Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 12:57:31 -0700 (PDT) From: Aaron Hull Subject: One or the Other: Chapter Twenty-Two - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Mason's perspective- Right now I'm on a bus with the rest of the football team on our way to our final game, to claim the state championship. The team is now divided up into two teams though; Mason's team and Jordan's team. Everyone on the team knew about what happened a long time ago and slowly people have chosen who they're going to "align" themselves with. "Who all is coming?" Tyler asked me. "I know Kasey, Brennan, Lily, and Spencer are going, I'm not sure who else is though." Tyler looked somewhat disgusted when I brought up Spencer's name. Ever since the party, Tyler hasn't liked Spencer so much. Each time I bring up his name, he tries changing the subject immediately. "So, you stoked about this game?" "Well duh. We're going to be state champions by the end of the night." "Based off what we've been doing...we'll be lucky to be tied at halftime." Tyler was right. Now that we're divided into two teams, we're playing like it as well. There are times when one of tackles will completely "miss" his target, making me get sacked. "I'm pretty sure they won't do that shit tonight." Tyler and I started to talk about other things. For some reason, Spencer was on my mind. Normally, he'd try to do anything to avoid football, but now he's going out of his way to come watch me play, I'm also sure that he's coming so he can see Brennan but I know that's not the only reason. And since Spencer is on my mind, I keep bringing his name up by accident. I'll say, "Oh yeah! One time Spencer and I..." or "I'm pretty sure Spencer would..." and Tyler will get upset. To a certain degree, Tyler reminds me of Isabella; being jealous for no reason. But overall, Tyler is nothing like her. She didn't care for me, just her image. Tyler looks at me and likes me for who I am on the inside. Isabella didn't care about how I felt, it was about her 24/7. Tyler makes sure I'm okay with what we're doing, we haven't done anything sexual though, he usually makes sure it's okay that he likes to be the little spoon when we sleep or if it's okay that we don't announce our relationship to the school or if it's okay he's still with Lily. Tyler genuinely cares about me while Isabella never gave a fuck. "You know, you don't have to bring Spencer's name in every sentence?" Tyler said with a smile. He was kidding, but I knew he was being serious at the same time. "Sorry...it's just...I don't know." Tyler grabbed my hand, no one could see it because it was getting pretty dark out, this game was at least three hours away, we're almost there, and we left like an hour after school. He never said anything to me. We just sat there holding hands. I liked it. "Okay guys!" Canyon said. Our normal head coach was sick, sadly, so he couldn't come. Canyon had to step up and replace him for the game. He was standing in the front of the bus as we pulled into the parking lot. "Tonight I want to see some major ass kicking! And no not ours!" That got a couple chuckled out of some of us. "We dropped from number one, to number three in the state these past few games! Tonight, we are playing the team that stole our rank! Tonight, we're going to go out there, toss aside any shit going on," he looked at me then at Jordan, "and we're going to play like a real fucking team! Tonight, we're going to win! Tonight, we're going to party at my place after we finish kicking ass!" That got the whole team shouting, and for the first time in a long time, guys who were on opposite teams we're cheering together, shouting in each other's faces to get pumped. The only two who still didn't see eye to eye on the team was me and Jordan. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Spencer's perspective- Right now I'm in a van with Mason's dad, his mom, his two younger siblings, Macy, and Brennan. They were nice enough to take us, Brennan's and Macy's parents couldn't come and they knew Mason and Brennan would have wanted me to come along. I'm pretty sure Daniel, Kurt, and Kasey are also going, Kasey obviously is since he's a cheerleader, but I'm sure he was able to get Daniel to go, who was able to get Kurt to go. "You all excited about this game?" Mason's dad asked. "Yeah!" Macy said. "It's been a while since our school has been to a state championship game." "You make it sound like you've been going there forever, Mace." I say laughing. Every else in the car, except for Garret and Alex, who are always quiet, laughed. "Max is a junior and as far as I can remember they haven't gone to state in like ten years. Our team sucked until Mason got here." Macy said defending herself. "I'm sure there are other powerhouses on the team." Mason's dad said. "I've seen him play and I'm sure he could go to any college he wanted to with a scholarship, but he'd never hog the spotlight just to win a game." "I wasn't saying that at all, Mr. McAlister." Macy probably thought he was thinking she called Mason stuck-up or something like that. She doesn't realized that's how Mason's dad normally talks, it's taken me a while to get used to it. "There are definitely some great players out of the field, it's just, before Mason, they didn't really play as a team. It's like he's brought them together." "I don't know what games you've been watching here lately, missy, but it's almost as if no one likes the other on the team anymore." If you couldn't tell, Mason's family is all from Texas. They moved out towards California after the wedding and after all of their schooling was done so they could start a new life. Brennan's dad is also from Texas, he's Mason's