Stop Bullying Me! [boyxboy]

Chapter Ten

"And neither will you. You ever thought you might be hurting him? Cuz, let's face it. When the school finds out, and you know they will, they'll leave you alone because you have worth at our school. As for Barbie Doll, I can't guarantee his safety at all. Even if, by some miracle mind you, I decided to help you, we still wouldn't stand a chance against the entire school and staff." Ethan explained calmly.

I felt sick to my stomach now, enough so that I wanted to puke, but I didn't. I just pressed my fist to my mouth, digging my teeth into my knuckles because Ethan was right.

I was being selfish, hanging onto Oliver like this, saying we'd come out of the closet when we graduate. Sure, graduation would mean safety from the school, but what about society in general? Would they be kind to Oliver? And me? Honestly, I didn't care what they did to me. I could easily defend myself and years of building up my emotional walls kept me protected, but about what Oliver?

Sure, his sarcasm could just about kill, but it wouldn't save him against the intolerant bastards of this world. He'd be shot down in an instant and the very thought of it made my heart ache.

What should I do?

I didn't want to break up with Oliver. The thought of not holding him hurt... But should I really risk Oliver's safety because I'm selfish?

The drive back home was silent and I should've dropped Ethan off at home, but I didn't want to be alone. Otherwise, I'd think too hard about this all and stress myself out. Instead, I brought Ethan back home and we went inside, greeted by the fresh hot smell of sizzling steak that made my stomach growl.

"Nicky!" I heard my mom sing, her voice like an angel's leading me into the kitchen.

I may complain about my mom non-stop, but it was so hard to hate her when she was the woman who gave me life, who helped me keep it, who helped me through it. And she was gorgeous too.

Her hair was dark like mine in loosely curled locks that fell over her shoulders, her pale blue eyes lined with eyeliner. Her lips were painted a bright pink that I really wish she'd stop wearing, but you never told a woman she looked bad, so I gave up trying to hint her and let her have her fun.

She was wearing a red sweater and blue jeans with a blue apron on as she moved around the kitchen in this strange cooking dance she always did. It made me want to hug her and tell her everything, but I knew I'd be ruining the peace we'd finally gotten in our house.

"Oh, Ethan, you're back," My mom greeted him, drifting over and kissing him on the cheek, making him blush, "Are you staying the night? For your sake, I hope so! You need more meat on them bones of yours!"

"I think I have enough meat on my bones." Ethan said sourly, but he was smiling anyway. It was one of those rare moments that Ethan seemed to enjoy. He liked attention from my mother, probably because his mother wasn't very motherly. Not abusive, but not attentive either. She just sort of brushed Ethan off like a dog that needed to be fed, walked, bathed, and trained. She never made it to any of our games, so Ethan didn't bother looking at the stands.

No one's here to see me. Ethan would tell me before a game, giving me a slap on the back. I know he hadn't meant it in a sense to make me feel sorry for him, but it just sort of came out like that.

"Food'll be ready in an hour, so you can head on outside to play toss the football around. I'm all fired up for homecoming! I can't wait to see you boys kick some Martian butt!" She exclaimed with a grin as she referred to the team we were playing against in our homecoming this year. They'd won pretty much all their games this season, but it didn't intimidate us. We were far larger, in both size and number. It was just their speed that had me uneasy.