Aedan's Story - 22. Chapter 22: Confessions

April 26, 2019

For the spring trimester, I wasn’t involved in any sports, so on Fridays I had a study hall for 7^th period during the athletic period. The other days of the week I still had off season training for basketball and lacrosse. Today, though, was a Friday, and I was bored out of my mind in the study hall classroom. As I was trying to work on my HARD algebra homework, a student office aid came in and handed a slip to the teacher. “Aedan Jackson,” she said. “You’re needed in the counselor’s office.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I nodded, beginning to pack up my stuff..

Others in the class murmured “ooh, you’re in trouble!”

“Get back to work...” the teacher grumbled. I left the room with my hall pass and went to the office and found the counselor for the class of 2022 students in her office.

“Ah, hello, Mister Jackson. Have a seat,” she said, and I sat down in a chair.

“Um, am I in trouble?” I asked nervously. “The chicken feathers in Connor’s locker wasn’t me! I swear!!”

“Aedan, calm down, you’re not in trouble,” she laughed. I blushed in embarassment. I guess I’m too used to getting in trouble. “You’re here because of this.” She handed me a pamphlet. Prodigious Art Students Seminar, it said. “This is a summer seminar program for talented students like yourself.”

“WOAH seriously?” I smiled. “How do I apply?”

“You’re already invited, Aedan,” she explained. “Your art teacher, Mrs. Leland, figured you were a prodigy, and sent in pictures of some of your art pieces to the program and they accepted you.”

“Wow,” I fiddled with my fingers, trying not to cry. “When is the program?”

“It starts in mid-July and is about a month. It’s held at an art college campus in Rhode Island. You’ll live in the dorms there and attend different sessions based on some different things you’re interested in. There’s a lot more info in that pamphlet. You don’t need to commit immediately, but the deadline to accept the invitation is June first. This would be a great opportunity for you, though.”

“Oh, um, okay, thank you,” I sniffled. Was my art really that good? Does everyone see me as some kind of prodigy?!?!

Suddenly the bell rang. “You’re good to go, Mr. Jackson. Have a good weekend.”

“Thanks, you too, ma’am,” I waved and exited the office. I pocketed the pamphlet in my jeans and excitedly biked the half mile back home. Jake was home sick today as spring allergies gave him a sinus infection. Also, Violet was on a 3-day field trip for some stupid “save the animals” thing, so I was on my own. When I got home, I had a nice snack before I went out to feed the bunnies in the backyard. The mom bunny was pregnant with a new litter this spring, so she got some extra hay and lettuce. When the bunnies were fed, I went inside to relax. In the kitchen, I noticed mom was home. She had a glass of water and a bottle of pills in her hands.

“Hey Mom!” I said excitedly.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” she chuckled.

“Yea,” I pulled the pamphlet out of my backpack resting on a stool at the kitchen counter and handed it to mom. “I got invited to thiiissss!”

She looked over the pamphlet. “Congrats, sweetie,” she reached up to hug me. “We can look more into this before you decide to accept it. But, for now, I need to bring Jacob’s antibiotic and decongestant up to him.”

“Oh oh oh! I’ll do it,” I jumped up, literally acting half my age, lmao.

“Oh-kay....” mom cautiously handed me the medication which I took to Jake’s room.

“Hey, Aedan,” Jake mumbled. He had a cute stuffy nose voice going on. “Thanks for the medicine.”

“No prob,” I shrugged. “Hey guess what I got invited to an art seminar thing this summer!”

“Oh, congrats,” Jake said, rolling onto his side and pulling up the blankets.

“Yeah, I’m so excited...” I began rambling when I heard my mom’s voice.

“Hey, baby, come with me,” mom said.

“Okay, mom! Bye, Jake,” I smiled and skipped out of the room. “What’s goin’ on?”

“I need to get River from school and take him to get his braces on at the orthodontist.”

“But why do I have to come? I already had my ortho appointment this month!”

