(Jesse's POV)
I take a deep breath as I walk into the kitchen. The smell that fills the air came from my aunt Emmy making breakfast or more like she was trying to make breakfast. She is trying to put out a small grease fire that had started. From the looks of it, she was trying to make bacon. I am getting the feeling that she has never really cooked breakfast. Now that I think about it I don't think she has ever cooked a day in her life, because from the looks of it she almost burnt down her own house.
"Here let me help you with that."
I grab the sack of flour off the counter and throw some on the fire. The flames go out and I grab the pan, place it in the sink. I chuckle to myself as I watch burnt bacon float to the top as water fills the pan. I turn around and faced my aunt Emmy. "I'm just going to take a wild guess here, but have you ever cooked before?"
She frowns at me as she smacks me on the arm.
"Is it that obvious?"
We both laugh at the mess in the kitchen.
"Ugh, I just wanted to give you a good breakfast before you left for school."
She frowns as she starts to clean the mess. I fill the sink with hot water and start throwing all the dirty dishes.
"You know I would have been fine with just a bowl of cereal or frozen waffles." I say.
She rolls her eyes at me and takes over washing the dishes. I step away from the sink and grab two bowls out of the cabinet. I walk over to the pantry and grab a box of cereal. I grab the milk out of the fridge and pour the cereal in a bowl.
"Do you want me to pour you a bowl as well?" I ask her as she finishes up with the last of the dishes.
"Yeah sure, again I'm sorry. Now I feel bad, you made me breakfast and I couldn't even do that for you." She pouts as she joins me at the table.
I laugh at the way she pouts her lips, it reminds me of how Holly looked when she would pout. I am hit with a wave of sadness; I hate not knowing if she is dead or alive.
"Are you ok?" Emmy asks.
I look back down at my bowl and move the cereal around in the milk.
"Yeah, I'm fine, so since you're not a five star chef, would you like it if I cook dinner for us?" I ask her quickly.
I am not really in the mood to talk about Holly right now. She huffs at me as she scrunches up her nose. Another little quirk Holly use to have.
"Jeez rub it in my face why don't you!"
I force a laugh, so she won't think anything is wrong.
"Well if you insist on making dinner, you're more than welcome."
I smile back at her as she pours milk into her bowl.
"Oh, you should invite Jane and Adrian. I don't mind having them over." She adds.
"Well, Jane might like to come over, but I don't think Adrian would. I'm not exactly his favorite person right now."
She frowns at me.
"Now before you think I did something wrong I didn't. For some reason, he doesn't like me, and I'm just trying to figure out why."
"Well it's not really your fault; he doesn't trust people so easily. Just give him time and he will come around, but I still think you should invite him over. I'm pretty sure Jane could get him to come."
I just nod my head and look at my bowl of cereal. I am thinking about Jane's plan to help me to get Adrian to fall for me. I still believe it would just be easier to just tell him how I feel, but I think about his boyfriend, Hector. According to Jane, he is really in love with him, how could I ever stand a chance against him?
I push away my bowl having lost my appetite thinking about how Adrian could be with someone who would never be seen with him in public. To be with a guy that treats him like crap in front of his friends.
"What's wrong with you?"
I look up at aunt Emmy staring at me. I had forgotten I am in the same room as her.
"Nothing is wrong." I say as I go back to my previous thoughts.
However, I could feel aunt Emmy staring at me still.
"What?" I ask her.
"You like him, don't you?" She states happily.
There is really no use in trying to deny it, I am sure you could see it on my face. I nod my head as she squeals with delight. I can't help, but laugh at how excited she is by this.
"But I would hold my breath, it seems he is quite happy with his boyfriend, or secret asshole boyfriend as Jane likes to call him." I scowl at the thought of Adrian with another guy.
"Ah yes Hector," aunt Emmy says.
"So, he talks about him then?"
"No, I heard this from Jane, she isn't too happy about Adrian being with him. I don't blame her. I would feel the same way, but it's his life. If he wants to be in a secret relationship that is his choice."
"Well, I think he can do so much better."
"You ever plan on telling him how you feel?"
"I don't think it would even change his opinion of me."
"You shouldn't be so quick to give up just yet like I said give him time to trust you."
The doorbell rings.
"Well, I guess that is my ride. I will see you later aunt Emmy." I grab my bag, wave goodbye to my aunt, and open the door to find Jane.
"Morning Jesse," she says excitedly as she hugs me.
"Morning Jane, you're a morning person aren't you?" She giggles at me and loops her arm around mine.
"Ah, Jesse it's just a wonderful day today!"
I frown at her, I have a feeling she is up to something.
"Well let's go, Adrian will leave us if we take too long."
We walk to the car, I head to the backseat, but Jane stops me.
"No, you can ride shotgun. I'll take the backseat." She opens the backseat door and gets in, now I am certain she is up to something.
I open the door and get in. "Morning Adrian, how are you doing on this fine morning?"
He turns to stare at me, it is clear he isn't too happy about me being here. "I'm fine," he says as he places the car in drive and takes off.
