Chapter 1

A story about a cute teenage crush.

Stephanie and I walked to a nearby table, holding hands and flirting with each other excessively. Stephanie is my girlfriend, and my first. Sometimes, I consider myself lucky. Stephanie is the most beautiful girl in school, and the smartest. I don't know why someone so good looking and cute would pick me. I know I'm popular, and I think that's why she chose me, but I don't care. I loved her so much. Aaron sprinted over to our table out of nowhere and barged in during our little lovey-dovey moment.

"Jackson, Jackson. Who knew you would get a girlfriend so quickly just in the beginning of sophomore year." Aaron teased. Stephanie giggled,

"Yeah, and where's your girlfriend Aaron?" she roasted.

"Ouch. That hurt." Aaron said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Now here's a secret. I like Aaron, a junior. No, I would never cheat on Stephanie. She's perfect, but as a closeted bisexual I've kind of fallen for them both since I've known them for 6 years. I sit there with a blank expression, but I'm happy Aaron tagged along.

"Anyways, Alex and I are going to go to the mall together. Are y'all joining us?" Aaron asked. I shook my head.

"Maybe next time, bro. Stephanie and I are going to a restaurant for a date, but I promise we can go together soon." Aaron nods and smiles. I kind of feel bad.

"That's alright bud. How about next week?"

"Sure!" I agreed. As soon as the bell rang for us to go to classes, I pulled Stephanie in for a kiss while Aaron sprinted to his class. Stephanie gave me a warm hug and finally walked to her own class. Not before giving me a wave goodbye. I don't notice Payton, a freshman like Stephanie, behind me as she touches my shoulder and says,

"Boo." I jumped back, tryna catch my breath.

"You scared me." I scratch the back of my head, knowing she wants to tell me something. Why else would Payton come up to me? Payton gives me a scoff and crosses her arms.

"Don't act like I just saw you kiss Stephanie. Y'all are dating aren't y'all" Payton giggles. What kind of idiotic question was that? Isn't that pretty obvious?

"Duh. Do you think I would just kiss a random girl during morning time? I'm not weird." Payton didn't seem to like that response and found it offensive, because she just gave an eyeroll and walked off. I never really liked talking to Payton anyway. That girl is always in everybody's business. Right as Payton continues to walk up the stairs, she turns back to me.

"Stephanie's not the girl you think she is, y'know. She's been with sooo many other guys." I didn't expect that to come out of Payton's mouth since she was friends with Stephanie. Is she just jealous? Why would she say that to me? Why would she talk behind Stephanie's back? Whatever. I don't really understand girl drama anyway. I ignore Payton and just continue walking to class.

...

Stephanie and I arrived at a fancy restaurant. Let me just vent about how beautiful she showed up. She showed up in a cute, white dress, with yellow flowers designed all over. As we enter and get sent to our seats by a waiter, she gives me a smile and asks,

"Have you dated other girls?" Oh no. I always hated this question. Even though I had never dated anyone besides her, I still had the fear that even if she said no, she wouldn't believe me. I took a deep breath,

"No.You're my first." I responded. She looks at me with wide eyes.

"Really? Haha. I had expected a good looking guy like you would get tons of girls. I guess I was wrong." Phew, I'm safe. The waiter passes by and asks us what we want to drink. I ask for a Mountain Dew while Stephanie asks for a Coca Cola. We sit there in silence awkwardly staring into each other's eyes falling more and more in love during every second of it. Stephanie breaks the silence and twirls her hair.

"We're so awfully awkward. I like it." she giggles.

"I'm sorry, I just have no experience with relationships. Surely you understand?" I responded. Stephanie nods and gives a warm smile.

"Y'know, considering so many other boys have had a crush on me, I've never dated anyone either." My eyes widened in shock.

"You've never said yes to anyone?" I gasp.

"Nope, just you." she snickers. I stay silent as I remember what Payton had told me. Payton told me Stephanie's been with so many other guys, and Stephanie has just told me that I'm her first boyfriend? I hate to admit it, I don't really believe Stephanie. I don't mind if she's dated other guys. It was before, so why does it matter now? She doesn't need to lie to me. That is, if she's lying. I wouldn't get upset if she did date other people. She should just be truthful. Our food arrives.

"Are you sure it's just me? You don't need to lie y'know." I scratch the back of my head. Stephanie looks at me quizzically and scoffs.

"Why would I lie to you? I swear, you're my first!" Now I don't know who to believe. Whatever, it's not like I'll care if she did lie.

