Unintended Love - 11. Chapter 11

In Love with a Boy

Zack’s Point of View

Amy and I sat in the junior varsity football bleachers. She sat on my lap, kissing me and as I was feeling her waist, all I could think of was Rain. This boy has seriously consumed my every thought.
I had my eyes closed as I was kissing her, but then I decided to open them. It was no longer Amy sitting on my lap, but Rain. I started to deepen my kiss and hold him tightly. But when he pushed away and I looked up again, it was Amy.

“Getting a little excited there, Zack.” She said with a smile, getting off my lap.

I had pitched a tent in my pants thinking of Rain.

“Sorry,” I said to her.

“It’s okay. We should go. I’ve got cheer practice.”

I started walking her to the gym. Her hand held mine tightly. But as we were walking, my fantasy got me thinking. I hadn’t seen Rain all day at school. I wonder where he’s at.
On our way to the gym, I spotted Rain coming into the school. He seemed to be hunched over, holding onto his ribs. I let go of Amy’s hand immediately and started over to Rain. Amy followed me, calling after me, but I couldn’t concentrate on her. All I knew was that the closer I got to Rain, the worse he looked. He was bruised and stitched up.

“Rain!” I called.

He turned to look at me, slowly. I walked up to him and immediately put my hand on his face. The way he looked brought me to tears.

“Rain what happened?” I asked.

“It’s a long story.” He cleared his throat. “Your girlfriends looking.”

“I don’t care.”

“Zack, what’s going on?” asked Amy.

I turned around. She had her hand on her hip.

“Nothing babe, just go to practice. I’ve gotta handle this.”

Amy huffed and turned around and left. Dang, if she couldn’t figure out what was going on by watching me with Rain, I think I might just have to sit her down and tell her one of these days. I really can’t stand lying to her any more.

“Did someone do this to you?” I asked Rain.

“Look, this isn’t your problem. Don’t you have football practice or something?”

“No, Tuesday is our day off.” I answered. “And this is my problem if someone did this to you. I just can’t let someone beat up on the person I love.”

“Stop that macho bullshit, Zack. I don’t need anyone to defend my honor or whatever you’re trying to do.”

“I wish you would stop doing that.”

“What?” asked Rain.

“I wish you wouldn’t treat my love like it isn’t good enough.”

I was feeling like shit. How could he keep doing that to me even when he’s like this?

“I’m sorry, Zack. I know you’re only trying to help, but there’s nothing you can do. What happened happened and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Can I come visit you at home later?” I asked.

“Sure”

He smiled. Even when it’s bruised his smile is gorgeous. I still wanted to pound whoever did this to him, but he was obviously not going to tell me, so I let it go.

“Can I help you inside?” I thought I’d give it a try.

“No, I can walked myself inside.”

“Please let me just do this one thing for you.” I pleaded.

“Okay, okay…if it’ll get you to stop nagging me.”

I took Rain by the hand. It felt good to hold his hand. I put my hand on his waist.

“Watch my ribs.” he said.

“Okay,” I answered.

I helped into the office building. When we walked in, he saw the secretary in the front. He told them his name and then asked for his assignments. They handed him a list of pages and assignments along with some handouts and research.

“Whoa, what’s all that?” I asked.

“My assignments for the rest of the week. I can’t come to school when I can barely walk.” said Rain.

“Come on, let’s get you back home.” I said.

“I drove myself.” said Rain.

“What! In your condition? You shouldn’t be driving. Give me your keys. I’ll drive you.”

“No, Zack.”

“Now, you know me. Am I gonna back down from this?”

“I guess not.”

Rain took his keys from his pockets as I helped him across the parking lot. He pointed to his car and we walked over to the blue 1990’s sedan. I helped him in and then walked around to the driver’s side. I started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

“So, why are you coming to get your assignments. Couldn’t Gabe get them and bring them to you?”

“He’s in Fresno for his aunt’s birthday until the end of the week.” said Rain.

“Oh,” I said.

“What about your parents?” I asked.

“My mom works all day.”

“Your dad?”

“Zack! Just stay out of it, okay.” He cringed with pain after hollering. I felt bad for pushing the subject.

“Sorry,” I said. “I was just wondering why your family would leave you to pick up your assignments when you can barely walk.”

“I’m sorry for snapping at you like that.” said Rain. “It was my dad.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My dad is the one who beat me up.”

I was speechless. Shocked. I had to pull over.

“Wait…your dad?!”

“Yeah…” He hung his head down in shame.

“So…what’s gonna happen to him?”

“I don’t know. No one knows where he’s at.”

“I swear, Rain…if would’ve known that he was that dangerous, I would’ve never tried to talk to him.”

“It’s not your fault.” said Rain.

I started back on the road. The silence between us is usually uncomfortable, but this time is was far from that. I felt completely comfortable not saying anything and just driving.

* * *

I helped him into his house and then up to his room. I sat him on his bed. Then, I went to sit at his desk.

