"You want me to paint your nails, too?" mom asked as she caught me staring at her blood red nails.
I snorted. "No. Why would I want my nails painted?"
Mom sent an amused look. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me why Abby painted your nails last week." She winked at me as she fanned her fingernails.
"Umm..h-how did you k-know?"
"I'm more observant than you think I am."
I stared down at the table.
"What color do you want? Red? Green? Oh, how about blue?" Mom carefully went through the colors in her box of nail polish.
"Uhh, I don't really--"
"Just let me paint your nails, Ethan. They'll look so pretty when I'm done," she swiftly cut me off.
"I guess blue," I said nervously.
She smiled at me as she pulled out a royal blue shade and shook it up. "You and Leo seem to be getting rather close," mom commented as she uncapped the bottle of nail polish.
Should I tell her? I mean it's obvious she probably already knows, but fuck I'm so scared of coming out.
"He's actually my boyfriend," I said quietly.
She took my hand and swiped the cool polish across my nail. She paused and glanced up at me. The look of surprise, or even shock, I expected to be in her eyes, wasn't there. She looked...proud? I couldn't quite tell what the expression in her eyes was, but whatever it was, she looked happy.
"Well, I'm just glad you're happy--"she paused and raised a brow-"you are happy right?"
I smiled. "Yeah. He makes me really happy. He's so patient, and understanding." I felt a weird tug at my heart. "He's so sweet."
"He definitely seems like a nice boy. I mean the little amount of time I've talked to him, it seems like he really likes you," mom replied with a kind smile.
He is a nice boy. He's amazing.
"Yeah. I really like him too," I murmured as I stared down at the glittery blue paint she was applying to my nails.
"When did you..?" I trailed off, not wanting to say the rest if that sentence. Find out that I was gay..? Well, partially.
Mom sent me an amused look. "Please, Eath. Your father and I have always suspected you were..." she paused like she was searching for the right word. "How do you say? A little...gay?" She sent me a teasing grin as she turned back to my hands.
Is it really that obvious?
"I'm uh...bisexual actually," I mumbled awkwardly, then inwardly cringed that I even told her that.
"I'm not sure what that is," she said as she finished my left hand and started working on the other one. "Can you explain it to me?"
"It means I like boys and girls," I explained.
Mom tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy. "I didn't know that was even possible. I thought it was just gay, or straight," she said astonishedly.
"Yeah, it's possible. There's actually asexual, bisexual, straight, gay, pansexual, transgender..." I trailed off realizing just how much information I'd just blurted out.
After I'd realized that I was bi I did a little research on the whole sexuality spectrum, and boy is it confusing as hell.
"Maybe I should do a little research on this," mom said with a laugh.
"Well, whatever you wanna know, I'm here to tell."
She laughed and turned back to my nails. "Good to know."
She was quiet for a moment before carefully asking, "How long have you been questioning your sexuality?"
"Questioning if I was bi?" I suggested.
"What's bi?" she asked, genuinely confused.
"Bi is short for bisexual, mom." I rolled my eyes as I grinned at her.
"Oh, got it. So how long have you been questioning if you were bi?" She laughed and exaggerated the "bi."
"For a month..." I added with an awkward laugh, "Ever since Leo moved here, really."
"I don't think you needed Leo to bring this out of you, sweetheart." Mom patted my hand with a teasing smile.
My cheeks burned with embarrassment. "Why do you say that?"
"Oh, no reason. Just that you've always been a little feminine. When you were seven you wanted to dress up as a mermaid for Halloween, while your brother was a police officer." She sent me a teasing grin and a pointed look down at my hands.
My skin burned. "Will you just finish my nails, please?"
She laughed as she turned back to my nails. "Classic Ethan."
"Classic Ethan?" I frowned.
"Oh, just that you get huffy when you're embarrassed," she murmured with a smirk.
"I don't do that," I retorted, more embarrassed than I've probably ever been.
She paused to send me a "yes you do" look.
I rolled my eyes. Silence fell around us. "Do you, um, care that I'm bi?" I nervously asked.
She sent me a warm smile and squeezed the hand she was working on. "No, of course not. Your father and I will always love you, whether you're dating a boy, or a girl."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, mom."
I didn't know what exactly I was thanking her for. Maybe for accepting my sexuality? I don't know. All I knew was that I felt the need to thank her
"I love you, sweetheart," mom said as she leaned over and gave me an awkward hug.
I awkwardly hugged her back, both of us trying not to touch anything with our wet nails. "I love you too."
She pulled away and smiled at me before turning back to my hands.
I felt a certain heaviness I'd been carrying around (since I'd found out that I was bi) lift off my shoulders, and I felt so much more relaxed and relieved.
If only Will could've known you came out to your mom.
I felt a sharp stab of pain straight through my heart as I thought that.
Will would never know if I came out to my parents.
I blinked back the hot tears burning my eyes as I dropped my gaze to my vibrating phone. I read the caller ID.
Leo's calling
Those two words erased the pain I felt. Or maybe they just dulled the pain so it wasn't so unbearable.
'Why is he calling me though? Why didn't he just text?' I couldn't help but wonder.
"I'm done if you wanna take that," mom said as she twisted the cap back on the bottle of polish.
I glanced down at my sparkly blue nails and smiled. Even though they were ragged and nine of them were chewed off, they were still pretty. I did have to admit, a good filing would be needed after they were dry, but they were still beautiful, even though they were ragged and uneven.
"Just be careful you don't touch anything," mom reminded.
"Thanks, mom. They look really...pretty." I smiled as my phone stopped vibrating. I'll just have to call him back.
She smiled at me. "You're welcome. When they're dry I'll file them, and I'll even add some extra glittery polish to the tips. That'll really make them sparkly."
"There's nothing wrong with some extra glitter," I said excitedly.
She laughed. "No, there's not. Glitter makes everything better."
I sat there and fanned my nails. After a minute, I carefully picked my phone up. "I'm gonna go get ready."
I practically floated over to the stairs, taking them two at a time, not even feeling exhausted when I reached the top. That was an accomplishment.
Drew was still in the bathroom, and I could hear "Lose Yourself," by Eminem floating out from under the door.
I didn't care, though, because I wasn't actually gonna take a shower yet (especially now that my nails are wet), I just wanted some privacy to talk to Leo.
I slipped into my room and closed the door behind me before heading over to my bed.
I flopped down on my bed and called Leo back. I carefully pulled my blanket over me as I was starting to get cold. You would think that I would be warm when I'm covered from head to toe in clothing, but that's never the case.
"Hey," came Leo's deep, clear voice after a moment.
"Hey."
"So, why did you call me?" Leo asked in a teasing tone.
"You called me, asshole," I replied in the same tone he used.
He chuckled and I could hear the sound of a door closing. "I suppose I did."
"You suppose?" I teased, realizing that "may and suppose" was becoming our thing.
"Yup, I suppose. But you called me back...so you technically called me as well," he easily retorted.
"Asshole," I muttered with a laugh, loud enough for him to hear me.
"Apparently, I have multiple nicknames," Leo commented.
"Hm?"
He laughed again. "Well, you call me Leonard, which I still hate, asshole, and babe. But, I do have to say that babe is by far, my favorite."
I could feel the blush coming on as I struggled to think of a comeback. "Damn it, Leonard. I have nothing to say to that."
"Good. I'm glad you don't have a comeback. I am the king of come..." he paused for a moment before dropping his voice to a sexy growl. "Backs..."
This boy knows how to flirt.
"Well, if I remember correctly, I was the king of come...backs first," I purred in the same tone he used.
He groaned into the phone. "Damn, sweetheart, you're already turning me on."
"Good," I retorted. I was already getting turned on myself.
He chuckled. "You drive me fucking insane. You know that, right?"
"I do, considering you've told me multiple times," I murmured.
He was silent for a moment. "So, I was wondering what you were doing later."
Is he asking me out again?
"I'm actually going to dinner with my parents," I said disappointedly. "Why are you asking me, Leonard?"
He sighed. "Can you just answer the question?"
"Not until you tell me why," I retorted.
"I'm trying to ask you out. Happy?" He sighed, and I could mentally see him rolling his beautiful blue eyes.
"Very. And where are we going? Somewhere where you can drown me again?" I teased.
He muttered, "You won't ever let me live that down, will you?"
"Nope," I replied with a laugh.
"Well, I was planning on taking you to dinner, so unless I can figure out how to drown you in your food, then no."
"Ooh, fancy. What kind of food are you think about drowning me in?" I asked deviously.
"Does chocolate sauce work?" he said in that deep sexy growl that caused my heart to stutter in my chest.
"Uhh, it depends on the situation, doesn't it?" I awkwardly asked.
"It does. But your little comment you made earlier made my horny gears start turning," he said with a laugh.
"Mhm. Like you needed me to get your horny gears turning," I retorted, sarcastically.
"You never answered me," he said after a moment.
I was happy about the subject change. "What about?"
"About letting me drown you in chocolate," he replied simply.
Well, I guess we're not changing the subject.
"You can't drown me in it, as I'm not a fan of drowning, as your probably already aware, but you can definitely lick it off me..." I growled into the phone. My cock throbbed as I fantasized about him licking chocolate off of it.
"Any particular body part?" he slyly asked.
Can he read minds?
"Nope. Nothing comes to mind." I'm glad that he couldn't see me as my whole head was probably a tomato right now.
He chuckled. "You are such a bad boy, Eathy. Do I need to come over there and spank you?"
"You started it. So, maybe I should spank you," I responded slyly.
"I'd like that. I'm here for your...well, my spanking pleasure." He groaned.
"Do you always groan so much when you talk to people?" I retorted.
He was silent for a moment before he burst out laughing.
"Damn, you got me there, sweetheart," he said as he sobered slightly.
"I didn't know that was so amusing, sweetheart," I said with a laugh, then dropped my voice to a growl as I said the "sweetheart," knowing it would drive him insane.
"Don't call me, sweetheart. That's my nickname for you," he huffed.
"What happened to Eathy?" I swiftly retorted.
He sighed. "You're very observant, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm very observant."
"Damn it," he muttered suddenly, then he went silent.
"Sorry, I was trying to find my charger," Leo said distractedly after a minute, and I heard some rustling in the background.
"How did you lose your charger?" I asked.
"Uh... Damn it. Hold on, again," he muttered.
"Hey, are you ever going to get off the phone, so you can take a shower," Drew huffed as he threw my door open.
I jumped, almost dropping my phone. "Yeah, yeah, just a minute," I muttered. Thankfully I had my blanket on as I was fully hard from my flirting session with Leo.
My phone beeped in my ear alerting me that the call disconnected. Leo's phone probably died.
"What happened to pretty boy," Drew remarked as he shoved his arms into a green and grey baseball shirt.
"His phone died, I guess," I said disappointedly.
"Good. Now you have to take your shower, so we can leave. I'm fucking starving." Drew grinned.
I glared at him. "I'll get up in a minute."
I technically couldn't get up even if I wanted to as it felt like my muscles were being weighed down by lead. And not to mention the situation going on in my pants.
He laughed. "Someone's grumpy about his boyfriend ending their call."
I was slightly annoyed about Leo's phone dying, but I was mostly disappointed as I was enjoying driving him as insane as he was making me.
"I'm not grumpy, and he's not my..." I trailed off, realizing that he actually was my boyfriend. Mom and Drew obviously didn't care that we were dating, so I didn't have to keep denying it all the time.
"What? He's not your boyfriend. Yeah, like any of us actually believed you when you tried to deny it." He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at me.
"Well, he is my boyfriend. And was it really that obvious?" I pushed myself to a sitting position, and my blanket pooled around my lap.
"Yeah, it was extremely obvious," he said dryly.
I rolled my eyes at him.
He chuckled. "Can you just get your ass in the shower, so we can go to dinner?"
"Yeah, give me a minute."
"Finally," he muttered as he turned around and left.
I glanced down at my phone when it vibrated and saw that Leo had texted me.
From: Leo
Hey babe, sorry about that. My phone completely died.
Stupid piece of shit😮💨
I have to work now, so I would have gotten of the phone anyway (Where did the last 30 frickin minutes go? 🤯) but I just wanted to tell you what happened. 😊
It's fine.
I figured your phone died as you lost your charger (which come on, you leave it plugged into the wall, how did you lose it? 😏) so I wasn't worried.
Not that I would be worried anyway, you're not that interesting to talk to. 😉
That hurts me deeply, that you say I'm boring, Eathy. 😢
It's true though... 😋
Damn it, stop flirting with me. 😤😤
I have to work, and I can't think about you 100% of the time while I'm working.
So, only 99% of the time?
Stop...
No can do. It's too exciting.
I will leave you on read if you don't stop flirting with me.
Oooh.
I'm so scared. 😲😲
Read
He actually left me on read. Bastard.
I slid my phone back in my pocket and focused on picking out an outfit for dinner.
I took my clothes in the bathroom with me and dropped them on the counter.
I turned the water on, and stripped out of my clothes while it heated up.
I glanced at myself in the mirror and saw that my skin was so pale it was almost translucent. And my--slightly lighter than chocolate brown--eyes were dull and droopy, even though I'd gotten over ten hours of sleep last night.
I turned away from the mirror and hopped into the shower, pushing all thoughts of just how sick I looked out of my brain as the hot water cascaded over my body.
I just wanted to stand there and let the hot water loosen all of my tight muscles, but I had to hurry up, as my family was probably starving.
I wasn't hungry at all, but I'm sure my family was, especially since we're eating Mexican food (a personal favorite of everyone in my house, myself included).
'You aren't hungry because you're dying...' echoed through my head.
I ignored those thoughts and pushed them to the very back of my head as I focused on my relaxing shower.
After I finished showering, I didn't even have enough energy to shave, so I just decided to fuck that and started getting dressed.
After I slid my pants up my legs, I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. My vision clouded with white dots and everything in the room doubled. I tried to blink my vision back into focus--which normally works--but the more I blinked, the more clouded, and out of focus my vision got.
Calm down, Eath. It's just a little dizziness.
