Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 20:02:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Aaron Hull Subject: One or the Other: Chapter Twenty-One - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is my first story that has chapters! My other stories are Hayden's Story and Gavin's Got Game, they're here under the High School section, I also have a story called The After Party, which is under the college section. If you like this story then you should check them out because there are some similarities except this one doesn't have sex. So if that's what you were looking for I'm sorry. My shorter stories may have sex but this story will contain no sex, there may be references to sex, but I will not go into detail. If you like this story, contact me at wah.stories@yahoo.com. I strongly encourage it. Also, If you want to be on my e-mail list to find out when the next chapter comes out, please include that in the email! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Daniel's perspective- "Yo hoe!" Kurt shouted. "You and your new boy are invited to a party tonight! Get your ass in gear!" I was on the phone with Kasey coincidentally. "Who's party?!" I shouted back "Mason's! It's nothing big! Just a couple friends of his and you!" "Fuck off!" I went back to my conversation with Kasey then. "So, how do you feel about going to a party tonight?" "Eh, I guess we can go. It's gonna be kinda awkward though." "Why do you say that?" "Mason's cousin is my ex-on-and-off-boyfriend." "You mean Brennan and Mason are cousins?" The two of them are polar opposites. I've only met Brennan once and he seems to me to be the quiet, small kid. Mason, on the other hand, is loud, in a good way, and built. Brennan is a cheerleader. Mason is the star quarterback. Brennan has medium length brunette hair. Mason has coal black short hair. Brennan is one hundred percent white. Mason looks somewhat oriental, but mostly white. "I know, they don't act or look anything alike. They don't really talk to each other though so I'm not sure if Mason knows about me and Brennan." "We should still go though, it sounds like it would be fun." After a little more talking, we decided we would go. I was somewhat excited because I hadn't really been out since the Halloween party. It really sucks having to stay inside all day, but when you're only friends are your boyfriend, your brother, his girlfriend, and the chick your brother's girlfriend dislikes, you don't have many options to go and hang out. I went out of my room and went into the living room. It was nice to see there were no bottles all over the floor and to see Dad actually sober and contributing to the world. Right now he was making plates of sandwiches and chips. Dad has never been a cook, it's always been up to me and Kurt, since mom's death, to do all the heavy cooking. Mom used to say that dad could burn a bowl of cereal if there weren't others there to guide him. "Hey bud." He said to me. "Hey dad. You need any help?" "I think I have it this time." The day after dad was violent, Kurt and I came home to find him sitting in chair and crying. He explained to us that he remembered everything from the day before. He then went on to explain that he was going to start going to AA meetings and he'd stop buying alcohol because he now realized he couldn't handle it. He's been going to every meeting and he's not gone back to drinking. He does, however, have a coffee addiction now, so he's now extremely energetic and loud, unlike when he was drunk where he was lazy and sleeping. He also apologized for calling me a fag and that he loved me no matter what. It was hard to accept the apology, but I did. Dad has tried buying me things to make up for hurting me but I don't let him because knowing he wants to make things better, actually makes things better. "Here," he handed me one of the paper plates. "I know it's not a lot but at least it's better than me drinking all day. Go tell your brother I have lunch ready." I walked down the hall and stepped into the spare room that Kurt and I use as a second living room, dad normally used the main living room as a recycling bin. "Dad made us lunch." "I'll be there in a minute. I'm on the phone with Macy right now." "Okay. Hurry up. Dad is really trying to make things better and we need to spend as much time with him as we can." I left Kurt there and went back to the living room. Dad was sitting down in his lazy chair and eating some chips and a sandwich. "Where's Kurt?" "He's on the phone with Macy. He'll be in here in a minute." I sat down on the couch. Dad and I watched about five minutes of TV before Kurt finally entered the living room. "What were you and Macy talking about?" Dad asked Kurt. "She's just bitching about her parents. They're still mad at her because she went to a party on Halloween instead of Jessie's house." Bothe Kurt and I knew there was more to it, but we weren't sure Dad should find out about it. "Are you two going out tonight?" Dad asked us. "Yeah. My boyfriend's