"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 turned back swiftly and crashed into Philip's chest, leaning back in shock.
"What the fuck man?" He grumbled, and got off of Philip, grumbling under his breath.
Philip rubbed his chest slowly, and avoided looking at Fletcher.
"You good?" Carnel turned to ask his friend, who nodded slowly.
Fletcher Handerson occupied the chair opposite Philip's and looked intently at him.
"You like me?" He asked lowly and slowly.
"Used to. A tiny crush," Philip mumbled, lying.
"But you said-" Philip shot Carnel a quick look to shut him up, and he did, but it was too late.
"You're lying? You're lying," Fletcher whispered, staring at Philip who didn't take his eyes off the food in front if him. "What you saw at the library-"
"Is none of my business," Philip interrupted Fletcher, realizing that he had indeed, called out after him while he ran away.
"Listen to me," Fletcher sighed.
"I'll be over there," Carnel slowly slipped away from the table and joined his other friends by the ice cream counter.
Philip wordlessly picked up a chicken wing and bit into it, but he wasn't able to savor it. He couldn't swallow it properly. He ate, but he didn't feel like marrying the wings anymore.
"It's not what you saw. I don't like Brigette like that, I came to see you, she came onto me," Fletcher explained, hoping that the green-eyed boy would understand.
"I see," Philip mumbled after swallowing his chicken wing. "Why did you need to see me?"
"I wanted to," Fletcher leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms against his chest.
Philip coughed, and covered his mouth, looking elsewhere.
He counted the pattern on the wall from where he left off. His lips moved as he counted, but no sound was emitted from it.
Fletcher looked at him with a small smile on his face. He shook his head and studied Philip.
He had slightly visible freckles over his nose and a scratch over his right cheek--small but visible.
"Hey! I didn't see you," Jade announced her arrival and sat down next to Fletcher, hooking her arm through his.
Philip stopped counting, startled.
"Hey," Fletcher murmured, smiling at her.
"You came straight from school?" She asked, and looked quickly at Philip, before looking back at Fletcher.
"Excuse me," he mumbled and slipped out of his chair.
Fletcher frowned.
"I didn't see you in school at all today, not even during lunch," Jade grinned.
Fletcher struggled to answer her properly, while looking at Philip's figure in a hoodie that seemed way too large for him.
Philip silently walked to the fish tank kept at the entrance of the small diner and leaned down slightly to look at the fishes.
His eyes followed the clownfish that quickly hid itself when Philip had brought his face closer.
"Sorry," he murmured, and leaned back and placed his index finger on the glass.
Fishes aligned in a group in front of his finger, but Philip was looking forward to the clownfish's acceptance, which looked awkward as it gazed at the glass emptily.
"Come on," Philip muttered.
The other fishes had gotten bored of him and dispersed around the tank.
The clownfish slowly emerged from the back of the tank and warily inched in front of his index finger.
"Hey," he murmured and noticed that there was a fin missing on the fish.
"It will regrow," he muttered to the fish.
He could feel the fish looking at him.
"You having fun here?" Carnel walked up to his friend slowly, so as to not startle him.
Philip nodded and slowly removed his hands.
The fish didn't move.
"Here," Carnel handed his friend a pack of strawberry cookies, an brown ice cream sitting atop the circumference of a wafer cone on his hand.
Philip left the fish alone and stood straight.
"Oh, I didn't know they had these here," Philip spoke excitedly as he accepted the packet of cookies.
"There are lots of other flavors too," Carnel informed, licking his ice cream cone.
"I want to get them all," Philip smiled all of a sudden.
His love for biscuits ran deep.
"Come on then," Carnel chuckled.
"Hey, I'm calling dibs on mango, you can't eat that alright," Clyde jokingly warned his brother once he came to stand next to him.
"Then get me one too. In chocolate, mango and the garlic one," Philip leaned over the ice cream counter to look at all the snacks displayed on the wall behind it.
"Are Fletcher and Jade a thing?" Clyde asked suddenly, looking back the at the table which they sat in.
Philip looked back.
Fletcher seemed to look rather jovial and elated as he talked with Jade, who obviously would be pleased.
"Are they?" Carnel muttered and looked back.
Philip simply stared at the two who seemed content.
"She likes him," he mumbled.
"Oh well," Clyde muttered.
Carnel didn't say anything. He only slung an arm around his best friend's shoulder and kissed his head.
"Shall I talk to her?" Carnel asked, making sure Clyde didn't hear.
Philip smiled.
He felt grateful to have a friend like Carnel.
"Naw," Philip looked up at him and smiled.
Carnel held the back of Philip's neck in a soft grip.
"I've got you man." He smiled down at Philip, who bumped fists with the arm that eventually fell around his shoulder once again.
"What did he do today anyway?" Carnel guided his friend away from the counter while Clyde payed for the biscuits and ice creams.
"I saw him with another girl," Philip said, opening the pack of biscuits in his hand.
Carnel glanced at his sister and Fletcher and noticed him looking straight at them.
Carnel missed to notice that Fletcher was indeed staring at the arm around Philip's shoulder. He had also witnessed the platonic kiss on the head.
What he didn't know was that it was a 'platonic' kiss.
Maybe Philip and Fletcher were not too different.
Maybe Carnel wasn't that dumb, and maybe Clyde wasn't that stupid.
