“Collie! Collie!”

                My bedroom door was flung open and older brother came into my room. I glanced up at him and rolled my eyes.

                Okay, big brother wasn’t exactly right. He was my fraternal twin brother, older by only 11 minutes.

                “Colin, I told you to quit barging into my room. Learn how to knock,” I told him annoyance, grabbing a shirt off my bed and pulling it on.

                He frowned at me curiously. “Are you going out somewhere?”

                “What, I’m not allowed to wear a shirt?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Now, what did you want?”

                “Oh yea! Ant and I are going to the movies. Do you want to come?” he asked.

                “As much as I love to be the awkward third wheel on your date, I actually am going somewhere right now,” I said, grabbing a comb off my dresser and running it through my hair.

                “Where are you going?” Colin asked suspiciously.

                I shrugged. “Just out.”

                “You’re going to hang out with that guy, aren’t you?” Colin demanded.

                “I’m going to hang out over to Emma’s house you moron,” I said.

                “Oh,” he said, blushing a little. “Well, I have to go pick up Ant now. I’ll see you later Collie.”

                He gave a small wave and disappeared out of my bedroom. I snickered and shook my head at my brother’s stupidity.

                He had been friends with Emma Redner for years, and yet he constantly forgot about Emma’s brother. He forgot she had a brother, he forgot her brother’s name, and, most importantly, he forgot her brother’s sexuality.

                I checked my appearance in the mirror quick before leaving my bedroom. I went upstairs and grabbed the car keys off of the front table.

                I left the house and hopped into the car, pulling out and taking off towards Emma’s house. I turned my music up, nodding my head along with some Tokio Hotel.

                A few minutes later, I pulled into Emma’s driveway and got out of the car. I rang the doorbell and waited until Emma had opened the door.

                “Hi Collie,” she said, stepping aside and letting me in.

                “Hey Emma,” I greeted, nodding at her.

                “I take it you’re here for Misha?” she asked. I could see the mixed emotion in her eyes. She was jealous, but happy for me at the same time.

                “Yea. Is he in his room?” I asked.

                “Yep. He’s up in his room. I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell asleep, though. If he did, feel free to come down to the living room and watch a movie with me,” she said, smiling at me as we walked out to her kitchen together.

                “Alright, can do. Thanks Emma,” I said.

                I turned and went through the dining room to the hallway. I went up the stairs and down the short hallway to Misha’s bedroom.

                I opened the door and stepped into his room. My eyes landed on Misha’s bed, where he was curled up fast asleep.

                “Oh Misha. You need to learn how to sleep at night,” I said with a sigh. I swear this boy had been an owl in his past life.

                I shut his bedroom door and winced as it made a louder noise than I had expected. My eyes shot to Misha.

                He moaned a little and shifted, slowly cracking his eyes open. He picked his head up and wiped at his mouth with the back of his arm, looking up at me.

                “Hey Collie,” he mumbled sleepily.

                “Sorry Misha. I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I said with a sigh. “I always forget that your door slams like that no matter how quietly you try to shut it.”

                Misha waved his hand dismissively. “No, don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t be napping in the middle of the day anyways. I won’t sleep at night if I do.”

                He sat and rubbed his eyes, stretching a little. He swung his legs around the side of his bed and ran a hand through his hair.

                “Sorry Collie. I forgot you were coming over today. I was reading and, well, you know how that makes me tired.” He sighed and shook his head. He shot me an innocent smile and shrugged.

                Misha Redner was one of those boys who had a confusing physical appearance that was sometimes cute and boyish, and other times drop-dead sexy. Just a few weeks shy of 20, Misha probably could’ve been a model if he had wanted to be.

                Misha attended college, but he only lived an hour away from the college, and was living off campus this year so he could work at a local clothes store. I had been hanging out with him quite a lot recently, though no one but Emma knew that.

                “Do you have work today?” I asked him, dropping into the chair in the corner of his room.

                Misha shook his head. “Nah, not today. I do tomorrow from 9 to 3, and I have class at 7. But if you want to hangout for a little after, we could grab dinner or something,” he said.

                I nodded at him. “Yea, dinner sounds good. I can have Colin drop me off at the store afterschool, if you want.”

                Misha smiled. “That would be great! Then I could just drive us right to dinner as soon as I got off of my shift. It would save us some time,” he said.

                Misha and I had this strange relationship between us right now. It was complicated, and I wasn’t even really sure what it meant. It’s why I refused to tell my brother who I was “talking” to.

                I had been hanging out at Emma’s house one day, and I had been a little down because Ant Andrews, whom I had been infatuated with for years, had finally come out and said he didn’t like me. Oh, I knew he had been obsessed with my brother. Everyone knew that. But I still been pretty bummed to hear it coming from his mouth.

