Mason
"I understand you were dying for the opportunity to kiss me, but I told you it was a bad idea," Zoey said lazily from her bed, while I paced around the room.
I growled in frustration. "I thought everything would be fixed, that things would finally go back to before that idiot Noel decided to mess it up."
"I'll admit it is kind of weird that Cody's suddenly, like, fallen off the planet..." Yue fingered her nose piercing, looking thoughtful. "He says he's busy with the competition, but he usually doesn't phase out on you even when he's busy, does he?"
"Exactly!" I said. "He never gave me the radio silence treatment before a big competition. I don't understand why he's shutting me out now."
Granted, Cody hadn't gone entirely off grid. He still gave me short replies when I asked him things via text, but only if I texted him first. And he gave one word replies if he could get away with it, which felt an awful lot like snubbing. Hadn't been able to catch him on the phone either.
"He could be telling the truth you know," Zoey said. "I don't know a damn thing about swimming, but a regional meet sounds a lot more important than some random race. Maybe he is actually busy."
"I can't begin to understand the kind of pressure he's under for that," I agreed. "But you don't understand either. Codes has never gotten distant. Seriously, fuck Noel."
Zoey snorted. "I don't think you can pin the blame on Noel anymore. You really went far out of your way to make sure Noel's game plan was thrown under a bus."
"Yeah, well, it obviously didn't work."
"You're just being paranoid," Yue added, taking Zoey's side and making me throw up my hands in the air and dropping them to my side again.
"It's not just the digital radio silence! Another very weird thing happened today: Cody said he was at the pool, so I tried swinging by after his training. But Britt and the others said Cody wasn't even there. How do you explain that?"
"That could be true," Zoey said. "Maybe he left early."
I crossed my arms. "It was still really odd though," I persisted, "the way they acted - like IÂ couldn't leave fast enough."
I'd met Cody's swimming team friends before, obviously. It was kind of hard to avoid them considering they were such a big part of Cody's life. They'd always seemed like decent people to me. I mean, both coach Sparta and Dylan needed a mute button sometimes, and Britt was kind of vain, but their hearts seemed to be in the right place. They were practically ushering me out the pool doors today though, and I'm not sure what I'd done to deserve that treatment.
"Maybe they're all feeling the pressure too," Zoey said (she was even more pigheaded than I was, not impressed by my arguments). "The big race is tomorrow."
Yue shrugged. "But if you really want an answer, you should go there. To the competition, to support him. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. You've gone to his meets before right?"
Actually, I'd gone to every big competition Cody has ever had since he started participating in them. But Cody had always asked him to come, and now I'd gotten nothing but short one word replies from him for three days.
"Yeah..." I replied, "I suppose I could 'borrow' Noel's old can of rust car to get there. It's not like he's out of bed before noon."
"So, we're going?" Zoey asked.
"Wait, we?" Yue pursed her lips. "You better not mean me as well. I'm not getting up at six to catch a ride to some boring ass swimming race."
"There's lots of shirtless athletic guys in speedos there," Zoey wiggled her eyebrows and nudged Yue, who already started looking more enthusiastic (and they say guys are perverts). She then looked at me. "And hey, if it's not about the competition, you'll find out soon enough too if we go."
I let out a sigh. "Yeah, if his friends don't kick me out of the building before I can. Again."
****
"Piece of garbage," I muttered to Noel's old car as I opened the door, and stepped outside onto the parking lot of the pool.
It was almost literally a can of rust. The regionals were held about an hour drive away, but I was already doubting it'd stay in one piece long enough to even make that. I was surprised it held out until I reached the pool, where Cody and the others would gather before departing.
Noel would be pissed if he'd heard me trash talking his car (he was already going to be pissed I snatched his keys and 'borrowed' it), but he was at home, sleeping off yet another hangover in his room. With a bit of luck he wouldn't roll out of bed until dark and wouldn't notice it missing. And if he did, he owed it to me anyway.
He was the reason why I was almost sneaking into the pool building, wondering if Cody and Cody's friends even wanted me around, supporting them for their big race. Cody's phone was off at least. I'd tried calling him again, but got the instant voicemail.
I looked at Noel's car over my shoulder. It wasn't too late yet to turn around and go back home.
