Emerson Scott
Robyn will always and forever be with me until I die. No doubt about it. He's my number one, the bro before hoes, the other pea in a pod, and most of all, the best friend one could ever ask for. As we sat on the couch watching a marathon of kids movies for nostalgia, his head rested on my lap as I stroked through his soft tufts of brown hair, both eating popcorn. I frowned as I looked down at the sad bowl, useless popcorn kernels staring back at me. I pinched one and flicked it at Robyn's face. He pouted and looked up at me, raising his arms in the air in exasperation.
"Hey! What was that for?!" Robyn looked at me with an accusatory glance and I laughed, retracting the hand I used to stroke through his hair and placed it on my hip.
"You ate most of the popcorn, fatass." Despite the seemingly derogatory nickname we smiled at each other. "You have to make another bowl," I demanded as I nudged him with the empty bowl. Robyn narrowed his eyes at me.
"Fat where? Bro, you're just jealous of my rock-hard washboard abs," he said smugly. To prove his point, he lifted up his shirt with a smug grin. He always liked to rub in my face that he was the basketball captain when I was just a nerd and a try-hard in school. Not my fault his only brain cell can only function for basketball. I rolled my eyes so hard that he flicked my forehead in annoyance.
Snorting at his egotistical claims, I pulled the shirt high enough so it got stuck on his head. At his attempt to remove it, I chuckled at the muffled screams. "Yep, you're jealous. Exhibit A," he stated matter-of-a-factly when he finally got the shirt back down.
I grinned down at him as he buried his head deeper into my lap, cozying up under that shared blanket. "Sure," I muttered sarcastically, training my eyes on the screen playing '101 Dalmatians.' Just another Tuesday with my best friend.
After a comfortable silence, Robyn spoke up. "Em?"
I hummed, shoveling a handful of newly popped popcorn into my mouth. "Yeah?"
"I'm gay," he said with a straight (not so straight I guess) face. Suddenly, he became tense as the atmosphere turned awkward. I coughed on a popcorn kernel. It became so silent I could hear the ticking of the clock in the kitchen.
A second passed before I decided to say something back. "Okay," I replied nonchalantly, sporting a reassuring grin that he returned with a sigh of relief.
"If I knew you'd respond this way, I would've come out to you sooner!" He ran his hands down his face and bit his lips, a normal habit, and looked at me with his glassy, honey-colored eyes.
I softly gasped and started to comb my fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm him. "Oh, don't cry on me. You know I can't handle emotional people."
"I'm sorry, these are tears of joy. I'm just so happy that you're my best friend," Robyn uttered with a huge smile.
"Aww. Love you too," I cooed as he lightly elbowed me. "How long have you known?"
"Maybe for a few years, I don't know," he said sheepishly, something that was rare in contrast to his usual outgoing personality.
I facepalmed myself. "Either I'm a horrible best friend, or you're just really good at acting straight." I was too engrossed in my books or too busy hanging out with him to even think about his love life. It never crossed my mind. Now that I had thought about it, he never talked about girls, hadn't dated in a while, and overall just focused on basketball. Can't believe I never noticed. I'm pretty sure I'm the fakest, worst best friend ever.
"You have an awful gaydar and you're such a horrible friend," he said with a raised eyebrow. Ugh, I knew it.
I stuttered, "B-but you've had more girlfriends than me!"
"Okay, first of all, don't act like you ever had a girlfriend in the first place," he held up his index finger to silence me before I tried to protest. He snorted, "Secondly, I never did anything more than hold their hands. You're such an idiot." We had a thing for calling each other derogatory nicknames affectionately. I kissed the top of his head. This was normal for us because we'd do this to each other if we were under some stress or if we just felt like it. No homo? He huffed a stubborn breath and crossed his arms. "I feel so stupid for being in denial for so long, that's all."
"Whatever. You want me to be your wingman still? It'll be harder to hook you up with guys, but I'll try," I said sincerely, trying to convey I supported him no matter what.
He just shook his head. "Nah, I'll focus on basketball for the time being because who knows how my teammates will react. But I appreciate it. Bro's before hoes." We fist bumped and I smiled at him once again, to show that we will stay the same, close friends. Nothing will change that.
"I'm pretty sure most people at our school don't care. Isn't half our school gay?" I asked, pretty certain of it. Gay couples were just as open as the heteronormative ones. Besides, most were too caught up in their own cruddy lives to care about people's mere sexualities. Like get a life if it ticks you off that bad.
He started to play with his fingers. "Yeah, it's just that I'm the captain and somewhat on the upper part of the social hierarchy. I've made so many friends, what if they leave me? I have so many other things going for me." He started to ramble as his increasingly worrisome speech quickened under the heaps of stress he felt.
