The Boy with No Name - 24. Chapter 24

I opened my eyes the next morning and saw Jesse hovering over me.

“Morning gorgeous.” he whispered.

“Ugh! It’s too early for that crap!” said Timmy throwing a pillow in our direction.

Jesse laughed. “Get ready. We’re going to town.” He kissed me and before I could say anything, he was out of the room.

“Could you please leave the whole “lovey dovey” thing until a little later? Like, maybe when I’m not in the room trying to sleep?” asked Timmy.

“You’re just jealous.”

“Of what?”

“That I have my love here with me and you left your heart in California.”

“Oh yeah, I’m really jealous.” He mocked.

I got up. Got some clothes together and headed for the shower. When I came out, I peeked into Jesse room and he was getting ready as well. I decided to sneak up on him. I poked his sides. He jumped and then turned around.

“Hey” he said with a smile. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, but…why are we going to town?”

“We’re going to have coffee. I thought I’d take us on our first official date.”

“You don’t have to do that.” I said.

“Of course I do. I love you, Jamie.”

I felt myself blush. I looked down at my feet and when I looked up and he was an inch away from my face. I smiled at him. He smiled back in a little giggle.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing, it’s just…you’re so beautiful.” He took his finger and gently pushed my bangs out of my face.

I smiled. “I love you,” was what I said back.

* * *

We walked into Mr. Grind’s coffee house holding hands and all eyes turned to us.

“Just ignore them,” said Jesse. He led me to a table and we sat down. The waitress came up to us and took our orders. The fact that we were holding hands as we sat at the table didn’t really seem to faze her.

“So, are you having a good time?” asked Jesse.

“These people’s stares are burning holes in my skin.” I said. It was true. I hated it. I could feel their eyes on me. It was like being nude in the middle of a football field.

“Don’t pay any attention to them. Don’t let them ruin our date.” Jesse stretched over the table and kissed me. It relaxed me.

The waitress brought us our drinks, but also had a little something to say to us.

“Hey, I just have to say that it’s really cool that you guys are so out and proud of who you are. I wish I had the courage to do that.” she said. “I’m a lesbian.” she whispered.

“Thanks” said Jesse with a smile.

“Yeah, thanks.” I said

“These coffees are on me.” she said.

“Oh, no we couldn’t let you do that.” said Jesse.

“Yeah, I agree. Plus, you don’t even know us.” I said.

“Honey, we’re gay. We’re all family.”

Then, she walked away.

“That was cool.” I said.

“What? That she gave us free coffee or that we made such an impact on her?” asked Jesse.

“I don’t know. Both, I guess.”

“Yeah, it was pretty cool.”

We got back home and breakfast was ready and on the table. Jesse and I sat down.

“So, how was homecoming last night?” asked dad.

“It was…eventful.” was what I answered with.

“You could say that.” said Timmy with a smile.

“Okay…what happened?” asked Dad.

“Yes, I want to know all of the details.” said grandma.

“Well…there was this bit of a misunderstanding with me and my dad and…she kissed me. Jesse saw it, got mad and ran off. I went to dance with my date, but before we got very far in the dance, Jesse came back in and…kissed me…in front of everyone.”

Anderson cleared his throat and both he and my dad shifted in their seats. My grandma smiled.

“That sounds awfully romantic.” said grandma.

“Ugh! It was so romantic, it practically made me sick.” said Timmy with a laugh. “But it was still great. You should have seen all the wide open mouths.”

“No one gave you any trouble did they?” asked grandma. I could tell that our dads were still a little uncomfortable.

“No…” I said.

“Don’t worry grandma. I wouldn’t let that happen.” said Timmy.

“That’s good to know Timmy.” said grandma.

“Yes, it is.” said dad.

“I’ll look out for Jesse too, Mr. Clark, not that he needs it. Jesse’s a pretty popular guy.”

“Thank you, Timmy.” said Anderson.

* * *

After dinner, Jesse and I hung out on the couch in his room. We sat in our usual position. He had his arm around me and I rested my head on the edge of his chest.

“How awkward was that dinner?” asked Jesse.

