Summers & Starbucks - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Kaiden
"Wake up! Wake up, you fucking idiot!"
I groan, clutching the blanket tighter around myself. It's nice and warm and I want them to stop the awful sound because it's giving me a headache.
"What the fuck!" I scream, sputtering and sitting upright, dripping in cold water.
I blink to see Sasha looking very annoyed, holding a bottle of water. The sunlight hurts my eyes as I register my surroundings slowly.
Oh god, I feel like shit.
"Kaiden you need to leave, now! How did you even get in here, the bouncers were useless!" she rants and I groan at her pitch.
"Am I still at your place? What time is it?!" I bolt out of bed, suddenly alert.
"Yes in my house, you're in my guest bedroom. And who is that other guy?"
"Other - guy?" I ask feebly, turning to her bed.
A mop of dark hair is peeking up from the blanket. Sasha throws water on him too and he wakes up coughing, startled.
"What the fuck?!" he gasps.
My eyes widen even more. He's shirtless.
"Get the fuck out of my house this instant, my parents are on their way over!" Sasha says. "I have cleaners downstairs so make sure that you leave through the backyard!"
In five minutes both of us are in her driveway and running to our cars, the blue haired dude still shirtless. Does he not have clothes?
"I had fun last night," he winks at me.
"Do I know you?" I ask slowly. "And what fun last night?"
"Oh, you don't remember?" He asks, frowning, and unlocks his black sports Porsche.
"No! I must have been too wasted!"
"Trust me, it's better you forget," he says quickly and drives away, leaving me hella confused.
I shrug, driving to my own house, dreading the talk that I am about to get from mother dearest.
Mum was mad I didn't tell her I was staying the night somewhere else. She arrived early in the morning and I wasn't here to greet her. Then she said she was glad I didn't drive drunk.
She never really gets angry, she is too sweet for that.
I spend the Sunday doing homework and studying. Then I give Benji, my cat a bath, earning a hundred scratch marks on my hands. I sketch a new design for my portfolio.
It has been a productive day, although I slept off my hangover most of the afternoon.
I trudge downstairs in the evening, craving a cup of hot chocolate, scrolling through my unread messages. Benji ambles around my legs.
The groupchat is blowing up.
Dan - Did Sasha send anyone else the picture?
Ryan - what picture?
Photo
I hit download but it's taking too long.
Ryan - Holy mother of god, is that Kaiden?
Daniel - Sasha said it is. It's from her cctv camera footage. She was checking to see if any damage was done to her property and found this.
Raven - There has to be a mistake! It's probably someone else, it's too blurry.
Bella - can't be, I know he was wearing a tie dye shirt.
Aaron - sounds like a LIT party if that happened! Wish I had been there dammit.
Raven - where's Kaiden? He hasn't been replying to messages, I've texted him several times.
Bella - yeah my calls won't connect either. Bitch must be sleeping. He's sure to have a massive hangover if he got drunk enough to do that.
Ryan - Make sure that pic doesn't leave this group. Dan, tell Sasha to delete everything regarding that footage.
Every word instills a deep panic in me. I scroll up and see the downloaded picture.
Holy mother of fucking hell! There's no plausible explanation, no sane excuse to get myself out of this one.
"Oh my God!" I whisper, zooming into the picture. "Oh my god, oh my god! Benji, I am a fucking idiot!"
I sit down on the stairs, still looking at the photo. Benji meows happily, rubbing against my legs.
My heartbeat is thundering in my throat. I don't remember what we did, but he woke up shirtless in the bed next to me, so I would have to be too dumb to not add two and two together.
Alex- Hold tf up, that's Sam Everton! :O
Dan - Yes, Sam Everton, captain of the Westbrook Lacrosse team. I didn't know he was a fucking faggot. :/
Bella - Isn't he the hot guy I was playing pong with? Damn, Kaiden way to score! ;)
Raven - Dan, don't call him a faggot! :(
Dan - Ugh, he is one. it's disgusting that he tried to take advantage of Kaiden. People like him deserve to rot.
Ryan : O__o
I scroll down the chat. There is no reply from Dan and it's like a knife twisting in my gut.
Nobody else has said anything further, the topic completely dropped.
Raven is DMing me rapidly.
R - Answer me you dumbfuck, what were you thinking?!
R - We need to meet! ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯
R - BItCH YOU DEAD? >:(
R - DONT TELL ME YOU HAD SEX?! O.O
R - Ugh Kaiden, stop ignoring me.
R - I'm sorry about Dan's reaction. :/
R - I'm offended you didn't tell me you were gay! Was Hayley just a cover to avoid coming out?
I could have chosen anyone else but Sam to kiss!
"Fuck, I am so screwed!"
Benji looks at me, his icy blue eyes devoid of emotion.
How did my life turn around 180 degrees in a span of twelve hours?
