Cupcake Kisses

Chapter 11: I Am a Gryffindor

Author's note: Dedicated to antililac for being incredibly sweet and making me a lovely cover. Also, thank you to Newt_ellaLove for the banner and cover. All three can be found on the right!

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Chapter 11: I Am a Gryffindor

There was silence.

A long, painfully awkward silence.

"You're gay," Chase said. I couldn't tell if it was a statement or a question, it sounded like a bit of both.

"You're gay!" Georgia exclaimed, in a far happier tone than the one Chase had used. Knowing her, she was already planning on playing matchmaker for Austin.

"You're gay," Alice said, raising an eyebrow. She sounded neither happy nor sad, just surprised.

"I'm gay," Austin nodded, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"You're gay," Chase said, again. He sounded dazed, like he had just woken up from a rather strange dream and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Austin nodded, again.

"Wait," Chase said, his gaze turned from Austin to me. "Did you know?"

"Yeah..." I said, biting my lip and looking down at the sandy ground.

"I told Ella I was gay and asked her to pretend to be my girlfriend for awhile," Austin explained. "Until I was ready to tell everyone."

"Did anybody else know?" Chase asked, staring at his brother with an expression that was a mix of both confused and hurt.

"I did."

All eyes turned to Luke.

"You knew?" Austin and I said at the same time.

Luke nodded.

"How?" I asked, completely shocked by this news. Austin had told me that nobody else knew, how could Luke have possibly found out?

"I mean, I always sort of suspected it," Luke began, with a shrug. "I got a little unsure when he started 'dating' you, but I guess it all makes sense now."

"But you never said anything?" Austin said, quietly.

"I didn't want to make things any harder for you. I could tell you were still struggling to tell your family and I didn't..." Luke trailed off, his voice filled with emotion I didn't even know he had. "I wanted to let you know that I was there for you, that I loved you no matter what, but I just didn't quite know how."

I stared at him, my mouth almost falling open in surprise.

Was this really Luke? Was this really the same egotistical, arrogant and infuriating boy that I spent every Home Ec. arguing lesson with? Surely it couldn't be. Surely that Luke, the Luke I had quickly grown to dislike, did not have this much emotion in him.

"I can't believe this," Chase interrupted, ruining the rather emotional scene between the two friends. "You knew," he gestured to me and then to Luke, "and you knew. But I didn't?"

"I guess not," Austin said, smiling weakly at his twin.

"Oh my God!" Chase wailed, causing us to all jump back in surprise.

"Are you okay?" Georgia asked, looking at him in alarm.

"No," Chase cried. "I'm the worst brother in the world!"

Austin immediately threw me a panicked look, to which I replied with a confused shrug. I had never had to deal with a hysterical twin brother before. Even my own weird brother, Sam, had never acted like this. However, to be fair, I had never tried to hide my sexuality from him by pretending to date someone, so who could really blame Chase for being so hysterical.