“Dale!”
They both looked at Seth. He was coming their way, two guys trailing behind him. Ellis vaguely recognized them from the soccer team and steeled himself for their reaction.
“Hey, Seth.”
“El, these are James and Gary.”
“Uh, hi.”
They both nodded at Ellis before turning their attention to Dale.
“Hey, man, why didn’t you tell us?” James asked.
“I didn’t know how you’d react. Tyler sure didn’t take it well.”
“He’s a dick. Don’t mind him.”
“Yeah,” Gary confirmed. “Most of us don’t mind, as long as you don’t try anything funny with us.”
Dale grimaced. “Eww, no. You’re not my type.”
Gary looked at Ellis and winked, and Ellis tightened his hold on Dale. “Yeah, we can see that. We’re going to be late, so see you at practice, Dale.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Oh, and if anyone tries anything, tell us, okay?”
“I don’t need bodyguards.”
“You never know!” James yelled as they walked away.
“That went well,” Ellis pointed out.
Dale nodded. “Yeah. Let’s hope the other team members are as nice as them. So, what do you have first?”
“Fiction writing.”
They said good-bye to Anna and Rick, and Dale walked Ellis to his classroom. People were still looking at them, but no one came forward and said anything, not even when Dale looked around and quickly kissed Ellis good-bye in front of the classroom. They got some stares, but apart from those, things were okay.
He sank in his chair and took out his notebook. He wasn’t sure he could work on the piece he was writing for class, but he could lose himself in a bit of fan fiction before Mr. Shea got there. At least it would distract him from what he needed to do once class was over.
ELLIS WAITED until everyone was out of the classroom to get up from his seat and make his way to the teacher’s desk.
“Is there a problem, Ellis?”
“I’d like to talk to you, please.”
Mr. Shea put down the papers he was holding. “Can it wait until lunchtime? I have another class now.”
“Oh, sure. No problem.”
“All right. Come back when you’re done with lunch.”
The morning flew by. Ellis didn’t even eat lunch because he was too nervous, but he did go to the cafeteria to tell his friends he wouldn’t eat with them. Dale was already there, talking with Rick. Ellis sat beside him and tried to ignore the stares they were gathering.
“Hey, El.”
Dale didn’t touch Ellis, and Ellis was both grateful and dismayed. He didn’t want to flaunt their relationship, not when he knew it would make people talk even more, but he also didn’t want to hide it, not now they were out.
“Hey.”
“Do you want me to go get you something to eat?”
“No. I have to go to Mr. Shea’s classroom, and I’m too nervous to eat anyway.”
“I’ll grab you an apple for later if you want.”
Ellis smiled. “That would be great, thanks.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“Yeah, but it’s better if I do this on my own.”
“How about I finish eating and go wait outside Mr. Shea’s office? That way you’ll know I’ll be there if you need me.”
Ellis suddenly didn’t care about flaunting their relationship. He leaned against Dale’s side and kissed his cheek. “Thanks.”
Ellis got up and ignored the whispers. It wasn’t easy because he was used to being invisible to most students, and he wasn’t anymore. Until they started gossiping about someone else, of course.
He made his way to the classroom and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Ellis opened the door and peeked in. Mr. Shea waved him inside, and he closed the door behind himself.
“Sit down, Ellis. Sorry for the mess.”
Mr. Shea was still eating a sandwich, and there was an open bottle of soda on the desk, along with an open paperback with its cover up.
“Do you want me to come back later?”
“No, no. Sit down.”
Mr. Shea wrapped his sandwich in a napkin and closed both the book and the bottle. He put everything to the side and leaned forward, twining his fingers together. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
Ellis looked at his hands in his lap. “I, well, I’ve been having some problems with bullying.”
“Does it have anything to do with your relationship with Dale Stephens?”
Ellis’s head snapped up, and he looked at his teacher. “Who told you?”
“It’s about the only thing the students are talking about today. I’d have to be deaf and blind not to notice it.”
Ellis felt himself blush. “No, it doesn’t have to do with that. Well, maybe in part, but it started last year, actually, and me and Dale have been together only for a few weeks. We never even talked to each other until you paired us for the project.”
“All right. I’m listening.”
“I don’t know why this guy hates me so much. It’s, uh, Mark Wright. He started insulting me last year, pushing me around, you know.”
Ellis looked at his teacher, but Mr. Shea just nodded.
“I always try to stay away from him, but we have some classes together, and sometimes he just finds me.”
“Did something specific happen? Apart from the name calling and the pushing around?”
“Yeah. He put dirty jockstraps in my locker a few months ago and grabbed me hard enough to leave a bruise on my arm.” Ellis hesitated, but he was there for a reason, so he pushed on even though the only thing he wanted to do was get up and run away. “There was also something the other day. He, uh, he cornered me in the bathroom.”
Ellis rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. Mr. Shea didn’t push him. He waited for Ellis to be comfortable enough to talk, but when Ellis peeked up, he could see his teacher was worried.
