Only Fools

Chapter Forty Three

"Hello, Declan," I say with a smirk as the boy approaches his locker which just so happens to be located directly next to mine. His strawberry blonde curls bounce as he turns his head to look all around himself once he hears my greeting.

"Believe it or not, I am talking to you, the only person named Declan located in this general vicinity," I notify him as I raise my eyebrows.

"You've never made a move to talk to me before...." he notes, eying me suspiciously.

"So I can't start now?" I challenge him. His eyes widen at my words as he begins to shake his head.

"No! Of course you can! I'm sorry. That was actually kinda rude. How are you?" Declan asks with a nervous chuckle.

Well shit. I had heard that the kid was sweet, but I didn't realize he was a fucking ray of sunshine. What the fuck does he see in Dustin....?

"Well, I'm just great. Thank you for asking. How about you?"

"Oh. I'm doing pretty well. I'm just glad the school day's finally over," Declan responds with a small smile.

"That's good," I say as I wrack my brain for something else to say, "you did a good job with the reading in church today."

What the fuck was that.

"Oh, thank you. I was so worried I was going to trip on my way up to the alter if I'm being honest," Declan reveals sheepishly.

Even with all the talk about how sweet of a person Declan is, it's still disarming actually speaking to him. The boy isn't small by any sense of the word. He's easily over six feet tall with a good portion of his weight being attributed to muscle. He was clearly chosen to be center on the football team for a reason, the boy is an immovable mass. If I saw him in the street and didn't know anything about him, I would be tempted to walk in the other direction, but of course wouldn't because I'm no scaredy-cat.

However, I know Declan enough to realize that I have an inherent desire to mess with him.... just a little bit, mostly for two reasons. One, he's way too sweet. It's terrible. I realize, but the naive ones never see it coming. Two, fucking with him simultaneously means I fuck with Dustin, and Dustin is one of my favorite people to fuck with. After years of messing with him, I must admit that I've lost my touch only slightly, but now I've found his Achilles heel. It's a win-win situation.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that your secret's safe with me, no pun intended,"

The entire sentence makes Declan pause for a minute. I can see the confusion spread across his features before the wheels in his brain begin turning, attempting to decode what exactly I just said.

"What?" he asks me after a solid few seconds of silence.

"Oh yeah. Just don't worry about it,"

"Worry about what?" Declan asks, slight worry spreading across his features despite my advice to not worry.

"Just that your secret's safe with me, but seriously no pun intended," I repeat myself.

"What are you referring to?"

"It's ok if you didn't get the pun. I understand my humor isn't for everyone," I admit with a shrug.

"No. The secret," Declan dismisses my admission.

"Has anyone ever told you that you say that word weird?"

"What?"

"Secret. You say it weird. Can you say it again?"

"Secret? Wait. What are you referring to?" he asks again, still not breaking his sweetness towards me or raising his voice in the slightest.

"I-."