Summers & Starbucks - Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Kaiden
"Was that Nathan?" Raven asks as soon as I go back to them. She was probably spying on me through the bay window. See what I meant by no respect for privacy?
"What did he want this late?"
"Is he alright, Kai honey? He's not sick again, is he?" Mum asks, worried.
"Does he work this late?" Dad asks.
"Guys guys, he's fine. It's all good. He just wanted to talk but he had to get a ride with someone so he didn't come in," I shrug.
"Did you solve your little lover's spat?" Bella giggles.
"What?" Dad asks, frowning. Mum looks surprised and they both turn to me.
Oh my god, no!
"Are you - ?" Mom trails off but I am more concerned about my father who looks like he would break something or my head.
The room has gone eerily silent.
"It was just a joke, I swear!" I raise my hands in surrender.
"Yes, I was just kidding!" Bella hastily interjects, clearly realising the enormous tension she's created.
"Kaiden, honey, it is alright if you are, you know, dating him. He seems like a nice boy," Mum says, giving me a genuine smile.
I love her so much more in this moment than she can ever imagine.
"Bullshit! My son isn't some disgusting faggot!" Dad growls and it feels like a slap to my face. "Is that boy a fag? You will stay away from him!"
"Mr Pierce - it was - " Bella begins but is cut off my my dad's glare. She shrinks into herself, eyes welling up.
"Excuse me, you have no right to assume stuff about people!" I snap, annoyed now.
My mind spins. I knew it would be rocky to introduce the idea to my father but I didn't expect outright rejection.
For something that's not even true!
Bella, Raven, Alex, Aaron and Ryan look like they want to disappear in smoke and I don't blame them. I'm pretty sure in the four years we've been friends, none of them have imagined my dad this way. He has always been the jokester, warm and loving.
"Kaiden Pierce, you will not associate with anyone who even thinks that such stupid infatuations are valid!" Dad continues sternly, looking at my friends.
Like he's daring them to challenge him.
"Why are you making a big deal of this? It was a joke on Bella's part and you're just going on assuming shit? Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill! Me and Nathan are friends! I have no clue whether he may or may not be into guys. And you know what, I don't care if he is. He's my friend!"
Bella squeezes my hand to calm me down. My stomach clenches painfully and my ears are hot. I've never been this angry at someone.
"Keep your voice down, Kaiden," Dad snaps, standing up, towering over me.
A shiver crosses my spine. He can be vindictive when he's angry although he's never hit me in my whole life.
"This conversation is over. You are to stay away from these dirty homosexuals and that's final. I will not have you being brainwashed," he snaps before walking away.
Mom follows him, throwing me an apologetic look.
There's pin drop silence for several minutes. The room, despite being so big, feels stuffy and suffocating.
"Kaiden, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cause a fight!" Bella cries.
I give her a hug, patting her hair.
"It's okay Bells, it's not your fault he took it so seriously," I mumble. She sniffles into my shoulder.
"That was intense!" Ryan whispers, like my dad would come in and beat him if he said anything louder.
"Bro, do all of us a favour and don't tell your father in case you ever decide to date a boy, alright?" Alex says, letting out a deep breath. "Goodness, it felt like I was getting a death sentence and he didn't even look at me!"
Raven laughs and we all laugh too, a little dazed by the sudden change in the atmosphere.
"That stung," I admit. "I knew he was a bit orthodox but I didn't think he was outright homophobic!"
"Kaiden. He's probably just worried. I'm sure your mom will bring him around. She can sweet talk a stone!" Raven giggles.
I'm not so sure.
We manage to make it to school with two minutes to spare. We rush inside to the lockers, grabbing our days things.
"Thank God your mom woke us Kaiden, else we would have been very late!"
"Late? We should have just bunked!"
"Come on, let's go before the hall monitor arrives!"
We enter homeroom. Raven and I occupy our usual place. Nathan is already there. Ms. Brown isn't present but a substitute is and he tells us to finish our homework or do whatever we want, without phones.