“Because if I leave you here, you’re going to bug Jacob and keep him from getting rest. Also, we’ll be getting smoothies afterwards”

Fair point... I rolled my eyes and put my phone in the pocket of my shorts.

“Seriously why did he have to come?!?” River whined after he got in the back seat when we picked him up from the middle school.

“Bro, who was that girl? You have a girlfriend?” I asked.

“She’s not my girlfriend, you idiot!” River said. “Gawd you’re so weird, bro...”

“Boys, knock it off. You’re acting like children. Aedan, stop teasing your brother. River, stop whining.” Mom ordered.

“Yes, ma’am...” both my brother and I sighed.

I played games on my cell phone and answered a few texts from friends to kill time in the boring waiting room. One text came from Bailey. “Hey we should meet in video call tonight to discuss the data for our bio project :)”

Seriously??? Who the hell works on homework Friday night? What a loser! I thought to myself as I typed my response. As obnoxious as Bailey is, she’s really smart and I need her help if I want to do well in Biology class. I’ve always sucked at science anyways. It’s my second worst subject in school after ELA. We agreed to meet at 8pm right after dinner.

Later, back at home, I fought off the urge to hang out with Jake and opted to play basketball in the backyard until dinner. After that, I opened my laptop in my room and logged into discord to meet with Bailey. Her video camera immediately turned on and I saw her sitting on her bed with Kevin. Their mic was muted, so I couldn’t hear what they were saying but next thing I knew, they were kissing. I let out a yelp and nearly knocked my chair over. Thankfully, my mic was muted, and I nabbed a screenshot of their incest kiss. Gross! I know I shouldn’t judge; my parents were cousins after all. But it’s still weird. Imagine me kissing Violet or River. Blehh.

“Hey, Aedan, ready to work on this?” Bailey unmuted herself after Kevin left the room.

“Mhm, yeah,” I mumbled to her as I quickly emailed the screenshot to Jake cause I can’t text from my Windows laptop. For about 30 minutes, we talked about our project about photosynthesis in plants. After we did that, I was thankful that I could relax. I messaged Toby on discord to see if he wanted to hang out and play Pirate101 or something. Apparently, he was going to bed early to rest for the baseball game tomorrow.

With nothing better to do, I sat down on my bed, undressed, laid down, and grabbed some tissues… “Hey, Aedan,” River entered my room. Fuck…. “OHHHH GOD!” My brother covered his blue eyes and turned around.

“Geez bro don’t you know how to knock?!” I quickly pulled up the sheets to hide my lower half. “It’s safe to look now. I was just about to… um…” I blushed in embarrassment.

“Dude I know what you was aboutta do you don’t have ta say it,” River rolled his eyes. “Anyways, I can’t believe I’m asking you, my faggot brother, this, but how do I ask girls out?” He sat cross legged at the foot of the bed.

“Haha! I knew it you do like that girl!” River blushed. River’s pretty big for a 13-year-old. He’s Jake’s size despite being two years younger, and certainly bigger than I was at 13. He could probably be good at football. He’s really starting to look (and speak) like dad and I’m not vibin’ with that. “Your first problem is using the term faggot. It’s a slur.”

“Dad used it all the time,” River said with a voice crack.

“And dad is a horrible racist homophobic criminal so he’s not really a person of morals.”

“Oh, uh, yer right, bro,” River blushed. “Sorry...” He paused “Anyways, how were you so confident around girls?”

“Um I guess I was trying to be a player...” I shrugged. “I was also a dumb dork in middle school. Girls don’t like flirty players. Which I thought was cool and stuff. So like just be yourself I guess.”

“Wow, thanks for the help, bro...” he rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Get back to your... stuff... I guess...” River left the room. He killed the mood, so I put my boxers and pajama pants on to relax and work on digital art commissions for my flutter followers. I checked my phone and read an email response from Jake.

JGrant2003: Aedan stp talking abt Bailey. Its nt fny. We broke up last wkk!

AedanLJ: This is why she broke up with u! i’m srs!! D: i’m yer bff why would I lie about this?! :/

JGrant2003: Wtvr. Gn Aedan.

