Chapter 9: Heartbroken but Okay!

(Andy's POV)

"Give me a sec, please." I got up from my seat and went outside to make a brief call. The night breeze chilled my pores. My conscience felt bad toward George. I knew I had done something wrong and couldn't wait to mend it.

The phone rang a few times before I could hear George talk in a rather hoarse voice, "What is it, Andy?"

"Hey, George. About our plan, it totally slipped my mind and I didn't check my phone. It was on silent. I'm sorry, man. Hope you can forgive me." Apologetic expressions that George couldn't see splattered across my face.

George didn't seem to be too irritated at this point. In fact, his slight annoyance when he picked up the call had disappeared after hearing my explanation. He still replied casually, in a more relaxed tone this time, "Where were you? I waited for half an hour at the school gate, but you never showed up." My mind rewound to a few hours ago. As soon as the bell rang, I took about 3 minutes to check myself out in the bathroom, dashed to the school gate, and came up to Luke who was already there by then.

Suddenly, the air didn't feel cold anymore as I was overcome with dilemma. If I told him the truth, would he suspect my sexuality and figure out that I was pursuing Luke? But if I hid it and he found out later somehow, I didn't think it would lessen the suspicions either.

I decided to play it cool if that meant barricading my biggest secret. In my mind, I kept on chanting that I was having a normal day out with Luke, to convince myself of the idea and act out realistically. "I went to hang out with Luke. Nothing much." My mindset, that was built upon this idea, had generated another distracting excuse. "I wanted to ask Luke about my friend, who had the same surname as him. Turns out they're cousins. Cool coincidence, eh?"

Silence . . . was all I got. I mentally counted each second to help me pass time.

A few moments passed. "Oh . . . Cool," was his answer. It made my jaw muscle tic because of the unusual lack of expression.

For some reason, I was pissed. "What? Are you angry with me? I've apologized!"

"You ghosted me and went out to have fun with someone else, Andy, and I'm not mad. Lower your tone and stop assuming things. Else, I might start to get mad." George was unreadable today. I was starting to get anxious because I couldn't see the expressions he was wearing. "Do you have anything else to say? If not, I gotta go."

Beep. I ended the call out of frustration, without saying a word or answering his question—it was rhetorical anyway. Something about that call had made me feel unreasonably restless. Perhaps it had to do with George not being his usual self? Or maybe because the call didn't end up as I expected it to? Then again, what was my expectation?

Scratching my head, I decided to shrug it off and go back inside. Luke was waiting for me.

Luke stopped texting once I went inside. We chit-chatted for another fifteen minutes and called it a day.

I was holding back the biggest urge to ask him about his sexuality because at this point, I was afraid that I'd be revealing too much indicative emotions. For now, I'd rather be curious than sorry, especially after what happened with George. Luke hadn't shown any particular interest in males so far, but so did I; yet I was damn sure 100% about my homosexuality. Other than his naturally feminine posture and countenance, probably due to ballet, there wasn't any obvious signs.

. . . until now.

"Are you free tomorrow?" Luke asked me as we were about to part ways.

My mouth fell open in shock. He wanted to go on another date? And I thought today couldn't get any better.

"Yes!" I chanted almost too enthusiastically. My insides instantly performed rhythmic dances.

Luke gave me a sweet smile. "Thanks for today, Andy. I had a great time talking to you. See you tomorrow. I'll text you the time and place."

And with that, he left me staring blankly at his back until he disappeared.

***

(The next day; Saturday . . . )

A series of weird dream had woken me up earlier than usual; nothing sexual though . . . unfortunately. I couldn't precisely recall but George and Luke were in it. Hopefully, I didn't anger George in my dream. Sarcasm.

Hitting my head with my wrist, I wished I went back to normal. My normal; like when I was back in the countryside. Free, without a care in the world. Nowadays, I seemed to dwell on unimportant matters. I gasped. Am I slowly becoming like them? (author's note: the city kids)

My bed was unmade when I left my room, took a refreshing shower, got dressed up, put on some hair gel, ate breakfast, and did the dishes. Minutes later, my mom came out of my room with a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other.

"Andy!!!!! I've told you multiple times already to make your bed before you leave, you little brat!! Do it now!!!" My mom yelled, showcasing her tyrannical personality, as opposed to my dad's.

"Darling, please don't shout at Andy." My dad chimed in. He rushed to me and rubbed my shoulders. "It's okay, Andy, my son. Just do as she says and she won't get mad at you. Don't worry, little boy, daddy'll protect you."

