What Was Left At Camp

Chapter 22. Jealousy

The weeks that followed have been great. William and I got along like we had at camp all those years ago... minus the intimacy. We were just really close friends. He even started stopping by my house to visit my parents and little Christopher. Like most people who meet the little guy, William was hooked. Now, I spent time fighting with both William and my sister for little Christopher's attention. That part, I could have done without but Christopher loved William and despite my little jealousy of their bond, it made me smile inside when I saw them together. William was just so good with him.

In school, I had my reservations about showing how close Maria, Mike, William and I had gotten. Christina was in a lower grade than us so the five of us spent little time together at school. It was mainly just the four of us and people took notice of how quickly William and I went from frenemies to actual friends. William did not seem phased by it so the rest of us tried not to care but I didn't want rumors floating around and jeopardize anything.

It was about a month after the party when people who took notice of William and I being so close started asking questions. Never to us, but to Maria and Mike. Heather and William maintained their fake relationship on social media so that helped a bit but I was still concerned. Call it a blessing or a curse but it took Mateo to change the rumor mill in school.

I don't talk much about my personal life with acquaintances. In fact, even some of the people I consider friends, I won't willingly go out of my way to divulge personal information. Unless asked about something directly, I never felt the need to ramble on. I had Maria, Mike, my sister and now William for that. So, when Mateo and I broke up, I didn't go around telling everyone but apparently Mateo was not handling the breakup as well and I thought.

It was radio silence from him for weeks. He hadn't shown up to any of my games, didn't call and he had been off social media completely. To be honest, I didn't use social media much but he lived on it. I didn't even notice he never updated his relationship status to single, until he did. And then started posting.

The moment Mateo changed his social media status to single, William and I being close was no longer the talk of the school. All anyone could talk about was that Mateo and I broke up and I was now single. If anyone had any doubt about it, Mateo's continuous post about how he screwed up and wanting me back confirmed it. I became the eligible bachelor who was cheated on. Poor me, right? No! Don't get me wrong, I like attention sometimes but I don't like to be pitied and let me just tell you, it is a turn off to use that as a reason to hit on me.

"Christian, I am so sorry to hear about you and Mateo. What he did to you is just." Anthony, a student a year younger than I, approached me and my friends outside of the school building before class. "Well, you didn't deserve that and honestly hun, it's his loss! If I was with someone as gorgeous and talented as you, I would worship you and treat you like the god you are."

See what I mean? Gross. And I'm not referring to his looks. He was rather good looking. Not really my type but good looking. He was a lot shorter than me and lean. He had blond hair and brown eyes with a button nose and full lips. He styled himself well, was a talented art student with good academic grades... on paper he seemed great. Not being my type, I still would have considered going on a date with him. You never know, right? But his delivery. Gross.

"Thanks?" I responded, trying my hardest not to show how repulsed I was.

"He's not interested. Beat it!" Maria stepped in front of him with her back to him blocking him out from our group.

"Christian, call me! My number is listed in the LGBTQ alliance club roster." Anthony shouted from behind Maria's back.

"Get lost!" William seemed annoyed. "This is getting ridiculous!"