UGH WHY DOES HE SEE IT THAT WAY?? GRRR why does being a teenager suckkk????

June 7 2019

I stood up from my seat and turned in my World Geography final exam with a few minutes to spare. I then had to wait for the teacher to return the graded copies after time was up. Today was the last day of school, and I was excited to have a relaxing summer vacation where I could focus on art and not all this other junk that school wants me to be learning. I’m not exactly what most people call “smart” so I’ve had to struggle my way through school, especially 9^thgrade with harder high school classes going on. So I was proud of my B in geography.

I went to clean out the remaining stuff in my locker and turn in my textbooks before meeting up with Jakey to eat lunch in the cafeteria. School ended at noon today but the cafeteria was available for lunch. Jake and I both brought sandwiches from home since cafeteria food is gross.

“I’m sooo excited for summer, you have no idea!” I smiled at Jake, my voice cracking a bit.

“I bet you are. You’ve been excited about that art seminar camp ever since you got invited.” Jake smirked. “So you’re going home with Violet and I’m staying for my baseball game?” Jake asked. The final Freshman baseball game was this afternoon.

“Actually, Violet’s graduating, like, right now,” I said. “Mom’s here too.”

“Oh, I’m not dressed for a graduation ceremony,” Jakey blushed, looking at the t-shirt and shorts he had on.

“I ain’t either,” I laughed. I had a sweatshirt on because the school’s A/C was chilly, but under that I had a tank top and basketball shorts. “We’ll be a’ight tho,” I said as I led Jake to the auditorium where graduation was held. Our middle school graduation last year had been out on the football field, but today was reeeeaally hot outside, so they’re holding middle and high school graduations in the auditoriums.

“So what’re Violet’s plans after grad?” Jake asked as we entered.

“Oh, um, she’s going into nonprofit work,” I answered. “She’s into saving animals and babies and stuff.”

“She’s not going to college like everyone else?” Jake asked.

“Nah, bro,” I shook my head and swooped my hair out of my face. “It’s not for her and that’s fine.” I shrugged. I had a few years until college for myself. It’s not like I’m smart enough to get into most colleges. College probably ain’t for me anyways.I have a, like, 2.3 GPA. Eh, that’s a worry for a later time. I’m just a freshman anyways.

We took our seats in the row where my mom and River were. The ceremony went well. There were about 160 students graduating, and Violet was announced in the middle since our last name is Jackson. By 2:00, the ceremony was over, and mom left to go to work.

“I have to get over to the baseball field to get ready for the last game,” Jake said as we left the auditorium.

“Okay, Jake,” I smiled and tried to hide my blush. Jakey was looking really cute in those shorts. “I’ll be sure to make it to the game at 4. John’ll be taking Riv and me… oh and Fiona too.”

I followed Jake outside and the heat hit me like a wave. “Damn it’s hot…” I drawled as I put down my backpack and pulled off my sweatshirt. Jake and River blushed, I looked down and realized my shirt had come off too. Jake laughed and took my sweatshirt from my hand and ran. “Hey give it back!” I chased him until I playfully tackled him on the soft grass, both of us laughing.

“Can I keep it…. Pleeease???” Jake pleaded. “It’s a good luck charm for me.” Jake made up on the spot. I of course couldn’t say no to him. And the idea of my hoodie bringing him good luck tickled the gay side of my brain.

“You can borrow it for today. That’s my favorite hoodie.”

River came over and helped us up. “Y’all’re so gay…” Jake and I blushed and looked at each other. Maybe Ian was right… does Jake like me too? No way… too good to be true. Is my crush on him that obvious that my little brother can tell??

“Uh huh… yeah… and I’m a big green dinosaur that’s gonna eat you,” Jake teased. I laughed.

“Good luck, Jake,” I picked up my backpack, waved, and followed River to our sister’s car where we planned to meet her. I glanced back at Jake a few times, watching him gracefully walk towards the baseball field.