I shrugged, trying to list some LGBTQ+ students who were popular. "Alexis Burgess is lesbian and she's the student body president. Daehyun Young and Isaac Hitchcock are like the 'hottest couple.' Tanya, the Russian transfer student is demi. Heck, I think Mr. Matthews and Mr. Holt have something going on behind the scenes of you know what I mean. I'm pretty sure some of your own teammates are not as straight as you think they are."
Robyn looked at me skeptically. "Really? Who?"
I scoffed. "And I thought my gaydar was bad, after all, it takes one to know one. Anyways, I saw Nathan and Oliver kissing behind the bleachers two games ago."
He sat up abruptly, and quickly faced me. "No way!"
"Yes way. Why would I lie about that? I was just picking up some trash because I was goofing off during the game. And then I saw them making out."
Robyn just shook his head. "I knew there was something going on with those two. I mean, after all, they often went to the bathroom around the same time. Gosh, how did I not realize sooner?"
I grinned at him. "See? There's tons of non-straight people at school. Literally no one will care if you're gay," I added matter-of-a-factly.
He started to twiddle his thumbs once again as laid his head back onto my lap. "I guess so." As I combed through his hair, we stayed in that position until we fell asleep, not bothering to finish the movie.
~~~
My phone's alarm rang for school and Robyn groaned, burying his head in my lap in a vain attempt to drown out the ringtone. With my eyes still closed, I patted around for my phone before picking it up and squinted at the illegally scintillating brightness of the screen. Turning the alarm off, I waited a few minutes before shaking Robyn awake. "Robbie, wake up," I whispered in the still dark room. He just huffed and took a pillow to throw at me. Not in my house. It soon escalated into a full blown pillow fight until my mother turned on the lights to see our entangled bodies in the midst of pillows and blankets, the popcorn bowl flipped so that kernels were scattered on the carpet.
My mother, used to this, just sighed and pinched her nose. "Boys, clean this up by the time I'm done with breakfast." She gathered her frizzied, wavy brown hair and tied it up into a loose bun, flyaways curling around her small face.
Robyn's back straightened as he stood up, disentangling his legs from the swaddles of surrounding blankets. "Yes, ma'am," he obeyed as held his hand up in a mock salute.
"Your mom knows you're here, right?" I asked Robyn.
He nodded. "Pfft, of course. I practically live here." To make sure, he checked the messages he sent between himself and his mom. "Ugh, I want to hang out later today since coach is letting me leave practice early, but my mom wants me to take all the bedding to the laundromat. You wanna help?"
I shrugged, knowing I had nothing else to do besides homework, which took me barely any time since school was a breeze for me. "Sure."
By the time we had cleaned up the mess from our impromptu pillow fight, the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes wafted through the air, blessing our noses with a mouthwatering aroma. Robyn and I helped set up the table as my father and sister came from upstairs. Robyn and I sat next to each other at the table as my sister took to her usual Barbie-sticker-spangled chair. My mother kissed my dad on the cheek as they took a seat on opposite ends. My mom set down the last of the steaming food on the tablecloth and I licked my lips in anticipation, glancing at Robyn as he did the same. I thanked my mom for the food and began eating.
My father set down his glasses. "Good morning, Hook." Robyn greeted him back with a curt nod.
"Good morning, Mr. Scott," he said as he then redirected his speech to my little sister. "And good morning, Emily." She simply waved back, ravenously devouring her pancake that had drowned in syrup. Chill, sis. What'd that pancake ever do to you?
My father chewed on his bacon slowly. "You can call me Charlie, Hook. No need for such formalities. I've told you this many times."
"Okay, but not in front of my mom," Robyn said cheekily as my dad laughed heartily in response. He took a bite of a sausage and buttered his pancakes. "Wow, Diana, this tastes delicious!"
My mother diffidently waved her hand in her flustered state. "It's nothing special, dear. Make sure to eat up. A growing boy like you needs a lot of food to grow up even more handsome than you already are." This went on for the whole breakfast and the rest of my family went upstairs to get ready for the day, my sister getting ready for elementary school while my father got ready for work and my mom worked from home on her laptop. Robyn and I cleaned up and washed the dishes.
"Stop kissing up to my parents," I teased.
Robyn laughed, clunking the plates together as he set it in the dishwasher. "Why? Scared they'll disown you and adopt me since I'm obviously their favorite son?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. Doesn't your mom get lonely since you usually stay here often?"
Robyn shrugged. "Nah, my aunt keeps her company. I bet they gossip while I'm not around."
I merely nodded and finished up the last of the plates, handing it to Robyn for him to set it in the dishwasher. I glanced up at the clock over the sink. "We should get ready for school, you can go first." It was pretty normal for him to get ready in my house. It would've been too much of a hassle for him to walk back a few blocks to his house, so we shared a wardrobe with a few of his clothes just in case he stayed over, which was of course, often. I even kept a toothbrush in my bathroom for him.
