Chapter 5: Out with him

I smiled in the darkness as he kept his hand on the back of my neck as I lifted my head. "Yeah, here we are."

"So, tomorrow, Robert asked me if I wanted to go to the trampoline place in town with him and Jenny. I don't want to be a third wheel with them, so would you want to go with me?" He asks me as he pulls onto the road where my

house is.

"Uh, sure, would you mind picking me

up?"

He shakes his head. "Yeah, I can do that. I'll pick you up around nine with some coffee, sounds alright?"

I was surprised. "You've noticed my addiction to coffee?"

 He nods his head as he pulls into my driveway where the lights are still on, which means my parents are still awake and watching TV in the living room where they can see outside. "Well, when you bring it every day, I think everyone notices that you have a slight habit."

I nod my head. "Yeah, maybe."

He takes off his seatbelt before turning to me he bites his lip while he thinks about what to say. "Thank you for coming, it means a lot to me."

I smile at him. "I can't say I'll ever do it again because sports absolutely suck, but you never know. Thank you for inviting me, that means a lot to me".

He leans over to me his handsets on top of my thigh while our lips meet in a soft kiss. I reach over and set my hand on the back of his neck, lightly pulling at some of his hair. I pull away, scared that my parents are looking through the window with my sister to see what's going on.

I look up at him while he plays with a strand of fabric in my jeans that's frayed from the rips. "I should probably get inside."

He nods. "Yeah, probably."

He slides out of his car and I watch as he runs around to open up my door for me. He walks me up to the door where I bring us to the corner where I know my crazy family wouldn't be able to see us. I clear my throat as I grip the hem of his hoodie. "l see you at nine?"

"Sure, nine it is," he whispers before he leans in to give me another kiss that's just as soft as the rest of them. Every single time our lips meet, mine are chapped and his are the softest I've ever felt that always shocks me.

Immediately he pulls away, he brushes back some of my hair that's falling into my

face. A soft smile plays along his lips while he stares down at my face and rubs his thumb against my cheek. I clear my throat and force my eyes away from his. "Drive safely"

"I promise I will. Get some sleep and text me if you need anything," he said. Archie and I had been texting for the past two days because Jenny stole my phone to put his number in it at lunch and ever since then, whenever I was bored, he was the one I went to.

He was kinda dry at texting and I'm assuming it's because he doesn't do it too much, but I was able to get him to open up after a while.

"I will," I tell him before giving him one more kiss and then walking into the house where Jasmine and Mom were standing by the window in random positions that were probably supposed to seem natural.

"Oh, hey, we were just seeing if the moon was visible tonight" Mom said as she scratched her head and went to sit back down on the couch that was covered in pillows and blankets while a movie was paused on the TV.

"Oh, yeah? Is it visible?" I ask, knowing they haven't even noticed how cloudy it was tonight so I could catch them in their lie.

"Yeah, it's huge tonight, didn't you see it while in the car? It's so beautiful, isn't it?" Jasmine said as she went over to sit down next to Mom who was hugging a pillow to her chest.

"Nice try, you can't see the moon tonight, so were you guys just being creepy and staring at me or what?" I ask and they share looks before Mom opens her mouth to say something until my sister opens hers.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" She blurts out with a huge smile on her face, hoping that I'll say yes, even though I'm honestly not sure. He never officially asked me, but he also never said we weren't, so I don't know what to think. I believe that since it's his first relationship with a guy he would want to ask before we do anything too crazy, so guess not?

"I don't think so, but probably soon. His name's Archie, I told them as I sat down on the leather loveseat and pulled a blanket over me since I was cold again from standing outside.

"Aw!" Mom said as she placed a hand over her chest as she had a big smile on her face. "When do we get to officially meet him?"

I sigh. "He's picking me up in the morning to go hang out with our friends at the trampoline place we passed when we went to dinner, so maybe you'll meet him then, but don't hope for anything."

"Aw!" Jasmine and my mom said. Ever since I came out, my mom had asked about every single guy I hang out with because she was hoping I had finally found someone that was actually gay or whatever and wasn't just hanging out with me for a fuck. While that was what my mom and sister were like, I noticed the way my dad sat on the couch with his phone in his hand as he tried to ignore this conversation as he always did when my sexuality came up.

