The Hills (boyxboy)

Chapter 1

A sigh breaks the silence of my bedroom, but it didn't come from my mouth. Pepper shuts the book she's been reading all day and presses it to her chest, then curls in on it. Slowly she falls onto her side. Then I can hear her sniffling. My best friend has no shame.

"Happy ending?" I ask. She nods. Is it weird that I can read her mood by the way she sniffles? I reach out and let the palm of my hand flop down on top of her hair. "There, there..." I'm really not good at this comforting thing... Why, of all people, did I befriend a fangirl?

Pepper shifts slightly and straightens her back again. But it's only been about a minute, how is this possible? She never recovers this quickly after finishing a book.

"Are you sure you're gay?" she asks. I pull my hand back and adjust my glasses. "Yeah."

Silence.

"You don't act like it though. You're just... Such a guy. Can't you be more like Simon?"

I furrow my brows. Who's Simon? Pepper sighs and puts aside her book so she can get up off the floor and stretch. We have this weird ritual of spending sundays on my bedroom floor. She reads books while I study. Even during summer break. We're nerds, sue us.

As my self-proclaimed bestie gets up my eyes rest on the book she just laid aside. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Ah, that would be the Simon she's referring to. Just another ideal fictional gay guy I can't live up to. How depressing. With my ever permanent frown in place I get to my feet too and follow Pepper out of my room. Guess it's time for a snack.

Once we make it to the kitchen my eyes immediately land on my twin brother, who is currently squirting ketchup on some frosties, without milk. My frown deepens. "We all know natural selection will come for you Terrence, no need to speed it up like this." I mumble. His head shoots up and he grins. Then, ever so slowly, he squirts even more ketchup on his cereal. What a child.

Things used to be different. Pepper, Terry and I go way back. We used to be the three musketeers and all that jazz. But then freshman year of high school came around and a new kid popped up. Terry and Colton hit it off right away, what with both of them being very excentrik and into the same bands. I thought Colton would complete our group like d'Artagnan in the story we kept being compared to. But instead we estranged and became two duo's. They're the evil theatre twins, while Pepper and I have the image of the two nerds.

"Hey Terry, where's your other half?" Pepper informs while helping herself to some yoghurt from our fridge. I just get an apple and play around with it in my hands. "He should be here in about three minutes." Terrence replies and starts eating his... Food poisoning. "We're going to Spiderman Homecoming, you guys wanna come?" he asks after the first bite. Pepper opens her mouth to answer with what I assume to be a 'yes'. But I don't want to go. Colton makes me very uncomfortable. So I slap a hand in front of her mouth and belt out a semi-loud "No." Terrence seems to deflate a little bit. "Please?" he whines. "We never do stuff together anymore." And there are the puppy eyes.

Suddenly the backdoor bursts open and a male baritone voice yells "I chime in with a haven't you people ever heard of..." Terrence jumps up, his frown turning into a grin and his... food poisoning forgotten on the table. "Closing the goddamn door- no!..." and the song goes on and on. But all I can focus on is messy black hair, pale skin, warm brown eyes, and how Colton Harris is the one who made me realise I am most certainly not straight.

After the noisy duo left for their movie night I pick my apple up again, take a single bite and throw the rest in the trash. Then I go back upstairs. Pepper looks after me with sad eyes. Of course she know of my Colton predicament and how I'm the reason my twin brother and I seem to be from different worlds now. But it's okay. I'm okay. Okay maybe not.