maternal uncle, Mason's mom's brother. He moved out here before he and his wife had Brennan though so that's why he has to hint of an accent. Mason doesn't either, but you can hear a little bit of it every now and then. "I haven't been in a while so I'm not sure how well they've been playing. All I know is that it was good enough to get them to state." Macy said. I think it's sad that a girl has more to talk about with a football dude like Mason's dad. "Let's just hope the other team isn't doing so great." We got the stadium place thing before the football team had arrived. Mason warned me they'd be leaving an hour after school so we left about thirty minutes before them so we could hopefully get some good seats. Thankfully there were enough seats to sit us, there were people from all over the state there. Plays from other schools were there, college recruiters were there, families were there, it was like our whole school was there too. Somehow in all the mess, Macy was able to spot out Kurt and Daniel, Kasey and Brennan were already with the other cheerleaders. She yelled for them to come up, and we all know a teenage girl can yell louder than anything, so they heard her. When they came up to sit with us, the most awkward thing was that Daniel sat beside me, there was an empty seat where Brennan sat before one of the girls found him and dragged him down to the field. Daniel tried talking to me, but it was futile; I couldn't think of anything to say to him. He'd compliment me, and I'd reply with "Thanks," he'd try bringing up a new subject, I'd reply with "Cool," it was like I was unable to talk to him. Thankfully our football team finally came out onto the field. The crowd was cheering so loud, everything Daniel tried saying was blocked out. I know it sounds like I don't care about him anymore, it's just it's so hard talking to him. I love him. He loves me. He's with Kasey. There's nothing I can do about it. By the time I had gotten over my situation, it was halftime already. We were up by six, I'm not sure how the point system works so I didn't know if that was close or if we were dominating. Macy pulled me out of the crowd so she could go get a hotdog. "How are things going with you and Daniel?" I glared at her. "Shut up." "What? Can't your best friend ask about your relationships?" "First off, you're not my best friend because of the previous comment, and we're just friends." "By the looks of it he's completely dead to you." "And?" "You should be nice to him. It's not his fault you two are too scared to do anything together, besides make-out when you're both dating someone." "And the drama between you and Emma is different how? Excluding the whole Daniel and I are star-crossed lovers and you and Emma were just friends. She messed up and you're ignoring her because of that one stupid thing. If I were you, I'd be mad at Jessie because it was her who decided to not talk to you anymore. If she didn't want to be around Lizzie or Emma, she could have easily just hung out with me or you or Daniel or Kurt. But no. It was her choice to leave us out. Not Emma's. In my situation, Daniel made the decision to hurt me, that's why I'm upset with him." Macy hung her head in defeat. "I hate you sometimes. I never really thought of it that way, but you're right. Emma didn't hurt me, she hurt Jessie. Jessie's the one who decided to hurt me and the others because of her pain." "I thought you were gay?" This random dude said to me. "Kurt's gonna be pissed you're with his girl, dude!" I looked down to see Macy and I holding hands. We immediately let go. "I am gay and nothing is going on between us. We're just friends." I told him. "Whatevs." He went back over to his group of friends and they started talking. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Just ignore them, Spency. You and I both know nothing is going on between us." She re-grabbed my hand and we continued on to the concession stand. The line was pretty long, considering we were one of the last few there because we were walking so damn slow while we talked. We got back just in time to see the end of the cheerleaders' performance. Kurt was now sitting in my seat, he smiled at me so I knew he was doing it to help me out. I sat down between Mr. Glover and Macy. The game ended around midnight, it went into overtime and we won by a touchdown. The stands full of Eagles fans were jumping, including mine. I was one of the few who weren't going crazy as Mason threw Tyler the ball in the end zone on fourth down, Mr. Glover was teaching me some football terms so I didn't sound so stupid when I explained it to my mom. We only saw Mason for a minute, he had to ride the bus home since that's the way he came. He gave me a huge hug, I was hoping he wouldn't let me go. We soon found Brennan, who ran into my arms and kissed me, I think he was enjoying our little game more than I was since he's the one who always causes the scene. I then noticed Kasey not too far away, which explained Brennan's happiness. We said goodbye to Daniel and Kurt, Kurt hugged me and Daniel just said bye. We went back to the Glover's car and headed back home. On the way, Macy, Brennan, Garret, and Alex fell asleep within the first ten minutes in the van; Macy was resting on one of my shoulders while Brennan was on the other. About halfway home, I joined them and fell asleep. