Dad looked at Mom, who said she didn’t mind. We asked Mama B and Alex’s dad, then the girls, and they all said yes. We all lived close enough that Alex and I could walk over to Lynn’s.
I went home and showered, excitement zipping through me. Lynn was so pretty. How perfect would it be if I dated her and Alex went out with Kendall?
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Dad asked, standing in my doorway.
My gut automatically felt too heavy. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?” He wouldn’t tell me now, would he? That he was leaving, and they were getting a divorce…and why did the thought of that happening hurt so much? I hated it when they fought. If they were happier without each other, that was what I wanted, but…what if I lost him? What if he left me?
Dad sat down on my bed. “I wanted to talk to you about you and Alex.”
I frowned. “What’s wrong with me and Alex?”
“Nothing, but… I don’t know, son. He seems a little…different from you and me, if you know what I mean.”
No, no I didn’t. “Different how?”
“Never mind that part. It doesn’t matter. I just think you’re both getting to the age where you shouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed anymore. And like today, the way you were carrying him, you didn’t see any of the other boys doing that, did you?”
I hadn’t, and I’d wondered too if it had been weird. And Alex and I did always sleep in the same bed at sleepovers ever since that first time, but who cared? It was better than one of us taking the floor.
“I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, that’s all,” Dad finished.
The heaviness in my gut didn’t lighten. My hands felt sweaty and slimy. “Okay, Dad.” I got what he was saying now. He thought Alex was gay, and he didn’t want people to think we were gay with each other. But he wasn’t…and I wasn’t… We were just…us. Alex and Caden.
“Good man.” Dad clapped me on the shoulder. “Here’s some money. You guys should walk to the ice cream place and get milkshakes with the girls. My treat.”
I took it from him and shoved it in my pocket.
I met Alex outside a few minutes later. He wrapped an arm around me. “What’s up, district champion?” he teased, but I pulled away. He cocked his head slightly as if confused.
“What’s up, district champion?” I said the same to him, hoping he didn’t think I was mad at him, because I wasn’t. I just… If Dad said it was weird, then I believed him. I didn’t want to upset him and give him more reason to go.
“You okay?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He didn’t seem to believe me, so I playfully kicked him in the butt. “Dad gave me money for us to get ice cream with Lynn and Kendall.”
“Sweet!” Alex replied, and just like that, everything felt okay again.
We walked to Lynn’s house to pick them up, then headed for Main Street Creamery. We ate ice cream until we felt like we were going to vomit, then went to the park.
We laughed and hung out. At one point, we started to wrestle around, me and Alex on the ground together, him on top of me, holding my arms down. He started to tickle me, because the traitor was the only person in the world who knew I was ticklish.
We were cracking up, him smiling just as big as me. Then suddenly, I remembered what my dad said, and panic seized me. I pushed out from under him and got up.
“What happened?”
“I think something bit me,” I lied.
That night I got my first kiss. Alex did too. I asked him about it on the way back to our houses, but he just said, “It was okay.”
“Dude…Kendall is hot. It had to be better than that.”
“Yours was?” Alex asked.
“Hell yeah! It was awesome.” And it had been. Making out with Lynn was probably one of the best things that had ever happened to me.
“Okay. I guess you’re right.”
We stayed up late, watching horror movies in his living room. When we went to bed, I said, “I think I’m gonna crash on the floor tonight.”
“Oh…yeah…okay.” Alex turned away and climbed into bed.
I wanted to take it back, wanted to change my mind, because why did it matter if I slept in the same bed as my best friend?
I got the blankets and made a pallet on the floor.
An hour later I got up and said, “Scoot over.”
“Damn it. I thought I was finally going to get my bed back,” Alex said, but moved for me. I climbed in beside him and fell right asleep.
ALEX
Sixteen years old
I wasn’t into girls.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make myself want to kiss girls as much as Caden did…and he did. All. The. Time.