“Super awkward,” I answered.

It was silent for a while. I loved to just sit and listen to him breath.

“So, are you ready for school tomorrow?” he asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I answered.

“At least we’ll have each other.” said Jesse.

“Yeah…at least we have each other.”

* * *

Jesse and I parked in the school lot and both of us took a deep breath.

“It’s time” he said.

“Yeah…it’s time.”

“No matter what happens today, just remember that I love you.”

“Yeah, remember that I love you too.”

We got out of his truck and met in the middle of the aisle and linked hands. At first we were scared, but when we walked inside, all of the kids started to clap for us. It was a tremendous roar of a clap and it made both of us smile.

We were happy and no one was going to stop us. Though, what Jesse was most worried about were his friends Rex and Ryan who Timmy nicknamed Jock-Man and Super-Jock, though I wasn’t sure which one was which. Jesse was worried that they wouldn’t accept him, but to my surprise, they were cool; extremely cool.

“Why didn’t you just tell us, dude?” asked Rex.

“Yeah, we would’ve understood.” said Ryan.

“I just was afraid of how you guys would react. I didn’t know what you would think about it.” said Jesse.

I could see a weight lift off of Jesse’s shoulders.

“Though, it is a little weird to think that you’re going out with a guy.” said Ryan.

Jesse blushed and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“I guess it’ll just take some time.” said Jesse.

The bell rang and Rex and Ryan gave Jesse friendly slaps of the hand.

“Wow, that was cool.” I said.

“Yeah, I was so worried that they would, like, disown me or something.”

“Well, I’ll see you at lunch. Where do you want to sit now that we can sit together?” I asked.

“Well, let’s flip a coin. Head’s we sit with my friends and tails with yours and then we can just rotate everyday.” said Jesse.

“That sounds reasonable.” I said.

He got a coin out and flipped it. It landed on tails.

“Okay, so we’re sitting with Becca, Paige, and Emma.” said Jesse. “And tomorrow, Rex and Ryan.”

By lunch time, everyone was over the fact that Jesse and I were together. No one stared when we held hands any longer. There wasn’t even a second glance in the entire cafeteria. This made it much more comfortable for Jesse and me to be who we are.

“You guys are thee talk of the town do you know that? It’s not just the school. It’s the entire town.” said Emma as we sat at the table.

“We really hadn’t noticed.” said Jesse. I think he was serious.

After we ate, the five of us went to hang out on the benches in the commons. That’s where everyone went after their lunch. When we sat, Jesse put his arm around me and I leaned into his body. It was our usual position, but obviously we’d never done it in public.

“Oh, you guys are way too cute together.” said Becca.

“Thanks” I said with a smile. I weaved my fingers with the hand that Jesse had over my shoulders.

Timmy walked over to us. “I see you’re getting comfortable. A few days ago you were afraid to look at each other.”

“Well, we’re over that now. It feels good to be together.” said Jesse.

The bell rang and we all got up. Jesse wrapped his arms around me, hugging me close. Our faces weren’t even an inch apart.

“Hey, I’ve got to go to class.” I said.

“But I don’t want you to go.” said Jesse.

“You’ll see me in sixth period.”

“Okay, just a kiss then?” he said still holding me tight. I stretched my head up and gave him a kiss.

“Satisfied? Because it’s starting to get hard to breath.”

Jesse smiled and then let me go. I had to run to my class just to make it on time.

In m class, this kid sat next to me that had never sat next to me before. It was math class and we hadn’t started yet.

“Hey,” he whispered.

I turned to him, not expecting his greeting.

“Hey,” I whispered back.

“You’re gay right?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?” I asked.

“Me too, but I’m not out.” he said. “I’m Ezekiel, but everyone calls me Zeke.”

“Cool, I’m Jamie.”

“I know” he said. “Everyone knows who you and Jesse are.”

“That’s kind of creepy.” I said.

“You should take it as a compliment.” said Zeke. “You’re the most popular kids in school.”

“Whatever,” I said. “We just want to live our lives.”

“I hear that. That’s why I don’t want to come out.”