Robyn nodded and ran up the stairs. By the time he came back, he wore my favorite hoodie. It was a fairly thick, expensive one that had an unbelievably soft interior, the exterior being peach colored. Really, again? I whined. "Robbie! We literally keep some of your clothes here just so this doesn't happen. You of all people should know I love wearing that sweatshirt!"
He mockingly sent a blow kiss. "Precisely why I chose it. I can see why you wear this a lot. It's so comfy." He played with the sweater paws on it and I rolled my eyes.
"If you wanna be like that, then fine." When I came back downstairs from washing my face and brushing my teeth, I wore his turquoise long sleeved shirt, one I knew was his favorite. "Two can play at this game, Robbie."
Robyn just laughed, pulling my hood over his head. "I couldn't care less, Em." I just grunted at him as I took the keys off the wall for my Camry. I lazily slung my backpack around my shoulder and kicked at his, earning an indignant noise.
"Let's just go."
Robyn made himself comfy in the passenger seat, throwing his backpack to the backseat and reclining the seat. "Can we stop at Starbucks?"
"Nope, sorry I can't satisfy your basic-hoe fantasies."
Robyn feigned being offended as he dramatically put a hand over his chest. "How dare you compare me to those girls. I just want their brownies, they taste so good."
"No can do, Robbie. I know you left your wallet at your house. I'm not going to pay for your overpriced brownie and deal with people this early in the morning." As we pulled out the driveway, I noticed a moving truck at the house next to mine that had been empty for some time. Cool, we had a new neighbor. I made a mental note to greet them and bring some food at some point.
Robyn clucked his tongue as I caught him red-handed. "You learn too fast. I could never fool you, Em." He sighed. "Worth a shot," he said as he reached for one of his basketballs in my backseat. He spun it on his fingertips in boredom. Smirking, I slammed on the brakes at the stop sign, causing the basketball to hit his face. He glared at me. "What the heck, Em?! Screw you," he spat bitterly, crossing his arms across his toned chest.
I laughed smugly at my payback. "You wish." He sighed and hit me with the basketball.
~~~
"Mothertrucker, that hurt like a buttcheek on a stick-" Robyn cursed as he held his stinging cheek. He sat on the basketball court, rocking back and forth in pain. I ran to his side and gasped. Besides coming to every single one of his basketball games, I often watched him practice. I usually had nothing to do after school and Robyn was really my only friend. Typically, I'd bring a book along to read, studied, or did some homework. When Robyn played as defense, one of his teammates received a foul when they pushed him so hard, his face skidded across the hardwood floors. While some teammates erupted into a chorus of 'oohs,' some crowded around their captain, leaving us both some space as they knew how close we were.
"Yikes, man," Nathan said as he leaned against Oliver. Everyone grimaced at Robyn's face.
I inspected the injury on his cheek. His whole face was pink and even red, the worst parts bleeding and bruising from the impact. "I'll take you to the infirmary," I stated firmly, helping Robyn up. He hissed as talking caused him pain, but he fought through it. Besides, we both know he's been through much worse. "You gotta be more careful." He just stared at the ground, his cold eyes glaring at the floor like it had offended his whole ancestry. "Robbie."
His eyes snapped up to me and I gave him a smile. He grunted in response, which I translated as 'I'd smile back if it weren't for this stupid injury.' I could read him so easily. Unlike everyone else, I knew him so well. Anyone else might as well be a stranger. Some made known to me just how dense I could be. I'm not surprised especially since we were known to share the one brain cell we had. We were a unit, attached to the hip. That's why he's my best friend. I ruffled his hair, Robyn leaning into the touch.
The school nurse was disappointed, but not surprised to say the least. She gave Robyn an unimpressed look. "I'd expect nothing less from an athlete. Mr. Scott, you take a seat next to him if you want." She sighed, retrieving the needed medical aid to treat the wounds. It was a miracle how many visits we made to her office. "So many of my patients are you sports kids. What's even the point of those expensive gear if you guys constantly deplete our medical stocks?" She cleansed the wound with an alcohol pad as they had just ran out of hydrogen peroxide to prove her point. The alcohol had left an even more painful sting as Robyn bit his lip down in an attempt to redirect the pain somewhere else, squinting his eyes shut. I squeezed his hand in reassurance, intertwining our fingers in a tight hold.
I calmed him down by humming the tune to a dumb song we made as children. He gave me a lopsided grin and I knew everything was going to be alright. After all, we were strictly platonic friends that had each other. As long as I had him, there was nothing to worry about, vice versa. I kissed him on the cheek like the good old days and we walked back to the gym court in a comfortable silence that left me up in my own thoughts. Together, we were happily strictly platonic, close friends. We were Emerson and Robyn, Robyn and Emerson.
~~~
Welcome to this mediocre beginning chapter, hope fully it will go uphill from here. Hopefully.
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