Behind The Mask

Chapter 17

The socks that Cameron gave me doesn't do anything against the wet and the cold. In fact, it almost makes my feet feel colder than what it really is.

The woods around the property isn't that big, but I guess it's big enough to get lost in, in this horrible weather. At least it isn't snowing at the moment, which means I would probably be able to track my footsteps back to the house. On the other side, with how cold it is, I might just die before I even get the chance to head back.

"Why the fuck am I this stupid!?" I shout out into the world.

When my face was still good, when I had a whole and handsome face, I couldn't get one single girl to even kiss me, and now here I was, looking like a bloody horror movie villain, and I am kissing guys all over the place. How does that even work? Should I have been hanging out with gay guys my entire life rather? I always thought they were all about looks, and look at me now. Now that my looks are gone guys seem to be interested. What changed so much?

I shiver in the snow, knowing I should head back, but too afraid of what I will find. E.J. could have had enough, packed his bags and just left. Or he could be in a fight with Cameron at this moment, for some reason fighting over me. I'm not stupid. I have been seeing the way that E.J. behaves. He must be in love with me, no matter what he says. And the problem... I can't say that I'm not in love with him. That's the whole problem. That's where the confusion comes in.

I start heading back through the snow, following my footsteps of earlier, wondering how long I have been out here in the cold. The wetness creeps up my skin, making me shiver even more, not that I think that's even possible.

It feels like forever before I actually see the house through the trees, the lights from the windows welcoming me home, promising warmth and shelter against the cold.

The mug I kicked over is still shattered on the ground. Nobody seemed to have deemed it important to clean up. I walk past it, careful not to step on it with my numb feet that feels like it almost doesn't want to carry my weight any further.

I don't try to be quiet this time when I walk up the stairs, just ignoring the groaning of each step as I make my way up the stairs and down the hallway to the room, where I stop just outside of the door, taking a deep breath and hoping that I won't find an empty room. I'd rather have a fight with E.J. and talk things out than him just running off into nowhere and never seeing him again.

My jaw drops when I open the door softly.

"...and there he was, right there in Hot Topic singing at the top of his lungs," E.J. says with a smile as Cameron, who has taken up my side of the bed laughs to the point where it looks like he is going to split his seams.

"The fuck?" I say, making them both look up at me, their smiles fading as I walk into the room and close the door behind me.

"Oh, hey there handsome. We were just wondering when you'd be making your way back," Cameron says, jumping out of the warm bed. "I'll quickly go and run you a warm bath while the two of you have a chat."

I glare at him, not saying a word, not sure what to say in actual fact. This is one of those moments where you wonder if you got sucked into an alternate reality. I can't deny that there's even a little part of me that's wondering if I died or fell unconscious in the snow outside and that this is all a dream.

"What the hell is going on here?" I ask E.J. when I'm sure that the water is running in the other room and that Cameron can't hear us. "Is this a joke or something?"

"We're just getting to know each other," E.J. answers, pushing his Charmander hoodie back so that I can see his face properly. "Since you ran off without coming to talk to me, Cameron did. I needed someone and you weren't here, but luckily Cameron was."