I roll my eyes at my family's ridiculousness before standing up.

Alright, I'm going to take a shower and go to sleep. I'll see you all in the morning."

They say goodnight while they press play on their movie as I make my way up the stairs to the bathroom where I turn on the water to heat up. I turn around to look in the mirror at my lips which are severely chapped and probably uncomfortable for Archie, even though he never said anything about it.

I sigh as I run a hand through my hair and just hope that I don't do anything stupid tomorrow that could ruin my new relationship type thing.

When I wake up, I'm so tired that I don't

even want to move from my comfortable spot under my warm blanket. I forced myself up after a few minutes of scrolling through my phone and texting Jenny back because she asked if I was coming with today. I go to my closet and pick out some army green joggers, a dark blue crewneck

with white stripes, and some white Converse.

I realize l have some extra time, so l go

downstairs to sit at the table with Jasmine who's texting someone on her phone and I'm assuming it's Emilie from the way she laughs at whatever's said. I sit there for a few minutes with my sister who's telling me about how she already doesn't understand

something in her math class.

She stops when she hears Mom talking

to someone and we look at each other

confused because Dad and our grandparents weren't home, so we don't know who it could be. When I hear the deep voice, I immediately know who it is and I shoot up from the chair as does Jasmine, who realizes the same thing.

She pushes me back, so she gets there

First, I almost fall to the floor, but I catch myself on the wall as I try to grab her and pull her back so my mom and sister don't embarrass me in front of Archie. Jasmine and I race to the front door for who will get there first.

She does by how tiny she is and how fast. Once we do, Archie stares up at me with a smile while he holds a cup from Starbucks in his hand with my mother standing in front of him. He's wearing black joggers, a checkered hoodie, and black Vans and he's pulling his hair back so it's not hanging in his face.

"Hey, we should go," I said, rushing over to him to pull on his hand, trying to leave as quickly as possible to not let my mom and sister embarrass me too much.

Archie nods, sticking his hand out to shake her hand. "It was a nice meeting….. Mrs Diego. I promise I make him feel comfortable and safe.

Mom reaches over and kisses my cheek before nodding to Archie who gives her another soft smile while Jasmine stands there just watching it all play out. "It was great meeting you, dear"

I glare at my Mom as Archie walks down

the porch steps and she gives me an innocent smile before I close the door so they can't watch us walk out like some creepers. When I get to Archie's side, he hands me the iced coffee cup.

"Here's your iced white chocolate mocha with almond milk," he says, telling me the order I had texted him last night since he asked what I wanted when he went to Starbucks this morning.

"Thank you," l said as we got into his car and started the journey into town where Jenny and Robert already were because they decided to go for breakfast beforehand.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked me as he turned down the radio to be able to hear my answer while he held the white coffee cup against his thigh that was probably still hot to drink at this point.

"I slept well, but I'm still so tired," I tell him as I set the back of my head on the headrest and get comfortable in my seat as Archie looks over to me.

For the rest of the ride, we just sit in comfortable silence as the radio a hum in our ears while we sip on our coffee to help us wake up.

We get to the place and sign in before we sit on the benches to wait for our turn since the place is somewhat busy on this cold Saturday morning. Archie and Robert sit on an open bench a little bit away from Jenny and me.

"How was the making out?" Jenny asked me with a small smirk

.

I chuckle, shaking my head. "I'm going to assume Archie told you about it."

"Yep, now spill it. How was it?" She asks as I play with the bracelet that's on my wrist while I stare out at the people jumping on the trampolines on the floor with their friends and families.

I look over at the other boys to see that they're deep in conversation about something that looks pretty serious.

"It was good, but I'm not talking with this about you," I say with a chuckle. She links her arm with me while we stare out at the rest of the people in the room.

"Well, we are all going to a party at my house later tonight. Some of the football players are gonna be there and the whole dance team will be there. Want to come?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds good to me, I'm going to have a good time with Archie.