Last Chance High - 13. Chapter 13

Toni sat in history class tapping his pencil and staring at the clock. Lunch couldn’t come soon enough. He wanted to see Marc. It had been a full week since his confrontation with Warren and so far things were going well. Warren had kept his word about keeping things civil and Toni had kept his word about keeping Warren’s secret. Their friends knew Marc and Toni were together. Much to Toni’s relief Marc agreed to keep the PDA out of the public. He still wasn’t 100% ready to come out. He knew Marc was frustrated but Toni just wanted to take things slow. They hadn’t even spent any time together outside of school. A quick kiss in the car when Marc dropped him off after school was all they got. Sure they texted almost constantly, and Marc called Toni every night to say sweet dreams. But it seemed like they were both waiting for the other to make the next move.

“Hey, Toni.” Toni looked up and saw Brittany standing over his desk.

“Brittany.”

“How have you been?”

“Ummm...fine.”

“That’s good. So what’s new with you?”

“Nothing. What do you want Brittany?”

“Oh come on, I thought we would be friends now. You know since you and Marc...”

“What?” Toni glanced around, his face burning.

“Marc? Your boyfriend?” He was sure her voice got louder as she spoke. A few kids glanced over obviously listening in.

“Leave him alone, Brittany.” Warren’s voice cut in. He was slouched in his seat and sounded bored but his eyes cut into Brittany’s fiercely. He had become even more protective of the dark-eyed boy recently, glued to his side whenever Marc wasn’t around. Sometimes it felt like the changing of the guards when one would show up when the other had to leave.

“What? I’m just trying to make friends with Marc’s boyfriend. Is that so wrong?”

Toni slid low in his seat and groaned. He knew she was egging him on, trying to get him to deny it. Which he knew would hurt Marc. She was forcing him to choose: Marc or keeping his secret. The bell rang and Toni glanced into the hall. Marc was waiting in the hall, like he did every day, leaning against the lockers with his hands in his pockets. He had to be skipping out of his own classes early to get there before the bell rang. When he caught Toni’s eye his face lit up and a huge grin reached across his face. Toni smiled back, courage filling his veins. Grabbing his bag he pushed past Brittany and walked with determination to his boyfriend. Marc took his hands out of his pockets and pushed himself off the lockers. Toni loved the way his eyes shone as he tilted his head.

“Hey, Toni. How was class?”

The hall was filling with students on their way to lunch. Toni knew more than a few eyes would be on Marc, there was always someone watching the green-eyed boy. He also knew Brittany and Warren were standing in the doorway because he could hear them arguing. Toni dropped his bag next to Marc and reached up towards him. Marc gave him a curious look but didn’t pull away. Toni wrapped one hand on his hip while the other stretched up to entangle in his hair. The smaller boy pulled the taller one towards him and pressed their lips together. Marc didn’t move for two heartbeats. He recovered from his shock and gripped Toni’s waist as he kissed his boyfriend back. Even though their lips were pressed together hard and their hands were clutching roughly it was a slow and gentle kiss. There were a few catcalls and Toni heard Warren’s laughter fill the hallway. Brittany squealed in anger before the click of her heels retreated down the hall. Breathing hard Toni pulled back and Marc rested his forehead against the small boys.

“Wow. What was that?” Marc asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, yay and everything. But I thought you didn’t want any PDA?”

Toni blushed, he could feel the eyes of everyone in the hall on his back and the whispers were frantic. His courage slipped away.

“Brittany.”

Marc cocked an eyebrow. “You kissed me because of Brittany?”

Toni nodded but didn’t meet his boyfriend’s eyes, “She confronted me in class, started asking about us. Loudly. She was trying to out me or make me deny you. I started to panic, bad, but then I saw you. Just standing there, waiting for me. And I knew I couldn’t let her push me around. I don’t care anymore, Marc, about people knowing. I... I want people to know you’re waiting there for me. I want people to know, that you're mine.”

With one hand still on his waist Marc reached up to grip Toni’s chin gently guiding the younger boy to look up at him.

“Well, then I guess I owe Brittany a nice big thank you. Do you have any idea how hard it has been to keep my hands off you?”

Toni laughed and hit Marc on the chest. The older boy reached down and took Toni’s bag slinging it over his shoulder as he put his arm around Toni. He pulled the boy close and brushed his lips against his temple.

“That was awesome!” Warren came up beside them. “I mean wow, you should have seen her face. Man was she pissed.” The happy couple laughed. “I bow down to you Toni.”

“Umm... excuses me?” The boy’s stopped and turned to the girl who had approached them. She was a small girl with frizzy red hair and green eyes. “My name’s Rachel and I just wanted to say that was really brave. I know there’s a number out kids in this school but we haven’t had an actual couple. So, yea, I think it’s great.”

“Thank Rachel!” Marc said with a big smile. “We appreciate the support.” Toni just smiled, he didn’t feel brave. In fact the closer they got to the cafeteria the more he thought he was going to puke. When they got to the doors Rachel gave a small wave as she headed away. Marc felt Toni tense up and dropped his arm from his shoulder. Instead he reached over and took his hand. Everyone was looking at them whispering in hushed tones.

“Relax my Tonio,” he whispered. “I’m right here.”

Toni nodded and let his boyfriend lead him over to the table he shared with the jocks. Warren split off bumping Toni’s shoulder in farewell as he headed over to his own group’s table.

Marc threw his leg over the bench sitting sideways pulling Toni down to sit next to him.

“Sooo... I take it your relationship is out in the open now?” Alex said leaning over the table. “Stories of your show in the hallway are spreading fast.”

Marc couldn’t help but laugh at the wide-eyed look on his boyfriend’s face. “Show?” The younger boy choked out.

“Well, you know how these things go.” Alex said with a shrug.

"One kid told me it was a slow romantic kiss. Then you stared into each other’s eyes with your arms wrapped around each other.” Breanna said as she slid in next to Alex, scrunching her face in disgust.

“I heard it was all hot and heavy with grinding hips and wandering hands.” Jack giggled next to Marc, patting him on the back.

“Well, we heard it was a little rougher than that.” Steve said with a wicked grin from across the table.

“Sweet little Toni here, apparently pushed Marc against the locker.” Chris added, edging Toni in the ribs.

“Roughly devouring his lips. Also, I heard there was tongue.” Steve finished with a wink.

“Devouring?” Toni groaned burying his face into Marc’s chest.

“I think that’s my favorite story. Sounds hot.” Jack wiggled his eyebrows.

Marc rubbed his back and chuckled. “Aw don’t worry about it; things will quiet down by the end of the day." He gripped his hands in his lap and tried to ignore the roll in his stomach. He was officially out.