"I think you have internalized homophobia."
Philip looked at her, his mouth slightly curved.
"Jokes on you."
--
Philip is a seventeen year-old teenager who just wants to try to live. Severely affected by a fatal accident that he deems himself to be...
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Carnel had been observing Philip's behavior around Fletcher. He seems more comfortable. Comfortable enough to stare at him openly.
"Let's all go out someday you know," Cedric had suggested when he stood up from the table along with Fletcher to go to their next class.
"Sure, we'll all plan,"Carnel agreed.
Fletcher looked at Philip one last time, and Philip was still staring at him.
"Quit staring at me," Fletcher mumbled as he walked away with Cedric.
Philip turned a hundred different shades of pink.
"Were you zoning out or just legit staring at him?" Carnel nudged his friend's elbow.
"I think it's the latter," Nilaan chuckled.
"You guys ooze out sexual tension sometimes. Most of the time," Ailaani expressed. "Nope, always."
Philip choked on the smoothie that he was about to finish.
"W-what?" He sputtered, coughing.
"I'm sorry buddy, but I agree with her," Jade fist bumped Ailaani.
"When's the marriage?" Carnel joked.
"What mar-marriage?!" Philip stumbled upon his words.
"We're just messing with you, chill." Jade patted his head.
"Oh god, I'm leaving," Philip scooped up the notebook on one hand, and his smoothie in the other and left the cafeteria and immediately headed towards his locker.
"Oh what am I doing?" He mumbled to himself after he opened his locker and dug around for his glasses that he never wears.
But he didn't want to suffer with a migraine so he wore it, almost poking himself in the eye.
At this point, he would love to just get home and sleep, but he couldn't stop thinking about his friends' words about him and Fletcher.
Of course, he had a massive crush on him, he would stare at him everywhere he went when he was close by, but that's Philip's side of the story.
What was Fletcher's?
Philip had started to question Fletcher's intentions first.
Why now?
He remembers that the two were bench-mates at one point in their life, he knows his name, asks him for help with notes, heck, even invited him to sit with him during lunch.
The only question that Philip had was, 'why?'
He felt that he might be reading too much into things but he couldn't help the nagging sensation at the back of his head.
Why would he want to make friends with someone so mentally affected as Philip?
Philip was determined to find out why.
~
"You need to stop hiding in the library all the time, Phil." Clyde reasoned with him over the phone as he walked to his car inside his college campus. "Are Jade and Carnel with you?"
"Hiding? Pfft whatever. No the twins left because they have the same last hour, and their teacher was on leave. Anyway, I'll see you in an hour." Philip said cheekily.
He was, infact, hiding, because he'd forgotten to bring his english assignment, that was due right then.
"You are such a pain in the ass sometimes!"
Philip hung up, smiling cutely.
He walked inside the library to look for a couple of books to borrow.
He avoided the librarian because that man liked to talk too much.
Philip silently walked to the middle column of books where all the teen fiction books were located. He picked out a few that he might be interested in and walked to the far end of the library, to the yellow couch.
But he stopped shortly after he witnessed the scene in front of him.
