[Featured in FreetheLGBT: Diverse Literature reading list and Humor: Young. Dumb. Full of Fun list]
Colin Mitchell, a photographer at a well-known store, Snapshot, is openly gay--mostly. His ideal experiences are sexcapades that are always subtle, n...
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The first few days of the school year were hectic for Peter, as always. The only difference was that he was a senior this time around. That fact didn't really comfort him much, it just reminded him that he had to work hard and finish even harder. In addition to the normal stress of keeping up with overflowing assignments and trying to maintain his sanity, Peter had to deal with his fairly new rise to fame. Not that he still considered himself famous.
The Asian was starting to grow accustomed to the eyes that followed him on campus. Most of them just stared from a distance, murmuring to each other about where they'd seen his face before. The ones who dared, however, approached him with questions about the viral video from Chase's party, which felt like a lifetime ago, or whether it really was him up on the websites of various magazines.
Peter would simply nod and hope they'd walk away. Sometimes they didn't, probing him with questions upon questions upon more goddamn questions. If he was lucky and Dakota happened to be at the scene, she'd handle turning them away with a sweet smile, a complimentary bat of eyelashes and a well meant 'please learn to mind your own business' all with a threatening glare.
That further fanned the flames of the supposed romance he had with Dakota. Peter and Dakota had a conversation regarding that issue, where he told Dakota he liked their friendship too much to risk it by pursuing something romantic with her. She took it well, so well that Peter was tempted to bring up his entanglement with Colin. But he couldn't.
Every single time he thought of mentioning it to Dakota, he chickened out. It felt strange that he was with a guy, it would feel stranger if he confirmed that fact to anyone else. It was quite a struggle coming to terms with himself that he had feelings for the brunet. He didn't know why he thought it would be any less difficult to tell Dakota.
Nonetheless, Peter felt he owed her that truth. They had agreed to get lunch tomorrow, he'd try again then.
As Peter walked out of his English class, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat, his phone vibrated.
"Hello?" Peter put the iPhone to his ear, descending the stairs and making his way out of the hall. From a distance away, a dark-skinned girl in braids waved at him, making him stop. He knew her from Chase's infamous party, one of Dakota's friends, and he waved back with a small smile. The smile was wiped off his face with one word that burst through the device in his hand.
"Peter..."
He recognised the low, gravelly voice immediately. Even though he had been preparing himself for this for quite a while now, the sound of his father's voice took Peter off guard, tossing him into a state of panic. His heartbeat sped up, his palms started to sweat and he could feel his breathing labour.
Peter closed his eyes, willing his body to obey him, willing his clogged throat to open up so he could say the words that had been replaying in his mind ever since that call from Ivy. "I haven't dropped out of school for your information,"he started, voice wavering. "That's what you wanted to know, and you know that now. Bye--"
