My Middle School Crush (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Acting 101

Mason should be getting paid for this. He was a professional actor, lying a bit each time he spoke to anyone about anything dealing with Mark. “Everything’s fine!” he would say “the two of us are getting along great, we’re closer than ever, actually.”

Of course, this doesn’t seem that bad when taken out of context. But considering the fact that Mark and Mason had not had a straight conversation in nearly two weeks, it was clearly false.

Yes, two weeks.

A human being’s stubbornness could be quite impressive, and Mark and Mason were demonstrating that fact terrifically. About three times a week Mason found himself wanting to scream “Just talk to me!” “Tell me how you feel!” he wished to say. Of course, that would mean putting himself out there, and that was—as you may have already guessed—a big “no-no” for Mason.

Because Mason had some sort of backbone, he did try to initiate a couple of conversations. But those terrible excuses for ‘exchanges of words’ did not count as conversations. Hence where the whole hadn’t talked for two weeks thing came about. Communication between the pair had never been more strained. 

But, to be quite honest, it did happen. If they were forced to speak during a lesson, words were given. Hanging out with all of their friends, phrases were shared. And, after those tense seconds where nothing important was ever said, the questioning looks Mason expected to receive never came. 

Mason ended up oddly disappointed to find out that none of their friends noticed the tension between the two of them and continued on like usual. Jasmine spoke just as loud, Gabe remained just as flirty, and Clark still got that distant sad look that he wore when thinking about his past.

Mason was getting away with it. He was keeping his Mark drama a secret. Whether this was a good thing or not, he would find out eventually. 

But Mason did implement a couple of things to ensure that no one noticed. The best that he could come up with was emphasizing how single and Bi he was.

Mason put in extra effort to point out the looks of any girl or guy around them, as long as it wasn’t Mark. Things like “she has really nice legs”, “his eyes are amazing”, or even “if I could tap that.” It was out of character for Mason, but he’s been known to gawk before so he assumed it was believable. 

It was extremely awkward, however, when Mark was around. Calling some guy hot when the guy you just kissed a couple of days ago is two steps down isn’t fun.

But, he persisted, even when Jasmine would shoot looks from him to Mark as if to say “hey, he’s the guy you like!” and Mason would just shake his head in response. He had to make it clear to everyone that he knew: until they became a thing or Mark made a move, he would be single and ready to mingle.

Of course, the last thing that Mason wanted to think about during all of this was flirting with someone else, but they didn’t know that.

See, smart.

Mason remembers one particular conversation after that day’s lesson where Mason brought up that idea again. He, Mark, Gabe, Tobi, and Aubrey had been talking and Tobias had mentioned how good Mason and Mark looked together.

He had been going on about their good looks and how their features and skin tones contrasted really nicely and bla bla bla, and Mason was close to panicking. Mark had started to furrow his thick brows and stare at Mason intently and Mason had no idea what he would say. And, why had Tobias been saying that in the first place? Had he noticed anything? 

None of it was looking very good so Mason looked around, saw Gabe nearby, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I don’t know. If I had to date a guy, I think Gabe is more my type.” He said casually, giving Gabe a bit of a smile. Gabe had seemed momentarily surprised before a cocky grin appeared on his face and he leaned into Mason.