The rest of their impromptu dinner went calmly. Asher was uncharacteristically quiet as he chowed down a further two pieces of pizza, the taste fading to dull and plain the second it hit his mouth. Danny was happy beside him, a smile on his face as he chatted to their fathers, seemingly unaware of the war going on inside his boyfriends head.

Mr Clark spoke animatedly about how they were going house hunting that weekend and Asher and his father were more than welcome to come if they wished. Asher tuned them out after a while, feeling helpless as he sat quietly. He wanted to be happy. He wanted to smile widely and kiss his boyfriend and tell him how excited he was. If the circumstances were different then that would be exactly what Asher would do, and yet he couldn’t. That sinking feeling in his stomach had only worsened as the minutes ticked by and eventually he pushed his plate away from himself, unable to stomach it anymore.

Danny watched the move, an expression that resembled concern brushing over his features for a few seconds. ‘Can we be excused?’ Danny asked their fathers.

‘Sure,’ Asher’s father nodded.

Danny stood from his seat and picked up his plate, looking at Asher expectantly. Asher knew that it was uncharacteristic of Danny to want to leave the table before their fathers had finished and yet he didn’t over think it, he just wanted to leave the table. Asher stood and they walked into the kitchen, Danny leading the way. Danny gently placed his plate in the sink before reaching over for Asher’s. He placed that one in the sink too and then looked up at Asher. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked him.

Asher was caught off guard. He sat down at the bench, his hands resting against the counter top. ‘What do you mean?’

Danny, always intuitive Danny, shrugged, ‘I don’t know, you just don’t seem happy.’

The way that he said it, full of love and concern, made Asher feel guilty as hell. He couldn’t control the future now, the wheels had been already set in motion. All that he had left was the time he knew he had with Danny.

He motioned for Danny to come closer. Danny walked around the counter and towards Asher. When he was close enough Asher pulled Danny onto his lap. Danny laughed as he snuggled up against Asher, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders loosely.

‘I am extremely happy,’ Asher told him, ‘because I have the best boyfriend who is moving close to me and the idea of spending more time with you every day makes me happier than you could know,’ Truth. Complete truth.

Danny bit at his lip endearingly, ‘Good, because I feel the exact same way.’ Asher couldn’t keep his eyes off of the suddenly sexy way his boyfriend looked with that lip tucked between his teeth and the small blush that had made its way to his cheeks. He kissed Danny passionately, threading fingers into his hair and stroking one hand down his back slowly.

He couldn’t lose Danny, he thought in this moment. Whatever happened he knew that he wouldn’t let it end with him losing the one person in his life who truly loved him for who he was.

He pulled back only a few inches, ‘I love you.’

Danny looked at him through dark lashes, ‘I love you too, Ash.’

Asher wished that he could forever capture this moment in his mind. The adorable look on Danny’s face and the way that their bodies were pressed so closely together. When Danny was around it seemed like his heart just got bigger and the closer they were; the happier he was. He refused to lose Danny. It would be like taking a steak knife and cutting his own heart in half.

‘How long are you staying tonight?’ Asher asked.

Danny straightened up a little, ‘Not sure, probably not too long.’

Asher pouted.

Danny kissed his nose, making Asher smile. ‘I’ll see you on the weekend, don’t sulk.’

They moved then from the kitchen into the living room where they spread out on the couch. Asher tucked his legs up. ‘How do you feel about moving?’ he asked.

Danny shrugged, ‘Mixed.’

‘What do you mean?’ Asher wondered. It was rare that Danny didn’t see the light and hope in every situation. The saddened expression on his face was worrisome to Asher, who hated seeing anything but a smile on those beautiful lips.

Danny spread out on the couch, his arm resting against a pillow and his leg dangling off the side. ‘Well, I am so excited to move closer to you but that means I have to leave my friends,’ he looked down. ‘Damien, Amanda and Jules especially.’

Asher looked at him sympathetically. He understood what he meant. As much as he didn’t like Damien, he did like Amanda and Jules, who did seem like nice people. He understood why Danny would miss them. ‘You can always still see them. You and I can drive down some weekends and see them. Making new friends is never hard for you anyway, so don’t you worry about that.’

Danny smiled, ‘I love that when I’m with you, you somehow make all my problems seem so simple,’ He moved so that he was now snuggled up against Asher. ‘You always know how to make me feel better.’

Asher held Danny closer. Seeing that smile return to Danny’s face made his heart swell. ‘You know, we could throw a going away party with all your friends?’ Asher suggested. ‘We could have it at your house before you leave and invite everyone?’

Danny smiled, ‘That sounds like a great idea!’