“Well, that’s nice, but I need to focus on math right now.” I said.

“Right…sorry.” he said.

I had a strange feeling about this Zeke character. I caught him staring at me a few times. I just shrugged it off.

When we pulled up to the ranch house, Jesse and I saw a car that neither of us recognized. We walked inside cautiously. I heard my dad talking to someone, but it wasn’t until I heard the other voice that I got really, really excited.

I would recognize that voice anywhere. It was my best friend Oliver Logan, or Ollie for short. I ran into the living room, following the voice.

“Ollie?!” I screamed.

Ollie and I ran into each others arms. In our embrace, he lifted me up and spun me around fast. He put me down.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.

“I thought I owed my best friend a visit. I’m on break right now at school and I just wanted to come by for a few days.”

Ollie graduated last school year and is now going to UCLA.

“I-I can’t believe you’re here.” I hugged him closely one more time and patted him on his back. Then, I remembered Jesse and how jealous he gets. “Oh shit, I almost forgot.”

I walked over to Jesse. He looked a bit rattled, like he didn’t much like Ollie and I being so close. I took his hand and brought him to Ollie.

“Ollie, this is Jesse Clark my boyfriend.” I said.

“Ooh, boyfriend” said Ollie.

“Jesse,” I turned to Jesse. “This is Oliver Logan. My best friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” said Jesse in a non-emotional type of way.

“Yeah,” said Ollie. “So, what’s fun to do around here?”

“Not much. There’s this bar that is sort of all ages. They just card at the bar instead of at the door.” I told him.

“Cool, let’s go there. I’m dying to catch up.” said Ollie.

Then, Timmy strolled in. “Oliver Fucking Logan!” He gave Ollie a brother-like hug. “How you been man?”

“Great” said Ollie.

“We were about to go to Jake’s.” I told Timmy. “Do you wanna come?”

“Hell yeah, let’s go.” said Timmy.

“Hey, you guys remember that you have school tomorrow.” called my dad as we left the house.

* * *

Our table was filled with laughs and Timmy, Ollie, and I were telling Jesse stories of high school.

“And then there was that time when you super glued Mr. Frank’s classroom door shut,” I said.

“Oh yeah! I forgot that one.” said Ollie in laughs, holding his stomach.

“Yeah, but you filled the room with rabbits so that way when they got the door open, they were bombarded with a rabbit stampede.” I reminded him.

“Fuck that was funny.” said Timmy. “Where did you get all of those rabbits from anyway?”

“There was this company doing an experiment on rabbits and when they were done, they gave them away for free, so I took them.” said Ollie.

“Isn’t that hilarious?” I asked Jesse.

“Yeah, a real knee slapper.” Jesse responded.

I immediately realized that something was wrong.

“We’ll be right back.” I said to Ollie and Timmy, and I took Jesse’s hand and I dragged him outside. “What’s up with you?” I asked.

“Nothing” said Jesse.

“Come on Jesse. You’ve barely said a word and when you do, it’s rude and moody.” I told him.

“I told you it’s nothing.” Jesse insisted.

“Just tell me, Jesse. There’s no reason in trying to hide it.” I said. I figured that he might be jealous.

“It’s just…you guys are all over each other!”

“Jesse,” I felt bad. “Jesse, that’s just how we are. There’s nothing between us. We’re just friends.”

“So he’s gay?”

“Yes he’s gay, but…but that’s not why we’re friends.”

“I just don’t like the way you guys are always touching each other.”

“Jesse, I’m sorry. I’m just not used to having a boyfriend. Like I said, that’s how we are. We’ve always been like that.”

“I know that I get jealous really easily and I’m sorry, but…it’s just because I love you.” said Jesse.

“I love you too Jesse. And Ollie and I are just friends. We’ve never even thought about going out. We’re not each other’s types. It’s probably why we’re such good friends.” I paused. “What do you say we take the bus home and leave Timmy and Ollie to catch up? They’ve been friends longer anyway.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they’re about the same age.” I said.

“No, I mean, would you really come home with me?”

“Of course” I said.

“Okay,” said Jesse. “Let’s go home.”