Now that I was shirtless, some girls were definitely looking at me. And River was impressed by all the silent attention I was getting. “I can’t believe you…” River shook his head.

I shrugged as we reached Violet’s car. “I’m a boy, it’s fine. It’s like 97 degrees out here anyways.”

“There’s no way Jake could’ve given you the tank top back? He only wanted the sweatshirt.”

“I guess he forgot.”

“Hey dorks…” Violet walked up with Kayley. “Woah, what happened to your shirt?”

“It’s a long story…”

“Whatever, just get in the car…”

At home, I took a nap and played some video games before I put on a shirt from my school to leave for the baseball game. Jake was a left fielder and Toby was a shortstop. And Ian was our designated hitter. We ended up losing, but it was a fun game. The team was going out for dinner afterwards to celebrate the end of the season, so Jake and Toby were gonna come to Violet’s graduation party a bit late. When I returned home with River, Violet’s friends had all arrived as did some pizza boxes on the back patio for dinner. River and I went out to the patio, and put some pizza slices on our paper plates. We each grabbed 4 slices and sat down to eat despite having nachos at the baseball game not long ago.

After eating, it was clear the seniors weren’t interested in having us around. River and I hung out and played some basketball. A couple minutes in I was sweaty enough to get rid of my shirt thanks to the heat. River put up a fight, but I had the lead 16 to 12. I called timeout when I heard Jake’s voice approaching.

“Yo, Aedan,” Toby called out. Both he and Jake were in their baseball unforms and looked sweaty and tired.

Damn, Jake was looking sooo cute in that baseball uniform. Jake blushed when his eyes met me.

“How’s the basketball game going?” Jake asked. “You guys look hot.” River and I blushed. “I mean like sweaty. Your cheeks are flushed too. It’s like 90 degrees still.”

“Yeah, I might jump in the pool after this,” I said, dribbling the basketball a couple times before taking a shot. “That’s 18 points for me!” I smirked. We were playing to 20 points.

“That was during timeout you idiot!” River whined. Toby laughed. Can’t slip one past my genius little bro.

“Could y’all grab a swimsuit for me in my room?” I asked. Jake nodded.

“Could I borrow one of yours too?” Toby asked. “I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

“I’ll need one of yours too, bro,” River drawled. “None of mine fit me anymore. And mom hasn’t taken me to buy new swimsuits.”

“Only if I win,” I chuckled. “If not then you get to go skinny-dipping,” I teased.

“No way! Not in front of those older teens!”

“I’m just teasing, you dork...” I rolled my eyes as River began the next play. A few minutes later, I scored my 20^th point, winning the game.

“Nice win, Aedan,” Jake returned with Toby. They both had swim shorts on. Jake had on his favorite pink floral trunks while Toby had on my favorite blue/green striped trunks. Jake’s faint 8-pack abs were visible and looking tasty.

“Thanks, Jake,” I smiled and used my shirt to wipe sweat from my face and chest. He tossed me a swimsuit. Oh fuck... he found my speedo... “A SPEEDO?! WTF???” my face went pink. This was so embarrassing. I hate speedos. River fell to the grass laughing as Jake tossed him a totally normal pair of my yellow trunks. “Can we trade, bro?” I pleaded. I only owned 3 pairs of swimwear.

“Hell naw, bro,” he bonked the basketball on my head. “I’ll meet you in the changing room.”

I sighed. “I’m sure you’ll look fine in that speedo,” Jake smirked deviously. Ugh he drives me so CRAZY.

I went into the bathroom of the small (and new) poolhouse with Riv where we put on our swimwear. I checked myself in the mirror. This black speedo revealed way too much thigh and my bulge was noticeable. You look absolutely ridiculous bro... I told myself.

“Nice speedo, Aedan,” River laughed. I blushed.

“Go ahead. I’ll be out in a min...”

“K, scaredy cat,” he laughed as he left the bathroom.

You got this, Aedan. It’s not like anyone out there is gonna take pics of me and share them with the world on InstaSnap. Oh fuck that’s totally what they’re gonna do! Ughhh! Whatever. Any judgmental seniors or little brothers can take a punch in the face.