I patted my dad's back while trying to hold back my smile. Poor fella had always thought that mom scared me when I thought she was funny, or mostly didn't think at all.

"That is exactly why," mom's broomstick hit my butt as she spoke, making me flinch, "Andy is so timid! You spoil him too much, honey!"

Despite the tension and personality clash, my parents were actually quite romantic. They couldn't live without each other's presence and rarely fought. Only thing that made mom tick was dad's treatment toward me that was deemed too doting. She blamed my 'timidity'—or what you'd call 'indifference' in a normal dictionary—on my dad's upbringing. They both had no idea how timid I really was at school, so much that I became the teachers' enemy in one week.

I went back to my room to make my bed. Suddenly an idea popped into my head. A quick peek into the dining table showed my parents eating breakfast together. I sneaked into my parents' room and searched for dad's perfume. I had never worn perfume in my entire life and the idea would have made me chuckle with derision a few months back. But now, as I held my breath, feeling somewhat ashamed, I sprayed my dad's perfume all over my outfit and ducked out of their room at the speed of lightning.

***

Glancing at my cheap wristwatch that my dad got as a congratulatory gift from his coworker had almost made me nervous. Almost, I said. Only things that could make me break a sweat would be sport and the smell of my sweet, sweet secret against the door of disclosure.

You might think that it would be impossible to guide the door to my secret with me going on a date with Luke (author's note: pffft I can't with how confident Andy is!) at the crowded city center, with some baseless rumor of Luke being gay and the fact that we could be seen by anyone from school. However, I had my preparations ready to dodge the bullet if rumors were to spread.

I used up the waiting time to practice several bullet-dodging scenarios in my head, each one of them to perfection. By nature, I wasn't a very careful and calculated guy, but I really wanted my date with Luke to be seamless, without anyone potentially jeopardizing our relationship. Therefore, certain measures had to be taken.

From a distance, I saw a glimpse of Luke promenading the bustling city streets, heading toward our meeting point that I was standing at. My heart skipped a beat seeing him in a retro-style clothing, with a cute beret cap on his platinum blonde hair that was almost silver. I looked down to study my apparel that consisted of a plain, dark grey shirt, and a pair of worn out blue jeans; just about passing the bare minimum to being decently dressed. My figure made it pass if I had to say honestly.

As I was busy admiring Luke from afar, I noticed that his hand was intertwined . . . with another person's. My heart dropped to the ground when Luke and the mystery man stopped in front of me.

"Hey, Andy! Have you been waiting?" His words were incoherent in my ears. They made no sense. I couldn't stop staring at their interlocked fingers. "This, um, this is my boyfriend, Trace."

. . . This is my boyfriend, Trace . . .

. . . . . My boyfriend, Trace . . .

. . . . . . . My boyfriend . . .

. . . . . . . . . Boyfriend . . . !!!

I finally snapped out of it, but the lump that formed in my throat made it hard for me to swallow. My mind was a tangled mess. Before I knew it, I found myself grinning at them without conscious thought or volition.

"Hi, guys. I'm sorry but I've been wanting to take a dump so badly for the past 15 minutes but kept holding on in case you arrived while I was gone. I'm gonna head to the restroom real quick! See ya!"

I heard the other guy—what was his name again?—laughed, followed by Luke's giggles, as I ran away from them as fast as I could. At least I left them with something to talk about.

Once I arrived at the bathroom, I went straight to a cubicle and locked it.

I let a drop of tear escape from each eye. I cried but then I also smiled at the same time, because it was ironic, and I was so pathetic . . .

. . . How I thought I would have a chance with Luke since he was rumored to be gay while totally forgetting that the smoke itself started because he was kissing a guy from another school—one lucky, fcking bastard.

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Author's note:

Hi, readers! How's it going? *0*

Thank you for taking your time to read this chapter, and as usual, I hope it entertains you! I want to know how you feel about this chapter. This is by far the saddest chapter in ABS. I feel like Andy needs a reality check since his head's been high up in the clouds lately. But don't worry, I shall keep this story light and (I'm trying~~) humorous. I won't let Andy get depressed for longer than one chapter because Andy is . . . well, Andy~  >0<

Please vote if you think this chapter deserves it and leave a comment down below to boost my writing energy. Lastly, once again, thank you for reading. See you on the next update super soon!~