Page 48 of This is Me

“See? No harm done, Roy Toy.” Donny gave another smirk before turning on his heel and walking away.

“He’s such a dick,” Leroy mumbled and turned to look at me. “Also, I’m sorry about before, Pete. There’s just… a lot of shit happening.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it!” I said with a grin, and I gave Leroy another nudge.

Looking at Leroy smiling shyly at me after he apologised made my stomach flutter and I could tell from the tone in his voice that the shit that was happening was weighing heavily on his mind. All of that considered, on top of the innocent way he was looking at me, my decision had already been made.

I couldn’t say no to that face.

“If you want, we can talk about it at your place.”

“You’re coming over?” Leroy asked, the shyness had gone from his face, and excitement replacing it.

“Yeah. I’ll drop the others home, then we can go to yours,” I said, and Leroy nodded with a broad grin.

“We should get going. I need to grab some things from Andy’s house. Are you okay with waiting there a little?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course!” I nodded as we started heading across the field toward the parking lot.

I’d be lying if I said my mind wasn’t racing. It may have been because I almost got my ass kicked by Donny, who was at least foot taller than me, but it was mainly because of Leroy. There was something wrong. Something was going on, and he wasn’t telling me.

‘There’s just… a lot of shit happening.’

A lot of shit. That could be fucking anything. The hurt in Leroy’s voice, though meant that it wasn’t just anything. And it pained me to know Leroy was hurting, which threw my mind into even more of a spin. I shouldn’t be feeling as much as I did for Leroy. It was wrong. Not because it was gay. But because he was my best friend.

My brain continued to replay Leroy’s words and further ingrained the pain in his voice into my mind while we wandered to my car where Andy and Blaire were waiting for us.

“Yo, bitches. You took your time!” Blaire yelled, and Andy hummed in agreement.

Unlocking my car, I rolled my eyes at them and did my best to ignore the looks Blaire was giving me as her eyes darted between myself and Leroy as we slid into the car.

“I almost got my ass handed to me on a brilliant silver platter. So, you’re lucky I even arrived at my car.”

“I bet you I can guess—”

“It was Donny.”

“Pete, you ass! I was gonna guess!” Blaire punched my arm as I started the car, and I shot her a glare.

“Okay, that hurt.”

“Lucky I was there to save the day,” Leroy chipped in, and Blaire gave me another odd look.

“Oh, right. Shotgun,” Blaire said suddenly, even though everyone had already gotten in the car.

Blaire in the front seat. Andy and Leroy in the back.

“You guys are getting really shit at calling shotgun,” I said, looking into the back seat, where Leroy shrugged, and Andy shook his head.

“Honestly, I just want to know what you did to piss Donny off this time?” Andy asked as I pulled out of the carpark, and it was Blaire’s turn to hum in agreement.

“Well, apparently, just by breathing I can do that,” I answered, keeping my eyes trained on the road.

“Yeah, you have that effect on people.”

“Gee, thanks, Andy,” I said, ignoring the chuckles from the others as we continued the drive to Andy’s house.

With the idle chatter, it wasn’t long before I was parking my car on the curb in front of Andy’s house, and Andy and Leroy got out of the vehicle.