Danny lent forwards, his lips only inches away from Asher’s when Danny’s phone started incessantly buzzing in his pocket. Asher groaned internally, cursing the damn object that had interrupted their near kiss. Danny pulled out the phone. He looked at the screen with a gloomy expression, holding it tightly in his hand.

‘What’s wrong?’ Asher asked him, tightening his hold slightly on Danny.

Danny shrugged, ‘Damien’s calling me. I texted him that I was moving on the way over and he must have just seen it.’

A voice in Asher’s head told him to throw the phone away from Danny’s hands and just spend the next hour with Danny wrapped tightly in his arms like he was now. Yet, he knew that Damien was Danny’s best friend and if he wanted to talk to him, then he should be able to. He released his hold on Danny, ‘Answer it. I’ll wait here if you want to go up to my room and talk to him.’ 

Danny smiled appreciatively at his boyfriend, ‘Thank-you. I’ll only be a minute,’ he stood.

Asher smirked up at him, ‘Take as much time as you need, I’ll just be here, impatiently waiting for you.’

Danny smiled lovingly at Asher. He then pressed a button on his phone and lifted it to his head as he left the room, heading towards the stairs. Asher sat alone on the couch. He realised that being bored on the couch wasn’t as fun as he had hoped and so he stood and wandered into the hallway, intent on finding their fathers. He followed the sound of their quiet voices to the dining room.

He walked into the room to see that they were sitting at the table still, but their plates were gone and two large cups of dark coffee took their place. He could smell it from the doorway and he had half a mind to go make himself a cup.

‘Where’s Danny?’ his father asked, seeing Asher standing in the doorway.

‘Damien called him so he went upstairs,’ Asher explained, taking a seat next to his father.

Mr Clark shook his head, ‘Damien must be so upset to hear that we are moving. That boy practically lives at our house on the weekdays.’

Asher felt a pang of jealousy but he coaxed the feeling away, knowing that with Danny there was nothing to worry about. ‘Yeah,’ Asher agreed.

Mr Harris took a gulp of his coffee. ‘Asher,’ he said. ‘I think that it would be a good idea for you to invite your friends from school over on the weekend when Danny is here. That way he could meet your friends and even make some himself. It would make it much easier for him, I’m sure, if he had a group of friends when he starts school.’

Mr Clark nodded, ‘That’s a brilliant idea,’ he exclaimed. ‘I know that Danny is feeling bad about leaving his friends, but knowing that he has some at his new school would make him feel so much better. Don’t you think, Asher?'

Asher wasn’t sure how to respond. Yes, he wanted Danny to be happy about the move and to feel like he wasn’t going to lose all of his friends, and yet, he knew that introducing Danny to his friends would mean the charade was over. The two expectant faces before him told him that there was no way that he would be able to find a reasonable excuse for why Danny couldn’t meet his friends.

‘Yeah, that’s a good idea Dad,’ he replied with no intent on going through with it. ‘When are you guys moving here?’ he asked, his question directed at Mr Clark.

The man shrugged, ‘As soon as we can find a house, I suppose. Hopefully, within the next month if we can.’

Asher nodded. He was happy. Don’t get him wrong, Asher was ecstatic that he had the opportunity to spend more time with his boyfriend. Danny was the light that lit up his world and the idea of them living close caused his heart to beat just a little faster and a smile to grace his lips. No longer would be the hour drives of anticipation or the dreaded goodbyes every Sunday afternoon. The idea, on paper, looked like a dream, but the reality of that was much more complicated. It wasn’t black and white.   

Just then, a beeping sounded through the room. Asher looked across the table to see that he had left his phone over where he was sitting before. He reached over and grabbed it, the men next to him continued their quiet conversation amongst themselves. He opened the message.

I just wanted to say sorry for this afternoon. Your friendship means so much to me and I really don’t want to lose it over this. – Jess

He felt bad for her as he read her words. She wasn’t going to lose him over this, there was no way that Asher would let that happen. Yet, he wondered, if Jess found out that he had lied to her and that he had been keeping Danny from her and their friends, would she still be so invested in their friendship? He wondered the same about the other people he cared about; Beth, Chad, Leon. Would they be understanding or would they kick him to the curb?

In a school where those who are different are cast out, where would he be left? The gay guy who was also labelled a liar. No one would forgive him. He didn’t expect them to. His heart was heavy as he replied to her message.

There’s no need to be sorry. Don’t even worry about it. – Asher

He placed the phone down on the table.

‘You okay, Asher?’ his father asked.

Asher nodded weakly.

The sound of the doorbell snapped Asher’s eyes upwards. ‘Are you expecting someone?’ he asked his father.

Mr Harris shook his head, ‘No, I’m not. Would you get it?’ he asked.

