Chapter 23: The Shy Stage
Mason and Mark struggled to figure out how to act after their date. Mason had been in an odd state, not fully there when he got back. He spoke and heard but could not listen to his parents. He was just in shock with everything that happened.
The next day, when he got those familiar messages from group chats, all he could think about was not being able to tell anyone. His fingers itched to interrupt their talk about shirtless guys or which celebrity to say 'hey, I went out with Mark last night!' But Mason didn't want to expose Mark like that without knowing how he felt about it. Funny enough, he and Mark had never discussed whether they should tell everyone about what they're doing or not.
And Mason texted Mark as well—it would have been hard not to when Mark was on his mind. They messaged each other for nearly three hours. But, comparing their messages to how they messaged months earlier, it was obvious that something was different.
Hours after they had stopped texting, while munching on a bowl of cereal as a snack, Mason finally realized what it was. They were awkward.
At first, it was hard for Mason to imagine this. Sure, he could get weird around Mark but Mason was generally a very social guy so texting and not having to stare at his beautiful face should have been great for Mason. And, Mark was cool in any situation. So for Mason to realize that even he was hesitating before he sent a message or holding back on a joke.
Still, Mason thought he may have been wrong. It was his close friend Mark who he was talking about. Then, the next day came and Mason ran into Mark in front of the building for their class.
At first sight of Mark walking up to the door from the parking lot—he must have gotten the car that day—Mason froze. A rush of insecurity hit him like a wave and he nearly tripped over his own feet. Should he walk over and wave, give him a hug, or just ignore him like he'd been for the last few weeks?
Mason's steps slowed as he thought of this but he and Mark still ended up at the front door at around the same time. When Mark looked up, Mason saw a similar mixture of emotions on the other boy's face. Mark avoided Mason's eyes like the plague, choosing to stare at Mason's shoulders instead when they spoke.
"Morning, Mason."
"Good Morning, Mark."
The words were said through tight mouths and nervous eyes. They stood in front of the door for another moment, unsure of what to do next. Even when Mason was pissed with the boy in front of him, he knew what to say to him. Now, the words never came.
And, based off of the fact that nothing was leaving Mark's mouth, he was probably dealing with the same thing. Mason was truly shocked to see that his theory was true. Mark was nervous and awkward.
Mason cracked a genuine smile, thinking about how odd this was for Mark. He imagined that Mark was internally panicking at feeling anything but confidence in that moment. Mason went as far as laughing behind his hand, chuckling at his own joke.
Without knowing what Mason was laughing about, Mark began to smile as well.
He would never admit it to Mason, but he'd been really nervous about seeing him today. Mason was the type of guy to get really in his head about things, and Mark thought he would have to do some damage control today in calming him down. After getting a taste of what things could be like for them, Mark knew he didn't want it to stop.
It was such a relief to see that Mason wasn't pulling away and was instead laughing. For what reason, he didn't know. Still, it eased some of the tension between them and for that, Mark was grateful.
Mark opened the door for Mason and watched as Mason continued to chuckle all the way into the building.
"What's got you laughing so much?" He asked, following behind the darker boy.
Mason turned to Mark with a smile, a warm expression on his face.
"I'm . . . not sure that I should tell you." While Mason continued to smile, Mark could visibly see how unsure he was on his face.
Mark didn't press it further. He wanted to ask and probably would have under any other circumstance. But this was different, special.
To ease some more of the tension, Mark smiled again.
"That's alright." Was Mark's simple response.
The awkward silence that followed was so loud, neither of them felt they could break it.
They barely spoke to each other until the lesson started, most conversations ending similarly to how the first one did. There were no hard feelings between them, just an odd air that refused to leave. And it wasn't just nerves, Mason acknowledged after he and Mark had accidentally caught eyes and looked away just as quickly. It was the fear of the unknown. Their friendship had been built on rules and agreements never explicitly admitted but always known. They knew how to greet one another and what to say when one failed on a test and wanted comfort. But those kisses and that date had shifted that balance. It was as if Mason had finally realized it.
Mason looked at Mark then. He wondered why Mark was so off kilter that day and if it was for the same reason. Mason thought that if the roles were reversed, he would have wanted Mark to reassure him that everything between them was fine. So that's what Mason did.