...No, that wasn't an option. I'd been at every major meet Cody's ever had and I wasn't stopping now. It was like Zoey said: if he really didn't want me here, I'd know soon enough.
Straightening my back, I walked to the pool building. The entrance hall was empty, but a vaguely familiar guy with broad shoulders was walking up ahead. They had to be gathering in the canteen.
I followed after the guy, and heard some chatter, conversion coming from the canteen around the corner.
"I wonder where Cody is," Dylan's loud voice sounded, clear above the others. "You reckon he's late because of Mason?"
I stopped dead in my tracks at the mention of my name, pressed my back against the wall, staying out of sight. Because of me?
"You know, because Mason might try to come here before we leave," Dylan continued.
"Dylan!" Britt gasped. A dull slapping sound followed (I guess she hit him).
"Ow! What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking."
"He still has half an hour to get his ass here," coach Sparta's voice grumbled. "And he won't let Mason or anyone get in the way of the regionals."
"But poor sod though," Benjamin's voice piped in. "No wonder Cody doesn't want to see him. Can't blame him, I wouldn't want to either in his situation. You can't salvage a friendship like that - it's always gonna go sour when one is in love with the other but not the other way around. Even if you've been friends for years."
My heart hammered in my chest, my head pounded. So Cody was avoiding me on purpose. He knew about me. He didn't want to see me. He didn't want to be my friend anymore.
"I can still hardly believe it though," Dylan said. "I mean, gay. I always thought he was a bit different from most guys, but not like that."
Britt scoffed. "People aren't walking stereotypes you know. You can't always tell when someone is or isn't gay by looking at them."
A chill went down my spine at how Dylan and Britt threw the word gay around. They found out about me somehow. How did they find out? Was it how I acted? Cody must've told them about the party, and they must've told Cody I had to be gay.
"Well I think--" Dylan started, but I didn't wait to hear what his opinion was. I'd already turned the corner, and ran out of the building.
I don't know how I got Noel's car door open, nor how I finally managed to jab the keys in the ignition, with my hands shaking as hard as they were. Noel was wrong. Zoey and Yue were wrong. I wasn't being paranoid, I wasn't being dramatic, and I was more right than I had ever wanted about this crush ruining my friendship with Cody. But it felt unreal. The Cody I knew wouldn't shut me out over this. That wasn't Cody, unless he somehow thought he was doing the right thing for me.
I tasted iron in my mouth. I needed to lie down before I'd be sick. Zoey and Yue were supposed to meet me here at the pool in fifteen minutes, a quick glance at my phone told me. I typed them a quick text: You are wrong. I'm going home.
***
Noel's car made it home in one piece (the only thing left whole today). I pulled up the driveway, and Noel came running outside the house in his jogging pants and an old shirt, surprisingly up even before noon. I stepped out of the car, and Noel immediately started yelling.
"You little shitstain! You stole my car? Give me my keys!"
I made no attempt to stop Noel from snatching the car keys from my hand.
"I didn't steal it. I borrowed it. You can keep your can of rust," I replied listlessly, not having the will to return the favour and yell at him.
Noel was taken aback and instantly lost his angry expression. "What, no yelling? No sneering? No little front garden fight early in the morning while I have a massive headache? You're no fun."
"He doesn't want to see me."
Noel raised his brows. "That applies to a lot of people, smurf, you're gonna have to be a bit more specific than that."
I turned my back on Noel as I walked to our front door, afraid I would cry and he would see it. "You were wrong. He found out I'm gay, that I love him, and he no longer wants to talk to me. His friends have been keeping me away from him. Hope you're happy you ruined a friendship with your idiotic matchmaking ideas."
"What?"
Noel's tone was no longer playful. It didn't even hold a hint of playfulness, making me look at my brother. He was pacing down the driveway.
"That little shit. I already knew he was a dumb fuck, must've had a lack of oxygen at birth, but this-- He's at the pool, isn't he? And his friends?"
"Yeah," I said, watching Noel yank the car door open and getting in. "Where are you going?"
Noel shot me a hard stare. "To set some things right."
The car door slammed shut, and Noel started the engine.
"Wait!" I yelled out, running towards Noel. "Please, don't do anything to Cody!"
Before I could reach him, Noel had already hit the gas pedal, and the old can or rust went roaring out of the street.