Timmy McKenzie

"Nadia's being such a clingy bitch, like, I don't get it," Curt continues saying as he comes out of the bathroom wearing just his boxers with a towel around his neck. "Like she wants to talk before we go to bed at night, be the first to say goodmorning to each other every morning, dress alike and now even drive off to school together?" He looks at me like I'm supposed to be sharing the same amount to disbelief he's feeling and I widen my eyes a bit to humor him before looking back down at my collage book— I can't call it an album yet since it's kinda small and I have different ones. "Like what the hell?"

"I think," I start saying, speaking for the first time since he started rambling about his girlfriend at the bathroom. "That's what girlfriend and boyfriend do all the time."

"No, no," he shook his head, looking at my reflection on the mirror from where I was lying tummy down on his bed. "I dated tons of girls and they are not like this."

I do a half shrug, "different girls, different relationship behaviors."

He stops midway from entering into his walk-in wardrobe, turning to me with a confused frown. "So you don't agree she's clingy?"

"Oh, she's definitely clingy," I agree, nodding my head. "Driving to school together, pfft."

"I know," Curt yells before walking out of his wardrobe with our school uniform draped around his shoulders now. "She knows I don't do that. What going to happen to you when I do? I only let you into my car."

I just shrug, pretending the double flip my heart did didn't happen. I know that and I've heard him say it before, the reaction of my heart never gets old. I pull myself up, so I'm sitting on the bed, "so, just talk to her and solve the issue, that should work, right?"

"Um, no," he turns to me, now half dressed and buttoning his shirt. "Doesn't work, she just talks and talks and then we fuck. Oh, the other day, she wanted to do it without a condom?"

"Do what?" I ask, eye wide in alarm but refusing to believe it was what I thought.

He laughs, "damn, I so forgot to tell you, it was so hilarious. She was kinda begging for it... raw."

I jump off the bed, "what did you then do?"

He stopped, "isn't it 'what did you do then?'"

I wave him off, "answer."

"Of course I didn't do it," he is done dressing and is now running a brush through his hair. "I got turned off that she was asking even. We didn't do it that time anymore. Nadia is like my worst girlfriend, I'm tired of girlfriends."

I chuckle, dumping my collage book into my bag and walking up to him. "Tired of girlfriends? So you're going to boyfriends now?"

He wiggles his brows at me, "what do you say? I'd do great right?"

I shake my head, my hand finding his messed up tie around his neck. No matter how many lessons, Curt never learns how to tie his tie properly. "No, you would not, not when you're as straight as a pole."

"But if I wasn't..."

I fix the tie and looked into his hazel-gold eyes. The answer is right there, staring back at me. Even if it was true or not, to me, Curtis would do great in anything, including being a boyfriend. "Nope, not seeing it."

He chuckles, grabbing his bag as we walk out his room. "Whatever, I'm awesome in everything."

"I think your exes would disagree," I tell him, coming down to the empty living room and kitchen. It is the usual, the Salazar's were never here when we left or when we came back. The latter however except his junior siblings who hide out in their rooms all day anyway.

"They weren't awesome enough to match my frequency is all, their problem, not mine," I nod in agreement because I actually do agree with that and watch him walk into the kitchen and walk out with an apple and a bottle of water.

"No breakfast?"

"Nah, I'm good. Do we have lunch?"

I pat my bag, "as always."

He grins, "I love your mum, have I told you that?"

I pause to remind my heart that there's an r attached to the you. It isn't me. "Everyday." Curtis loves my mum because she packs us lunch everyday. Yes, I've tried packing him lunch too but I suck at anything kitchen related and that wouldn't make him any more bent than he is not.

We leave the giant Salazar house and Curtis locks up, hiding the key under the footmat with the words 'Home Sweet Home' inscribed on it. Then he slings his hand around my shoulder, unintentionally giving me a strong whiff of his cologne and body spray... I love it. I love it so much I once wore it but it still didn't smell as good on me as it did on him. It's like it's a Curtis Salazar scent. His hand left me when we reached his Hyundai, getting into the driver sit while I got into the other beside it.

Placing my bag on my thighs, I open it and pull out my camera, strapping it over my neck and shutting my bag back.

"I think I'm going to break up with her," Curtis says once we reach the road, a concentrating frown on his face.

"It's unsolvable?" I ask, not really surprised although I was giving it two more weeks.

"Yeah, the whole thing is creeping me out," he glances at me. "You know?"

I nod even though I don't know. I've never been in a relationship before, talk more of having someone clingy. "Yeah, should I be there?"

"Of course, save me when it looks like she's going to scratch my face off, okay?"

"Sure," I raise the camera up to my face, inches away from my glasses. A lady in her twenties is walking a cute Chihuahua dog... snap. I brought it back down to look at the picture. "Anything you need."

Curtis starts humming the song playing on the radio, then raises the volume up and soon enough he's bleating out Woman like me, by fifth harmony. I smile, raising my camera up to my face in a failed attempt to hide it. It's second nature to me now, I can't even stop it, it's automatic— I always find myself smiling whenever Curt starts singing anything, anything at all. I'm starting to think it's medically related at this point. I don't blame myself even, his voice is amazing. Like amazing amazing. It's too precious for just my ears and unfortunately, it's just my ears that get to hear them.

I turn to look at him and he remains oblivious, singing and bobbing his head to the song, absorbed in it. Fifty percent of the reasons why I always bring out my camera in the car with him is so I stay distracted with it and don't end up staring at him and drooling over his awesomeness. Times like this I fail and can't help it.

Curtis Salazar has been my best friend and soulmate since elementary school. My mom taught  and still teaches elementary students and teaches Piano. Curtis parents wanted him to have a lessons after school because according to them he was behaving too wild and needed to be tamed. They met my mum in school, yada yada happened and she was employed to be his piano and lesson teacher. Mom brought me along with her whenever she came and that's how we bonded. We would learn together, play together and sometimes even have sleepovers together. I became a part of their family and sometimes I even came over without my mum. Fate had it that we'd remain friends and we never got separated. My mom even got a house across the same street as theirs and that kinda sealed the deal.

Curtis and I grew up together, knowing each other inside out. Well, more him than me. There was nothing like lies and secrets between us until late into middle school when Curtis started talking about girls and all I wanted to talk about was him. I knew I liked guys quite early, lucky me but realizing I not only liked my best friend but was in love with him came a bit as a shock. I had my gay life crisis then and I tried everything, including cutting him off but nothing worked. That's when I started lying about my feelings, my taste in guys and the look in my eyes and that's the secret I have been keeping. Over the years I've gotten used to it, I might take the secret to my grave.

Curtis and I are so different though, it's a wonder how we're best friends. I am a short smallish Asian American guy with small eyes and round glasses and maybe big ears. My hair was boring plain black with bangs that hated me and did their own thing, my eyes were dark brown and my skin as pale as wet pasta. I am 5"6 with feet that I hated for no specific reasons. Curtis, however, is a 6"2 tall, European Mexican-American guy with perfect hazel eyes, amazing obedient soft dirty blond hair, long legs that could turn you on when clad in jeans and muscles befitting to a jock and a model worthy body. Curtis is everything one can ever want in a boyfriend and all this sixteen girlfriends can testify to it— six random hookups, both in town and out of town and ten girlfriends including the one he had now... Yup, I keep count.

Sometimes I hear people ask how we can be friends for so long given how different we are and I don't care, as long as Curtis doesn't either. He is a jock, playing hockey in school and I work for the school's paper. But unlike other jocks, Curtis is really smart and unlike the nerd I seem like, I'm not that smart. I just have bad eyes and like taking pictures.

We drive into the school, Glendale's High and you can tell even as an outsider that the school is filled with rich kids and fancy cars. I spot the purple Ferrari immediately Curt parks and it feels like a stone is dropped into my stomach just at the sight. Unfortunately it isn't anything new and I mask my reaction well enough. Around the car is Nadia and a group of other similarly looking 'beautiful' girls, their shiny hair and manicured nails nearly blinding me through my glasses.

I sigh to myself, already envisioning the drama that's bound to happen when Curtis breaks it up with her. He'd be getting five new enemies and four new ready to replace girlfriend position friends. I choose to keep my words to myself, opening the door and getting out, followed immediately by Curt. We turn to face each other with the car between us and he has a pout on his face.

