He Says He's Just A Friend

Chapter 67 - Friends Will Be Friends

- Clay -

I turned off the engine of the car. I paused, closing my eyes, to take a deep breath. I'd put this part off for as long as I could. The game was tomorrow night. It was now or never.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Emmett asked. "Once you're out, you're out. Like you said, there's no going back."

I looked over at him and smiled. "I know."

"Maybe I can go to Alfie. Convince him not to go through with it."

"No." I shook my head. "You aren't doing that. I'm not giving him the satisfaction of either of us begging him. He'll always be able to hold this over us." I reached over to cup Emmett's cheek in my hand. "Besides, I've been hiding for months. I'm tired of it."

Emmett gripped my hand, pulling it over to his lips, pressing them into my palm. "Well, I'm right here."

I looked out through the front windshield at Brandon's house. Jackson's car sat in the circle driveway in front of Tyler's filthy truck. Jackson texted to tell me they were all here, so I assumed Mark had caught a ride with one of them since he didn't have a car of his own.

If I was going to out myself to the entire school, I felt like I needed to tell them first. They were my friends. They deserved to know without being blindsided. I was also curious to see their first reaction.

"Do you want me to wait out here?" Emmett asked as I opened my door to get out.

"No." I reached over to hold his hand, gripping his fingers tight. "I'm gonna need all the support I can get. I'm kinda terrified that they'll react badly."

As we walked up the wide steps to the front door, Emmett rubbed my back. "Well, at least you know you've got Jackson on your side already."

Lucia, Brandon's housekeeper, answered the door. Having known me for years, she didn't bother greeting me. She just said, "Brandon is in the den."

I thanked the woman and gestured for Emmett to follow.

The hallways seemed much longer than they ever had, the vaulted ceiling higher. Everything seemed too large.

The painted dead eyes of the portraits followed my every step, judging me for daring to love another boy, and bringing that boy into this temple of conservatism and "traditional family values." They supported every gun-toting loon who entered the political arena. They might as well have NRA, white Jesus, and Pro-Life stamped on their family crest.

I startled when Emmett rubbed his hand along my back between my shoulder blades. "You can do this." he whispered.

I wiped away the nervous sweat from my upper lip and forced a smile.

I entered the den to find my friends gathered around the pool table. Brandon made a shot that sank two balls into the pocket. "Ha! Suck my cock, bitches."

The other three groaned and grumbled with irritation. It wasn't his foul mouth that bothered them. Brandon always talked like that. It was the rubbing his victories in everyone's faces.

"Who's winning?" I asked.

They all looked over, surprised. They also threw curious glances at Emmett beside me. Emmett hadn't been in the same place with all of them at one time since the ATV track. That was almost three months ago now.

"Me, obviously." Brandon said, laying his pool cue on the table. "So Jackson says you have something to tell us."

"He's been super encryptic about it." Tyler added.