Asher nodded. He wasn’t sure who would turn up at his door unannounced at night time. He walked through the hallway, looking into the living room when he passed it to see that Danny wasn’t there and he assumed that the phone call with Damien was taking longer than previously presumed.

He made it to the front door, his hand on the knob. He leant forwards and took a look through the peep hole. The person on the other side of the door was the last person he expected to turn up on his front porch. He looked around, making sure that no one, especially Danny, could see him. Thankfully, there was no one around and he could hear the faint sound of Danny talking upstairs. He sighed, he had some time to get rid of her.

He practically flung the door open and stepped out onto the porch. The girl stepped back to give him more room but looked up at him with nervous eyes. The same eyes, in fact, were puffy and red with dark streaks of eye liner falling down her otherwise perfect skin.

‘What are you doing here Maisy?’ he asked her, standing so that she wouldn’t be able to see the door handle if she had the sudden idea to invite herself inside.

Maisy looked up at him nervously, shifting on her feet. This was so unlike Maisy. The usually over confident girl was never like this, never showing even a hint of weakness and yet here she was, all vulnerable and puffy eyed, standing at his doorstep.

‘I just really needed to talk to you,’ she said, her eyes dropping for a moment then back up at him. ‘I might be paranoid but I need to ask you something.’

Asher had half a mind to just kick her off of his front porch, but he figured that answering whatever the question was would be a quicker solution. He feared deeply that Danny would walk out the door at any moment, looking for him. If he did, then he would be between a rock and a hard place. Introduce him to Maisy as his friend and risk Danny correcting him or introduce him as his boyfriend and have his two worlds collide. Neither were viable options, so he hoped to all hell that Danny’s phone conversation wasn’t going to be over in the next few minutes.

He was just going to ask her what the question was, but then he looked at her eyes again. Those big, puffy eyes told him that something was wrong and it was really upsetting Maisy. He didn’t like her, hell, he could barely tolerate her, even more so after everything with Jess, but there was that voice in the back of his head that told him never to kick someone when they were down. He knew how awful that felt and he refused to do it to another human being, no matter who it was.

He looked over to the two small chairs that sat on the corner of his porch and motioned towards them, ‘Come sit down.’

She seemed surprised by the action but nodded anyway and followed him to the seats. Asher took the one facing somewhat in the direction of the door so that he could see if Danny was going to come out before Maisy would. Maisy sat in the other chair, this time she sat with a straight back and her face seemed to harden more into the mask that Asher was used to seeing. There was something different however, like she couldn’t quite put the mask on all the way and some of herself was showing through.

‘I need to know if you told Ivy about my families problems?’ she asked steadily, no hint of the broken voiced girl from only a few moments ago.

Asher tilted his head, ‘Why?’ he asked. He knew that Ivy was dangerous. He had seen it in the manipulative way she acted and the way her personality seemed to change to suit the people she was with.

‘I told Ivy about how I thought that Leon was going to ask me out tomorrow night. You know how he’s having another party?’

Asher nodded, vaguely remembering Leon telling him something about a party at practice that afternoon.

‘Yeah,’ she continued. ‘Well, I accidently took home one of Ivy’s books today from school and so I drove over to her house just now and saw her and Leon making out in her driveway.’

‘Woah,’ Asher muttered.

‘She told me that she thought it was a great idea to date him and although she’s been nothing but nice to me until now, people keep telling me that she seems to be friends with almost everyone. I thought that was just because she was a nice girl, but I’ve seen how she acts when she thinks I’m not looking. She’s been trying to turn my own cheer squad against me, I just know it. I’ve been hearing all this talk about how she’s trying to take my spot on the cheer team and now I’m starting to believe them. I just need to know, does she have the power over me to get me kicked out of the captain spot?’ she asked, her voice completely serious. ‘If she doesn’t, then I can deal with her, but if she does, then I’m not sure what I’ll do.’

‘I haven’t told her anything and I’ll make sure that Beth doesn’t either,’ he assured her, the words tumbling from his mouth on their own accord. He wondered if he should have made her work a little harder for them.

Maisy being on top was something that he could control. She was predictable and simple. Content with where she was, but Ivy was different. Something told Asher that she was prepared to sleep and cheat her way to the top and if he didn’t cooperate with her, well, then he wasn’t sure what she would be prepared to do.

‘Thank-you,’ Maisy smiled, but it was the fake smile he had seen many times before. He knew that those puffy eyes from before were real, but now, after realising her spot on top wasn’t in as much jeopardy as she thought, well, she got all of that confidence back. ‘Also, you really need to stop sleeping with Jess. I know that you probably think it’s cute to save her from unpopularity or something, but it’s not going to go down well at school. She doesn’t have a place in the ranks anymore, she should be at the rejects tables where she belongs.’