                Emma had gone upstairs to shower quick before we went out to the movies. I had been sitting on the couch, wallowing in a rare fit of self pity.

                That’s when Misha had come downstairs and noticed me. He had asked me what was wrong, and I found myself spilling my guts about the situation to him.

                Ever since then, we had been hanging out almost daily, steadily growing closer and closer. I guess Misha was my kind-of boyfriend, in a way.

                But I still had such strong feelings for Ant. Still, Ant was dating Colin, and they were beyond happy together. No way in hell was I going to ruin that for either of them. So instead, I was trying to move on with Misha, who I was honesty developing more-than-friend feelings for.

                “Hey Collie?”

                I looked up at Misha curiously. “Yea?”

                “Are you ever going to tell Colin that I’m the one you’re hanging out with all the time?” he asked.

                “Eventually, yes. But right now, it’s none of his business,” I said.

                Misha laughed a little. “I find it amazing how much you love to keep to yourself. Emma told me that Colin tells you everything, but you tell him virtually nothing.”

                I shrugged. “I don’t have anything to tell him,” I said.

                “Not even about us? Because face it Collie; we’re not just friends anymore,” he said, meeting my eyes.

                I nodded at him. “I know. But it’s still none of Colin’s business. We don’t know what we are, Misha.”

                “Well, I know I’m hungry,” he said, standing up. He came over and offered me his hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet, not releasing my hand.

                We left his bedroom together and went downstairs to the kitchen. He gave my hand a quick squeeze before releasing it so he could search around the kitchen for food.

                “What do you want to eat, Collie? I’ll make anything you want,” he said.

                “I don’t care Misha. You’re the hungry one. Make what you want, you idiot,” I said.

                He pouted and stuck his tongue out at me. “Emma! Hey, Em!” he called.

                Emma wandered into the kitchen. “Hey Misha. I thought you had fallen asleep. What’s up?” she asked.

                “I did fall asleep, but Collie woke me up,” he said.

                “I said sorry!” I whined.

                Misha smirked and stuck his tongue out at me again. “Anyways, are you hungry? I’m going to make some food, and Collie is being stubborn and won’t tell me what he wants. So, the choice of food has fallen to you,” he said.       

                “Good to know your little sister is second best to Collie Archer. Just make quesadillas,” she said.

                “Hey, everyone is second best to me,” I said smugly.

                “Except quesadillas. Quesadillas are second best to no one. Oh, and me. I’m second best to no one,” Misha said, opening the refrigerator and pulling out stuff to make quesadillas with.

                “Misha, you’re almost twenty and you still live with your parents,” I reminded him.

                “Hey! I’m trying to find an apartment!” Misha said, pouting at me. “Now do you want me to make you food or not?!”

                “Yea, make me food. Because you’re my bitch.” I grinned as he pouted even deeper.

                “You’re such a jerk Collie,” Emma said, giggling as she watched us.

                “A hungry jerk. No food for you,” Misha said simply.

                “It’s okay Collie; I’ll make you food,” Emma said, going over to her brother and snatching the quesadilla stuff from him.

                “I’m the hungry one!” Misha said, trying to take the stuff back from Emma as she held it out of his grip.

                “Then promise that you’ll make Collie one,” Emma said

                “Fine, I’ll make Collie one,” he said, smiling happily as Emma handed him the stuff back.

                Emma winked at me as she left the kitchen to go back to the living room. I hopped up onto the counter and watched Misha as he got out the quesadilla maker and got to work.

                “I’m so hungry. Collie, can you get some ranch with celery to snack on?” Misha asked.

                I nodded and got off the counter, going to his refrigerator and pulling out celery and ranch. I chopped up the celery quick and put it on a plate, squirting a pile of ranch next to it. I returned to my place on the counter and dipped a piece of celery in the ranch, offering it to Misha.

                Misha opened his mouth and I put the celery in it. He bit down and we both laughed as a little ranch got on his bottom lip.

                I reached my thumb out and drew it across Misha’s bottom lip, pulling my thumb away and sucking the ranch off of it. I saw a little color enter Misha’s cheeks as he watched me.

                Hm, I wonder how Misha would react if I suddenly decided to kiss him. Would he be like Ant and kiss me back?

                Ant had such soft lips. Even just thinking of our kiss had my lips tingling. It had been so nice and natural and-

                Whoa, easy Collie. That was my brother’s boyfriend. Colin was happy and in love with Ant. No way in hell was I going to ruin that for either of them.

                And I certainly wasn’t going to kiss Misha. Not yet, at least. I was still trying to sort out my feelings for him and understand just where we were with our relationship.

                “Here,” Misha said, sliding a plate with a quesadilla on it towards me.

                “No way Misha. You’re starving. You eat it,” I said, pushing it back to him.