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Mason's perspective- I had seen the team pumped before, but the mood on the bus after we had one was out of control. At one point I was afraid the bus would tip over from all the jumping and swaying that occurred. Canyon stood up and started to shout again. "Thankfully my sister is out of town because I am sticking to my promise! All of ya'll who can, you're invited to my place for a party! No alcohol though." You could hear the known partiers groaning at that. We soon got back into to town, it was around three and we were still as loud as ever. Most of the team had to go, but about a fourth of the team, including me and Tyler, were able to go to Canyon's. When we got there, Canyon went into the kitchen and pulled out a couple 24-packs of beer. "I guess I lied." He said as he started to toss one to all of us. "If any of you assholes get me in trouble, I'll make sure your life is a living hell." He chuckled. The party we were expecting was really just a bunch of guys kicking back and getting wasted as they talked football. Despite the fact we had just won a few hours ago, we were talking about college football teams we were going for. Everyone was trying to tell me I was going to go pro, I knew I could, I just wanted to do something productive with my life, football is fun but I don't think I should get paid thousands of dollars for throwing a ball 40 yards. Out of the one fourth that had came over, the ones who lives with parents or siblings who were okay with them drinking were all gone. Tyler and another dude didn't drink anything so they became the designated drivers who had to take most of the guys home. At one point, the only people who were not unconscious or gone were me and Mason. We decided to take a risk and go for gay. "So, how's your love life going?" Canyon asked me. We were drinking responsibly. "I'm kinda seeing someone now. Isabella and I are no longer a thing, if you didn't know that already." "I did. So, can you tell me about this mystery person? Is it...you know who?" He was talking about Spencer. "No, it's someone else. I think my feelings for that person are getting stronger though." "Then why don't you go after them?" "It's complicated. They're with another guy. Someone close to me." I wanted to tell him all about how I held Spencer that one night. I wanted to tell him about how great it felt. I wanted to tell him I think I love him. I couldn't though because I was scared that someone would hear me. "Ah. That sucks." "How's yours?" I decided to change the topic. I didn't want to keep my mind on Spencer. "I'm actually seeing someone." Canyon was smiling now. "That's great! How long has it been?" "About a month. They're really great. I want you to meet them soon." "Well, you know where I live." "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now." "Explain." "If everything didn't happen like it did last year, I'd still be miserable conforming to what everyone thought I was. Because of you I decided to get out there and by myself for once in my life. I could never repay you for that." "You're welcome dude. And don't give me all the credit, you're the one who made the decision, I just helped you realize it." Just then Tyler came in. "Hey, you done driving around town?" "Do you know how long it takes to take one person home in their car and ride back with someone else so you can take someone else home? I think I'm gonna stay here if you don't mind." "It's cool." Canyon said. "Are you staying, Mason?" "Yeah. I guess I will." "You all can take my room. I'll sleep in my sis's room. She'd throw a bitch fit if she found out I let `strangers' sleep in her bed. Unless you all don't want to share the same bed." "It's completely okay." I told Canyon. I think he understood the message buried beneath what I said because he winked at me as I got up and headed to his room. I got in the room and Tyler was already down to his boxers. "We need to talk." He told me. Normally those words meant breaking up, but I'm sure Tyler didn't strip down to break up with people. "About?" "You." I sat down next to him on the bed. I had never been in Canyon's room before and it felt kind of weird being in his room with another guy. "What about me?" "You like Spencer." "I'm pretty sure I told you that I like Spencer." "Yeah you did. But I thought you meant you like him, not love him." "I don't love h-" "Please don't lie to me. The minute you saw him, you ran up to him and I just knew you were going to kiss him. Your self control got to you first and you just hugged him." "Why are you bringing this up?" "Because. I want you to remember you love Spencer, not me." "I don't see why you're all over me for wanting to be with Spencer while I'm with you. We've talked about you being with Lily. You've told me you still like her but you also like me. I got over that." "That's because when I look at you now, it's the same look I give Lily. When you look at him, they look is so different from what you give me. I think we should just be friends." Apparently I was wrong about the stripping down thing. "I jus-" "Wait, let me finish. You're probably going to say, `You shouldn't want to end it because you're jealous.' Lately I've been pissed at you for liking Spencer and have been thinking about ending it based solely off that. But I had time to think about it and the reason why I want to end it is because you love Spencer and you should go for him. Right now I have Lily and I actually do feel like a douche bag for what I did. I'm going to talk to her about it tomorrow and hopefully she'll forgive me despite all the shit I've done. You and Spencer belong together." I wanted to yell. I wanted to cry. I didn't though. I just hugged him. "Thank you. I hope you and Lily work things out too. Last thing I need is for her to beat the shit out of me." He laughed. "I want to stay friends and I want to sleep in the same bed." "I think both of those can be arranged." I smiled at him and pushed him down on the bed. Instead of kissing up his chest though, I just crawled up and cuddled with him. "I hope you're okay with friend cuddling." "I am. Just no kissing." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -Spencer's perspective- The upcoming Monday, everyone was all over Mason. I was sitting with Daniel, Lizzie, Emma, Macy, and Kurt, Daniel and I had kinda made up as well as Emma and Macy, when Mason came in with girls all over him. Some looked to be the sluttiest things in the school, I'm sure they were, they just looked sluttier when they traveled in herds. I couldn't stand watching them drool on him, literally not figuratively, so I turned away and started talking to Macy. "Excuse me ladies, I'm gonna sit with my friends." I heard him say from a good distance. A few minutes later, I noticed Mason sit down right beside me. "Hey buddy!" No one at the table said anything. To my knowledge, no one in the cafeteria said anything. No one in the school said anything. No one in the damn world said anything. Mason Glover, the head jock and the school's savior, was publically sitting with the gay nerd. "Hey?" "Did you enjoy the game the other day?" "Yeah?" "What's wrong?" "You're talking to me. And we're at school." "Yeah. Fuck those who can't get over the fact we're friends. I'm tired of being someone I'm not. This weekend someone thanked me for helping them realize who they really are, and I realized that I should be who I want to be and not what people want me to be." "Dude gots balls." Lizzie said. That caused all of us to laugh. Soon Tyler and Lily showed up and sat at our table. Brennan and Kasey also joined our table later on. It felt good to have a full table with people who I could talk to, excluding Kasey because I hate his ass still. The bell soon rang and we all went our separate ways. For some reason, I didn't feel like I was an outcast anymore. People actually talked to me while switching classes, mainly because I was now seen with Mason that morning. School ended after what felt like an hour and I was able to get the hell out of there. I was surprised to see Mason standing at my locker when I went to drop a couple books off so I wouldn't have to carry them. "Hey Spence!" He said with a smile. I couldn't help but stare into his eyes. "Umm...hey." "I don't have football practice anymore and I was wondering if...you know...you wanted to go out and spend some time together?" "I don't kno-" "Please!" He stepped closer to me and closed the gap between us. "I really want to be with you." The halls were now empty. "Huh?" Mason leaned down and whispered into my ear, "I want to feel your naked body against mine while I show you how much you mean to me." He then started to kiss my neck. I dropped my books and grabbed on to him before I could fall. "Tell me you want me." He then moved in and kissed me on the lips. It was nothing like the hospital kiss. This one...it was sexual. There was love in it, but in this one, I knew I wanted him to be my first. "Spencer?" Mason said. I suddenly realized we were at my locker and the halls were still filled. I was daydreaming. "Huh?" "I said hey and you just stood there." "Oh. Umm...sorry. Hey." "So, I don't have practice today and I don't want to be alone but Lily and Tyler are going out and your sister is tutoring. So do you want to go out for some ice cream?" "Sure. Yeah." He smiled at me. "You're so cute when you blush." "Huh?" He laughed. "Come on, I don't want to stand here all day." I quickly shoved my shit in my locker and followed Mason out to his car. He was telling me about these colleges that called him over the weekend and how he was already being offered scholarships. I just sat there and listened to him go on and on, I took mental notes on the colleges I would look into so I could send him in the direction I would enjoy going to. "So, you and Brennan are a thing?" "Yeah." "Honestly, I didn't think you and my cousin would hit it off like you did. He's never been as happy as he is when he's around you." "I gotta tell you something." "Huh?" "Brennan and I aren't dating." "Excuse me?" He seemed confused. I explained to him about the whole thing between Brennan and Kasey and how he wanted to get back at him and how he's attracted to me but we just want to be friends now that we've had some time to think it over. "Wow. I was going to say something about Brennan using you, but you seem perfectly fine." "Not really. I hate being single. I know there's Brennan and it's like we're dating, but there's this one guy...well two guys...who I really like and I just...I'm not sure how I could end up with either them." I couldn't believe I was basically telling Mason I loved him. "I'm sorry buddy. There's this one...person who I really like. I just don't know how to tell them that I want to be with them. I know I'm now okay with publically talking to you, but me telling this person that I love them, it scares me." "You shouldn't be scared to say anything. Honestly, I think you're perfect. If you didn't want to be public with your relationship, then I'm sure they would be okay with that." "I'm sure the guys you like would also go for you. I think you're perfect too." "Thanks." Mason and I really didn't say much after that. We got our ice cream, had a little small talk, and he took me home. We said goodbye and he was smiling, so I knew everything was okay. I just couldn't help but feeling that the person he was talking about earlier was me. He had to ld me he loved me once, but what if he was over me and was after Tyler. Life is so confusing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 twentieth chapter of my story. I'd also like to give thanks Joh, 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. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -