Being True (31 page)

Javi and I leaned forward to take a look, and we inhaled in surprise at the same time. Dozens of people from our school stood in front of Javi’s house or on his lawn, waving at us as we approached. Some held signs that said, “Welcome Home, Javi,” while others simply said “We love you.”

“What the hell?” Javi asked.

His mother glanced over her shoulder. “Watch your language,” she said.

“Is that Alison?” I asked, pointing out my window. She held up a sign that read, “I’m sorry for being a bitch.” Stephanie stood beside her with a sign that said, “Me too.”

“I see I’m going to have to talk to that girl about her language too,” Mrs. Castillo said with a frown.

“What’s going on?” Javi asked.

“Well, I’m not an honor roll student like you two,” Mr. Castillo said. “But I think this is what they might call a welcome wagon.”

Welcome wagon or welcome train? There were people everywhere. I’d totally missed the ones standing on the other side of the street. They hollered and clapped as we passed. When I pointed at them, Javi nodded and smiled. He had obviously seen them before me.

Mr. Castillo honked the horn twice to let them know their presence was appreciated. And to get them out of his way. They had cluttered the driveway and parted to let the car pass.

When Mr. Castillo turned off the engine, Javi said, “I’m not sure I want to go out there.”

“Why?” I asked. “They came here for you.”

He frowned. “I wasn’t the only one who was hurt. They should be here for you too.” He refused to meet my eyes, most likely embarrassed that people were making such a big deal about him. “You’re the one who actually had to fight off Rance. I just came in at the end.”

I placed my hands on either side of his handsome face. “I don’t care why they’re here. I’m just glad they are.” I rested my forehead on his and rubbed our noses together. “Now get out there. Your friends are waiting.”

“What about you?” he asked. “Aren’t you coming?”

I shook my head. “I’ll wait for a minute in here. Give them some time with you. Then when you’re done, I’ll be in the house with your parents.”

“You promise?” he asked. He clearly feared I might get lost in the chaos that swirled around the car, and he’d never see me again.

“Absolutely.”

He flashed me the grin that made my tummy quiver and opened the door. Applause and whistles instantly greeted him as everyone converged upon where he stood. They patted him on the back and gave him hugs. Dozens of questions were tossed at him as if he were a famous movie star walking down the red carpet.

It made me smile. Perhaps I hadn’t stolen the life Javi enjoyed before me. It would be somewhat different, but maybe, just maybe, it would be kinda the same too.

“I don’t think you’re getting away that easily,” Mr. Castillo said. He and Mrs. Castillo still sat in the car with me.

“What do you mean?” I asked. But before Mr. Castillo could answer, I turned my attention to my side of the car. People stood around my door, waiting for me to come out. They gazed into the car with smiles on their faces.

I’d never had so many people happy to see me in my life.

“You better get out there,” Mrs. Castillo said.

I swallowed hard and opened the door, and when I exited the car, hands patted my back. People I didn’t even know apologized for being assholes, and everyone seemed genuinely relieved to know I was okay.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Alison. As usual, Stephanie stood right next to her. “Tru, what you said outside the gym was right. We were all being huge dicks. But after what happened, well….” She looked around at the people who surrounded us. “It’s time not to be dicks anymore. I hope you can forgive me.”

I nodded. Tears once again stole my vision from me. I was going to have to learn to stop that. “Of course,” I said as I gave Alison a hug.

I glanced over her shoulder at Javi, who stood on the other side of the car. He blew me a kiss, and I blew one back.

Yeah, forget different. My life was never going to be the same again.

A
FTER
THAT
day, everything about my life changed.

It wasn’t perfect or anything. Javi’s and my relationship rocked the school harder than the iceberg that sank the Titanic. But instead of sinking us, Javi and I rose to the new challenges we faced.

Sure, we had to deal with the jerks who didn’t approve. There were still plenty of those passing us in the halls, making snide comments or whispering behind our backs. That hadn’t changed. It likely never would.

What had changed was me.

