Nothing's Ever Easy [BoyxBoy]

Nothing's Ever Easy ~Chapter 23

“Heather, are you okay?” I kept my tone calm.

“It’s just-no never mind.” She waved her hands and started walking out.

“No, tell me what it is.” I stood up and took a few steps towards her. “This is obviously bothering you.”

“I-Travis, how long, uh-I wanted to ask-” She fumbled over her words. “Are-Are you gay?”

My eyes widened in shock. How could she possibly have found out? “Why would you ask me that?”

“I don’t have issues with gay people, I swear.” She said quickly. “It’s just that, I saw you and Landon.”

“You saw me and Landon.” I repeated slowly. 

“Kissing, I saw the two of you kissing.” She clarified.

I stepped back and knocked into the side of my desk. “How? Why? What?”

“I didn’t meant to.” She sounded almost as panicked as I was. “I was heading to the bathroom and I happened to walked by.”

I eyed her curiously at first and then my stance automatically turned defensive. My features hardened and I reeled in all my emotions. It was what I did with Harold and I was sure that I could succeed in doing it again. I was very used to acting like the fly on the wall.

“I can leave.” I said. “The others seem to like you so I won’t take that ‘family’ they’ve made with you away from them.”

“Why would you leave?” She stepped forward and I moved out of the way before she could touch me.

“Harold said something similar.” I muttered. “He said ‘gay’s are not a problem’ and I believed him. He got me to trust him.”

“I’m not like him, Travis.” She protested. 

“That’s what they all say.” I retorted.

“Travis,” She sighed. “I understand that you have trust issues where this is concerned. I can only imagine how difficult your life must have been. You’ve come so far and I think you deserved so much better than that.”

I stared at her blankly. I looked away from her and felt a stray tear run down the side of my cheek. I sniffed and stubbornly wiped the tears away with the back of my sleeve.

“You don’t know anything about me.” I said even though my voice was shaking. “It’s not easy. My mother, my own mother, walked out on us and admitted that she didn’t want us anymore. My father, fool that he is, ran after her and ended up in a messed up situation. I’ve never been accepted, ever! Harold made sure that I would never feel accepted in my life. He ruined that moment for me.”

Heather remained silent throughout my rant. “Everywhere I walk, it feel as if people just know. I feel so alone and cold. Their glares are like ice running down my spine. It hurts, it hurts so bad to know that I’ll never be able to get that back. I will never have the comfort of my parents telling me that they accept me anyway. That other people’s opinions don’t matter.”

“Oh Travis.” Heather came forward and pulled me into a hug. I tried to fight her off but she held on. The thing is, we both knew that I had the strength to push her away if I had really wanted to.

“I accept you.” She said into my shoulder. “I accept you. I may be a stranger to you, you may hate me but I want you to know that I would never cast you out. To you I might be nothing, but to me, you’re family.”

I looked down at her and then closed my eyes as more tears poured out. I hadn’t cried like this since my mom left. I always felt like I had to keep strong for my brothers and sisters’ sakes.