Boxers Laced in Irony

chapter 2

The bell rang again, signaling the end of lunch break and snapping yves back to this world.

   This world in which he was making out with a girl, not Rey. This world in which he had always been utterly repulsed by gay people, even going so far as to insult them and bully them. He was a guy, and so was Rey, nothing could ever happen between them. He's just going through a rough time, he thought to himself, with the midterm exams right around the corner. He wasn't gay. He convinced himself that the girl standing before him, heaving heavy uncoordinated breaths, was the reason he could feel his pants tenting. There's no other explanation to his arousal. None.

  He straightened his back, making his way to leave the bathroom stall, when the girl he had almost forgotten about managed to get out "see you later" between her much needed breaths. Without looking back, he grunted and mumbled "yeah..sure" in exasperation.

  Two successive math classes saved him from facing his friends in the back as he cooled down. Halfway through the class, he could feel himself regaining a sense of mental stability and control which perked up his mood enough for him to be reassured that the thoughts that had been hogging his mind not too long ago would not resurface. He was much more at ease now, focusing on the lesson and not paying too much heed to his friends' voices in the back.

  Before the end of the school day could announce itself through the bell, yves suddenly became struck with the realization that he had invited Rey over to his house that day. He invited him the day before, over a phone call, after he was done explaining a physics notion to Rey that he had some difficulty comprehending. Shit. ShitShitShit. There was no getting out of this. He couldn't just tell Rey not to come over now could he? Before he could think of a way to get himself out of this hole he had dug up for himself, Rey tapped him on the shoulder, gesturing to him to get up so they could leave. So, Yves  stuffed his backpack with everything that was laid out on his desk, without paying much attention to what he was grabbing, wanting to just get out of the now cramped classroom.

  They were now outside, making their way around the crowd of teenagers, who, never until now, seemed to be walking at a frustratingly slow pace. Rey could barely keep up with Yves's haste steps but managed to grab his arm, immediately bringing Yves to a halt.

"whats up with you? you've been acting weird ever since the second break.", said Rey in a concerned tone.
Yves turned around to face him and slapped a fake smile on his face to bring down as much of his friend's concern as he could and then added "it's nothing I just have a headache and the amount of people around us isn't really helping."

  Rey seemed to have bought that, which made Yves sigh in relief. They were now on the road leading to his house, with much less people around and enough space for him to clear his mind again. They were just going to have lunch, play a few video games, and then Rey would leave back to his house. Easy. Nothing to stress over.

  Sitting at the kitchen table, opposite each other, Yves and Rey were eating some pasta his mom had prepared the night before, while the television hooked to the wall facing the table was broadcasting a racecar tournament. Each of them supported a different team and that resulted in bickers over which team deserved to win. They liked these shallow arguments tho, as they were what got them to bond in the first place and have now become part of the backbone of their friendship. After having cleared the kitchen table, they made their way to Yves's room, walls painted a baby blue with a bed in the middle, covered in grey bedsheets, facing a TV with a game set-up below it.

Rey was the first one to throw himself onto the bed, sighing as his body hit soft mattress and his head rested sideways against a pillow.  Yves stood at the edge of the bed, assessing the situation, and concluding that turning on his PS4 would be a good start. He then sat at the front of the bed, took out two game controllers and laid one to his right, where Rey seated himself seconds later. Silence followed as both boys were waiting for the game to load so they could start playing. They never really talked much, between the two of them, except about tedious things, so this silence wasn't uncommon. However, it did bother Yves, who silently cursed the game for not loading faster. But then, to his surprise, it did.