Patrick & dylan

chapter 3

Maybe she wasn't home yet. Maybe I could sneak into my room. I walked into my bedroom, well, our bedroom. I had to share a room with my little brother. He was in the sixth grade. He was reading a comic book.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" I hissed.

"Shouldn't you have been home at eight?"

"Shut up. Where's mom?"

"She had to work late." I smiled broadly. I got away with it and there were no meddling kids to foil my victory. "I had to lie for you. You know how she gets." There was one meddling kid, but he wouldn't screw me over.

When my dad left when Kyle was born my mother went all clingy onto my brother and me. She enforced rules like a madwoman. "That's why I love you."

"Whatever." He flicked off his light and got under his blanket. "Good night."

"Night," I said as I undid my tie and hung up my blazer. I didn't know how tired I was until my head hit the pillow.

It was Friday and football had no practice for once. "Do you want to hang out?"

"Sure." I knew it was just "hanging out" but I could still pretend it was a date.

"What do you want to do?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know...you got any ideas?"

"We could hang out at your place."

"My place?" I asked. God, I knew how this was going to sound, but my apartment was total shit. It was only a two bedroom, and compared to Dylan's gigantic house it was just a bathroom.

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay, I'll ask my mom." Of course my mother said it was fine when I told her it was Dylan Rushworth wanting to come over. I was kind of hoping she'd be her usual self and give me a crazy, made up reason why I couldn't do something. She had to work late so it would be me, Dylan, and Kyle.

I loved Kyle, but I didn't want him here. I loved when I was alone with Dylan and with Kyle at home it just wasn't going to happen. "Kyle, I'm home." He had his own set of house keys and he took the school bus.

"What are we going to do for dinner?"

"Pizza?" Dylan suggested. Kyle smiled his devious little grin.

"So is he your boooyyyyfriend?" I almost had a moment. I saw myself slapping the *** out of him.

"Kyle. Shut. Up." He went into a fit of giggles.

"Sorry," he said, getting a sense of my attitude. "But I am hungry." He looked at Dylan. "Sorry dude, we're out of frozen pizzas."

"We can order a...some pizza can't we?" We never got to order out. Trips to restaurants were incredible and saved only for special occasions.

"We can?" Kyle asked, eyes as big as saucers.

"I could make something," I said.

"But I want pizza," Kyle pouted.

"No." I didn't have any money. Oh how sad! Poor Patrick can't order pizza because he's poor! Oh miserable me! I wasn't even hungry.

"I got it," Dylan said.

"No, I'll make something." I was not going to take handouts.

"But I want pizza now too."

"Please Pat!" Kyle begged.

"Yeah, please Pat!"

"Fine," I agreed. We got two extra large pizzas. Who was going to eat all of that? I only could eat a slice and Kyle knew we weren't getting pizza again for a while so he stuffed down three and a half slices.

He said he was sleepy and went off to bed after embarrassing me enough for three lifetimes. Dylan was finishing a whole pizza and grabbed a slice from the one with the four slices missing. "Boy you can eat a lot," I said absent-mindedly.

"Sorry." He set down the pizza. "I guess I am kind of fat." Shit. Shit. Shit!

"No, I mean, I just can't eat as much as you do and I don't think you're fat and I think you look really good and I didn't mean it like a bad thing."

"So...do you have a boyfriend?" He picked up the pizza.

"No." I felt my face turn red.

"Neither do I." I was pretty bright, but that could have just been unfortunate word choice.

"What?" I asked, trying to clarify his statement.

"I don't have a boyfriend either."

"Do you want a boyfriend?"

"It would be nice." He looked at me with his beautiful green eyes. "I really like you, like more than I've ever liked anyone."

"I like you too." There was so much to absorb. "I have since freshman year." We both were standing now. He walked towards me and leaned down to kiss me. I was only 5'7" and it just made the experience better.

"I'll see you later," he said. He grabbed his stuff and another two slices of pizza before I walked him out.

In a million years I would have never thought Dylan Rushworth was gay. I would have never thought he'd like me. I cleaned up all the garbage and went to sleep happy that Kyle forced us to order pizza.