"Who did you catch a ride with today?" I ask Nathan.
"Mum," he shrugs.
"I thought you didn't have a car?" I frown.
He doesn't reply and I know yet again that he's lying. I was defending his ass against my own parents yesterday and he's still lying to me? The apology hug last night meant nothing? Why? Why is he the way he is? Ugh, I feel like Naruto, always running behind Sasuke.
I don't say anything else to him the whole period.
In Chemistry, we're given a small project in pairs and it's due Monday. So we only have today and tomorrow to work.
"You should drop by my house after school, we should finish it today itself," I mutter. He nods and we part ways.
The day passes by uneventfully, for once.
"Is Nathan coming with you again?" Bella asks, when we're putting our books in the lockers after school. It's only noon so we have the rest of the day to ourselves.
"Yeah, we have a Chemistry project to do. Why, do we have plans?"
"Oh no, Raven was asking if we could hang out at her bakery. But then, we could go without you if you're studying."
I nod and wave her goodbye. Nathan is already waiting by my car.
"My mom has a car. She takes it to work. I don't like using it because then she always leaves the fuel tank on empty and I have to refill it everytime. It takes out a lot of the already meager savings I have," he says quietly as we drive to my place.
I nod, feeling guilty at my earlier thought.
He probably didn't elaborate because Raven was there, listening to our every word.
"Why are you so against people?" I ask. "For someone who was so charming during camp, you don't seem to trust anyone."
He laughs and I feel so much better seeing him like that. This Nathan is so different than the one I saw. He's got his walls so high up, it feels impossible to get through sometimes.
"If the said people, closest to you, betrayed you in the worst possible way, you would be against them too."
I nod.
"I understand. However, it's better than being alone you know? Trusting people with the knowledge that they might betray you, is a risk. But it's a risk worth taking. You might miss out on some really wonderful connections. Not everyone is out to get you," I smile.
I'm one to talk, after trying to cut ties with everyone in the summer. Him and I are so similar, it's scary.
He hums, still looking out the window.
I pull into the driveway of my house, dreading my father being home. He hasn't apologised after last night's argument and I don't want to run into him. Especially not with Nathan.
But my luck is shit today because both my parents are sitting there in the living room, with a guest.
Thank God, at least there won't be insults flying.
"Hello Nathan, nice to see you again in good health!" Mom smiles sweetly. Nathan turns red.
"Hello Ma'am. I haven't thanked you properly for the medicines."
"Oh, it's alright. Don't worry about it! Kaiden talks about you very fondly!" She says.
I roll my eyes when Nathan smirks at me.
The woman sitting there looks familiar. I smile at her and wish her a good afternoon.
"What's your full name, boy?" Dad asks gruffly.
"Nathaniel Summers, sir."
"What are you doing in my house?"
"We have a chem project. It's due Monday so kindly excuse us while we go study!" I say hastily and grab Nathan's hand, pulling him up to my room.
"That felt like I was being interrogated!" he chuckles, sitting on my bed. Benji snuggles up immediately next to him.
"Trust me, you were."
"I knew that other lady from somewhere," he says and I look to him, surprised.
"Eh?"
"I don't know though. Must be a misunderstanding." He shrugs but I have a feeling he's lying.
I change into comfy clothes and we begin to work on the project. He sorts the information and I type it into the presentation, not talking about anything other than our work.
He seems at ease, petting Benji. His head is buried in our textbook, underlining important statements, resting his pencil against his lips.
I watch him bite his lower lip, lost in thought. My eyes travel from his sharp nose to his defined jaw and to his Adam's apple and to his collarbones peeking out from his unbuttoned school uniform.
I stare at his slender fingers and narrow wrists, admiring the silver bracelet that sits on it. His skin is tight and makes his veins visible against the golden tan.
He's such a work of art.
"Kaiden, you're staring again!" He laughs.
I snap out of my reverie, embarrassed.
"I was thinking, not staring!" I grumble, feeling hot all over.
