“Good morning,” I said to Neo.
“Donnie’s going to rip your balls off if he sees you talking to me,” Neo said without looking up.
“You should feel honored that I’m willing to take that risk for you,” I said. I leaned against the lockers next to him, watching him.
“You should go before he sees you,” Neo said, glancing up at me. “He already wants to kill you.”
“Come over after school,” I said.
“Why? So we can fuck until neither of us can walk?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
I shook my head. “No. I want to make you dinner. We can eat outside. It’ll be nice. And after, we can go in the hot tub,” I said. “I’ll even let you pick the music.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He stood up and shut his locker. He peeked around before quickly kissing my cheek. “See you later, fuckboy.”
“See you,” I said, watching him walk away to find his friends.
I went over to where Scott was standing. He lazily glanced at me before his eyes dropped back down to his phone.
“Who are you texting? You never text. You get too lazy to reply,” I said.
“I’m not texting,” he said. “I’m on Tumblr. It’s way more important to me than actual human communication.”
“Don’t you just follow a bunch of cute animal blogs?” I asked.
“I’d rather have koalas show up on my dashboard than dicks,” he said. “There’s a reason I can actually go on Tumblr in public without needing to hide my phone from sight.”
“Point taken,” I said. “Where’s Bennett?”
Scott shrugged. “Do I look like his babysitter?”
“If you were my babysitter, I would be dead,” Bennett said, coming up to us.
“Isaac turned out just fine,” Scott said without looking up from his phone.
“Isaac is a newt, Scott. You feed him once a day and occasionally clean his water,” Bennett said. “People are a little harder to care for than newts.”
“Don’t devalue my newt’s worth just because he doesn’t look like you,” Scott said.
“I’m sorry I devalued your newt,” Bennett said.
“I’ll have to consult with Isaac before deciding if I accept your apology,” Scott said.
“I’ll be eagerly awaiting the result. Let’s go to class,” Bennett said.
Scott reluctantly stuffed his phone into his pocket. The three of us made our way to class as the warning bell rang.
My mind stayed on thoughts of Neo and what we could do tonight. I could ask him what his favorite meal was during lunch and see if I could make it for dinner tonight. Maybe I could break into my parents’ champagne or wine when we went into the hot tub.
I just wanted to have another good night with him. Yesterday, we had put on some music and cuddled until it got dark. We had laid outside, star gazing and talking, occasionally sharing kisses. It was relaxing, and I loved it.
The bell rang and I got up, heading off to lunch, the day going by surprisingly fast. I grabbed my lunch out of my locker and went to the cafeteria, sitting down with Scott and Bennett.
“My parents said you guys can come over for dinner if you want,” Scott said as I sat down.
“I can’t. I told Neo I’d hang out with him after school,” I said.
“Of course you did,” Bennett said.
“Shut up,” Scott said with a sigh. “Bennett, are you coming for dinner or not?”
“Not,” Bennett said. “My father is having some important clients over for dinner. Sorry, Scott.”
“It’s fine. It means I don’t have to set the table,” Scott said, shrugging.
“Alex,” Bennett said, looking over at me.
“Alexander,” I corrected.
“Whatever. Your relationship with Neo…people are noticing it. At the Andersons’ brunch, my parents noticed how close you two were,” he said.
“Well, we’re dating,” I said. “Of course we act close.”
“You’re usually good at keeping your boyfriends quiet,” Bennett said.
“I don’t want to keep Neo quiet,” I said.
“And what about Donnie?” Bennett raised an eyebrow.
“He’ll know eventually. I doubt your parents are going to tell him,” I said, taking a bite of my sandwich.
“Neo’s parents won’t want people to know their son is dating a boy. They’ll worry how it’ll make them look,” Bennett said.
“Cry me a river,” I said.
“This conversation is getting awkward, so either change it, or send me pictures of koalas to distract me,” Scott said.
“Let’s change it. I’d rather save the koala pictures for when I piss you off,” I said.
“Well that alone pisses me off,” he said.
“I can tell by your lack of emotion how filled with rage you are,” I said.
“You better watch it. 10 episodes later, and I know how to get away with murder,” Scott said.
I rolled my eyes. “Right. Well, we should have a movie night soon. We haven’t done that in a while,” I said.
“I hate horror movies,” Scott said.
“Yet you watch more than Bennett and I combined. This weekend, we’ll have a horror movie marathon one night,” I said. “Bennett, find some good scary movies.”
“I’ll find some modern and some classic,” Bennett said, biting into his lunch.
I nodded and we went back to eating. This is how I liked it with my friends. No fighting. Just hanging out.
The rest of lunch passed uneventfully, and the bell rang, sending us back to class. The end of the day approached, leaving me eager to spend more time with Neo.