I switch off my phone and don't leave my house the rest of the day.
Monday.
Time to face the music.
The whole school probably knows by now. I could just blame it on the alcohol but, I look like I'm enjoying the kiss in the photo. Shit, I don't even remember that.
Did I even consent to the kiss? I don't remember anything, fuck my life.
I sit in my Tesla until the final bell, just to avoid interactions with anyone. Making sure the parking lot is empty, I walk rapidly to the school, sunglasses still in place.
Such a nice disguise, Kaiden, totally inconspicuous. Sunglasses on a cloudy day, you're a genius!
"Kaiden!"
I wince, not wanting to stop.
It's Max, the captain of our soccer team. I have a suspicion he and Bella are a thing but I'm too scared to ask Bella because she's fierce and I'm certainly not asking him if he's shagging my bestfriend.
"Good morning!" He smiles brightly at me, his brown hair still wet from a shower.
"Hn, good morning Max," I mutter.
"What's with the sunglasses?"
"I'm trying to stay undercover, could you pretend you can't see me?!" I hiss, annoyed.
"There's no one around to see you. What are you hiding from?" He chuckles. I take the sunglasses off when we near homeroom.
"Inside, there are fifty people who are going to judge me to my core," I mumble.
"I'm sure whatever it is, they will forget by the end of the week, man. It's high school, there's a new drama everyday! See you!"
"See you."
He leaves to go to his class.
I inhale deeply and push open the door to mine. I was tempted to skip school altogether but my Mum would whoop my butt.
To my surprise, nobody except my group and Sasha look at me. There's no dramatic whispering, no cruel insults, nothing at all. Just a class of seniors looking overworked and sleep deprived.
Sasha really didn't send anyone else the picture. I am super thankful as I take my seat next to Raven, who sends me a pointed glare.
I don't see Nathan anywhere. Did he skip?
The lesson begins and I'm forced to listen to the works of Oscar Wilde. Great, even his works have extremely homosexual connotations.
The universe is having a laugh at my conflict.
Lunch break arrives and I am skulking around, trying to go to the library. I'm going to eat lunch alone today, I'd much rather eat it with Mrs. Pretzel.
I find Sasha after my Chemistry lesson and pull her under a stairwell, away from my friends' eyes, who clearly want to get hold of me. I'll deal with them later.
"Kaiden! What's this?"
"Did you send the pictures to anyone else?"
"Obviously not, just Daniel."
"Why did you send it to Daniel? He's... he's not very good with... gay people."
Her face falls and immediate guilt fills her.
"You didn't know?"
I roll my eyes.
She shakes her head, pouting.
"I'm so sorry. I should have sent it to you, not him. I.. I was just so surprised I wanted to know. I thought you and Daniel were so close, he'd know if anything was going on. I'm so sorry Kai, I mean it."
"Yeah, the damage is already done. Your sorry isn't going to salvage anything. You just outed me to my group and my homophobic friend Sasha!"
"I'm sorry. I really didn't know, Kai. I just got carried away..."
I sigh.
"It's fine. Well, it's not - but I know it wasn't intentional on your part. Please, don't ever do anything like this again okay? You don't know what kind of life gay people have. You may be supportive but not everyone is."
She hugs me, mumbling an apology again. I return the hug briefly and pull away.
"You know what I want to ask though?!" She grins suddenly. "The photo is from the poolside when it was raining. And then... you woke up in my bed! Did you do it?"
Oh fuck.
"Good god, I have to change those sheets!"
"Frankly, I didn't remember a thing till I saw the picture. I don't even know if anything happened, besides a kiss."
"Were you that drunk? Damn, I should give you whiskey more often!"
She's genuinely finding this funny. At least she's not shunning me completely.
"Since when are you into guys? Don't tell me Hayley made you turn or something!"
"No, I don't think it was her. I don't even know what I was thinking."
"Well, if it's any help, there's a Lacrosse game this Friday at Westbrook. I'm going with a friend, her boyfriend invited us. He's on the team too. Maybe you can tag along and talk to Sam?"
"I'll let you know," I mutter.
I don't think I want to talk to him at all. Ever.
"Sam's a good guy though. Good choice!" She leaves with a teasing wink.
What the fuck.
Sighing, I head to the cafeteria, getting my food and joining my usual table. Might as well face my friends. They're looking at me with solemn faces like I asked for their kidneys.
I sit beside Ryan, dreading the conversation.
"Sam Everton?!" Ryan grins, poking my side. "Sam freaking Everton?!"
I blink. They seem.... excited?!
"Since when has this been going on? Why didn't you tell us?!" Aaron asks, mouth agape.
"Did you have sex? Bitch, you ignored all of my texts!" Raven frowns.
"No, guys! I don't know!" I groan. My red face can probably be seen from the next city.
"So, did you like it?!" Aaron asks, smiling smugly over his coffee. "Must be nice, having so many more options open now?"