“He heard me talking with Anna. She’s… she’s my best friend. We were talking about my… boyfriend.” Ellis looked up again. Mr. Shea smiled, and Ellis said, “I was in the bathroom, and he came in after me. He told me he’d heard us and asked who my boyfriend was. He even suggested it might be you.” Ellis didn’t have the courage to look up now.
“He used words I don’t want to repeat, asked me if that was why I’m getting good grades in English.” Ellis stopped and swallowed.
“Did he touch you?” Mr. Shea asked in a gentle voice.
Ellis shook his head. “N-no. He tried to. He asked me if… if I would let him—” Ellis stopped talking. He couldn’t say it.
Mr. Shea handed Ellis a tissue. Ellis hadn’t even been aware he was crying, but he dried his face and took a deep breath. “He asked me if I would let him fuck me to have him leave me alone. He tried to grab me, but I punched him, and then Seth came in, and Mark stopped. I… I ran away.”
“Has Mark tried anything else since then?”
“He followed me and Dale. To the theater, and to my house. He took pictures and posted them on Facebook. That’s how everyone knows about us.”
“Do you want me to call your parents?”
Ellis shook his head. “No, not yet. But could you let Dale in? He should be outside.”
Mr. Shea got up and went to open the door. Ellis heard him talk to someone, then the door closed again and a hand landed on Ellis’s shoulder. He looked up and smiled weakly at his boyfriend.
Mr. Shea sat back down. “All right. Ellis, I’m going to need you to write everything down. Write what you remember, details, if there was anyone else there, when and where it happened. Once we have that, we’ll go to the principal with it.”
“Do I write what Mark told me? In the bathroom?”
“Yes, even the parts where he mentioned me. Don’t worry about it.”
“Won’t you have problems?”
“Why? The o
nly relationship we have is a student-teacher one. I’m not worried about this, but I am worried about you. Are you eighteen yet?”
Ellis shook his head.
“Then we’re going to have to tell your parents about it.”
Ellis nodded. “I know. What happens after we go to the principal? To Mark, I mean?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure. This doesn’t look like just bullying, Ellis. I don’t think he’ll be arrested because technically he didn’t touch you, but I think you could get a restraining order, and the principal will want to talk to him and to his parents, maybe suggest some counseling.”
Ellis hoped they could do something more concrete than just talk to Mark, because he really didn’t want to see how Mark would react to Ellis reporting him.
Chapter Fifteen
ELLIS HAD been nervous ever since Dale invited him over to his dad’s apartment. His dad’s empty apartment.
Dale’s father was out with Alicia, and that meant Dale and Ellis would be alone for the first time since they’d started dating. Every time they’d seen each other, it’d been either in public or over at Ellis’s house, with at least one member of his family downstairs.
So yeah. He was nervous. He knew he was the one with experience with guys, but Matt had never made his heart beat like it was trying to get out of his chest. Matt had never made Ellis’s hands damp with sweat.
“El? I need to go.”
Ellis nodded at Connor. “Yeah. I’m going.” He looked at the building where Dale’s dad lived and swallowed.
“Do you need me to come and pick you up later?”
“No, Dale’s going to bring me back home.”
“Okay, great.”
Ellis opened the door, but Connor stopped him before he could get out. “Take this.”
Connor pressed something in Ellis’s hand, and Ellis felt himself go red as he cringed at the condom and two small packets of lube. “I don’t need—why?”
“Because you’re seventeen, and you’re going to be alone with your boyfriend. I put two packets because I read you need lots of lube.”
“I—why is everyone suddenly interested in my love life?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m interested. I just want you to be fine and have a good time.”
“Okay, I’m going to pretend you didn’t tell me to have a good time, and go. But… thanks. For this.” Ellis held up the condom and lube. “Not that I’ll be needing it, but thanks.”
“Yeah, okay. See you tomorrow.”
Ellis stuck his tongue out and climbed out of his brother’s truck. “Nothing’s gonna happen, but if it does I won’t tell you.”
“Whatever. It’s not like I want details about my brother’s sex life.”
Ellis laughed and waved as Connor drove away. His brother had managed to calm him a bit, but his stomach was still full of butterflies when he walked out of the elevator and knocked on Dale’s front door. Dale opened it and greeted him with a smile before leaning in and kissing him softly.
Ellis was still nervous, but this was them. Dale had never forced him to do anything, and Ellis knew he wouldn’t start now, even though they were alone. He didn’t have to do anything he didn’t want to.
“So, do you want to go to my room?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m kind of curious to see it.”
“It’s nothing much yet. Still a bit bland, but then I haven’t been living here for long.”
Ellis grimaced. “I’m sorry. Your mom still hasn’t come around?”
“She’s trying, but I feel more comfortable here, so…. Anyway, let’s go, huh? And I promise, no porn.”
Ellis blushed and followed Dale along the hallway. He sat on Dale’s bed as Dale disappeared and came back with two cans of soda.