I copy his expression and he chuckles, "I'd see you at lunch?"

I glance at the girls again, they had already seen him but I guess they were used to this kind of little time out and were patiently waiting for the right moment to pounce, "are you doing it via text or in person?"

He frowns, "in person. Via text is easier but she'd still ambush me for more explanations anyway. And I'm a gentleman."

I roll my eyes, "sure you are." Raising my camera up, I take a picture of him, he raises a peace sign up as if knowing it what I was going to do in advance. I don't bother looking at him again before walking away, "see you."

"Curtis!" I hear the shrieks and the heels on gravel stone ground but I don't dare turn around pretending to be so engrossed in the picture I just took. It is worthy of being engrossed in afterall.

"Hey Liu McKenzie," Billy says, throwing her arm around me at the same time that Jethro did too. Billy and Jet were the friends I made from working for the school paper, aka my co workers and only people I talk with in school except Curtis. They were the real nerds, complete geniuses.

"You know that makes up his entire surnames and not his name, right?" Jet asks like he always.

"Yes, I do, Nathaniel," Billy answered, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Why do you like calling people by their surnames?"

"Because I can," she shakes her head at him. "Why do just you have a problem with it?"

"I just do, it's just weird."

"Ha."

I tune them out, checking out the different shades I could try out on Curtis's picture.

*

"Let's get chilli," Billy says as we walk into the buzzing cafeteria. Another reason why we're friends is because we basically have all classes together and spend all day in school together. "I heard the new lunch lady is Cuban and inna illai, Cubans really know their dishes."

"If it's beautiful enough, do you think she'd let me take a picture of it?" I ask them, perking up.

Jet rolls his eyes, "that's if you care to look away from the camera look enough to see the food. How do you hear delicious chilli and the first thing that comes into your mind is taking a picture of it?"

I shrug as we join the food line, "food is like the most beautiful thing ever."

"Especially in your mouth?" Jet teased and I shake my head.

"No and yes, everyway. Food is art," I tell him, nodding my head slowly like that's going to make him get point better.

"You can't be serious right now!" A female voice screams, cutting right through the dominant noise buzz of the cafeteria, overthrowing it. Everybody turns to the direction and my eyes widen when I see that it's Nadia, her golden blond hair seeming to stand on all ends.

"Oh uh," Billy says, moving closer to me. "Seems like your bestie is causing a stir up in some poor girl's heart."

"Again," Jet adds, crossing his arms in front of him.

This isn't going to be an easy one, I say to myself, watching how uncomfortable Curt looks already and how ready to kill his now ex girlfriend looked.

"I'm very serious," Curtis says, standing up too and we barely heard his voice but the cafeteria is that silent you can hear a pin drop. "It's over."

"Oh that's how you are?" Nadia screams again. "Is that really how you are, you slimmy fuck? You disgusting piece of shit, we loved each other!"

Curtis jaw twitches, I can tell he didn't understand why she is exaggerating and throwing insults, I didn't either. Breakups aren't that hard and uncommon, especially to Curtis Salazar. "Oh my God Nadia, stop being so extra. We've only been together for three weeks."

"Yes and there's already proof of our love," Nadia screams out and burst out crying. The cafeteria remains silent.

Proof of their love? What the hell is that?

"What are you talking about now?" Curtis groans out.

"I'm saying I'm pregnant!" She screams again, hand on her tummy. "I'm carrying our baby, Curt." A collective gasp rings through the room.

I am not that smart but even I am disappointed in myself for not understanding the simple word pregnant until five seconds. I freeze and my stunned hands leave my camera which it is holding, thankfully the strap holds it safe around my neck else it would have broken into pieces on the floor. Pregnant?

I see Curtis eyes move, the wheels in his head churning and surprising calm, he said, "that's a lie."

"Why? How? Did we not have sex?" Nadia challenges. "You're just more of a piece of shit denying your unborn baby."

"You can't be pregnant because," he flatters and I see a drop of sweat roll out from under his hair. I need to be near him, I tell myself and my feet starts walking. Curt must have sensed something because his head turn, hazel eyes meet mine and he blinks turning back to Nadia. "Because I'm gay."

I freeze... W-what the—

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