Pinky Promise

7

"Fabian, can we talk?" I ask. In art class, our assignment today is love: what causes it, what it makes you feel, and the things that it can make you do.

Fabian ignores my question, his eyes not leaving the canvas. I know he heard me.

"Hey, what's your problem?" I ask. His head snaps toward me and his eyes narrow.

"You want to know what my problem is, Lydia?" he asks in a loud manner. Everyone's attention has made its way over to us. "My problem is that I decided to trust you. I should've known better after you spilled Shantell's secret. I just thought that maybe you would follow through, since this is the one thing that matters in my life."

I myself narrow my eyes at him, confused at what he's talking about. I know for a fact that Valerie hasn't even had the chance to tell anyone about this yet.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"I went home yesterday, content that I could finally vent to someone without having to be scared. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to my dad throwing cold water on me, demanding to know why I was trying to ruin his life. When I asked him what he was talking about, he asked me why I was gay," Fabian growls. The whole class around us gasps, and Fabian nods his head. "Yeah, I'd rather you hear it from my mouth than Lydia running hers. God, why'd you have to screw up the one relationship in my life that mattered? Apparently, when you spilled the beans to your best friend, her brother overheard. Just so happens that he works for my dad and word spreads fast through our company."

"Fabian, I'm really sorry," I apologize, not able to meet his eyes.

"Sorry?" Fabian laughs. "That's all you have to say for yourself? Sorry? Sorry isn't going to get me my life back. Sorry isn't going to fix my now strained relationship with my parents. Sorry isn't going to cover the huge mistake that you just made. I hate you."

My heart sinks to my stomach as I hear those words come out of his mouth. Fabian storms out the classroom, and our teacher doesn't even stop him.

To my surprise, instead of the class around me saying things about how Fabian is gay, they are instead commenting about how bad of a person I am.

Go figure.