"Sure Kai-Pie, whatever helps you sleep at night," he grins.
"Fuck off, you! Just because you're attractive doesn't mean everyone is staring at you!"
"Oh, you think I'm attractive? First you say I'm fit, now you think I'm attractive? Careful Kaiden, your gay is showing!" He laughs, poking my forehead with two fingers.
He does that often and I can't help but hope it's not in the little brother way.
"Shut up! I'm not... gay!" I huff. My face is hot enough to fry an egg.
"It's okay if you are, you know?" He says quietly. He smiles and a giant wave of relief floods through me.
Oh my God.
We fall silent, focusing on our work again. It's evening by the time we finish. Nathan stretches on my bed and I can't help but glance at his V-lines peeking through the white school shirt.
"Man, that was a load!" he sighs. He looks up at the huge Starry Night painting over the headboard.
"Is that yours?" He asks, his hair messed up and a half smile on his face.
He looks so soft and adorable, I want to coo. I can't tell if it's because it's forbidden fruit syndrome, or just the adrenaline of getting caught - I wonder how he would react if I pinned him on the bed and kissed him right now. He would probably slap me.
"Uh, yeah. One of my favourites."
"It's beautiful. Van Gogh was such a depressed bastard!" Nathan laughs.
I chuckle and nod, trying to rid myself of the intense urge to kiss him. He is like gravity, pulling me in.
"I was thinking, you and your friends can drop by tomorrow for the mural. It's a Sunday and Mum is out luckily so you guys can be as noisy as you want," He says, sitting up.
"Sounds good. Let's go to my shed now, see if we can salvage any leftover paint."
The outhouse proves a successful location and we find white, dark blue and yellow paint left, along with some brushes and a can of turpentine.
"That should do over fine, I think. Do you have a theme in mind?" I ask.
"Yeah, actually I do. I want anime figures of all my favourite characters on a black background. Could you photoshop something together? Will it take long?"
"Well, I'll try but no promises. Couldn't you have chosen something less complicated?" I laugh.
"Oh, should I? I'll think of something different then?"
"I'm kidding! I'll see what I can do. Until then, you need to get sandpaper and more brushes for tomorrow when we paint the background. Sound okay?"
"Fantastic! I'm off duty today so I'll collect them on my way home."
I nod. Nathan yawns.
"Today felt very long!" He sighs, stretching.
"Yeah it did, even though it was a Saturday!"
"Probably because of the project. I'm not complaining though, I got to spend time with you!" He says nonchalantly.
I walk out of the outhouse to hide my burning face and he follows me.
"Wasn't six weeks of summer enough? I mean, we were literally inseparable. I'm fed up of you!" I laugh, obviously not meaning anything.
"I can never get tired of teasing you, Kai-Pie. Too bad but you're stuck with me!"
"I wish I wasn't!"
"You take that back! Right now!" He yells.
"Nope!" I stick my tongue out.
"I'm going to get you!" He laughs and runs behind me.
I drop the paint buckets and run up the lawns, laughing when he chases me. We run behind my house, into the trees.
"Snoozer loser!" I taunt him, grinning. He grabs my hoodie, making me stumble.
"Oh fuck!"
We both lose footing and go sliding down the slope, yelling. I hit a tree and he ends up on top of me, blinking in shock.
We burst into laughter, sitting up straight, hair full of grass and mud. I shake my head to rid it and pluck a stray blade from Nathan's hair.
"Dumbass, don't grab me like that! We could have broken our necks!" I yell, checking him for injuries. I don't find any.
He chuckles and runs his fingers through his hair.
The sun is setting and the golden rays are making him look angelic.
"You make me really happy, you know?" He says after a while, making me look at him, away from the pink hues of the sky.
"It's just easy, being with you, no drama, no pretenses. I'm sorry I'm a dick to you."
I want to tell him he makes me happy too, that I like him and much more than that. Instead, I just hold his hand and we watch the sun go down.