"I - what?! I don't even remember if I liked it, I genuinely don't!"
"Maybe you should kiss him again then, you know, find out! " Alex wiggles his eyebrows and I chuck a banana peel at his face.
"Although you chose a mad hot dude, congratulations on that!" Bella laughs. "What really happened though?"
I narrate the incident, the bits of what I remember.
"You woke up together, he was undressed and you weren't?" Ryan snorts. "But I always thought you gave off bottom energy!"
I nearly choke on my food. Since when did Ryan - dumb, naive Ryan - know gay lingo?
Raven slaps my back as I cough, drinking water hastily. Bella wipes her eyes, crying tears of mirth.
"I second that. There's no way Kaiden was the top!"
"Guys, what the fuck? I don't even know if we did it!"
"Does your ass hurt?" Alex asks, grinning.
"This conversation is over!" I mutter just as Daniel walks to us.
Everyone immediately falls silent.
"Kaiden, are you alright? Do we need to go punch that guy? You should lodge a complaint, that's sexual harrasment!" Daniel says, frantically looking to see if I am alright.
His reaction makes me happy, in a twisted way. I don't even want to clear out his misunderstanding.
"No, let's not beat anyone up okay? And since no one else knows, we should let this thing slide," I mutter. "I mean, it was a slip up. I was wasted and didn't realise what happened."
The looks on their faces tell me they're NEVER going to let me forget this but they nod for Daniel's sake.
"And a PSA, don't ever fucking give me whiskey again!"
"On second thoughts, now we should only give you whiskey henceforth!" Bella laughs. "Let's see what drama you unfold next!"
Alex laughs and everyone happily roasts me.
A gigantic wave of relief washes over me as I watch my friends laugh and bicker. I love these shitheads more than words can explain right now.
The joking is enough proof that they will still be here regardless of who I liked.
Well, except Daniel.
The large wooden door is intimidating even though the house in itself is very cute. I stare at the doorbell like it's going to eat my fingers. I must be standing here for ten minutes.
Grow a pair Kaiden. You just have to give him the keys you brought, and then leave.
I ring the bell, wanting to bolt.
"Open the door, you lazy bastard!"
The harsh voice startles me and I turn away, wondering if I came to the wrong house.
The door opens and reveals a very tired looking Nathan, in an oversized sweater and grey sweatpants. A large Alsatian is by his legs and he is growling, but not at me. His head is turned towards whoever is shouting inside.
It's the right house after all.
"Kaiden?" Nathan rasps.
He sounds so congested and sick, concern fills me immediately.
"Who the fuck is it?" The woman yells.
"My friend from school!" Nathan replies hoarsely. He steps out, shutting the door behind him.
"What are you doing here?" he asks.
"You look like shit," is the first thing that leaves my mouth.
"Yeah, it's because I ran to work in the rain," he mutters.
His hair is all mussed up, dark circles under his eyes. His lips are red and chapped from chewing on them. He definitely has a really high fever.
"Why would you do that, are you crazy?!" I whisper-yell.
Sasha did say it was raining. We were both in the rain then, doing very different things.
"Why are you here?" he asks again.
I bite my lip. He raises a brow.
"I missed you in school. And you weren't at Sasha's party even when you've been flirting with her. It didn't feel right. I was so bored in biology class!" I mumble lamely.
What the hell, Kai?
"Is - is that why you came? All the way? To make sure I was okay?"
He gives me a look I can't quite understand.
"Well, yeah. Also, I came to give you this. You probably must be frustrated looking for them. They were in my bag!"
I hand him the keys.
"Nathan, get inside this instant, who's going to prepare dinner? The least you can do for living with me is make the fucking food!"
The woman's voice floats out through the windows.
"Who is that? She sounds awful! Please don't tell me that's your.... mother?!"
I trail away at the last part.
Oh my god.
"You should go," he says softly and the look on his face breaks my heart.
No.
I pull him along with me, without thinking, not caring that I left the dog inside or he's only in his house slippers and has no school stuff or change of clothes.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
He yanks his hand out of my grip.
"Are you out of your mind? She would kill me if I left!" He snaps but it's weak.
"I don't care, we'll deal with her later. Right now you're coming with me!" I snap, trying to ignore her yelling.
"She's going to be even angrier if she realises I left," He says, standing rooted in his spot. "Just go Kaiden, I can handle myself."
The tired look on his face tells me otherwise. His mother yells again. This time she says at least invite your friend inside, mannerless brat.
"No, I'm not letting you be here like this. Come on, let's go."
"What the fuck - let go of me - Kai - I..."
His words trail off and he collapses in my arms, startling me. He is burning, even through his sweater.
My heart painfully clenches. I pick him up. His eyebrows are knitted in discomfort and he's shivering.
I put him in my car and leave the horrid place immediately.