Rip My Heart Out

Chapter Eight

"You're what?" Calum says, he moves towards me a couple of steps.

The silence in the air seems to grip around my throat and choke me, leaving me incapable of even speaking.

Saying those words out loud made them real.

"I'm," I pause and take a deep breath, "gay."

Calum stares at me, the anger on his face fades. I try to determine what he's thinking but he's just blank.

"Why'd you take her on a date then?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.

"My parents. They don't know and they asked me to for her birthday." I bite my lip and taste the metallic taste of blood.

I flinch at the sting my saliva brings to the cut and Calum notices.

"Sorry." He shows a sympathetic smile.

I nod.

"So you really didn't touch her?" He asks.

"Not even on accident." I lie. He doesn't need to know that she tried something with me.

We stand there without talking for a moment, his eyes wandering and me trying to decide if I should speak.

Finally Calum says "Why are you here so early? It's, like, 9:30."

"Family issues." I offer.

He bites his lip, awkwardly. "The gay thing?"

"Yeah." I laugh a little.

He laughs in return, "Sorry for punching you and all. I just have to protect my girl. I know she says we aren't together right now, but she doesn't know what she's talking about."

I just agree with him, I'm not really looking to get into the middle of that relationship.

Calum walks to the counter and sits on a stool, "I'll buy you a coke to make up for it."

I just smile and accept.

A/N yay for friendship! This chapter was short but I think yall are kind of used to that? I dunno. Sorry about that. I feel like the chapters are written better when I don't write a lot.