RING-RING-RING

"Oh, I'm sorry. That's my phone. Aaron's calling me. I'll be right back!" I wave to her and stand outside of the restaurant. I pick up the phone.

...

"What's up? I'm on a date right now so tell me quickly." I demand.

"Sorry bud, I just wanted to know if you'd like to go on a walk after your date. We haven't spent much time together lately and I was thinking maybe we could go to the park?" Aaron asks in a cute tone. My heart was pounding. How could I say no to that?

Of course. Yeah, I'll go. Wait for me at 7:30. I'll be there in 20 minutes."

...

"Ight. Bye." Aaron said. I hurried back to the table where Stephanie and I were at. Stephanie sighed,

"I'm sorry Jackson. Something came up, and I gotta go home." She quickly grabs her purse and wipes her face with a napkin.

"What came up?" I ask. Stephanie gives me a glare and storms out. She looks back for a split second.

"I'll tell you later." She continued to walk to her bike, and then was gone in less than a minute. Uh oh, I don't know what I did wrong. Was it because I took the phone call instead of ignoring it? But I couldn't just ignore Aaron like that. He's my best friend (and my crush)! I whip out my phone and text Aaron to come a little earlier since we ended the date early.

He replies with a thumbs up emoji and I stroll on my way to the park. The entire time I questioned what went wrong. There's no way out of nowhere she could just leave like that. That's not Stephanie. Plus, I've never seen her upset before! Well, she said she'll tell me later, so I guess there's no harm if I just wait a little longer.

…

I don't know why but every step I take closer to Aaron as I meet him by the sidewalk my heart pounds harder and harder. As soon as I catch up to him he gives me a wave and a cute smile.

"Why'd you end the date early? Didn't you say you would be here at 7:30?" Aaron asks, confused. I sigh,

"I don't know why, but Stephanie seemed to be upset with me. After calling you, she just stood up and left!" I explained. Aaron's face turns a pale white, and he starts fidgeting around with his fingers.

"What?" I ask. Aaron takes a deep breath.

"Actually, now that you're mentioning it, Payton is trying to get with you. She told me that she's jealous of Stephanie for getting to be with you, and I think that she may have told Stephanie something about you." I was kind of pissed.

"Why didn't you tell me on call?" I clenched my fist. I felt like I deserved to know sooner. "Why didn't you tell me this in school?"

"You told me not to bother you when you were on your date. Plus, I wouldn't want to ruin your date by telling you anyway.." Aaron fidgets with the sleeves of his red hoodie. Damn, he did have a point. I guess I have to give him some kind of credit for that at least.

"Alright. I'll let it slide I guess." I motioned for him to start walking and so did I. Before I knew it, we made it to Aaron's front yard.

...

The whole time, Aaron and I were just talking about Payton and Stephanie, and wondering what Payton could have said. However, Aaron's voice kept breaking every time we mentioned Stephanie.

"Sigh, this is why I don't like talking to Payton. I never should've started talking to her in middle school." Aaron nods and gives a soft giggle.

"Yeah, Jackson, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, and something that has been on my mind for a long time." He pulls on my sleeve. Could this be it? Could this be the confession I was waiting for? What would I respond if he did confess? My mind was racing!

"I think I might be bisexual bro! I tell you because you might be the only person I trust saying this to! If you think weirdly of me then you don't gotta be my friend anymore!" My jaw dropped to the floor. This was completely unexpected of Aaron. I was expecting something completely different, like a love confession, not something boring like that. Aaron continued,

"Yeah, I'm gross aren't I?" Aaron kicked some rocks and fidgeted his fingers.

"What the heck do you mean? I'm bisexual too. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Plus, I've been your friend for 7 years. There's no way I'd stop being friends with you just because of who you are." I rested my hand on his shoulder, smiled and felt proud of him for having the courage for coming out like this. His face then turned red,

"Then in that case, do you like me?" Aaron looked at me with sparkling eyes. That's when I thought of Stephanie. There was no way I could leave her. She'd be heartbroken! However, I also love Aaron. My gut told me to say yes, but I knew damn well I couldn't do this to Stephanie.

