Boyfriend (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

The sand was soft under Joel’s feet; it stretched out in front him curving around the steep cliff above him. Joel caressed the sand with his fingertips, letting it sift over his palms. What was he even doing here, telling Matt had been a stupid idea, why should he like Joel back? Though it was only minutes ago, it felt like a year…

“You’re coming to mine tonight right?” Said Matt, leaning back precariously in his chair.

“Matt, if you’re going to disrupt my lesson please do it after I’ve finished speaking.” Sighed Mr Moore-Neal.

Joel nodded and Matt flashed him a wide, toothy grin. Joel held his breath as his heart skipped a beat; scowling to himself he heard a faint ‘click’. Great. Another pencil broken this week and it’s only Tuesday, that has to be a record. He kept telling himself it would get easier, but he had the bad feeling that having inappropriate thoughts about your best friend in Physics never gets easier.

After class Matt caught Joel as he tried to hurry down the corridor. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost, and I know this school is too new to be haunted”

“Umm…” Replied Joel, scrabbling around in his brain to find an excuse to get out of that situation. “I’m not feeling too great?” He now felt like slamming his head into a wall, not feeling too great? Might as well say ‘I’m a ginormous idiot, come and beat me up’, oh god what have I done now!

“Okay,” said Matt dragging out the A. “I’ll dump you at the medical room on the way to lunch then. I need to talk to you about something.”

By something he meant girls, Joel always nodded and smiled, trying not to show how much he didn’t care about what Casey had been wearing. Whenever Matt asked why he was still single, he’d always replied ‘Still looking bro’ or changed the subject to the most recent football training.

“I’m not feeling the Casey thing anymore, I’m gonna have to break up with her” Sighed Matt. Joel’s heart leapt.

“That’s too bad man,” did he sound too happy? Maybe a pat on the back to cheer him up… Or not, the last time he had done that he couldn’t let go and ended up faking a super glue incident.

“Yeah well, this is your stop. I’ll see you later, 4 right?”

“Yeah.”

And with that, he was gone.

After Joel was sent home, the day dragged. Both his parents were out of town and wouldn’t be back until Friday so the big house felt emptier than usual. Spurred on by the thought of Matt joining him later, he managed to pass the time by watching crappy TV and playing half-heartedly on his X-box. Before he knew it, it was 4. The doorbell rang and he leapt up to answer it, slowing to as casual walk as he could muster. He yanked the door open and there stood Matt, his square set jaw and woolly dark eye brows prominent in the afternoon light.

“Guten Tag!” Beamed Matt.

“You look German enough already without the weird accent,” facepalmed Joel. “Come on in.”