"You know, I don't regret what we did." Mason admitted softly, eyes drilled to the floor. "At all. Actually, I'm excited for what's coming next."
Mason had to force himself to look into Mark's eyes and see his reaction. Mason was rewarded for his efforts by the sight of the cutest grin on Mark. It wasn't very big but it paired with the blush in the other boy's cheeks was priceless.
"Yeah, me too."
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"When you go into the professional workplace, it is imperative that you understand how to read, understand, then relay important information about your patients." Mrs. Lorraine said with a firm tone. "That is why you should all take this next lesson very seriously. It is going to be on medical shorthand."
Mrs. Lorraine Adams seemed even more serious than usual, the slight curl up at the edges of her mouth nowhere to be seen. Mason speculated that it was due to a bad mood but Mark thought she was just serious about this topic. Mark had told Mason this with a couple of scribbled words on the corner of his paper.
Both of them listened to the lesson attentively, taking it very seriously for their age. But, every once in a while, one of them had a joke or comment they just had to share. Conversations were had over the corners of their papers instead of through whispers. Mark was the one to come up with it, writing his dumb joke down so Lorraine wouldn't realize Mason was covering his mouth because of Mark.
Mason knew that Mark had done it out of necessity, no longer feeling as comfortable whispering into Mason's ear. But, he wished that they had done it sooner. It made it so much easier to appear like perfect students while also making fun of the way Lorraine Adams says insurance.
"Alright, if you look into your work book, you'll see that you'll be dealing with some more medical abbreviations." Mason already had the right page open, so he just waited as everyone else in the room did the same. "There are about fifty phrases in there that you'll have to translate into their full meanings. I showed you some during my presentation but the rest you'll need to find yourself online. Good luck."
Mason pulled the worksheet a bit closer, taking a quick look at a couple of the abbreviations he saw: a.c, DOA, KUB? It was pure gibberish. Mason had written down the abbreviations from the presentation but like Ms. Adams had said, they barely made up an eighth of the ones on the list.
So, Mason got to work. He went back and forth from his phone to the paper, trying to get these problems done as soon as possible. Mason worked silently for a while, utterly focused on the task. But, as time passed, the boredom began to kick in. Mason couldn't help his mind from wandering and more often than not, it began to wander to the boy next to him.
Mason took a small peak Mark's way, curious to see what he was doing. To his surprise, he found Mark already looking at him. Mark's hand had been frozen on his paper and his phone had slipped down between his legs while his eyes stayed trained on Mason.
Mason's first instinct was to look away, ignoring the fact that they had looked at each other in the first place. Instead, he acknowledged that they'd done it. Acknowledged the fact that they found each other attractive and had acted on it in the past. Mason looked Mark up and down then smiled.
Mark seemed surprised by how blatant Mason was. Mason had surprised himself as well. But, he liked the rush that went through him when Mark's eyes darkened in response. They didn't do anything else for a while, simply looking at one another silently.
Then, Mark did the unthinkable. He reached out and grabbed Mason's hand. Mason was unable to hide his surprise, his eyes going wide not only at the sight but also at the feeling of Mark's hand on his. It brought back a rush of memories, reminding Mason of the few times he was able to hold Mark's hand. But now, it wasn't him begging for the touch. It had been Mark.
Mason's cheeks grew warm and a shy smile curled the edges of his lips. He didn't know what to do, really, other than to hold on. Mark's eyes crinkled in a gentle expression and he smiled as well. Holding hands said so much and nothing at all in one heart stopping gesture.
Mason went back to his work, now having to navigate his phone and use his pencil all with his left-hand. But it was worth it because as question by question was completed, Mason could feel Mark's palm warming his own, the other boy's fingers entangled with his own.
Mason noted that he was past the halfway mark when he heard the screeching of a chair against the floor.
Both Mason and Mark looked up, startled to see Gabe suddenly making himself comfortable at Mason's left side. Mark's soft smile —which had been present for the past forty minutes— suddenly fell at the sight of him. Mason smiled, but it was a bit strained because he and Mark had been interrupted. Although Mason loved having the contact between himself and Mark, because he wasn't sure about where their relationship lay, he pulled his hand out of Mark's.
Mark didn't take this lightly. Every moment shared between him and Mason was important to getting the other boy more comfortable around him like this. But to have Gabe come along and be the reason why Mason wanted to hide what was going on made Mark more upset than he could say.
"Hey Mason." Gabe grinned, his hand sliding on to Mason's shoulder. "Mark."
Mark didn't greet Gabe. He didn't even say his name, and that didn't go unnoticed by any of them.
Gabe had been slacking off on his work as he usually did, silently watching his partner try to complete the boring work when he decided to look and see how Mason was doing. Gabe expected to find the cute brown-haired, warm-skinned boy silently working with a tense Mark beside him like usual. One could imagine his surprise when he found them huddled together, smiling, sharing looks, and holding hands.
Gabe watched them for several minutes, utterly confused at this turn of events. Never had he ever seen Mark so openly affectionate towards Mason, not even on the first day. Gabe had gotten accustomed to how tense things had been between them in recent weeks. It worked perfectly for Gabe to have the two of them on shaky ground.
It was harder for Mark to get in the way when he couldn't get close to Mason. But this, thinly veiled flirting between two supposed friends was not good. Gabe had a plan and Mark getting close to Mason was not a part of it.
So, Gabe left his seat, probably making his partner happy to not have his deadweight around anymore, and sat next to Mason. At the end of the day, you couldn't really fail this course, so Gabe wasn't doing anything wrong by interrupting Mason's work.
Plus, Gabe really loved the look of rage that appeared on Mark's face just at the sight of him.
"Hi, Gabe." Mason whispered, smiling kindly at the tall blond. "What are you doing here? Class is still going on?"
"When did we ever decide that we'll only talk once class is over?" Gabe asked a bit teasingly, leaning closer to Mason while he grinned. "I wanted to come over. I missed you."
Mason turned red, blushing at Gabe's blatant flirting.
"Oh my gosh, stop." Mason laughed, his cheeks continuing to warm as he spoke. "You better be careful with that mouth of yours. You don't want to give people the wrong idea."
Gabe's expression didn't change. Instead, he leant even further in.
"Who said you got the wrong idea?"
Mason's eyes grew wide as he heard the quiet husk in Gabe's voice. This was the first time the flirting had become serious and Mason didn't know what to do.
"Gabe-"
"Gabe Montgomery!"
Everyone in the room froze when Lorraine Adams' booming voice rang through the room. Gabe looked incredibly unfazed at this even when looking up and finding the woman staring right at him. Lorraine had yelled for a reason. The dark glare in her eye was no laughing matter. Mason shivered at having to be so close to her point of focus.
Lorraine held her stare for a beat longer before speaking again.
"You may not see this class as important, but I would appreciate it if you didn't bother other students that are actually trying to learn."
The message came across loud and clear. While the smug smile never dropped from Gabe's face, he removed his arm from Mason's shoulder and slowly made his way back to his own seat.
Mason grimaced as he watched Gabe go. Whether or not he'd enjoyed their conversation, he hated that anyone had to go through that embarrassment. Mason turned back to Mark, curious to see his reaction.
Mason wasn't sure whether he should have been surprised or not. Mark wore the smugest grin he'd ever seen on him. Mark was far too happy to have Gabe forced away from Mason. If Mark had things his way, this would happen everytime.
Mason shook his head with a silent chuckle. Mark really was too much.
With Gabe gone, Mark quickly took Mason's hand back into his own.
Good, Mark thought with a smile. Right back where it belongs.
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Honestly, I had this plan going in but now, I feel like I tossed half of it out the window.
I'm seriously debating changing the description for the third time because I might go in a different direction with this. If you guys are reading this for the boys, I think you'll be fine because either way it will be cute. But, we might take a different route to the cuteness.
But, we'll see how I feel moving forward.
Lol, sorry if that was super vague and more worrying than anything.
Anyhi,
Did you like that last section with Gabe?
I feel like it's important to remember that Gabe is the type of guy who always gets what he wants so he will be out here gunning for baby Mason.
Anywhore,
Vote, Comment, Share, Follow, anything else you can do with this book and I will see you in the next one. Bye!!!