Heroic Acts

Thirty Four

"Oh, y'know, just... school... stuff. It's not really all that interesting," Darien lied. "You?"

"I just like to go places and think all by myself," Seth lied.

"You were always that kind of person," Darien said with a smile.

Seth didn't answer. He just made his way over to his bed and sat down, fiddling with his fingers. Clearly, there was still a lot on his mind.

"Seth, what's wrong? Is there something you're not telling me?" Darien asked.

"When will you finally be ready to call me your boyfriend?" Seth piped up. "I understand your worry about Andy and all that, but clearly he's found new interests."

Darien didn't really know what to say. He kind of just stared blankly back at the boy. He sat down on Caroline's bed, right across from Seth.

"I just didn't want things to happen so quickly," Darien finally said.

"Quickly? We're been sneaking around forever, Darien, and now that we're finally able to be together, we're not," Seth said.

"I know," was all Darien had to say.

"I'm sorry if I'm being pushy. I just love you, and it's hard. It's really hard. We don't even have any PDA or anything. No one knows about us and I want to show you off to the world," Seth said. "It's not fair."

"I'm sorry, Seth," Darien said quietly.

"It's okay," he said and wrapped himself up in his blanket. He was like a grumpy little kid.

"I mean, if you really feel that way and you wanted to now-" Darien began.

"No. Don't ask me to be your boyfriend right now in this moment because you feel bad. I want it to mean something to you," Seth said.

"But it does, Seth. You don't make any sense. You want to be my boyfriend but when I try to ask, you don't want me to?" Darien asked.

"It's more than that, Darien. I wish you'd see that," he said and sighed, laid down, and closed his eyes.

Darien decided not to say more. He just got up and crawled into bed next to Seth and curled up against his chest. He planned on coming up with a way to really make him feel special. He kissed Seth's temple before making himself comfortable for their inevitable nap together.

***

It was a date, but of course, she didn't tell the boys that. They would have flipped their shit even more than they had before. Well, Seth would. She decided she'd keep this to herself for now. Still, she wished she could have talked to someone about it. She never really dated, she never really thought about it, but his smile was so sweet, she couldn't say no.

She was all dolled up; she wore a casual swing dress with a sunflower pattern and puffy sleeves. She kept her make up simple yet bold; she wore red, winged eyeliner and made her lashes long and black. Her red hair was curled and let down along her shoulders. She wore a bag around her body, and it sat comfortably on her side. Her shoes were little brown flats; she never wore heels to anything other than formal events.

She was already on her way to meet Andy, nervously messing with her hair and dress as she walked. As usual, she caught the glances of a lot of people walking by. Girls stared with envy, boys stared with temptation. She always smiled and waved to everyone, but sometimes, it really bothered her. She wished she wasn't so pretty at times; she was the envy of many people, and they didn't even know what her personality was like.