Drowning In River (BoyXBoy)

3: Let it Out

Sitting in the principal's office, I struggle not to laugh. Both Jakob and Jarvez have cotton pushed to their nose, and they just look plum stupid. River seems to be having the same struggle as me, he has this twisted smirk on his face every time he looks over at them. He leans into my ear and whispers. "I think you got ahold of Jarvez better than I did Jakob." I snort a little and tap my foot against the carpet.

I've never been in the principal's office before. I've never gotten in a fight at school either, and I most definitely have never been suspended. But I know how this goes, and i know I'm screwed. I sigh and lean into my chair, wrapping my aching fingers around the arm of the chair painfully tight. River notices and places his hand lightly above mine. It doesn't help much with the anxiety I'm feeling, but it switches to being nervous about being in trouble to being nervous about being so close to him.

I swallow the lump in my throat and look over at him, his eyes fixated on me. I try to smile, to say I'm okay. But the muscles in my face fail me. "Hey, it'll be okay. I have it under control." He says lightly. I take a deep breath.

"If I get suspended, my parents will kill me. You can kiss my ass goodbye." I pout. He smirks again. I really wish he'd smile.

"We will talk about kissing your ass later, but your parents aren't going to kill you." Wait. What? I arch my eyebrow at him. What does he mean, 'we'll talk about kissing your ass later.'? He's just kidding, I know. But, I can't help but wonder if he knows.

"You don't know my parents." I dismiss his other comment, but he continues to smirk and I continue to wonder what his actual smile looks like.

"I don't have to." He glances at me with this thoughtful look. I arch my eyebrows, he still fucking smirks. "Let's just say, I know you won't get suspended." I nod my head and he gives my hand a squeeze. A few moments later, Mr. Emersa calls all four of us in.

The room blazes with tension, so the second I take my seat, I grip hold of the chair arm again. I'm nervous. I'm nervous for multiple reasons.

"Mr. Abrenson, since your the only one in this room that I trust, why don't you tell me what happened?" Mr. Emersa asks. The bloody guys to my right huff in protest, but I look at the tall, thin man before me. Mr. Emersa is tan with slicked back brown hair and sharp features. His brown eyes look at me expectantly and I nod after I get all distracting thoughts of his attractiveness out of my head.

"Well, we were at lunch, and these two bone heads cornered this bone head." The quarterback and linebacker almost growl at me, River just chuckles. Mr. Emersa raises his hand, gazing at me intently before he nods for me to continue. "Jakob made an accusation about River and his girlfriend, and River denied it and tried to walk away. Then they both jumped him. Being the great person I am, I interfered to not just make the fight fair, but to end it. I did throw a few punches, but it was out of self-defense and to make sure River didn't get extremely hurt. You wouldn't want a hospital bill on your desk, now would you? I only hit the linebacker enough to keep him down and make it a fair fight for River. And as you can see, no hospital needed. So in my opinion, I saved you a couple hundred bucks." Okay, so I'm pretty good at persuasion.

"I see. So you're saying they threw the first punch?" I nod my head and he smiles at me. That's a real smile. Is it weird I find my principal attractive? "Okay then. Since you two started it, you have one week's suspension and two days detention afterward. Sinclair gets one day detention, and since Carter has never been in trouble, I'm letting you off with a warning. Now get out of my office." And so we do. Jakob gives me and River this threatening glare, but River just waves at him all innocently. I snort.

"You're impressive, you know?" He says as we walk out of the building. School is over in like ten minutes anyway. No point in going to class. I look over at him.

"How so?" He rolls his eyes as he starts walking backward so he faces me.

"The way you handled yourself in there. You didn't waver or tick. It was sort of sexy. It wasn't needed, but it was impressive." Did he just call me sexy?

"Why wasn't it needed?" I ask. He takes out another cigarette and lights it. Handing me one. I shake my head, so he steps a little to closely and forces the stick in my mouth, lighting it. He leans against my ear, and whispers as his hot breath wisps against it.

"This is step two in trouble. And because he thinks you're sexy. He wasn't going to suspend you." I swallow the lump in my throat again as the smoke fills my lungs. I cough a little, tears burning against my eyelids, then I exhale and take another puff. The second inhale is much smoother.

He's still really close to me, and my first impulse is to pull him closer, but instead I take a step back, making him smirk. I swear this dude is fucking with me. I feel flustered. "Mr. Emersa is straight and married and a grown man." I say. He's twenty-six to be exact, but still. River has it wrong.

"Please. Even if he considers himself straight, he looked at you like a meal. I almost got jealous." He nudges my shoulder and I laugh shaking my head.

"He did not. The man is straight." River shrugs his shoulders.

"I guess your gaydar is broken." My eyes shift to him, my heart racing.

"I don't have a gaydar." I stammer. River arches his eyebrow at me.

"Of course you do. All gay people have some form of one." My heart pounds in my ears. He knows. How does he know? Oh god, he knows.

"I... I'm not gay." I stutter. He sighs inwardly, taking another drag.

"Okay. You can come out to me whenever you're ready." I frown and take a long, long drag. I don't cough, though I want to. I just hold it there in my lungs and wait for the nicotine to hit me. My fingers shake as I look at him. We just stare at each other for a moment before he whispers "let it out." And I let the smoke escape my lungs.

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Picture of Jarvez to the side or the top, did some damage didn't you Carter?

Uh oh, Carter's anxious butt has REALLY been noticed by River. Vote! Comment! Tell me what you think! Love you my darklings!