“I hate to ask this, but…could you help me get back into my sweats?”

“No problem. Whatever you need.”

I got up from the desk and kneeled in front of him to pull his shoes off. He pointed to his sweats, which were on the floor and I walked to go get them. He started to unbutton his jeans. I helped pull them off.
Normally in a situation like this, I would feel like making a move on him. But this time, all I knew was that I had to take care of the one that I loved. He needed me and I was going to be there for him, even if it was only to help him change.

“Thanks,” said Rain.

“No problem,” I said. “Do you need anything else?”

“You don’t have to do this, Zack. I can take everything else from here.”

I sat next to him.

“I’m only doing this because…because I love you, Rain.”

“I thought we were just friends.”

“Let’s be honest, Rain. Who were we kidding trying to say we were just friends. We both know that we’re much more than that.”

He cleared his throat and put his hands on his ribs. “I guess you’re right.”

“So…how’s your mom doing with all of this?” I asked.

“I don’t know. She’s thrown herself into work, so I guess not very well. Jenna would be here, but she’s super busy with work as well.”

“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Rain.” I got closer to him and put my hand on his face. I took it as a good sign that he didn’t push it away. “I hate to think that you’re hurting.”

“It doesn’t hurt as much anymore.” said Rain. “I’m just really sore.”

Our bodies moved closer, as did our lips and pretty soon, we were kissing. But we were interrupted by Amy. My girlfriend. She’d barged in, but when she saw us, she stopped cold with shock.

“Amy, please…don’t be mad…” I tried to say.

Her eyes began to fill up with hears and her face was flushed red. Her lip began to quiver as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“I-I-But…We…” This was all she managed to say.

Then, she turned around and started to run out. I ran after her.

“Amy, please don’t go…” I stopped her in the middle of the stairs.

“No!!” She screamed in a high pitched. “We’ve been together all these years and now…now you’re gay!”

“Please, Amy. You need to calm down so we can talk.”

I didn’t know what I was feeling. At one hand, I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to work up the courage to tell her one day. On the other, I didn’t want her to go. I still care about her a lot.

“Why should I stay, Zack?” Her words were trembling and her face was full of tears and her nose was running.

“Please,” I pleaded.

“No!” She turned around, walked down the stairs and then walked out of the house.

I didn’t know what else to do, so I just sat right where I was at on the staircase. I never wanted to hurt her. I was hoping to break up with her gently. Now that’s flown out of the window, probably along with my rep at Sunset High.
After I collected myself, I got up and walked back to Rain. He was getting up from the bed.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“What are you doing?”

“I wanna go downstairs. The couch is way more comfortable.”

“Let me help you,” I said, rushing to his side.

“I really don’t need you to do this, Zack. I’ve walked around the house and gotten dressed and done everything on my own all day.”

“Well, now that I’m here, you don’t need to do all of that by yourself.”

“Please, Zack, we were just caught kissing by your girlfriend. You should go after her or something.”

“No, I’m gonna let her cool off. I’m where I want and need to be right now.”

We walked down the stairs and I helped him to the couch. He turned on the television and he started to flip through the channels.

“Are we gonna talk about this?” I asked.

“Talk about what?” asked Rain.

“Our kiss,” I answered.

Rain stayed silent, still turning the channels on the TV. He was nervous. I could tell. I wanted to hold him so bad that it literally hurt. Though, it probably didn’t hurt as bad as Rain’s bruises.

“Look, Zack…I…”

“I know…you love Gabe.”

“Exactly. I don’t want to hurt him.”

“So…you hurt me instead?”

“Why are you doing this to me?” he asked. “I don’t want to hurt you either.”

“Well, you are. Rain…how many time do I have to tell you that I love you for you to get it in your head.”

“That’s not the reason I keep shutting you down.” said Rain. “I know that you love me.” He paused and then carefully shifted his weight. “What scares me is…that I still love you too.”

“You can’t love two people at once, Rain. You have to make a choice.”

“Don’t ask me to make a choice, because I’ll choose Gabe every time.”

“Why not me? Why wouldn’t you choose me?”

“You hurt me, Zack. Maybe it didn’t seem like it with me getting with Gabe so soon, but you did.” said Rain. “The fact that you were never gonna call me again and just forget about me…I don’t know if I can handle that.”

“But…you’ve would’ve called me eventually right? After waiting so long for me?”

“Would you have answered?”

“Of course,” I said as softly as I could. I was hoping for another kiss.

“You say that now, but you don’t know what you would’ve done.”

“C-Can…never mind.”

“What?” he asked.

It was way too embarrassing.

“Never mind. It’s dumb.”

“What? Come on…tell me. Since when are you so secretive with your feelings?”

I took a deep breath. “I was…I was gonna ask you if I could hold you.”

