One More Year Ch. 16

"Heyyy, Superman." John delivered three fake punches to my upper arm.

"What are you DOING?" Louis chuckled.

"I don't know." John grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Trying something. Jay seems bro-ish."

"I'm really not." I laughed. "I can't even do that handshake thing."

"Pffft, no one can." John snorted. "The guys who think they know exactly what it is are the ones who are REALLY confused."

"Is he allowed to tell us that?" I asked Louis.

"I don't know. I feel like it's breaking 'bro code'." Louis bit his lip.

"I was never much of a bro anyway." John smiled. "Too much latent homosexuality."

"Ugh." Louis let out an exaggerated groan of annoyance. "The worst kind of homosexuality."

"Yeah." I laughed. "I like mine... un-latent?"

"Manifest." Louis said.

"Yes, manifest homosexuality." I grinned.

He chuckled softly. "That sounds like a command."

"Anyway, Jay." John had turned to look at me, his face and tone serious. "How are you holding up with this whole situation?"

"I'm fine." I let out a quick breath. "It's a little weird, but fine."

"Yeah, I thought this was going to be a good idea." Louis rubbed his temple. "But it was very, very much NOT. Thanks for making an effort with Vince, by the way. He seems a little down tonight."

"Yeah, apparently that's a thing with..." I nodded over at the window, where I could see Nick. "You know."

"What'd that motherfucker do?" John's expression darkened.

Louis blinked at him. "Calm down."

"I really don't know." I laughed nervously. "Eric didn't say much."

"I'm going to go talk to him." John marched off towards Vince.

"The guy was dead to him just a few minutes ago." Louis shook his head. "For 'taking Eric's side'. And now this."

"Wow." I grimaced.

"Am I already outgrowing high school?" he asked. "I'm just so over this whole thing."

"Sorry." I probably shouldn't have been so set to prove to Eric that I was okay with the Nick thing. I hadn't thought it could go badly for Louis.

"Don't give me that look, it's absolutely not your fault." He sighed. "I wanted this, I just didn't realise how bad an idea it was."

"You're not mad at John and Melissa, are you?"

"No, not really. I wish they'd be a bit nicer. But they think I was stupid for organising this." He scratched his chin. "I feel like that's more justified than me thinking that they're being petty."

I smiled sympathetically. "Right."

"Am I being stupid?"

"No! Come on, you're literally the smartest guy I know," I said, and he smiled. "Besides, you're just trying to hold on to your friends. This is kind of a disaster, but there's nothing wrong with what you tried to do. Your intentions were pure."

"Thanks." He smiled sadly.

I bit my lip, and nodded behind me. "What do you think about Nick?"

"He's..." He scrunched up his face. "An experience."

"Like losing a limb. Or surviving a murder attempt."

"Sure." He laughed.

"Maybe we'll grow as people, getting to know him."

"It's a distinct possibility."

"I think I'm happy with who I am, though." I wrinkled my nose.

"Good. You should be." He smiled. "Come on, the movie's going to start soon. Let's gather everyone up."

"Lead the way." I grabbed his shoulder, grinning. "I'm not letting go of you until we've sat down - don't you dare rush in and leave me sitting next to Nick."

He laughed. "Fair enough.