Anger rose up in Asher’s chest, ‘She’s my friend and she is not a reject. She’s a person, who deserves better friends than you and Ivy,’ He tried to keep his voice as calm as possible but it hitched a little as he spoke.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, ‘You say that now, but you won’t when they ask you to step down from football captain,’ she threatened. ‘Everyone knows that the captain needs to date someone on their level. I’m sure that Chad will take your place in a heartbeat.’

Asher opened his mouth to speak but she cut in before he had the chance to get the words out.

‘You know, my original idea of us dating would be perfect in this situation. Especially since it seems our days at the top might be numbered.’  

Asher stood from his seat, ‘I am firmly sitting at the top and neither you nor anyone else is going to bring me down. On the other hand, it’s only a matter of time before Ivy discovers what I know about you and when she does, you’re going to need as many friends as you can get. If I were you, I would leave my porch now and we can forget that this conversation ever took place.’

Maisy stood as well, ‘Fine, but I’m only looking out for you.’

‘I don’t need you looking out for me,’ he told her.

Maisy nodded and walked away. She returned to the car which was parked along the street and drove off. Asher stood alone on the porch for a few more moments, her word sticking with him. Was Jess really bringing him down? Was Chad going to take his place if he didn’t meet everyone’s expectations?

The thoughts hit him like a punch to the gut and he sat back down on the chair. He had been so focussed on Danny not finding out that he had let his perfect façade slip. He was mad at himself for a moment, but then he remembered Jess’s sweet face and he knew that he couldn’t have made any other decision. Perhaps one thing Maisy said was right, pretending to date Jess wasn’t helping him in the slightest. He decided that his fake relationship with her would have to end. He would still let her hang out with him, but he would have to get it around to Maisy and her lackeys that they had broken up. It was for his own good.

The door opened and Asher raised his eyes. His father stood in the doorway, a confused expression on his face. ‘What are you doing out here? Who was at the door?’

Asher shrugged, ‘Just a girl from school wanting to ask me some homework question. Nothing to worry about.’

‘Oh,’ his father nodded. ‘Well, I think that Danny and his father will be leaving soon so you better go upstairs and tell Danny to come down.’

‘Okay,’ Asher nodded. He walked back past his father and into the house. He walked up the stairs and stopped just before his room, waiting before he opened the door. He could hear faint words being said by Danny. He knocked lightly on the door before opening it.

Danny was sitting on Asher’s bed with his legs crossed beneath him and his cell phone pressed to his ear. He looked up at Asher, nodding for him to join him on the bed.

‘I have to go now,’ he said into the phone. ‘Can we talk at school tomorrow?’

Asher sat down next to him.

‘Okay, bye,’ Danny spoke before hanging up the call and placing the phone on the bed beside him.

‘How did that go?’ Asher asked. He hoped that Damien had just accepted that Danny was going and that was that, but he knew that if one of his friend was moving away then he would be upset too.

‘He was sad,’ Danny told his boyfriend with a worried expression. ‘He doesn’t want me to go, but he understands that it’s for my father’s job and that I’ll be okay cause I have you.’

Asher wrapped his arm around Danny’s shoulders and drew him closer to his body. ‘You do have me,’ he assured him.

‘I know,’ Danny leant into his side. ‘I mentioned to him about the party and he thinks it’s a great idea.’

‘Good,’ Asher pressed a kiss to his forehead. ‘Don’t be sad, I hate to see you sad.’ It was true. Danny was never sad, he was always upbeat and happy and seeing his boyfriend without that signature smile on his face made Asher just want to do anything that he could to put it back there. He felt like it was his duty to keep that smile on Danny’s face and that innocent joy in his heart. He hoped that he wouldn’t fail him, no, he prayed that he wouldn’t fail him.

Danny smiled up at him, a true smile. ‘I’m not sad. I just have to think for one moment about spending more time with you and all my worries disappear.’

He and Danny stayed like that for a few moments before Danny’s father called up to them from down stairs, ‘Come down boys, time for us to go.’

Asher and Danny shared one more kiss before leaving the sanctuary of the room. Danny was led out to his father’s car when they got downstairs and Asher only got to press one more chaste kiss on his boyfriends lips before he got into the car. Asher and his father watched as the car drove down the street until they couldn’t see it anymore.

‘Isn’t it nice that they are moving here?’ his father asked as they walked back inside.

Asher glanced at the porch chairs where he and Maisy had been sitting. Her words and his own thoughts echoed around his head as if they were on a never ending loop that he couldn’t stop no matter how hard he tried. ‘Yeah,’ he mumbled weakly, unsure of what to feel.