Chapter Ten
Finn
I didn’t even think that Aaron noticed that I’d just sorta wrapped around his arm. But I wasn’t about to tell him and have him ask me to move. I liked, no, loved having him beside me. It was where he belonged.
“Please, Finn? I’m begging you. We totally forgot to go on Saturday, so we have a whole weekend’s worth of deposits and Griffin is really sick. He’s worse today than he was yesterday,” Layla whined into the phone.
“Why can’t you just take it, then? You’re literally right there,” I reminded her. She and Griffin lived in the apartment above the bakery.
“Because I’ve literally bled through like four tampons in the last hour. I don’t want to risk getting stuck in line… what if I bleed all over the floor?” She was practically yelling at me, as if it was somehow my fault.
“Seriously, Layla. How many times do I have to tell you to stop telling me all the… gory details?” I whisper-yelled at her.
“Dude, you asked.”
I sighed.
“Please, Finn. Pretty, pretty please with sugar on top and a cherry?”
I sighed again.
“I’ll do anything you want. I’ll mop the whole store… no, I know! I’ll dye all your fondant for you this week!” She knew just how to get me. Dyeing fondant was a pain in the ass.
“I hate you so much right now.”
“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad.”
“You’re literally the worst ever.”
“Geez, someone’s cranky today. What the hell do you have going on today that’s so important?” she asked me.
“I’m on a…” I glanced at Aaron and cut myself off. I mean, I was pretty sure he’d meant this as a date, but I didn’t want to say it out loud, so instead I went with, “I’m with Aaron.” I saw him freeze out of the corner of my eye.
“Aaron? Who the hell is Aaron?” Layla asked.
“Aaron Havenport.”
There was complete silence on the other end of the phone for like fifteen seconds. Then all of a sudden, she squealed at the top of her lungs, making me pull the phone away from my ear. She yelled, “You mean The Aaron?”
Aaron eyed me, obviously overhearing her, but he looked happy, so I just shrugged at him, then spoke into the phone. “Yes. The Aaron.”
“Ohmygod. What’s he doing here? How’d you find him? Did he contact you or did you finally do it like I’ve been telling you to for years? Does he live close by? Is he a doctor like he wanted to be? How long have you known he was here? Is he just here for a visit, or is he staying? Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you were dating Perky-Ass Tad? Where’s he? Are you and Aaron dating? Can I meet him? You have to bring him with you so I can meet him.” She rapid-fire asked me the questions. So fast no one else, probably not even Griffin, would’ve been able to understand her.
I started answering her. “He’s been living here since his residency. I ran into him at the ER last night, and before you ask, I wasn’t hurt and Tad’s fine. No, neither of us contacted each other. Yes, he lives close by. Yes, he’s a doctor. I’ve only known since last night. He’s staying, since he lives here, duh. I didn’t tell you because I haven’t had time, and we don’t talk on Mondays. I was gonna tell you tomorrow morning. I was, but Tad and I are just friends now. Tad’s at his house. I don’t know if we are, but maybe? Yes, you can meet him, because I know I don’t have a choice. But I thought you were bleeding to death or something?” Griffin never understood how Layla and I were able to go back and forth like that, but it was something we’d been doing since college.
“Is she okay?” Aaron asked at the same time that she said, “Don’t tell him that!”
“She just has her period,” I told Aaron, then said to Layla, “Too late. And anyway, you just went into super-gory detail to me. Like you care if he knows.”
“Dude, you’re my best friend. I don’t care if you know. It’s not like I go around sharing that information with just anybody.”
“Aaron’s not just anybody,” I accidentally said. I glanced at Aaron and winced that I’d said it out loud, but he was doing a pretty solid job of pretending that he hadn’t heard me. Though the little twitch of his lips was a dead giveaway.
“Ugh. Whatever. Just ask if he’ll come over with you. Are you at his house?” She gasped. “Did you sleep with him last night?”
“No and no. We’re at the diner. He stopped by Tad’s this morning, and I was already there since I spent the night.”
“You slept with Tad?”
“Ugh, no. We just went over this, pay attention. Tad and I are just friends. Aaron and I are at the diner eating breakfast right now. You’re, like, majorly interrupting.”
“Why did you answer the phone if you were having breakfast with a hot guy?”
I sighed and banged my head on the back of the booth. “I thought it was an emergency.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, text me when you’re on your way over, okay?”
“Yep. See ya.” I hung up the phone and immediately said, “I’m really sorry. I should’ve just let it go to voicemail.”
He patted my hand… that I still had wrapped around his arm. Whoops. “No worries. I didn’t mind.” The way he smirked at me pretty much said that he was referring to my clinging to him more so than the phone call.
“Oh. Sorry.” I started to pull away, but he put his hand over mine and held it there. I shrugged and decided that I could eat with one hand, no problem. “Do you mind going with me to drop the deposit off from work? That’s what she was calling about.”
