Fixing You

Chapter 8- Adam

Adam's POV

For the remainder of the car journey to school, I did my best to tune out Merissa's groans, telling us how embarrassing it was to be seen with us. I felt like turning and screaming that it was her own fault for getting grounded and that she wasn't exactly brightening my morning either. But I knew that Shaun just wanted to ignore her, so that's what we did. 

When Merissa mentioned how disgusted she was with Shaun, I shot him a quick, sympathetic smile, which he returned with an apologetic one and a shrug. I decided to change the subject to Shaun's football game, which was on that day just before lunch. Unfortunately I would miss it, as only juniors and seniors were allowed to watch it. Sometimes I hated being a year younger than Shaun, who was seventeen.

I was fifteen when I first met Shaun. My grandfather, who I had never really known, had just died and left me a lot of money, which I spent, with my parents permission, on renting an apartment. The apartment wasn't too far from my house and it acted as my art studio. I loved art; I practically lived for it.

At the time, Shaun was working part time in an art shop nearby, so I ran into him while buying supplies. I recognised him from school, of course- Shaun and Daniel were easily the most popular guys. I had been scared that Shaun would laugh at me. I'd never spoken to him before, but he surely knew me as 'the weird gay guy'. 

But I was wrong. Shaun was kind to me and wasn't afraid to talk to me. To be honest, I hadn't really been attracted to Shaun before I saw his honest, open green eyes, and his arms- don't get me started on his arms. I remember noticing in particular his shaggy, brown hair. It didn't look stylishly messy, more like he just couldn't be bothered cutting it.

We talked for a while- him questioning me about art, me asking him about the football team, and eventually we exchanged numbers. We became friends quickly, texting and calling each other a lot. After a couple of weeks, Shaun told me he was gay, and another couple of weeks later we admitted our feelings to each other.

It took about a year for us to tell people about our relationship. During that year, we usually met in my art studio, where Shaun was content to simply sit and watch me paint. The studio was where we first made love, on my sixteenth birthday.

I blushed as I thought of that night. Shaun, although busy circling the parking lot of the school in the hopes of finding a free spot, raised an eyebrow at me. "What're you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I answered pathetically, blushing even more and staring straight ahead.

Shaun began (annoyingly) poking me in the side. "Come on, Adam, I wanna be in on the fun," he whined. "Come on!" Poke. "Come on!" Poke.

"Alright, alright!" I shouted, throwing my arms up in surrender. Once he had relaxed, I lunged forwards and punched at anything that felt like flesh. I knew I wasn't hurting him much, merely causing temporary discomfort.

"Hey, chill. I'm driving here," he smirked, finally spotting a free space to park. Merissa sighed loudly, letting us know she was bored.

"So what were you thinking about?"

I glanced back to make sure Merissa wasn't listening in. Luckily, she was busy texting. "I was just, um, thinking about my last birthday?" I said, phrasing it like a question. My cheeks were burning.

"Oh," Shaun replied, staring straight ahead, also turning red.

"Hey, I didn't mean to make it awkward," I said. "I guess I just wondered if you ever think about it." I placed my hand on his thigh and he let out a groan of frustration.

"Shaun? What's wrong?" I questioned, getting worried that I had said the wrong thing. "If you don't think about it, it's fine. I can be a bit of a girl about these things."