—" she brushed her hair out of her face and turned to look at Dirk with full seriousness. "Are we gonna fuck or what?" She asked bluntly.
What?
"What?" Dirk blurted out before he could come up with anything else. His voice must have gone up about two octaves, but he didn't care. "No! No, no, we're— we're not going to— why would I—" He was cut off as Meenah abruptly slammed a hand against the window next to his head. He let out a very manly squeak and Dirk found himself shrinking down in his seat.
"Don't be such a baby." Meenah rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I've done this plenty of times, enough ta know that we've got plenty of room in th' backseat ta make the most out of five minutes."
If that was supposed to calm Dirk down, it didn't do a very good job. "Five minutes?" He sputtered, face exploding in red. "I—"
Again, she cut him off. "A virgin?" Meenah guessed. She was right, obviously, but Dirk's lack of experience was not the problem he was having. "'t's fine, don't worry. You're not th' first guy I've had ta teach, an' ya probably won't be the last." She raised herself up over the divider in between their seats to lean in closer to Dirk, and she brought a finger up to shush him, tapping his lips even as whatever protest he had been about to make died in his throat.
The hand she had on the window came to cup Dirk's cheek instead. "Shh…" Her lips traced along the shell of his ear, and she let the finger on his lips drop down. Even though everything up until that point had left Dirk speechless, he suddenly jerked back to the real world. Everything else, he could have tolerated, but the feeling of her hand where it definitely was not supposed to be, was what made him finally slap her.
Meenah looked stunned. Instantly, she pulled away, reaching one hand up to touch her stinging cheek gingerly. "Dirk," she breathed, "you… you just—"
"I'm gay!" Dirk shouted. It was much louder than he intended it to be, but he didn't stop. "You seem great, so I'm sure that some other dude wants to get down and dirty in your backseat, but I'm going to pass!" His voice was much higher pitched than he would have preferred and he was talking so fast that he wasn't sure if Meenah even understood what he was saying. "I mean, sex sounds super promising, but I cannot stress how much I would rather do literally anything else right now. Nothing personal, but I would rather let a blind woman perform brain surgery on me, or move to North Korea, or wear wet socks, or—"
Once more, Meenah cut him off by placing a finger over his lips. This time, there was a fond smile on his face, and her touch didn't linger. "A'right, I get the point. You sure know how ta charm a girl, Strider." She moved back, settling down in her seat. "Y'know, I'm so glad that you're gay." She sighed, relieved. "Honestly, I was startin' ta think that I was losin' my touch, but you're just gay. Thank fuckin' God." Meenah reached into her pocket, pulling out a pack of gum. She shoved three sticks into her mouth, balling the wrappers up and cracking the window to flick them out while she worked on chewing.
Dirk wasn't very concerned with the fact that she was littering on his driveway. "That's— wait, you're not mad? Or upset? Because I don't return your feelings?" He asked.
Meenah almost choked on her gum. She laughed, shaking her head. "H-Holy fuck, no! No, Dirk, I—" She took a deep breath, calming her laughter to giggles. "You're fuckin' adorable. Feelings ain't got shit to do with my offer, Dirk. Fuckin' just to fuck doesn't have to be because I've secretly been in love with ya since middle school — it's just supposed to feel good, yah? Simple pleasure."
That made sense. At the very least, it was more believable than the idea that Meenah had fallen in love with him in the short time they had known each other, and it was much more of a relief, too. "So… you're not upset?" Dirk just wanted to be sure. Meenah seemed to be okay with the fact that he was gay, but now he was worried. Would she tell people? He didn't want Roxy to find out ever if he could help it. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"
Thankfully, Meenah nodded and gave a roll of her eyes. "'Course I won't. I don't kiss an' tell, Strider. Oh, uh, sorry for almost kissin' ya. Speakin' o' which—" She pointed to Dirk's house, and he turned his head in time to see the curtains flutter around Hal's face as he dropped them back into place, "—I think we might've had an audience."
She sounded amused, but Dirk could only sigh. "It's just my little brother. I should probably get in there and do damage control, or else everyone he knows is going to know about this by tomorrow." Dirk explained.
He went to get out of the car, but again, Meenah stopped him. "Okay, um, last thing—" She definitely looked nervous now, and Dirk turned to face her with confusion. "You'll let me drag ya off to the game this weekend, right?" That was what Meenah asked, but Dirk could tell from the look in her eyes what she was really asking. 'Are we still friends?'
Dirk smiled. "Yeah, you're going to need someone to keep Cronus busy long enough for you to breathe by yourself." He joked. "What are friends for?"
He hadn't noticed how tense Meenah was until she relaxed, and she grinned back. "You're a great guy, Dirk." She took him by the shoulder, pulling him close enough to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Now, if I was you, I'd get in there. Your brother'll only wait for so long before he comes out here to pester ya instead." She reached over Dirk to open the door, gesturing him out.
Swinging his legs out the side, Dirk stood up, waving to her. "See you at school tomorrow," He said.
"And, first rehearsal on Friday," Meenah reminded him. She laughed when Dirk groaned at the prompting. "See ya then!" He shut the door, and Meenah was peeling away out of the driveway before he knew it.
He stared after her until her car was just a blip on the horizon, and then sighed, turning to head inside. Dirk really wasn't in the mood to put up with Hal. He had done a good job of staying out of Dirk's way the past week, probably having gotten his fill from their bet and not wanting to aggravate Dirk anymore than he already had, but Hal wasn't one to lay low for long.