The ride to school is filled with Jane's nonstop chatter. Adrian pulls up to the school parking lot and places the car in park.
"Thanks for giving me a lift to school, so I guess if one of you don't mind showing me around to my classes I would greatly appreciate it." I say.
I know it is probably going to be Jane who is going to show me around. There is no way Adrian is going to want to get stuck with me.
"Adrian can show you, your schedule is the same as his." Jane says.
I can see Adrian is clenching his jaw. I would hate to be Jane right now.
"No that is find I think I can just find my classes on my own. I don't want to bother Adrian anymore." I say as I hear Adrian sigh.
"It's fine. I can show you around." He deadpans; I am a little shocked he would agree. He gestures for me to follow him as I wave goodbye to Jane and she mouths good luck to me.
I spend the day following Adrian around, he says very little to me. It is what I expect from him, but now we are in our final class of the day. Unfortunately, it is gym class, I'm not really looking forward to it, but it turns out to be alright. Adrian leads me to the locker room to change, as we are changing a group of jocks walk in, most of the kids scramble as they make their way to where Adrian and I stand. I hear Adrian mumble something under his breath. I look back to the guys and try to figure out which one is Hector.
"So you're the new kid, what are you doing hanging out with this loser?" The guy asks.
"I would rather hang out with him than with some dumb jock." I respond back.
The guy clenches his jaw, okay might have not been the smartest idea to piss off a guy who outweighs me by a hundred pounds. The guy walks up to Adrian and shoves him into the lockers. He yelps out in pain as his head hits first.
"Hey, assbutt leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you."
Adrian looks at me, it almost looks like he wants to smile, but it disappears when the guy shoves him again.
"Look here newbie, if I were you I would just back off. This little faggot isn't worth getting your ass kicked."
I look at the other guys and notice one with an uneasy look on his face; I am betting that he is Hector. My blood starts to boil; he just stands there and watches as his friends bully the guy he likes. I am not just going to stand here and let that happen.
I push the guy with all my might against the lockers.
"Hey asshole! He is my friend and if some jerkwad thinks it is okay to mess with my friend then, I guess we have a problem." I stare at the guy, he is beyond pissed. I might have gotten a bit over my head, but I don't care. Adrian doesn't deserve to be treated this way.
"Oh you are dead newbie!" The guy yells at me as he hurls himself at me.
I sidestep to the side in time for him to crash into the lockers. He lets out a growl as he grabs me and pins me to the locker. He punches me in the jaw, I am not going down without a fight. I do the only thing that I can do. I bring my knee up to his groin.
"Ah fucking little shit!" The guy yells at me as he falls to the ground.
"I told you not to mess with me." I say as I turn back to Adrian, he just stares at me with a surprise look.
I turn back to look at the guy on the floor, he is crying out in agony. He deserves more, but I don't want to push my luck.
"Come Adrian I think we should get going."
I pick up my bag and walk past the group of jocks, as I pass by Hector I bump into him on purpose. He frowns at me, I could see in his eyes he wants to hit me, but holds back. Most likely for Adrian, if he thinks we are friends, he is not going to hurt me. We walk out of the gym and head to the parking lot.
"You know you just made the biggest mistake of your life?" Adrian says as we get into his car.
"I don't care. I wasn't going to stand by and watch you get bullied. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I did?"
"We aren't friends." Adrian says.
"Well, I would like to be friends if you would just let me."
"Why do you want to be my friend?"
"Because I find you interesting." And because I really like you, of course I keep that comment to myself.
"There is nothing interesting about me."
"That's what you think." I smile at him.
He looks away, and if I'm not mistaken I believe I just made him blush.
"Well thank you for standing up for me, even if it wasn't the best thing to do. You realize you just made yourself a social outcast now." Adrian says.
Truth be told I don't care, as long as I have him and Jane as my friends I don't need any other friends.
"Like I said I don't care."
Adrian reaches out and touches my jaw where I got punched. His fingers lightly brush the bruise that is forming. I hiss out in pain as he pokes at it. "Sorry, you should really put some ice on that to help with the swallowing." He says as he takes his hand away from my face. "Well, I should take you home so you can put ice on your jaw."
"What about Jane, don't we need to wait for her?"
"No, she stays after school on Mondays."
I nod my head as Adrian takes off.
When he pulls up to my aunt's house, I step out and ask him, "hey, do you want to come in?" I am hoping he will say yes, it will give me a chance to get to know him better.
"No, I'm sorry I have something I need to take care of, but thanks for offering."
"Okay, maybe next time, well, I'll see you tomorrow at school. Thanks for the ride."
"No problem, I'll be here at the same time to pick you up." He says.
I smile and wave at him as he pulls out of the driveway. Well, I might not have been able to get him to stay, but I think I am slowly getting him to trust me; he might even start to like me as well. Yup, the punch to the face is totally worth it, just now I have to come up with a good excuse for my aunt. I don't need her thinking I am getting into fights on the first day of school.
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