“No problem.”
“Do you mind meeting her? She’s going to bombard us as soon as we get there because she lives above the bakery.”
“That’s fine.”
“She’s a little crazy.”
“It sounded like it,” he said with a small chuckle.
“Don’t let her scare you away.”
“Never, Muffin.” He smiled at me, and I snorted at his ridiculous nickname for me.
So I spent the rest of the meal clinging to Aaron and eating with one hand. It was totally worth it.
When we finished, Aaron drove me over to the bakery. I watched as he looked at the huge sign that read Aaron’s Bakery with his name being, like, twenty times bigger than Bakery. He looked surprised and maybe a little awed by it. I was sorta embarrassed, though I knew I shouldn’t be.
He shot me a soft smile, then grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together, making me think back to high school.
“Fag,” someone yelled from behind me only a second before I was pushed into the lockers. I banged my head, which made me squeeze my eyes shut against the sharp pain. “Little Faggy Finn,” the guy said before pushing me again.
I didn’t say anything back. This wasn’t the first time Jerry had bullied me, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. I found that the less I reacted to him, the quicker he’d leave me alone… unless Craig was with him. Then I’d have to fight back or they’d keep taunting me.
“What’s the matter? Gonna go cry to your mama?” Craig’s voice joined in before he slammed my head into the locker so hard, I was pretty sure it started bleeding.
Dammit. That hurt.
And of course the assholes were smart enough to wait until I turned down one of the only hallways that didn’t have a teacher standing guard. Which meant that I was about to get my ass kicked just for existing.
I took a deep breath and turned around, ready to face my attackers.
As soon as I looked at them, Craig sneered, “Not so tough when your bodyguard ain’t around, are ya?”
“Go away, Craig,” I said, glaring at him.
He stuck out his bottom lip. “Aw, what’re you gonna do?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but a solid mass of muscles and broad shoulders suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking me from them. I breathed a sigh of relief, even if it was a little annoying needing to rely on Aaron all the time.
“What the hell are you doing?” Aaron said through clenched teeth as he pushed Craig away from us.
“Man, why the fuck are ya always sticking up for him? He’s just a little pussy,” Craig said, getting up in Aaron’s face.
“Don’t. Call. Him. That.” Aaron’s voice was eerily calm.
“He’s. A. Pussy,” Craig growled out.
“I’m going to murder you if you don’t get the fuck out of here,” Aaron said. He was so angry that it was almost believable.
Craig pushed Aaron, making him stumble into me. Craig asked angrily, “What’s it to you, anyway?”
Aaron was fuming. “He’s my boyfriend, you dickhead, so you better leave him alone before I kick your ass so hard, you’ll be eating out of a tube.”
I froze. Had Aaron really just called me his boyfriend? In public?
I saw Craig take a step back in shock. Jerry was just standing off to the side watching, looking like he didn’t care one way or the other.
Aaron didn’t seem to notice, though, since he was focused on Craig. He stepped forward and poked Craig in the chest. “If you so much as look at him the wrong way, I’ll come after you. You understand me, Craig?”
Craig looked between me and Aaron before nodding, then walking away. “Whatever, you bunch of queers.”
Jerry nodded at Aaron too, then took off after his friend.
Aaron stood there with his back still to me, breathing heavily. I didn’t know what to do. I was still in shock that he’d just outed himself. I mean, I wasn’t out, or I hadn’t been till now, but people always called me a fag anyway, and I’d never really denied it. They’d been calling me names for years, so really, this just confirmed what they already knew. And it wasn’t like I really cared if anyone found out.
But Aaron did. We’d been dating in secret for almost two years, and every time I’d brought it up, he’d brushed it off, saying that he wasn’t ready for everyone to know. Everybody knew we were best friends, they just didn’t realize how close we really were.
“Aaron?” I finally said hesitantly.
He took a deep breath before turning and looking at me. His angry eyes softened at once, but then he rushed over to me, looking concerned. “Oh, baby, they hurt you… you’re bleeding.” He pushed the hair off my forehead. “Are you okay?”
I waved him off. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He brushed it off, but I could see the tension in his face.
“Do you realize what you just did?”
“Announce to the school that I’m gay? Yeah, I know. It’ll be fine.”
“Aaron, you don—”
He pecked me on the lips to shut me up. Then he whispered, “I couldn’t let them keep hurting you like that. I should’ve done it sooner. I’m sorry.”
“But now they’re just going to bother you, too.”
He smiled and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. At least now I can hold your hand and kiss you in the hall.”
“Are you serious?”
“Pshh. Obviously.” He grabbed my hand, laced our fingers together and started pulling me down the hall. “Come on, we need to clean up that cut.”
“You coming, Muffin?” Aaron asked as he pulled me to the front door.
I took a deep breath. “Yeah.”