Sure enough, as soon as Dirk opened the front door, his brother was there. Hal wasn't even pretending that he wasn't watching them — he had a shit-eating grin on his face, and a glint in his eyes that could only be described as malicious.
Dirk raised an eyebrow. "What?" He asked, voice deadpan. He pushed Hal out of the way, just hard enough that his brother had to stumble to the side and catch himself. With his foot, he kicked the front door shut behind him, and trudged into the kitchen to find something to snack on. But, of course, it was never that easy.
"You can't tell me that nothing was happening out there!" Hal protested, trailing after Dirk. "So you wouldn't ask out Roxy, but the next week, you're making out with a different girl? Since when do you have game? You're not even likable!"
Clenching his jaw with frustration, Dirk sighed. "Hal, just fuck off," He said, visibly irritated. "Nothing even happened. She's just a friend, and we both agreed that whatever might have happened—" Hal's face lit up, "—or might not have happened," Dirk hurried to add, and his brother's face fell, "doesn't change our friendship. Alright? I know you're eager for another shot at blackmailing me, but nothing happened, so there's nothing to tell." He shrugged dismissively.
He almost thought that that would be the end of the issue, but Hal was nothing if not persistent. Dirk probably should have expected him to be difficult.
"...you say that like something needs to be true for me to tell people," Hal replied. The smug tone in his voice was so thick that Dirk had to hold back the urge to backhand him. "Good thing I take my phone everywhere," His voice had a sing-song quality to it, and he pulled out his phone. In a few taps of the screen, he had pulled up a photo, holding it up for Dirk to see.
And, from the angle of the photo, Dirk could see why Hal might have thought that Meenah was kissing him. It looked almost like she was on top of him, and their faces were far closer than Dirk was comfortable with. He scoffed. "What, you think that some blurry photo of me not-kissing a girl you don't even know means something?" He asked with faux disinterest.
It was easy to play it off, but in truth, Dirk was nervous. Getting blackmailed by Cronus was bad enough, but he wasn't going to let Hal to it to him, too. At least when it came to Blue, he was anonymous. If you knew Meenah, it was easy to see who she was in the photo, and Dirk didn't want to make a habit out of dragging his friends into his stupid drama.
Hal turned a faint shade of red, and if Dirk had been a more simple-minded person, he might have thought that that was the end of the issue. "Maybe she's not familiar to me," Hal shot back, "but I'm sure that Roxy knows her."
Dirk visibly stiffened. He knew that Hal had Roxy's number. She was too nice and too trusting. It was going to get her hurt one day, but for the moment, Dirk's most pressing concern was the fact that his little brother was clutching a one-way ticket to destroying his friend circle, and was only a few simple taps from getting it to his best friend. He struggled for a moment and then groaned. "Alright, what do you want, you shithead?" He asked bitterly.
As much as it wounded his pride to give in to Hal, it made his brother smile, and he lowered his phone. "I want to know who she is," He stated, effectively catching Dirk off guard. "You've been acting off lately. I don't even pay attention to you, and even I've noticed. Is she why?" He wiggled his eyebrows in a way that made Dirk internally cringe. "Have you been "aggressively cuddling"? Locking legs and swapping gravy? Opening the gates of Mordor? Bisecting the triangle? Putting the snake in the chamber of secrets?" Hal's grin widened. "Fucking?"
"What—? You know what, I don't even want to know where you picked those up." Dirk pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "None of the above, Hal. She's not my girlfriend, or side chick, or fuck buddy, or anything like that. She's just a friend, and you happened to see us in a weird position, alright? End of story. Drop it." His voice had a warning edge to it, and he really hoped that Hal took the hint. Dirk wanted to be done with this.
Hal didn't seem satisfied. "Well, why isn't she?" He pressed. "I mean, she's hot, isn't she? And you're available. And she doesn't seem to exactly mind being close to you or anything. I think that the problem here is that you need to lower your expectations."
"That's not the problem here!" Dirk threw his hands up in frustration. "Hal, could you just stop?" He sounded close to begging.
"If that's not the problem, then what is?" Hal sounded determined this time. "I mean, come on, Dirk, you can't avoid girls for the rest of your life. At some point, you have to at least consider—"
"Maybe I have considered it!" Dirk snapped finally. He knew that he wasn't supposed to shout at Hal, but he didn't care. "Maybe I have thought about dating girls, have you ever stopped to ponder that option, Hal? Sometimes, things don't work out so simply! Maybe I don't like dating! Maybe I don't fucking like girls! And maybe it's time that you learned to mind your own motherfucking business, and stay out of my life!" He was borderline screaming by the time he finished. It felt good. He hadn't realized how much he was bottling up.
For once, Hal looked regretful. Apologetic, even. "Dirk, I—" He tried, but at that point, Dirk didn't want to hear it.
He shoved past Hal and took the stairs three at a time to his room. He slammed the door behind him and threw himself down onto his bed. He groaned in frustration, burying his face into his pillow and screaming. Impatiently, he yanked his shades off, tossing them across the room. The frames were digging into his face. He wiped away an angry tear and clenched his jaw against another scream.
D was going to want to talk to him about his behavior, but not until morning. For now, Dirk tried to calm down long enough to get some much-needed sleep. He usually stayed up for hours, tossing and turning, but he wasn't sure if he should have been relieved or worried when sleep that night came as easily as breathing.