Their voices didn’t haunt me like they used to. The fear they’d once produced vanished as if the ghosts had been exorcized. How could I flounder in terror when I had the hottest and best guy at my school as my boyfriend? And who loved me about as much as I loved him?

Against that, nothing else blipped on my radar.

Javi, too, had become someone different. It was easiest to see when he smiled.

The lopsided grin still danced across his face when he played ball and helped our school on its road back to state or when he greeted friends. And even when he dashed in late to precalc. But the grin he wore was no longer a mask. It was genuine, and it wasn’t the only smile in his repertoire anymore. That half grin told the world he was in a feisty mood. When he was truly happy, surrounded by his friends or at dinner with his family, his big cheesy grin spread ear to ear. But when Javi glanced at me, I got something special. Something no one else in the world got.

When he smiled at me, he beamed, and the light of his smile warmed me from the inside out.

All that smiling certainly made Javi less angry and confrontational than he had been for a while. If someone got in his face, he got right back in theirs. But for the most part, we just let the haters hate.

They had no power over us.

What was even more surprising was we didn’t stand up against those dipshits alone. Claudia had our back like she always did except now, she didn’t keep her mouth shut. She said if a pipsqueak like me could stand up to an entire school, she could give any idiot who spouted hate a tongue-lashing.

And she did.

But it wasn’t just Claudia who no longer stood for people calling us fags. Others, like Alison and Stephanie, led the charge. They even petitioned the school for a Gay-Straight Alliance, and after what had happened with Rance, administration okayed the new club.

Ms. Garcia volunteered to sponsor it.

I’d judged her far more harshly than she might have judged me. There was a lesson to be learned for everyone.

“Hey, Tru.” Destiny Villarreal stopped in front of me in the hall. The final bell had rung, and it was time to get going. Javi and I had an important meeting to get to.

“What’s up?”

“Are you not going to the library today?” she asked. She had her precalc book in her hand and a paper with huge red
x
’s all over it. She had plainly not done well on the latest assignment.

“No,” I said. “Not today. Javi and I have to head over to—”

“Oh, right,” she said with a nod. “That’s today, isn’t it?”

It seemed the whole school knew my business these days. I’d never get used to that. “Why don’t you call me later tonight, and I can help you over the phone.”

“Really?” she asked with a sigh of relief. “Because I just don’t understand this pair of bowls concept.”

I nodded. The first thing I had to teach her was that it was a parabola and not a pair of bowls. “Give me a call around eight.”

“Sure thing,” she said. “Thanks.”

I said good-bye and continued toward my locker. By the time I got there, I’d been stopped three more times. Alison and Stephanie made sure I was coming to the GSA meeting next week, and I promised I would. Naturally, Alison had to take a selfie before she let me leave. After them, a guy from my English class asked if I’d join his group on their project over
The Importance of Being Earnest
. Since I was an Oscar Wilde lover, I naturally said yes, and then Heather Barnes stopped me few feet from my locker to make sure I was going to the party she was throwing that weekend. It apparently would be the party to end all parties.

How could I say no to that?

Once I finally headed down the stairs, the smile that made my heart quicken came into view. Javi stood at the bottom, gazing up at me with a pretend grimace on his face. “I’ve been waiting for, like, five minutes,” he complained.

“Yeah, well, you know the perils of popularity,” I said as I descended toward him. “Everyone wants a piece.”

He scowled. “Excuse me?” He puffed out his chest and surveyed the halls. “Who is he? I’ll tear him to pieces, I will!”

I snickered at his pretend fit of jealousy. When I reached the bottom, I pressed against Javi and whispered in his ear, “The only one who will get the piece that matters is you. I am eighteen now after all, right?”

A wicked grin danced on his lips and in his eyes. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

“Javier. Truman.”

We turned to see Ms. Garcia standing next to us. Her tight face twisted into a snarl.

“Yes, Ms. Garcia,” I said.

“You know as well as everyone that PDA in the hall is unacceptable.” Javi opened his mouth to respond, but she shook her finger at him. “And don’t start giving me this homophobic bull either. I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, or from Alpha Centauri. There’s no kissing, and most certainly no bodies pressed against one another in
my
halls.”

