Chapter 5

"Hey Dad."

"How was your party?"

"Fine, it was cool."

"What did you do?"

"Talk to people."

"Did you dance with anyone, Ofelia?" Paul was drunk.

"Dad, I'm Nicolas." He glanced over at a full bag of candy. 'At least nobody saw him like this..." Nico thought. "I'm going upstairs. You should go to bed too." He turned to leave again.

"Ofelia!" He grabbed the candy and ran up the stairs to his bedroom.

That whole weekend Nico didn't see his father. On that Monday, Paul didn't much look at Nicolas. He said good morning and went on his way to work. Nicolas cleared the breakfast dishes and went on his way to school.

As he made his way out of the house he noticed Dean all alone. He had to walk pass their house to get to the bus.

"Morning Robin." He called as he walked pass.

"Buenos días, Dracula."

"What?"

"It means good morning in Spanish..." Nicolas thought everyone knew that. He talked to Rick in Spanish sometimes, even though his Spanish wasn't very good. His grandmother, Juana, used to only speak Spanish in front of Paul because he didn't understand it. Before she moved to Texas two years ago she taught Nico.

"Oh yeah, right." He laughed uneasily. "Want a ride?"

"You guys' truck always seems really crowded."

"Mike is sick... and Hank is on a college visit."

"That's okay Dean." He started walking again.

"Come on Nicolas, it's just a ride."

"Yeah, sure." He walked down the sidewalk to Dean's truck.

They didn't say much. Dean was pretty quiet and Nico had nothing to say to him.

"Do you still have your tights?" He asked suddenly.

"Yeah..." Nico began to feel awkward. "Why?"

"You looked cute in them."

"Dean stop it. You're being a jerk." He looked at his tight face as he drove. "I didn't even want to ride with you, so you can stop fucking with me."

"Why is it that you think I'm fucking with you? I can't like you?"

"Dean, you've barely ever talked to me."

"Is that tall blond guy your boyfriend?"

"No...Rick's my friend." He thought about his Batman costume and felt his ears go hot. "Dean are you even gay?"

"Yeah, I am." He sighed. "My dad told me not to tell anybody. He, my mom, and my brother's are the only people who know...besides you."

Just then Dean pulled into the student parking lot. He parked and before they got out, he asked Nico "if he'd, maybe, wanna hang out." Nico told him it was fine and went off to his locker.

He saw Rick for the first time since the party. He got a haircut.

"Ahahaha!"

" Shut up." Said Rick sternly.

"Where's your hair sir?"

"My dad made me get it cut, okay." He touched his head. "They don't even allow hats in school." Nico looked at it again and actually really liked it. It still had a bit of length, but was a lot shorter. He thought it made Rick look...hot.

"I think you look good." He said to him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can, uh, see your face." He opened his bag. "I almost forgot." He handed him a large bag of candy. "My dad must not have answered the door for the trick-or-treaters." Rick opened it and bit into a chocolate bar.

"Great, cause I'm starving!" Nico laughed and they went off to homeroom.