If Red Means No, Invert The Color

Chapter 8

Kieran turned off his phone and shoved it in his pocket, crawling besides Everest to the best of his ability and sat down in the soft grass beside him. "So uhm, you asked me to come?" Kieran asked, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah uhm, I wanted to talk to you about last month, at the park, and at my house..."

Kieran felt his throat tighten. "Yeah uh.. What about it?"

"Kieran, shut up. You know what I'm talking about."

Kieran sighed audibly. He did not want to talk about this, but he also knew he could no longer avoid it. "Okay. We kissed. Some other stuff happened, and you're embarrassed. Why do you want to talk about it? Why now? It's been over a month. You dropped me off and ignored me for weeks after planting one on me. So, why now?"

"Because," Everest spoke after a few moments of bone crushing silence, "I didn't know how. I've never done that before. This is all new to me and I needed some time to think."

"I'm not just some bunny you can experiment on. Why did you even start talking to me in the first place? We haven't spoken ever since the first grade then as soon as I get back from the hospital you're suddenly all buddy buddy with me. Then you kiss me, then you leave. Then you use me. Then, at dinner, your family treats me like shit. Your mother somehow knew me? Why?"

"Because it's my fault you were in the damn hospital!" Everest spoke, louder than he meant to, making him drop silent.

Kieran was in shock. "You hit me with your car? That's not even possible, a SUV hit me, you don't drive an SUV"

"It was my dad's. I was borrowing it because my old one was in the shop, that's why he bought me the Lincoln. It was an accident. You came out of nowhere and I slammed on the breaks but it was too late. I promise I felt terrible. I came to see you every day after football practice and left you flowers, I sat with you and made sure you were okay. I felt fucking awful damnit!"

A silence dropped over the two boys, Everest could feel tears welling up in his eyes and Kieran sat in pure disbelief. But then Kieran had a thought. A question, one he had to share.

"The flowers were you?" Everest nodded. "And you left after the kiss and that whole senerio because you were confused, correct?" Everest nodded again. Kieran sighed. "What confused you? You know, besides the obvious 'never kissed a boy' before thing?"

Everest was crying now. He had been holding back all these emotions and he just couldn't do it anymore. "I was confused as to why I did it in the first place. I've never done something so compulsive. I just felt... Like a magnet. Like something inside me was making me gravitate towards you and I couldn't stop it. For years I've watched you. Not in a creepy way or anything but what I mean is like.. I've noticed you. I mean, you stand out. You're different from all the other people in this stupid town. And I don't just mean the tattoos and piercings. YOU stand out. Every part of you stands out. And I was always.. Captivated by your presence. But I never said anything, because I couldn't.

And.. When we kissed I felt something different. Whenever I'd kiss monica or whoever, I just felt lips against my own. It never felt like those stupid movies and silly romance novels say they do, so I assumed it was just becuase it was new to me, because I had never done that with a guy before. So it must have been a one time thing. It had to have been. Right? The feelings I had, when we were kissing, when you were.. Touching me... That had to of been just my curiosity. It had to have been."

Kieran took in all of Everest's words slowly. When he began to speak, he didn't expect these words to come out of his mouth. "Well uh... Would you like to do it again? To figure out that it was just a one time thing and get it over with?"