When he didn’t say anything, I assumed the answer was no, but suddenly he was scooting closer to me. I stopped him and started scooting closer to him. I didn’t want him to hurt himself.
I put my arm around him and he leaned into me, resting his head on my chest. It felt so good to hold him like that again. I could’ve stayed like that forever, but eventually, I got a call from Amy.

“You should take it,” said Rain. “You two need to talk.”

I got up from the couch answered the call. Amy wanted to see me. She wanted to talk. She asked me to meet her at her place. So, when I hung up, I sat back down with Rain. I told him I was going to see Amy and if he needed anything, just to call me.

“Oh…um…I don’t have my car. Is it okay if I take yours?”

“No, go ahead.” said Rain. “Just make sure that you’re careful.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

I left for Amy’s and when I got there, I rang the bell. Her mom answered the door. Mrs. Jones cheerily greeted me as usual. Amy must not have told her anything. She told me that Amy was in her room and let me in. I walked up the stairs of the ranch style home. I walked down the upstairs hallway and when I reached her door, I just walked in. She was on her bed, looking at a picture of us and crying.

“You wanted to talk?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, wiping her tears and nose. “I just wanted to say that…what you did to me was really shitty.”

“I know…and I don’t blame you for hating me.”

“But…I don’t hate you. I don’t understand this, but…I still love you.”

“Amy…I love you and all of the things that I told you when we were together…I meant it all.”

“So…if you me…then you should be with me, Zack. We…we can start over. Pretend like…like none of this ever happened.”

“Look, Amy…I wish we could go back to the way things were. Trust me, my life was a lot more simple back them. But after what happened to me this summer, there’s no going back.”

“What happened?” she asked.

I sat on her bed with her.

“My brothers and I went to Hawaii, remember?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s where I met Rain.” I paused and took a deep breath. “We started out as friends. He was sort of alone, so I decided to take him in. Include him in the things Greg and Jake and I did. But I fell in love with him, Amy. And I fell hard.”

She was silent, like she didn’t know what to say.

“We didn’t know that we would be going to the same school. Rain just moved from New York. We said goodbye in Hawaii. I thought I would never see him again and that would be that. But when I saw him the first day of school in the cafeteria, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I wanted to see him…I wanted to hold him…I’m in love with Rain and there’s no going back. He’s who I wanna be with, Amy, and I am so…so sorry.”

“You…asshole! I lost my virginity to you…I trusted you…I thought we would be together forever…like you said.” She paused. Her breathing was really heavy and noticeable. “Leave…now…I don’t ever want to see you again.”

I got up from her bed and left the room and then the house. I drove back to my house. It was time to tell my parents.
Before I went to tell my parents, I drove back to Rain’s house. I left his keys with him and I left again, taking the bus back to the high school. I got my car and went back home.
I sat in my car, parked in the driveway. My heart was racing more than I’ve ever felt it. More than the first time I made love with Rain, or ever kissed him for the first time. I didn’t know if I could go through with it, but knew that I had to.
I got out of my car and slowly walked up the front walkway of my house. I put my key into the door and walked in. My parents were in the kitchen. My mom was at the stove trying to make dinner with my dad behind her, kissing her neck. I loudly cleared my throat. They quickly turned around.

“Oh, Zack.” said mom.

“Where’ve you been?” asked my dad.

“I was helping someone out.”

“With what?” asked my dad, sitting on one of the counter bar stools. I sat next to him.

“Well, he was beat up. Someone really special to me was beat up pretty badly.”

“Oh my goodness,” said mom, turning off the stove and wiping her hands on her apron. “Do they know who did it?”

“His father did it.”

“Have they arrested the father?” asked mom.

“No, they can’t find him, but…his mother is really busy with work and so is his older sister, so…I went over to his to help him out.”

“Well, I’m really proud of you, son. You did the right thing.”

“He’s really special to me.”

“You’ve been friends for a long time?” asked my mom.

“No mom…He’s special to me…because I love him.”

Silence fell between all of us. My dad looked away and my mom couldn’t stop staring into my eyes, like I was going to take it back or something.

“Are you guys gonna say anything?” I asked.

“I don’t get it,” said my dad. “What about Amy?”

“I did love Amy. But I fell in love with her out of obligation. The love I have for Rain is the real thing.”

“Rain?” asked mom.

“That’s his name,” I said. “Please, I’m telling you because…this is really who I am. I don’t expect you to understand, but Rain was beaten by his father because he couldn’t handle his son’s homosexuality, and I just hope that you don’t hate me like Rain’s dad hates him.”

“Son, of course don’t we hate you. We’re just…We’re just surprised,” said dad.

“But we’re glad you were honest with us.”

“And if there’s anything we can do to, to help out your friend and, and his family just let us know.”

“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I was so scared to tell you guys. Thanks.”

“We love you. You’re our flesh and blood. We would never judge you for something you were born with.”

I hugged my father and then got up to hug my mother. She hugged me tightly. After the hug, she kissed my kissed my cheek, leaving a big lipstick mark that I could feel.