She grabbed our shoulders and separated us. When we were the distance apart that was suitable to her rule-loving mind, she stood back and smiled. She was actually quite attractive when she didn’t look so constipated. “Much better.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Javi said with a grin.

She glared at him out of the corners of her eyes. “If memory serves me, don’t you two have some place you’re supposed to be?”

I glanced at my watch. If we didn’t book it, we were going to be late. “Yes, ma’am,” I said before grabbing Javi’s hand. “Thank you.”

As we sprinted down the hall, her voice echoed all around us. “I’m proud of you boys for doing this,” she said. “And don’t run in the halls!”

But instead of stopping, we just laughed. And it felt good.

J
AVI
DROVE
us back to my place, where we already had slacks, button-down shirts, and ties laid out on my bed. We only had time for a quick costume change before we had to leave for the Bexar County Juvenile District Court.

“You nervous?” Javi asked. He kicked off his shoes and slid out of his blue polo shirt. How the hell did he expect me to answer questions when he was taking off his clothes? All I could concentrate on were Javi’s smooth dark skin, the muscles that strained as he bent down to take off his socks, and the trail of dark fur I’d run my fingers through but had yet to follow all the way to its treasure. “Tru?”

“Um, what?” I asked. “Yes… I mean, no. Well, kinda. Wait… what was the question again?”

Javi chuckled as he walked bare-chested over to where I still ogled him. “You’re cute when you get all flushed,” he said. He then wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned in for a kiss.

My lips trembled against his, and his strong tongue wound its way into my mouth. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling us harder into the kiss, which had grown much stronger and far more passionate over the past few weeks than ever before.

Our kisses had always been wonderful. My flesh burned, and my cock throbbed in both ache and want every time our lips were joined. But after what we’d been through, we discovered a passion that rivaled what we’d had before.

I’d likened it once to a volcano that simmered and bubbled, but under the right conditions, exploded sky high. That was what being with Javi was like. It was an intense building pressure that sought release we’d yet been unable to give to our hearts or our bodies.

And boy, did we both want to blow!

But instead of erupting right there, Javi pulled out of the kiss. His cheeks were flushed, and his breath blew hot across my face. His cock practically thrummed in his jeans and pulsed against my stomach. “It sucks being a good boy,” he said with a sigh.

“Yes, it does.” I laid my head against his warm chest. A faint hint of musk from his pits mixed with the woody cologne he typically wore. The combined scent almost made me wave bye-bye to the good boy and jump Javi’s bones right there.

But we’d both promised our parents and ourselves to not have sex until we were out of high school. That didn’t mean we hadn’t fooled around or gotten really close to breaking the rules, especially when Javi had dry-humped me on the bed last week. Or smelled the way he smelled right now. During moments like these, the only thing I wanted was our clothes off and his skin against mine as we took possession of each other’s body in the way lovers did.

But we’d agreed to wait. To make sure if Javi and I were going to do adult things, we would be in a fully committed adult relationship. Javi and I didn’t need to wait to know that we planned on spending the rest of our lives together, but we gave our parents what they needed.

We were men of our word. But that didn’t mean we had to like it.

“Graduation is in a few weeks,” Javi said.

I groaned before I kissed his chest and ran my fingers up his lean oblique muscles. “It might as well be next year.”

“Oh, hell no,” Javi said. He hooked my chin with his thumb and turned my gaze up to his. His beaming smile shooed my gloom away. “There’s no way I’m waiting another year to have you in my arms and in my bed. After graduation, you’re
all
mine. Every last bit of you.”

It was my turn to smile like a goofy kid. I loved the way that sounded. “It’s going to be perfect.”

“Duh,” he said with a playful raspberry. “It’s you and me. Since we’re perfect for each other, there really is no other choice.”

How could I argue with that?

Javi glanced at the clock on my desk, just under the picture of the two of us I’d taken so many months ago. “We better get moving,” he said, “or we’re going to be late.”