I didn't know who he was, the boy Jack was kissing, but he had a look of pure fear on his face, which masked Jack's expression.
I looked between the two of them, back and forth, my whole body in shut down mode. I couldn't move and, although my mouth was open, I couldn't force myself to speak.
Suddenly, the boy I didn't recognise stood up from the bed and darted past me, out the room, barging into my shoulder. I barely felt a thing. I couldn't take my widened eyes away from Jack who's looked about as mortified as any average boy who got caught kissing another boy would.
"Lexi," Jack whipsered, his voice breaking.
"Jack, are you g-"
"No!" He yelled. He hurried over to me, looked outside the room to see if anyone else was around, then pulled me into the darkened room, slamming the door shut behind me. "That was not...what it looked like." His eyes were frantic, blaring into mine as if he could tear away the memory of what I had witnessed.
"You were just kissing a guy!" I held my arms out to the side. "So, yeah, that was what it looked like."
Jack winced. He took his eyes away from mine and ran a trembling hand through his bleach blonde hair. "It didn't mean anything."
"It didn't mean anything?" I moved my head so he had no choice but to look at my face. "Of course it did! It means that you're-"
He cut me off, his tone sharp and harsh. "Don't say it."
"Gay," I finished.
He winced again, tears forming in his eyes. I'd never seen Jack cry. "Please don't tell anyone," he whispered. "Please, Lexi. Especially not Seth and Freddy."
"Jack, how long have you kept this in?"
"It doesn't matter, just...promise me, okay? Promise you wont say anything," he demanded, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"I promise," I said.
He walked away from me, towards the door, but I gripped onto his arms and he flinched. I pulled him to me and wrapped my arms around him, giving him a hug. "I'm here for you," I whispered in his ear. "You being gay doesn't change anything. It only makes you stronger for not being afraid to be who you really are."
Jack said nothing, I could feel him sobbing as he gripped onto me. His hold was strong, like he'd kept his secret in for so long, too afraid to tell anyone, and now that someone knew - me - he just needed someone to comfort him, he needed someone to understand who he really was.
"You should've told me earlier," I said, pulling back to look into his eyes. "You know you can trust me, right?"
He nodded. "We made a deal, remember?"
I rolled my eyes. "You wouldn't admit it unless I found out myself."
He nodded again, sniffling from crying. "But I didn't want you to find out that way. I haven't told anyone. And I don't want anyone to know."
I nodded my head in understanding, my forhead creased with worry for him."Of course. Are you okay?"
He shook his head and closed his eyes for a second or two. "I don't really wanna...can we talk about this another time? I just..."
"Sure," I said, curving my lips into a smile. "I'll be here whenever you're ready to talk."
"Thank you," he said and took a deep breath. When he looked back at me, his eyes looked afraid, like he was just waiting for me to run off and tell everyone or make fun of him.
I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled again.
"Should we get back to the party?" I suggested.
He took another deep breath. "Yeah. Do you promise you wont-"
"I already have promised! Jack, I swear I'm not gonna tell a soul," I said, my eyes wide with the truth, I placed a hand on my heart.
"I'm sorry, I'm just...scared," he admitted, looking down at the floor with shame.
"Don't be," I said, rubbing his back. "You have nothing to be scared of, okay?"
After a long pause he nodded slowly. I moved my hand to his arm and guided him to the door, opening it so the pounding music blasted in our ears.
I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows.
He nodded again and we walked out of the room, towards the kitchen.
I realised that after seeing Jack's secret, it had sobered me up. A bit. I was still drunk, just not as much.
"There was something I was coming to tell you, by the way," I yelled into his ear as we dodged drunken girls.
"What?" He asked, biting his finger nail. He seemed distracted and it was obviously because he was afraid I was going to tell someone. I was a bit hurt by his lack of trust in me.
"Seth kind of asked me out," I said, biting my lip to hold back the world's biggest grin which was about to slip onto my face.
Jack's head snapped round to look at me, his face lighting up. "Are you serious?!"
I nodded really fast, my smile revealing my white teeth.
"What'd you say?"
I paused. "I kind of said...not right now?"
Jack stopped dead in his tracks. "You said what?!"
"Well, I never said no. I just said I thought it would be better if he asked when we hadn't been drinking," I said, suddenly realising it might not have been a good idea.
"Are you serious?!" He repeated, this time not as excitedly as the first time he had said it. He seemed almost disappointed. "What if he pussies out when he's sober then doesn't ask you?"
I opened my mouth to speak but paused. I hadn't thought of that. Would he do that to me? I frowned and looked down to the floor, a shadow crossing my face. "I don't know."
This time it was Jack's turn to comfort me. He put his arm round my shoulder and squeezed. "I'm sure he wont do that."
I gave him a doubtful look.
"I'll talk to him."
"You can't," I said. "He doesn't know I've told you."
Jack shrugged. "I'm sure he'll tell me. What kind of best friend would he be if he didn't?"
"I could say the same thing to you," I mumbled and Jack frowned. "Too soon?"
"Definitely too soon," he confirmed then we continued into the kitchen.
Jack removed his arm from my shoulder and walked a pace faster than me, his facial expression completely different than it was a few seconds before. His frown had turned into a gleaming smile, his percetly lined teeth on show, his eyebrows fully relaxed and his eyes lit up like a christmas tree.
I could see how he had managed to hide his sexuality from us for however long he had been hiding it.
Jack clasped Seth's shoulders as we neared our group, causing Seth's attention to turn to us. At first, his drunken eyes only met Jack's face until he spotted me standing behind him and his gaze focused on mine.