The world started to spin, then. I swayed on my feet, and I searched for anything to catch myself on. My fingertips grazed the counter just before my knees buckled. I briefly felt myself collapsing before everything went black.
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A/N Oh, look, you guys are lucky! I'm finally changing the POV, so pay attention as this doesn't happen often. 😋
Also if you guys don't like vivid descriptions of blood or open wounds then I would highly suggest you skip the rest of this chapter. As this isn't necessary to understand the next chapter.
Drew's POV-
I was in my room finishing getting read when I heard a loud thud from the hallway. What the fuck was that?
I crept to the bathroom and glanced through the partially open door to see my brother on the floor with his eyes closed.
Oh, shit. What happened now?
I took a breath to calm the panic building inside me before I pushed the door open, careful not to throw it open.
Eath was on his side, his eyes were closed. He was limp and...lifeless.
No. Do not assume that, Drew. Check his pulse first.
I crouched down beside him and swiftly checked his pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt a weak, erratic pulse. Fuck, I was relieved that there was one.
I felt something hot pooling in my hand and glanced down to see a small puddle of blood on the floor.
I gently tilted his head and saw a deep gash slicing across the back of his scalp, steadily soaking his hair with blood.
I jumped up and quickly grabbed the towel off the counter, and I noticed Ethan's phone sitting next to it.
I grabbed that too as I crouched down beside him again and pressed the towel firmly against his head.
"MOM! DAD! COME HERE!" I yelled as loudly as I could, knowing that we needed to get Eath to the hospital. Especially since that gash on his head was pretty fucking deep.
"What? What happened?" came my mother's frantic voice, followed by another pair of footsteps pounding down the hallway behind her.
I tossed the phone to mom. "Call 911."
"But what hap..."
I cut her off by demanding, "Just call them. Now!"
She stared at me with wide, fear-filled eyes for a split second before looking down at the phone and swiftly dialing 911.
She stepped back, letting dad in the bathroom and he dropped down beside me. "What happened, Drew?"
I gently turned Ethan's head and pulled the blood-soaked towel away from his skull.
Dad's eyes widened as he saw Ethan's blood-soaked hair, then the deep gash that was steadily oozing blood on the back of his head.
"Shit," he muttered as he stood up and grabbed a clean towel out of the cabinet. He handed the towel to me and rummaged in the cabinet for some gauze.
"Umm, no my son just found him on the floor with a...gash on his head..." mom said with a look of horror on her face as she looked at me, then down at Eath, then back to me.
I pressed the clean towel to Ethan's head and held it up as dad carefully wrapped the bandage around it.
"There, that should keep a constant pressure to the gash, so it'll clot," dad said.
It was crucial that we got his blood to clot as Ethan takes blood thinners to help his body function a little better, so something as simple as a paper cut can bleed really badly. Just think of how bad a huge, deep gash on his would bleed?
"Is he breathing?" mom whispered, clenching the phone in her hands so hard her knuckles were turning white.
I pressed a hand to his chest and held the other under his partially open mouth. I could feel the weak, erratic pulses of his heart, and shallow, desperate puffs of his cold breath.
"Yeah, barely," I whispered.
I heard the faint sound of the siren before a loud banging on the door startled all of us.
"Oh, that's the paramedics," mom murmured distractedly, then turned around and jogged down the hallway.
I glanced at dad who was unusually silent through this whole ordeal, and he was staring down at Ethan with a distance look in his watery eyes.
"He'll be okay," I murmured in an attempt to make him feel better.
Three pairs of heavy footfalls came up the stairs.
"I know... I just..." dad whispered, then shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
Damn it, dad, don't cry. Not now.
"Move over you guys, let the paramedics check him out," mom said as calmly as she could.
I stood up and shakily backed out of the bathroom as I took one last glance down at my big brother. I noticed he was completely still. No part of his body was moving, not even his chest...
'God please no...let him still be alive,' I silently pleaded as hot tears burned my eyes. Icy fear clutched at my chest and took my breath away.
The paramedics also noticed that as they both pounced on him pressing various instruments to him and talking a mile a minute to each other about blood loss, and heart failure.
One of the paramedics slipped an oxygen mask over Ethan's face and ordered the other one to help him get Ethan on the stretcher.
I glanced at my parents who were watching the paramedics carefully lifting Ethan into the stretcher and strapping him in with equal looks of horror and concern.
"Would you like to ride in the ambulance Ma'am?" the older of the two paramedics asked mom.
Her lip quivered as she struggled to remain calm. Well, struggling to not burst into tears was more like it.
She glanced at dad who gave her a gentle push towards the stretcher. "We'll follow you guys in our car," he said to the paramedic.
The man nodded and said, "Alright, let's get him out of here." He and his younger partner headed towards the stairs with Ethan's limp body.
What the hell happened to him? Is he okay?
Please tell me he's going to be fine...