I set my sweaty basketball shorts, socks, and sneakers on the floor of the poolhouse when I left the bathroom. I took a deep breath and walked over to the pool barefoot. The seniors chuckled a bit. Thankfully they were in the pool and didn’t have their phones to take embarassing pics of me.

“My god, Aedan... why??” Violet giggled.

“Shut up,” I jumped into the cool water, which felt awesome after a hot sweaty basketball game and a record hot day. The sky was fiery orange with the setting sun. Jake blushed and quickly got a nosebleed. “Shit,” he hoisted himself out of the water and grabbed several napkins from the table.

“Hey, Violet, you got any alcohol for us?” a senior guy with an annoying fratbro voice asked.

“YOU KNOW MY OPINION ON ALCOHOL!” Violet yelped. “So, no.”

“Whatever. Like, this party is so lame.” He got out of the pool with his fratbro friends. “Freshman kid shows up in a speedo and there’s no alcohol? It’s bogus. I’m leaving.” He and some of the other seniors began getting ready to go.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” I said. That earned a chuckle from Violet and Toby. Once Jake returned, we played Marco Polo in the pool while Violet and her girlfriend chatted at the other side of the pool. At around 9PM, the sky got fully dark and Violet went inside, returning with a cake. I was quickly the only one left in the water, a bit too embarrassed to come out. Jake came over with an extra towel, which I quickly tied around my waist after hoisting myself onto the deck. Toby, Jake, and I went inside with our cake slices, and afterwards, Toby changed into jeans and a t-shirt to head home.

“What a crazy day, huh?” Jake asked.

“Yeah,” I smiled. “I should probably get ready for bed. I’m wiped.”

“Me too,” Jake sighed. “That baseball game wore me out. Nice speedo, by the way.”

“Oh, thanks,” I blushed.

“Yeah, you look good in it,” Jake’s cheeks went cherry red and he shyly ran up to his room. I laughed. He’s so cute. I returned to my room and threw my sweaty clothes in the hamper, and returned my orange basketball sneakers to my shoe rack in the closet. After a nice cool bath, I put on blue and grey plaid boxers and got in my bed to doodle before sleep. My eyes had trouble staying open, and it was hard to concentrate on drawing. I was jolted back to reality by a knock at my door.

“Hey, come in?” I responded. Jake came in. He was in nothing but a pair of Nike Elite shorts he borrowed from me. Fuck he looks so hot in those, especially with those abs. He took a seat on my bed. “Hi, Jake.”

“Um, Aedan,” my best friend nervously rubbed the nape of his neck. “There’s something I should tell you.” I closed my sketchbook and placed it on the nightstand and nodded. “I, um, also like boys... as well as girls.”

“So, yer bi, like me?”

“Maybe. There’s only one boy I like, though.”

“Who is he?”

“I can’t say his name. But he’s gorgeous. Tan skin. Long messy black hair. A boyish dimple smile. The greenest emerald eyes. Some braces to keep his buck teeth under control. And some nice muscles. And he looks great in a speedo”

“Hey that sounds like.... wait no that can’t be me?”

“it is you, silly,” Jake giggled, ruffling my wet hair. “I’ve had a lot of time to think. And I’ve liked you since we first met in 7^th grade. It just took me two years to realize that, and another six months to confess to you now.” It all made sense now: why he wanted to shower with me in the beach house, letting me live in this big fancy house with him, that magical kiss on his birthday.

“I, um, like you a lot too. Ever since that kiss six months ago. I d-didn't say anything because I didn’t think you liked me like that. And I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. You’re an amazing friend and I don’t wanna lose that—“

“Shh” Jake kissed me. I blushed, a bit surprised. “You’re so incredibly awesome. Nothing you do would ever ruin our friendship. You’d have to do something really really illegal and stupid.”

“Well, you know me, I’m a dumbunny,” I smirked. Jake laughed and brushed his hand on my cheek before we began making out.