Falling Hard

Another Round

As much as I loved video games, I couldn't stay focused. I was having a hard time keeping my player's health bar high. I was so worried Brandon was looking at me. Though how could he if he was playing the game with me?

I set the controller down in front of me, my character stopping and looking around. I looked over at Brandon, who was lying on his side, facing me.

"What?" He asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Did you really mean what you said?"

He held my gaze before nodding.

I took a deep breath and laid down on my back. "Are things weird to you now?"

"Why would they be?"

"You kissed me and said you liked me and... I don't know. I just feel..."

"I shouldn't have," He said softly.

"No." I said firmly.

He met my gaze and for a moment, neither of us said anything.

Brandon was my best friend and I couldn't bare the thought of us not being friends if something more didn't work out. All those years of hanging out and cracking jokes would have been for nothing. Or... mostly nothing, anyway.

"What's on your mind?" He asked in a whisper.

"What if we try and it doesn't work?"

"Who says it won't?" There were many factors that could cause any relationship to not work between us. His mother wasn't one but my parents were. My parents were a huge one. My dad was against gays which was the exact reason I never came out to him. My mother knew but to an extent. She said she didn't want to know the details but she never said anything to anyone.

People in school would be just as cruel as my father. Though coaches didn't delve too much into their players' lives, Brandon would face backlash regardless. People would find out and tease him. I could care less what they thought of me, especially since I was basically out already. Brandon didn't know how mean people could be when they disagreed with you.

I turned toward him and we were almost touching. I made a point to pull my feet back, trying so hard not to touch him. If we did, who knew what that could turn in to? "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Maybe I want to get hurt."

I shook my head.

He put a finger against my lip as if we were five. "I don't care about that. I don't care about anyone else."

I stared at him, trying to understand why he was doing this. Telling the whole school, inadvertently, would only make them hate him and might even ruin his basketball career. Any chance of going to a good college on a scholarship would be destroyed. Was he really willing to give that up for me?

He inched closer to me and pressed his lips to mine. My breath stuck in my throat and I was frozen in my spot. I couldn't move an inch as he kissed me.

His lips curved into a smile as he pulled back. "Will you go out with me, Angelo Flores?"

I bit my lip. We were taking a huge risk dating. Brandon didn't seem to understand that or if he did, he chose to ignore it. I couldn't expect people to understand our feelings for one another. I couldn't let everyone's feelings towards us dating hinder us from being together. If I liked Brandon and he liked me, why couldn't we be together?

"Okay. Yes. Yes." I stammered, my cheeks filling with blush.

He kissed me once again. This time, however, he noticed me nervousness and sudden freeze up. He pulled back, grabbing my hand from my side and putting his on his side. "Kiss me back, you idiot."

Laughing, I did just that. I had to get over my nerves sooner or later and I wanted that to be sooner. I pressed my lips to his, a bit awkwardly at first. I felt like we'd kissed each other a lot though it was only three times so far. Maybe it was because I knew Brandon so well. It was weird that I could know so much of him yet there were new parts, like his lips, that were unfamiliar territory.

"You're a good kisser, you know."

"So are you."

He laughed. "Thanks." He was leaning in for another kiss when I heard a car pull up outside. I pulled back immediately.

"My dad's home." I mumbled.

His fear slowly erased and he sat up as well. He kissed me once on the cheek, very quickly, before grabbing his controller again. "Another round? And this time you pay attention?"

I elbowed him. "You're on."