Sweet Talk (BoyxBoy OneShots)

Kayden

Kayden. 

There was nothing special about the name. There were two other boys in my senior Chemistry class who were named Kayden. It was a little bit strange, though, seeing as how their surnames were almost identical and their names were not all that common in my area.

Kayden Murphy was a boy of few words. He had been in my school since the seventh grade, but I only discovered his existence when one of my closest friends, Zoey, mentioned him in passing. She had sparked my interest, but the curiosity was not fruitful until later that week.

"Hey, Zoey," I called out to her. Zoey, a friend to everyone and an enemy to every teacher, had dark, kinky hair that was often styled in Bantu knots, and light, chocolate skin that glistened underneath the sunlight. Her outfit, which consisted of a pair of black skinny jeans and a lavender cropped hood put together by a scuffed-up pair of white Air-Forces, stood out in the sea of almost identically dressed students within the corridors of Zachary High School.

"What's up?" she turned around and greeted me, tearing her attention away from her messy locker.

"Remember that guy you were hanging out with before school the other day?"

"Um...yeah. Kayden. What about him?"

"You think he'd like me?" I asked meekly. I usually don't go after guys who are feminine or who aren't the 'jocky' type. This, while being rooted in my own internalized homophobia and fear of deviation from my own beauty standards, has resulted in me having very unrealistic expectations for my first boyfriend.

"Matthew, I'm not Kayden. I don't know what he would and what he wouldn't like," she said as she closed her locker, careful not to disturb the mess inside.

"Come on, man! You gotta give me something!" I pleaded, coming closer to her and grabbing her unusually cold hands.

"We can go talk to him in the cafeteria during recess if you want. But you're gonna do the talking. I'm not getting involved in your potential romance."

"So..." I began, "I've never seen him around. Does he take different subjects or is he actually invisible?"

"He's in the grade below us, but he's the same age as you. I'm pretty sure he does different subjects, too, so you wouldn't have seen him around anyway."

We started walking in the direction of our first period, Geography, and we weaved through the myriad of students who had decided, for some reason, were walking in our direction. "So his name is Kayden?" I asked as if I hadn't asked about him a million times up to this point.

"Yes, Matthew. That's his name. Can we drop it already," she said and then sighed in exasperation. I quickly changed the topic and started talking about the Geography test we had in a few days.

The periods before recess dragged on, but I eventually made it. I went to find Zoey, who had wandered off on her own. I looked in a bunch of different classes, and I even checked the Starbucks across the street. She was nowhere to be found.

I had to do this myself. 

I took in a deep breath and trudged over to the cafeteria. I made my journey as long as possible, as to avoid speaking to him for as long as possible. Soon, the cafeteria doors came into view, and I had to face reality: I would have to talk to him myself.

I've never been good with interacting with people outside of my friend group. Whenever I do, I usually freeze up or have a near heart attack. Talking to strangers in school is a lot easier, though, seeing as how controlled and regular the environment is. Had it not been for that, I'm not sure I would have had the guts to even stare down the cafeteria doors.