more than a one-night stand

sorry, christine

i exit my last class of the day and held on tight to the arms of my backpack, waiting at the water fountain next to the gender neutral bathrooms. i always thought it was cool of my school to add those. i don't know many trans people but the ones i do know have shown they're really thankful for having them. i give the floor a half smile for a second and the hallway starts clearing out. it was a wednesday afternoon, so we got out an hour early and everyone really wanted to get out of there. i looked up at the few kids in groups coming down the stairs and others at their lockers, rushing to do what they needed so they could escape this place.

"hey! jeremy!" i turn my head quickly, my heart rate picking up as i look to the left and i see a small girl I'm all too familiar with and my stupid best friend following behind her. it was just them. they had the same last period so i guess that always sorta worked out nicely. i let out a relived sigh and let my body relax, not realizing how tense i'd been before.

she ran up to me and i held my arms open for her, which she happily jumped into and gave me a big hug. sadly the only time we saw each other was our 3rd block and lunch. i hugged her back tightly and felt my face heat up as she pressed a kiss into my cheek. we both let go after though and i retracted my hands back to holding onto my backpack straps. me and michael nodded at each other as a 'hello'. he seemed busy with whatever he was listening to but after a few more seconds he took his headphones off.

michael and i have been friends for nearly 13 years now. we were really confident in our friendship and in our sexualities at this point, so making gay jokes and getting "are you dating" questions and comments weren't as effective as they would've been in our earlier middle / high school years. we regreeted each other with our handshake and then made our way to the bus as a group. chrisitne lived farther from the school and the general district (which was a secret) so she had to take it home. michael and i talked about hanging out as we watched her get on the bus to make sure she was safe.

"love you, jere!" she waved and blew me a kiss before the bus took off and michael and i both smiled. it made me really happy he was so understanding of our relationship and they both got along so well.
the bus took off and we started walking to mike's house. he said his moms might still be there but he was told they'd be going grocery shopping.

"ooo, scandelous." i teased and he elbowed my arm and laughed with me.

"keep it in your girlfriend, weird ass." he snorted and my face went a light shade of red, but i still laughed with him and playfully punched his shoulder.

we made a pit stop at a corner store for drinks and other things. as usual i called the only worker at the desk over to "help me look" for something that was right in front of my face while michael stole a lighter from the check out counter.
we both got slushees and drinks and snacks for later and finally started walking back to his house. it was about a mile away from the store so we had plenty of time to talk about random shit from our day.
as michael talked i found myself actually paying a little more attention than i usually did on our walks together.

"--nd she dropped a goldfish in the little oven thing? whatever its called. but apparently she didn't tell anyone and thought it-" he took a drink of his slushee after noticing it was starting to melt. "would be fine. so it caught on fire and we had to evacuate the room while the teacher put it out. and yeah that was chem today." he finished and put the straw between his lips again.

"what? i thought there was a strict no eating rule in that class. she's always on our asses about it." i question and he shrugged, swallowing what he had in his mouth. i watched his adams apple bob up and down and a drop of sweat run down his neck. his skin was so tan, a lot darker than mine or christine's. it looked really pretty in the sun like this. his glasses fit his face so well, i'd never noticed before. he had a small birthmark near his mouth i never payed much attention to but shit did it compliment the rest of his face. wow.