[Twice Featured Noteworthy Novel & Staff Pick on Tapas.io] ✔
[Previously featured on Tapas.io's LGBTQ+ Community collection] ✔
One night. That was all it took for Senn Reyes' life to change drastically--and permanently.
Senn Reyes is a seventeen-y...
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Thursday
After his conversation with Tessa, Senn hadn't been able to sleep. He kept thinking about her words, and how hiding his true self was suffocating him. He already had enough on his mind, trying to adjust to a new life without his parents and Liam. He didn't want to deal with his sexuality while it seemed so unimportant compared to the rest.
But it was one of the easier things to deal with.
He couldn't magically summon his parents and Liam back to life. He couldn't move back to the one house that actually felt like home. He couldn't change any of that, or what had happened in the past. He couldn't get his memory back in the blink of an eye, he couldn't undo the damage in his body with the flick of a finger.
But he could figure out his sexuality. While that had felt like a huge burden to bear when he just started realizing his feelings for Julian, now it felt like child play. He fought bigger battles, dealt with the loss of most of his family.
So, how hard could it be to deal with losing Lucas if he didn't accept him for who he truly was? If Lucas rather wanted Senn to suffocate for a second longer so he could remain unaware of his sexuality, then how good of a friend was he really?
Still, when he met up with Avan and Lucas at lunch, he couldn't get himself to tell Lucas they needed to talk. Part of him felt the urge to consult the magic-8-ball first, and he cursed himself for not doing it before school.
Because Lucas wasn't planning on letting it go.
"What was up with the looks yesterday?" Lucas asked, pulling both of them to a stop before they entered the lunchroom. "You guys exchanged looks and I'm sick of feeling left out."
Avan shrugged a shoulder, staring at Senn while waiting for him to answer. Or more so, for him to make a decision on what they would tell Lucas.
"Seriously," Lucas groaned when Senn remained silent, rather biting his lip than spilling the truth with so many students surrounding them. "It seems as if everyone knows something, except me. Joyce and Samantha kept whispering to each other, you guys kept sending each other looks. Avan even had to stop himself from laughing when Joyce said something about her date with Elio. What the hell is going on?"
"Lucas..." Senn muttered, surprised by the sadness in his voice. "We don't mean to shut you out."
"Then why are you shutting me out?"
"Because it's not that simple." Senn wildly gestured, in desperate need to vent some frustration. "I already told you there's something you don't know. That I haven't told you for a long time already. But lately it wasn't exactly my priority to deal with it, but it kinda got pushed in my face. Avan found out by luck."
"So, why not tell me?"
"Because I don't know if I'm ready to tell you everything, Luc!" Senn cried out. "Did you forget I lost my parents? Or Liam? Or that I lost months worth of memories? I've been dealing with that, and how scared I am of losing the only memories I have left of my family."
