His Safety Net

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

       I think being off of school for two weeks for spring break was doing wonders for my mental health. I had been doing a lot better since I wasn't constantly worrying about rumours or about people judging me. While I wasn't feeling perfectly fine, because that would be impossible, I wasn't always so exhausted.

       And I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing me check out Jerome in school.

       Not that I did. I totally didn't.

       Okay, I did, but who could blame me? Jerome was just so attractive. It was hard for me not to check him out, and the best part was that he was my boyfriend so I didn't have to feel any guilt or shame or anything for checking out his jawline and his muscles and his eyes and his--

       "Nolan," Orchid suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned to look down at her since she was standing at the bottom of the ladder I was on to paint the top of the mural. She held up a brown paper bug. "I got food from the cafe down the street."

       I climbed off the ladder and took off the respirator before placing it on the ladder. "Thanks."

       "You okay?" Orchid asked. "You seemed... a bit distracted."

       "Sorry, I was just daydreaming," I said as we sat down on the couch that used to be in the area I was painting the mural in. It was just moved out of the way to give me room to paint, but it was still close by so I used it every time I wanted to take a break from painting.

       Orchid was the one who came to the city hall with me today since Jerome couldn't make it and I refused to go alone. She was more than happy to come with me when I asked her to.

       Orchid bought some pastries and hot chocolate from the cafe, so she handed me one of the cups of hot chocolate and let me choose whichever pastries I wanted. "So what were you daydreaming about?" she asked.

       Oh, nothing, nothing. Just my extremely attractive boyfriend.

       "N-nobody," I said.

       Orchid was about to take a sip out of her hot chocolate, but she stopped after my reply and lowered the cup from her lips. "I asked what were you daydreaming about, not who."

       "R-right," I said. "I... I meant nothing. You... You know how much I mix up words."

       I didn't know if Orchid believed me or not, but she didn't continue the conversation. She either believed I truly meant nothing, or she didn't want to question that I was really daydreaming about someone.

       Either way, I was grateful.

       "So... I've been meaning to apologize to you about something," Orchid said.

       I frowned. "Apologize? For what? You haven't done anything wrong to me... At least, nothing that I can remember..."

       "For telling you that you shouldn't be hanging out with Jerome," Orchid said.

       "When was that?"

       "Uh, when you first started going to school. I kept telling you to stay away from Jerome because he's bad news. I... didn't realize how much you actually care about him. And how much he cares about you. He's a good friend, isn't he?"

       "Y-yeah," I said. "He... He is."

       Part of me wanted to tell my sister about how much Jerome actually meant to me. That he wasn't only my friend, but also my boyfriend. It was hard keeping it a secret from my entire family, even though I wasn't ready to come out yet. Or at least, come out to everyone. Surely I could at least come out to Orchid.