                “No. You eat it!” he said stubbornly, trying to slide it back to me.

                “Misha Redner!”

                “Collier Archer!”

                We glared at each other, trying to force the other to take the plate. Finally, getting frustrated, I snatched the quesadilla off the plate and shoved part of it into Misha’s mouth before setting it back on the plate.

                “There. Your mouth was on it. So it’s yours,” I said flatly.

                “But…but…Yea, no, I’m starving. I’ll eat it,” he said, taking a bite happily.

                “Don’t try to play the ‘oh I’m so unselfish’ act around me, Misha. If you’re hungry, then eat,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.

                “Wum fem da pit mum,” he said.

                “Swallow and repeat,” I said patiently.

                “I said: I’ll keep that in mind,” he said after swallowing down his food.

                Misha finished making the quesadillas and we sat down at the kitchen table together. Emma was eating in the living room, giving us our alone time.

                “So won’t Colin get suspicious when he drops you off at the store tomorrow?” Misha asked.

                I shook my head. “Nope. I’ll just tell him I’m looking for shorts and then going to the ice cream place next door to meet up with a friend,” I said.

                I checked the time and sighed. “I better head out soon, Misha.”

                Misha checked the time as well. “Yea, it’s getting pretty late.”

                He stood up and grabbed our now empty plates. He placed them in the sink and followed me to the front door.

                “Bye Misha. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.

                “Bye Collie. I can’t wait,” he said, giving me a shy smile that transformed him from drop-dead sexy to cute boy.

                He held out his arms to me and I moved into them, hugging him. He released me, slight color in his cheeks.

                He waved as I left the house. I got into my car and pulled out of the driveway, taking off towards my house.

                I parked in my driveway and got out, heading into the house. I tossed the keys back onto the table and started moving towards the stairs to head to my bedroom.

                “Collier!”

                I mentally groaned at the sound of my dad’s voice. I turned and went up the stairs and into the living room, where my parents were sitting together on the couch.

                “Where were you?” dad demanded.

                “I was at Emma’s house,” I said with a shrug.

                “Where’s Colin?” he asked.

                “He said he was going to the movies with Ant,” I said, already knowing where this was going.

                “Anthony Andrews,” my dad spat. “I hate that faggot.”

                “And I hate that word. So quit using it,” I said, trying to keep my patience with my homophobic parents.

                You see, Colin had talked to my parents about the whole homosexual sons with homophobic parents issue, and they had agreed to leave him alone for the moment. But they hadn’t made the same promise to me.

                Hell, I knew why they had agreed to leave Colin alone for a little. Because they thought that I had turned him into a homosexual. I come out as gay, and not long after, so does he. Obviously I tainted him. At least that’s what my parents thought.

                They had been getting meaner about the situation, taking it all out on me since they blamed me. But I could handle it. I never told Colin, and I never would. They weren’t as mean when he was around, and I was grateful for that. The last thing I needed or wanted was for Colin, or anyone for that matter, to worry about me.

                “Collier, do you swear you were at Emma’s house?” mom asked.

                “You can call Emma if you want to. I told you that’s where I’ve been hanging out lately,” I said in annoyance. Hey, I really was at Emma’s house. I just wasn’t there to see her. Not that mommy and daddy needed to know that little detail.

                “We believe you,” mom said.

                Bullshit. Great, Colin was the one out having sex with another boy, and I’m the one they don’t trust. Woo frickin’ hoo.

                “I’m going to my room now,” I said, turning to leave.

                “Collie, we know you’re still seeing a boy. We don’t approve,” dad said sternly.

                I turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. “I never denied seeing another boy. Because I am. And I really don’t care if I have your approval or not.”

                With that, I left the room and went down to the basement. I let myself into my bedroom and collapsed on my bed, letting out a sigh.

                “I am so sick of them,” I grumbled, rubbing my temples as a headache started to creep up on me.

                It was exhausting to put up with my parents and their homophobia. I had lost all my patience with them at this point.

                My phone buzzed and I snatched it off my dresser, opening the new text message. I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help the small smile that managed its way onto my face.

                From: Misha

                I can’t wait for dinner tomorrow Collie :) I’m going to use so many puns on you that you’ll rocket soda out of your nose and tell me you hate me <3 c;

                “You’re such a dork Misha,” I said to myself.

                But the small smile on my face grew a little wider. Yes, Misha was a total dork. But he was my dork. And while I still had feelings for Ant Andrews, my heart was fluttering at the thought of dinner alone with Misha tomorrow.

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A.N.- Okay, the title sucks, I know XD Haha, but I really wanted to upload the first chapter tonight! If you haven't read The Love Square, you should probably go read that first! c: But let me know what you guys think of the first chapter of Collie's story, and what you think of Misha! ^-^