"Aaron, I've liked you for a long time, but I can't do this to Stephanie. I- just- just give me some time to think about it. Surely you understand." Aaron nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just happy to hear that you like me, since I feel the same way, Jackson. If you choose to stay with Stephanie, I won't be upset and I'll support y'all's relationship. We can just be best friends still if you prefer that-"

"Nevermind! I think I want to be with you!" I cut Aaron off. He looked shocked and his eyes were widened. I couldn't take the pain in his voice as he said that sentence, there was no way I could turn him down. No, I didn't just say yes because I felt guilty of saying no. In that very sentence, I knew I loved him, even more than Stephanie. I quickly pulled Aaron in for a tight hug.

"I love you, Jackson." Aaron sobbed onto my shoulder and clenched his hand onto my sleeve.

…

Now, we were on Aaron's couch, making out and playing with each other's hair. Aaron's cute giggles wanted me to kiss him and embarrass him even more.

"Stop acting so cute!" I laid my head down on his chest, and he held me there. Gosh, I realized now that I've never felt this much love for Stephanie. Yeah, I can't deny that I did love her, but Aaron isn't the same. My feelings for Aaron were different. Very different. I could hear Aaron's heart pumping faster and faster and I realized he was breathing more and more heavily. I could tell he was getting flustered and embarrassed through every second of our cuddling.

"U-uhh, I think I'm gonna get something from the fridge." He shoved me off quickly and kind of speed-walked to the fridge. I laid down on the couch, watching him and feeling my face getting warm. Aaron came back with two Monster cans.

"I brought one for you, bro. I mean-! If you're not thirsty I can put it back!" He started scurrying back to the fridge but luckily I stopped him in his tracks by pulling on his sleeve.

"No, I'm actually thirsty. Here, how about we watch a movie?" I smiled and Aaron nodded then sat next to me on the couch, laying his head down on my shoulder.

After watching the movie, I realized that Aaron had fallen asleep on my shoulder. Again, cute. I decided to sleep too. There's no harm staying here for the night, is there? I laid Aaron down on the couch and brought a blanket big enough for the both of us. I lay down and begin to fall asleep. Then I continued to have a nightmare of Stephanie breaking up with me. I woke up crying.

...

The next morning, at school. Stephanie wouldn't talk to me. Payton was sitting at a table with her and I noticed her sneaking glances and pointing in my direction. I turned away and ignored. Alex, a boy in my Algebra class, motioned me to sit down next to him.

"Yo, how was your weekend?" Alex asked. I sighed and fidgeted my fingers.

"Nothing exciting really. I kind of just hung out with Stephanie and Aaron a bit. Y'know, the usual." I said. Alex just raised an eyebrow and asked,

"What does the usual mean?" Alex said, confused. I shrugged my shoulders then leaned in closer to his ear,

"Alright, you wanna know what REALLY happened? I'll tell you bro."

After telling Alex all the drama and news that was happening, and also about me and Aaron's relationship, he covered his mouth and kind of backed away from me. I sat there, confused. His face was turning kind of pinkish.

What? You look like you just saw a ghost , dude." I wanted to know what he was getting all tense about,

"I'm sorry man, I can't be friends with a guy who likes guys. That's kind of gross, and I don't want you ending up having a crush on me. That's just weird. Sorry man." Alex then stood up from the table and proceeded to walk away from my table. I stared at the floor, disappointed in myself. I shouldn't have told him. That damn fake friend. I thought. Then, next thing I know, Stephanie walked over.

Hey, Stephanie, I have to tell you something- she cut me off with a hard slap.

"Nice try, idiot. I found out what you and Aaron have been doing behind my back. Damn,and I actually thought you cared about me. I have proof that you've been cheating too, so don't try to get all buddy buddy with me." Stephanie then continued to show a recording of Aaron confessing and coming out to me. Payton was the one recording and she was hiding behind a bush. Payton had been following us.

"We're done." Stephanie then gave me one final shove and started to cry. Y'know, like any normal person would after a break up. I felt my chest hurt. I knew my heart was breaking, but the right thing to do was to get over it. I realized I loved Aaron more anyway. Why would I fall in love with a girl like that? More importantly, why did I fall in love with a girl like that?

Aaron kind of came a little late today, and realized that I had started crying. I think he already realized what was going on since me and Stephanie weren't on our daily couple sessions. He proceeded to comfort me by sitting next to me and cuddling on my shoulder.

"It's fine bro, I know this year will be kind of drama infested for us, but let's be there for each other." I could feel myself blushing and forming a tiny smile on my face. Aaron does really know how to cheer me up, even though this break up is gonna be hard to get over, considering I've known her for seven years.

"Thanks, Aaron." I pulled him in for a hug.

"You're the best."

So this is a short story~