His Safety Net

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

       Once the music came to an end, I crashed onto the ground, feeling completely out of breath. I wanted to get some water, but my water bottle was too far for me to reach right now. I guess I was just going to have to lie here, waiting for my exhaustion to pass.

       Jerome, however, decided to walk over to where my water bottle was. He picked it up before walking over to me, crouching down and handing it to me. "You really do get exhausted easily, huh?"

       I didn't reply right away. I had to take some long sips out of my water bottle first. One I did, I said, "My body is just very weak after everything. I'll have to work up my stamina again."

       "So what I'm hearing is we can't have sex yet without you getting exhausted right away?"

       I scowled as I slapped Jerome's arm. "S-stop bringing that up..."

       Jerome just smiled. "You're so cute when you get all flustered." He moved from his crouched position into a sitting one. "You know, it's good that you're really trying to get back into dancing."

       I smiled softly. "Yeah... I missed it a lot. It's a good thing this dance studio is right by my house. I don't have to travel far whenever I want to dance. And thanks, for letting me dance here."

       "No problem," Jerome said. "I could tell you really love it. Almost as much as you love art."

       "Dancing is an art."

       "Fair point, but I meant visual art. Dancing is a performance art." Jerome hopped up, holding out his hand. "Ready to dance again?"

       "Not yet," I said, but I still took his hand and he helped me stand up. "I think I need to rest for a few more minutes. As much as I want to get back into dancing, I really need to take things slowly. Work up the stamina again." Jerome opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "Don't say it. Please. You already flustered me today."

       "Fine, I won't say it," Jerome said. "But you and I both know I'm going to end up flustering you sooner or later." He kissed my cheek and even though he didn't say anything inappropriate like he normally did, my cheeks began to redden.

       Since I still needed to take a bit of a break before dancing again, I walked over to one of the benches and sat down since Jerome still wanted to continue dancing. I loved watching him dance. He just seemed so happy. So carefree. Like the only thing on his mind was the music that was playing from the speakers.

       Exactly how I felt when I was dancing.

       Jerome's cell phone suddenly started ringing, and he decided to stop dancing to answer the call. He turned off the music first before picking up his cell phone, accepting the call and holding it up to his ear. "Hello?... Right now? I'm busy... Well, you could have told me that a while ago instead of just springing it on me right now... No, I don't want to go..."

       I didn't know who Jerome was on the phone with, and I couldn't exactly hear the conversation, but I heard some yelling on the other line.

       The yelling continued so eventually, Jerome said, "Fine, I'm on my way." He then hung up.

       "Is everything okay?" I asked.

       Jerome sighed. "Yeah. Sorry, just family drama."

       "It didn't sound okay..."

       Jerome hesitated as he put on his shoes, then his sweater. "My parents are close with Anita's parents, so they invited them over for dinner. Including Anita. And my mom and dad don't know everything that went down between me and Anita."

       "They still don't know you're gay?" I asked as I started getting my shoes and sweater on as well since I couldn't be in the studio without Jerome.

       "Exactly," Jerome said. "I've been wanting to tell my dad because he knows that Brandon is bi and he has always been okay with it. But every time I want to tell him, my mom is nearby. I have a feeling things aren't going to go well at the dinner, so any chance I could come over as soon as something goes wrong?"

       "Yeah, of course," I said, wanting to tell Jerome that nothing was going to go wrong but I didn't want to lie to him. The truth was, I didn't know how things were going to go. I didn't know what his family was like, apart from the negative things he had told me. Not only that, but Anita was part of the group that outed both me and Jerome.

       What if Anita outed Jerome to his parents?

       I didn't bring that up, though. I was sure that was the last thing Jerome wanted to think about.

       Jerome and I left the dance studio and instead of him immediately heading home, he walked me to my house. Once we were there, I said, "Thanks for helping me get back into dancing."

       Jerome smiled at me softly. "You're welcome." He gave me a quick kiss. "I'll see you later. Love you."

       I smiled back at him. "Love you, too."

       As he walked away to head home, I walked inside my house. The first thing I did was head into my room, digging through my closet where my art supplies were to see if I had a blank canvas. I was in the mood to paint something right now. After dancing for a bit, I guess I was just in an artsy mood.

       I, thankfully, did have a blank canvas so I grabbed it and placed it on my easel. I stared at the canvas for a bit before deciding what I wanted to paint. 

       I didn't know how long I was painting for, but I stopped when there was a sudden knock on my bedroom door. I walked over to it and opened it, not expecting to see Jerome there, especially this soon after he went home.

       "Hey," he said quietly. "Your parents let me in..."

       Jerome didn't have to say anything about the dinner for me to know what happened. "Anita outed you, didn't she?" I asked.

       Jerome nodded, and he looked extremely upset so I pulled him into a tight hug.

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anita can get hit by a bus :* (would anyone like to be the one who drives it???)

also i need to bring back thea soon because i love her and miss her :( she was an amazing friend for nolan and we need their friendship