The final bell rang and I stuffed my notebook into my bag. I stood up, slinging it over my shoulder, turning to leave and nearly running into Donnie.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Alexander.”
“Can I help you? I have places to be,” I said.
“Like on your knees in some random boy’s room? I bet.” He stuffed his hands in pockets. “I’m sick of fighting you. So just stay away from me and my friends, and we don’t have to have a problem anymore.”
“Plea heard. Bye.” I shouldered my way past him and out of the classroom.
I went to my locker, where my friends were waiting for me. Scott was leaning lazily against the locker next to mine, and Bennett was waiting impatiently, his arms crossed.
“Scott is rubbing off on you,” he said in annoyance.
“Scott is not rubbing off on anyone,” Scott said.
“You’re doing that thing where you talk in the third person again,” I said, putting in my combination and pulling my locker open.
“Scott says he doesn’t care,” Scott said.
“Scott is never going to play with my dog again,” I said.
“Scott is sorry he’s talking in the third person,” Scott said, frowning a little. “Don’t take your dog away from me. He’s my Link to your heart.” A small bit of laughter burst from his mouth at his own stupid pun.
Bennett and I glanced at each other and laughed a little. Scott was usually so neutral to everything that not much made him laugh. His own weird, cheesy sense of humor was usually the only thing that could make him laugh like that. His laugh was such a bright sound that it transformed Scott’s face when it happened, making him look eternally amused.
“Glad you find yourself funny,” I said, grabbing what I needed and shutting my locker.
“I’m funny,” Scott said, back to his neutral, unamused expression.
“You’re hilarious.” I checked the time. “Alright, I’m going to go find Neo. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Yea, see you,” Bennett mumbled, turning and walking away. Scott shrugged and followed after Bennett.
I walked to the locker room, slipping inside. Neo wasn’t there yet, but he was probably still at his locker. I sat down on the bench, waiting impatiently for Neo to finally show up. I had forgotten to ask him what his favorite food was, but I guess I could just impress him with something I was good at making.
The door opened and I looked up, smiling as Neo came in. I stood up and opened my arms for him.
He moved into my arms, hugging me. “Hey, fuckboy.”
“Hey.” I bent down, kissing him.
He kissed me back, deepening it. His arms locked around my neck, pulling my closer to himself. I eagerly obeyed his lips, gripping his hips, bringing our bodies even closer together as we kissed.
“NEO!”
Neo jerked away from me, spinning to face Donnie. “Donnie,” he said in surprise.
“I knew it. I knew it! I saw you two going in the locker room yesterday!” Donnie snapped. “I saw Alexander go in here, and followed you!”
“That’s borderline stalking, I think,” Neo said.
“What the hell are you doing?! Why are you kissing Alexander Sullivan?” Donnie demanded. He was so furious that his body was shaking with the force of his anger.
“Because Alexander Sullivan and I are dating,” Neo said. “We’ve been dating for a little while.”
Donnie rubbed a hand down his face. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
I watched Neo nervously. What was he going to do now that Donnie knew? Dammit, we should’ve been more careful.
“Donnie, don’t worry,” Neo said. He pulled his arms away from my neck. And then, he shoved my chest so hard that I stumbled back. “I’m bored with him.”
“What?” I stared at him in disbelief.
“You were just amusement,” Neo said, raising an eyebrow at me. “But now you’re boring me. So we’re through.”
“Neo…” My brain searched for words. “What the hell?”
“Sucks, doesn’t it? You were MY game, Alexander,” he said. “You like to go around, sleeping with guys, breaking hearts, turning love into a game. I thought you must be lonely playing by yourself.”
“You slept with Alexander?” Donnie said, his voice still furious.
“Yea, I did. But I’m bored of him now. He’s really not that interesting. Not a good source of entertainment,” Neo said, his eyes cold as he glared at me. “So, let’s go Donnie. I was going to tell you soon enough, but I kept it a secret to make it more convincing for Alexander.”
“No.” Neo looked over at Donnie in surprise. Donnie clenched his fists tightly. “You know what? Fuck both of you. You thought this was going to, what, avenge me, Neo? Fucking my exboyfriend?! Dating him? You’re just as sick as Alexander is! Fuck both of you!”
He turned and stormed out of the locker room. I just stared at Neo in hurt. His eyes trained on the door as it slammed shut.
“Neo,” I said, my voice uneven.
He turned to me, that cold look still in his eyes. “I didn’t love you. I never did. You deserved this. You deserve worse, but here’s a good start for karma. Should’ve listened to Bennett. We’re through, so stay away from me, fuckboy.”
He spun around, leaving the locker room, and I listened to the door slam shut again. I slumped down against the lockers, tangling my fingers in my hair, biting my lip hard, trying to protect myself from the sharp pieces of my world raining down around me.