friend's friend is having a party and we were invited." I said. "Daniel. I may be okay with you being bi, but please don't do the whole boyfriend's friend's sister's cousin's whatever you said." Kurt and I laughed. Dad was starting to look and act his age. "Hey!" Kurt said as the four of us entered; him, me, Kasey, and Macy "Hey, dude." Eric said to Kurt. He then went in for a hug, which most basketball players don't do. Mason, Brennan, Spencer, and Tyler were there as well. Tyler and Mason were talking while Brennan and Spencer were being all lovey-dovey. Kasey dragged me over to the two and left Macy with the basketball boys. "Hey, Bren." Kasey said. "Oh, Hey Kasey." Brennan said. "How are you?" "Good. If you all didn't know, and you all probably don't, Spencer and I are kinda like dating now." "Really?" Kasey looked a little hurt. I have to admit, I was a little pissed that he was hurt that his ex moved on. "Yeah. We are." Spencer said, but he was looking at me instead of Kasey. "Hey dudes, we're gonna go out back and toss the pig skin, ya'll wanna come?" Tyler said as he came up and rested his arms on mine and Kasey's shoulders. "Umm...sure. " Kasey said. "I'll play too." Brennan said. "You go ahead, I'm not that good at football. I'll stay in here to greet the others." Spencer said. "I can't let Spencer be alone so I'm going to stay with him." I said. "You all sure? I know Spencer isn't that good, based off what Mason has told me, but it's not like we're gonna play a real game." Tyler said laughing. Both Spencer and I thanked him but both declined and insisted on staying in. Macy and the guys all ran outside to go play football. From the looks of it, it was Macy, Kurt, and Eric verses Mason, Tyler, Kasey, and Brennan. I had my money on Macy dominating and tackling even Mason down to the ground. "Why do you hate me?" I randomly asked. I didn't even think it, I just said it. "Huh?" Spencer looked as confused as I did. "Why do you hate me?" "I don't?" "Then why do you refuse to talk to me?" "Because I'm not over you and it's hard to see you with Kasey." "Then why are you with Brennan?" "He's helping me get over you and I'm helping him get over Kasey." "You...you want to get over me?" In all honesty, I was still in love with Spencer. Kasey was just a thing. Yeah I like him, but I still love Spencer. "Well, you moved on from me." "I still love you, Spencer. I know it may not seem like it, but I do." "If you love me, then why are you with Kasey?" "I don't know." I did. I just didn't want to say it. "It's because you don't love me anymore." "No it's not." "All you want is to fuck with me! You wait until we're about to date, and then you go off and you fucking go with some other person. First it was with Hannah and now it's with Kasey." "Have you ever thought that it's because I'm scared! I'm scared that if we ever do date that I'll fuck everything up! I want you to be in my life for as long as I can have you and I'm the worst boyfriend in the world so I can't be with you that way! That's why I find someone to date! I know I'll fall for you even more and we'll be together! I'm sorry we can't have a fucking fairy tale relationship." I felt so good. I had finally come to terms with myself. I also felt really bad because Spencer didn't look too happy. Matter of fact, he looked like he was going to cry. "So you keep dragging me along just so you feel good? Have you ever thought that I would still want to be with you if you screwed up? I love you, Daniel. I've been your friend forever now. I know almost everything about. There is very few things you can do that'll hurt me enough to make me want to leave you. I wish you would have talked to me." Spencer then turned towards the front door and left. I sat down on the couch and felt like shit. He was right. I've known Spencer my whole life, he knows me so it's not like he doesn't know what I'm capable of. I should have talked to him about this before I started things with Kasey. It's probably too late to get with Spencer now. There's no way he would want to be with me now since I don't trust him. I began to think that Spencer had walked home. Hailie and Lily soon entered, however, and asked me why Spencer was sitting out front all alone. I was relieved that he was still here, but I didn't want to go out there, I knew he would be pissed at me. I told the girls he was pissed at me and asked them to not say anything to the others because I wanted to handle it. Like all girls, they lied. Brennan soon came in. "What did you say to him?" "Huh?" "Hailie and Lily said that Spencer is out front crying. What the hell did you do to him?" "Let's just say that I ruined our friendship. He's out front if you want to talk to him." "If I could I swear I'd kick your ass. You don't know what you mean to Spencer. He's in love with you. He may not show it but I can see it in his eyes." Brennan then went out to where Spencer was. I decided to put on my big-boy pants, go out back, and pretend nothing happened. At first, Mason seemed upset with me, he was actually very pissed because he took me down hard the first time I got the ball. After that, everything went smoothly. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Spencer's perspective- I can't believe Daniel! I mean, how could he think that I wouldn't want to be with him? He knows what he means to me. I would never kick him to the curb because of something he did. I really wish he would realize that. "Hey." I was hoping that would be him, but it was Brennan. "Hey." "I wasn't going to come out here to you but I realized that I'm your boyfriend so I gotta come." He sat down beside me and wrapped his arm around me. "You can go back if you want." "I was just kidding. We may not be actually dating right now, but we are friends and it's a friend's responsibility to help a friend when he hurts." "Thanks." I rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm in love with him." "I know." "Yeah. I do. I can see it in your eyes. You're also in love with Mason." "And you don't hate me?" "The only thing that I'm pissed about is that you probably won't want to kiss me again." Brennan said. I lifted my head and kissed him on the cheek. "I like kissing you, but I want us to stay just friends. I really like you, but the way I feel for your cousin and for Daniel, there's no way you'll ever come before either of them." "I guess I'll take that. It's kinda like how I like Kasey. But he's horrible to me so I need to move on from him. Even though Daniel was an asshole today, I can tell he's usually really great." "He is." We sat there for a while with nothing being said. It felt so soothing being held and not having to explain my dilemma. "I want to fake-date still. I also want to be the one who helps you get over Kasey." "Thanks. I really hope we can stay friends for a long time. You seem pretty awesome." "I am." He and I then laughed. "Come on, we need to get back to the party. I don't want to miss out on the fun and I don't want you to be all alone." I got up and went with Brennan to the backyard with the others. Daniel was smiling and with Kasey and Tyler talking about something. I hurt inside knowing that he didn't hurt that we were apart. I know we have never officially dated, but it's hard to admit it. "You two are so cute together." Lily said. She and I have never talked one-on-one before so this was a little awkward. Her friend Hailie, who I had no clue existed until Brennan told me about her on our way here. "Umm...thanks?" She giggled. "I've been meaning to ask you for a long time now, would you be interested in helping me start a GSA at our school? I know it sounds weird but I really want to help students who are afraid something like what happened to you will happen to them." "That sounds great. But what exactly would we do?" "That I'm not sure of. I'd like to help show others at our school that `your kind' isn't all like Trey." "Why do you need me to help you?" "I've tried starting it before but the principal said there wasn't a problem with homophobia here so we didn't need one. If you told him your story, although he knows it already, I'm sure he'd have to change his mind. I'm also pretty sure everyone but Mason and Tyler are homophobes on the football team." I've been wanting to just forget what happened, I don't really remember what happened, I only remember the pain I felt when I woke up and the humiliation I felt in school with everyone watching my every move my first day back. This, however, seems like a reasonable reason why I should "man up" and help others. It also look good on college applications, if the school is gay friendly. "So, what do you think?" Lily asked. "I think you should do it. I'd be right beside you." Brennan said. He grasped my hand and gave it a light squeeze; I couldn't help but smile at what he said. "I'll do it." Lily squealed and then hugged me. "Thank you so much, Spencer! I know it sounds weird that a straight chick is so happy about a GSA, but I really want to help people and this is a great step. I can get a lot of people to join. By the time we're graduated, we'll have made GSA the school's best club!" She then ran off with Hailie in toe over to Tyler. Brennan kissed me on the cheek. "Were you just being nice or do you actually want to help her?" "I want to help her...it's just I don't want to be the poster boy of what can happen with homophobia." "I'm sure that's not what Lily wants. I'm sure she just wants to `exploit' you that once so you two can start the club." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After about another hour, Lizzie, Emma, Max, and Megan had arrived. Megan mostly talked with Lily, Tyler, Max, and Mason, but she did talk to me and some of the others. It felt like we weren't related sometimes because we were so different. "Guess what!" Lizzie said. I really missed her big mouth. She and I really haven't been that close since high school started. "What?" I asked her. Brennan, Emma, Macy, and Daniel were all around us. The others were talking to other people or playing some kind of game. "I'm polyamorous!" Lizzie shouted. "Poly what?" Emma asked. "Polyamorous. It literally means may loves. It's were you're in a relationship with multiple people. It's like polygamy, but in a polyamorous relationship, everyone is dating everyone instead of one person dating like five people and those five are like sisters or brothers or whatever. It's a web of love!" I could tell Emma was a little hurt. She's been talking about how she doesn't want to be with Lizzie, but I think she truthfully did, she was just scared she'd cause more damage to our group of friends, which seemed to be repairing but with many others being included. "That's...nice." Emma said. "Excuse me, I gotta go to the bathroom." I think everyone in the room, excluding Lizzie, knew Emma was hurt. Lizzie has the tendency to be oblivious to other's feelings. "So, are you seeing anyone...or two?" Macy asked. That couldn't help but make us laugh. "Yeah. There are these two chicks at our school. The crazy thing is that they each have other girlfriends or boyfriends as well as me. It's like there is no such thing as cheating." "I thought you said in a polyamorous relationship everyone is dating everyone." Daniel said. "It is, but it's like how you have different groups of friends. You're friends with everyone in one group and friends with everyone in the other." Emma came back a few minutes after that. Her eyes were red, it wasn't hard to tell that she was crying. Seeing her like that was enough to make me tear up as well. I felt just like her. I'm in love with Daniel but I can't do anything about it. I can see it in her eyes, she really cares for Lizzie, but there's something in the way from her admitting it. "Hey Emma, guess what!" Lizzie said. "What?" "One of my girlfriends has a friend who is single. You wanna see how it goes with him?" "I guess so." I could hear the "I love you, not anyone else, but since you're not interested in me, I guess I should just move on" behind those three little words. "Good. Gimme your phone so I can put his number in." For the next few hours I guess, I was able to talk to Tyler, Lily, Kasey, and some of the others I really didn't know. Tyler seemed really cool; he's also very cute. I kinda think he's bi because when Mason came up to us and was right behind me, crouched down with his head resting on my shoulder, Tyler started to glare at the two of us. Everyone else was used to it I guess, but Tyler didn't like it. Lily and Hailie came up to me a few times and talked to me about the club we're starting, Hailie really isn't helping start it, she's just following Lily. To my knowledge, she's convinced everyone there to join, even Mason. I was hoping he'd finally not be embarrassed around me in public and admit that we're friends now. I may have never felt the way he has about being scared about who I am, but I understand that he's not really ready for people to connect the dots. "You gettin' hungry?" Mason whispered in my ear seductively. I knew he was playing around, but I also knew behind his smile, he really was being seductive. "Yeah." I whispered. Mason then stood up and announced to the crowd, "I'm gonna go get some pizzas, who wants to come along?" Almost immediately, Tyler said he would tap along. I got this look from Lizzie, Brennan, Macy, and Daniel, waiting for me to say I wanted to go; I never did though. Lately Mason hasn't been himself and I really want to keep our friendship. I know I'd ruin it if I let my emotions get in the way, which is what'll happen if things get any further. Max decided he'd go too, which made Tyler's expression go from happy to irritated. There just had to be something going on. After they were gone, Kurt and Eric decided that they'd go out back and play some more football. Daniel, Kasey, Brennan, and Lizzie also headed out back to join them. That left me alone with Macy, Megan, Lily, Hailie, and Emma. Macy was like glue and stuck to my side. The whole time we've been here, she's been avoiding Emma. I think Emma tried talking to her once, but Macy didn't say much and then found an excuse to leave. Megan turned on the living room TV and changed it to some stupid show all but Macy and I watched. Emma would glance over occasionally and have this pathetic look on her face. Macy never even looked at her. "Are you still mad at her?" I whispered to Macy. "What gave you that impression?" Macy said sarcastically. "You need to get over it. Emma's life hasn't been that great recently, I think she needs you to befriend her more than ever right now." Macy looked me right in the eyes. "I HAD a best friend, and then she went and ruined it. If you haven't noticed, my life hasn't been so great either, so why should I try talking to her?" "Because you're drop dead sexy and deep down you're a great person who is dying to show some sort of compassion." "Damn right." Macy whispered with a smile. "I guess I should try talking to her. You only live once." "Yolo" I said with a wink, which made Macy giggle, the other girls looked over at us. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mason, Tyler, and Max came back in about an hour with all the pizzas, about ten in total. I got the football players, I was just in time to see Lizzie tackle Kurt to the ground, which made me smile. They eagerly came in and joined everyone inside for some pizza. Lizzie was covered in mud, she took her shoes off before she came in so none was on the carpet, but she made sure to give some people huge hugs, like me, covering me in a thin layer of mud as well. Thankfully, and sadly, Mason had a shirt that was my size, it was a football jersey from middle school. I rejoined the party to find about two pizza boxes empty. I quickly grabbed myself to slices of cheese, I don't eat pepperoni. Brennan sat next to me on the couch. We really haven't talked that much, but it was as if we hadn't seen each other in years. He kissed me right as I swallowed my first bite of pizza. I soon felt his tongue enter my mouth, I could taste the pizza, which, to my surprise, didn't gross me out. We didn't do like we did the first time, we stopped kissing about a minute in because Kurt and Lizzie were cheering us on. Daniel had a close eye on me as Kasey sat in his lap, who glared at me when he realized his boyfriend was interested in me. Mason was also watching me, which made Tyler glare at me. I had a "boyfriend," yet I was still mixed up in this weird love triangle, hexagon thing. "It feels weird to be single." Megan said. I was with Brennan, Tyler was with Lily, Kurt was with Macy, Eric was with Hailie, and Daniel with Kasey. Max, Emma, Mason, Lizzie, and Megan were here alone. Max has a girlfriend and Lizzie has girlfriends, but they're not here with them. "Well you've been with Jordan for what? Five years?" I asked. "Four. We met like at the beginning of my eighth grade year. We didn't start dating until sometime around now." Megan seemed a little emotional. "You should be happy. Jordan was a douche." Mason said. "I'm not sad about that asshole. Just upset I didn't see this coming earlier. I wasted so much of my life with that asshole." "Don't worry, Megan. You'll find other asshole who'll waste the rest of your life soon." I told her. Everyone laughed, even Megan. Night soon came. The party died down. Max, Macy, Eric, Hailie, Lily, Lizzie, Daniel, Kasey, Emma, and Kurt had left. To my knowledge, Tyler and Brennan were staying with Mason. Megan and I were still there, Brennan didn't want me to leave. "Come on, bud, we need to go. Mom's been texting me for the past thirty minutes wanting us home. You gotta tell your little boyfriend that you gotta go." She nodded towards Brennan. "See ya." Brenna said, kissing me on the lips. "See ya." "Text me please." "Me too!" Mason shouted from the kitchen. He and Tyler were making themselves something to snack on, they're fat people inside nice bodies, they each had about a whole pizza. "I will. Bye!" Megan and I left. "So, you and Brennan?" Megan said as we got into her car. "Yeah." "Why are you kidding yourself?" "Huh?" "You don't like him." "I do like him." "As a friend. I'm your sister, I can tell when you like someone. Right now, your eyes only light up when you see Mason, your eyes begin to tear when you see Daniel with Kasey. When you see Brennan, it's as if you're looking at Kurt or Macy or me. If that look is of lust then you are one sick bastard for liking your sister." "I hate you." I tell her. "You're welcome." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Every time I read a story of Nifty, I never read the top part, so just in case you are like me and only read the bottom portion if you liked the story, here is my email again: wah.stories@yahoo.com. Also, if you want to be on my email list to find out when new chapters come out, include that in your email. AND if you email me, please state what story you're referring to. Thanks for reading the twenty-first chapter of my story. I'd also like to give thanks John, my editor, and Trish, who now helps me come up with ideas for the story. Without John, this story would be LOADED with grammatical errors. He is sweet enough to look thorough it thoroughly and find all those mistakes. Without Trish, my story would be really bland right now. She has, and hopefully will later on, help me think of great ideas for the story. For those of you who are unaware, I plan on ending this semester with chapter 25. I plan to then pick up with the next semester and finish Spencer's freshman year with chapter 50. I would like for all of those who actually read this to think of John because he never emailed me back the edited version of this chapter despite the fact I sent it to him a week ago and he normally responds within a day or two. I'm not sure if something is wrong with him or if it's just his computer, but I want you to keep him in your thoughts. He's become a good friend of mine and the thought of something happening to him scares me. Thank you guys. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -