The Play [BoyxBoy]

Jealous

D A M I A N

Dad cheated on Sarah. I tried to convince myself otherwise, that I was crazy— seeing things— but then, Dad leaned over and kissed her.

The car jerked, snapping me out of my thoughts. Both Gabriel and Kris let out a line of insults.

"Are you okay?" Skylar asked me.

"Are you worried?" I mocked.

His words from the other day pooled through my mind,

If you ignore problems, they won't go away— they'll just get worse.

I knew he was right yet I felt conflicted. On one hand, I could confront Dad and tell Skylar. On the other, I could continue being by Skylar's side. It was selfish.

What connection do we have besides being step-brothers?

Skylar doesn't like me, let alone enjoy my company— what if he's happy he doesn't have to deal with me anymore?

"We're here! Hurry!" Kris interrupted my internal monologue. "We only have so much time!"

"That happens when you buy your boyfriend's gift the night before his birthday." Gabriel turned off the car and Skylar and I slid out of the backseat.

"I'm scared, I really want Tyler to love it," Kris said.

"He loves you." Skylar grinned.

I resisted the urge to gag while Gabriel warned us about crazy drivers, ushering us inside the mall. The entire place was buzzing, laughter and conversations blurred into each other. The smell of mall food hung in the air.

It was a mystery how just a quick chat from Gabriel had convinced Teresa enough to let us drive two hours to the mall. I took a mental note to ask him about that later.

They cracked up about something that happened during school. I was quickly realizing I was the third, well, fourth, wheel.

Why did I even come?

Because Dad could be home, I reminded myself. Or worse, Sarah.

We cut through groups of people slowly— mostly because Kris couldn't help himself to every free sample offered and Gabriel's worst fear happened to be an escalator.

"Hot Topic!" Kris pointed to the store.

I cringed inwardly, remembering my short lived, emo phase from sixth grade. My cheeks heated up when Skylar smirked at me, probably thinking the same thing.

Kris headed to the back of the store and all of us stopped at the row of t-shirts on the wall. There were various choice to choose from, all the way from weird cartoons to Harry Potter to other shirts with celebrity faces printed on the front.

"Tyler likes Transformers?" Gabriel held out a shirt.

"Transformers?" Kris gasped, snatching it from him. "This is Voltron Legendary Defender!"

"That robot-thing does look like a Transformer," I agreed with Gabriel.

Kris pouted, turning back to the shelves. "Voltron's the first show Tyler and I watched together as a couple."