“This okay?”
“Yeah.” Ellis opened his can and drank half of it, then put it down on Dale’s desk. He pressed his palms on his thighs and looked at his fingers, suddenly failing to find something to say. “Why is this so weird? I mean, we’ve been on dates, and we’ve kissed. Why is this…?” Ellis gestured because he didn’t know how to put it into words.
“Because we’re alone. It’s kind of expected we’ll have sex for the first time.”
Ellis was glad he wasn’t drinking because he would’ve spat everything. “Y-yeah?”
“Not that we have to. We can do or not do whatever we want. Just, you know. Yeah.”
Ellis smiled and looked around. This room was neater than the room Dale had at his mom’s house. It might be because most of his stuff was still in boxes from what Ellis could see, but it was obvious Dale had made an effort. The books on the desk were neatly stacked, the pens were all in the pen holder, the bed was made, and while the hamper was about to burst, there were no dirty clothes around the room. The laces of a shoe poked from under the bed, but the shoe itself wasn’t visible.
“This is nice.”
Dale scratched his head. “I haven’t had the time to unpack yet, but I’m slowly getting there.”
“Do you need help?”
“I want to say yes because I hate to unpack, but I’m not sure what you’d find in the boxes, so I’m going to say no, thank you.”
Ellis laughed and toed his shoes off. He pushed them under the bed with his foot and moved toward the middle of the mattress. He crossed his legs and put his elbows on his knees, leaning his chin on his joined hands. “So.”
Dale smiled and mirrored Ellis’s position, sitting in front of him, so close their noses almost touched. Ellis went crossed-eyed and Dale laughed.
He leaned forward to kiss Ellis, but he put too much enthusiasm behind it, and Ellis fell backward, Dale in tow. Dale sprawled on top of him while Ellis laughed.
“Not funny.”
“It was!”
“You know what’s funny?” Dale asked with a wicked glint in his eyes.
It made Ellis wary right away. “Uh, no. What?”
“Tickles.”
“Oh, no. We’re not five, Dale.”
Dale wiggled his fingers above Ellis’s face. “We don’t have to be five to enjoy tickles.”
The hands disappeared, and Dale ran his fingers along Ellis’s sides. Ellis pressed his elbows against his sides as hard as he could, but Dale found the weak spots without any problem.
They were both breathless and laughing when Dale finally stopped, only after Ellis had cried out uncle twice.
“I admit this wasn’t what I expected when you invited me over.”
They were both on their backs on the bed, their heads turned so they could watch each other, their hands twined between them.
Dale arched a brow. “What were you expecting? To find me naked and waiting for you with a bottle of lube in hand?”
Ellis blushed. “Not exactly.”
“But that’s not far from what you thought.”
“I didn’t expect to find you naked, but yeah. More or less.”
“El, we haven’t even talked about having sex yet.”
“Do we have to do it now? It’s kind of….”
“Embarrassing, yeah. I get it, but I think we should get it out of the way as soon as possible, because while I might not be exactly ready to, uh, bottom for you, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do anything more than holding your hand.”
“You’ll bottom for me?” Ellis blurted out. That wasn’t what he had wanted to say, but it was out now, and he waited for Dale to answer without looking at him in the eyes.
“Yeah, I guess. I’ve never tried it, obviously, but I don’t expect you to do anything I haven’t at least tried once, so…. I’m not ready yet.”
“Me either. I mean, I’m not ready to bottom. Or to top. It’s scary.”
“Kinda.”
“But we can do other things.”
“As long as nothing gets inside anything for now, yeah.”
“Well, there was this thing I wanted to try.”
Dale’s eyes lit up with interest. “What was it?”
Ellis launched
himself on his boyfriend and buried his hands in Dale’s armpits. He wiggled his fingers, and Dale yelped and tried to wriggle away.
Ellis pressed himself on top of Dale, trying to block him from escaping the tickle war, but he froze when he felt the prominent erection poking his hip.
Dale mirrored him and stopped moving. His cheeks were flushed, and he was still smiling like a loon. How could Ellis resist?
He leaned down and kissed Dale, letting his legs slide to either side until he was straddling his boyfriend. Dale was breathless when Ellis finally let him go. “So, what are you up to?” Ellis arched a brow, and Dale laughed. “Okay, I didn’t actually do that on purpose, but I can work with it. What I meant is, what are you up to doing and not doing?”
Ellis swallowed and decided to take the initiative. He sat up and took his T-shirt off, letting it fall wherever. Dale’s eyes widened, but he gave Ellis a grin, so Ellis took it as a good sign and not as an oh-my-God-you’re-so-ugly reaction.
When Dale didn’t have any other reaction, Ellis started squirming nervously. What if his boyfriend didn’t like what he was seeing? Dale was used to breasts and curves, and Ellis was seriously lacking both. He was kind of skinny, actually, and he had freckles scattered over his chest and stomach.
He started looking around for his T-shirt, but Dale’s hands on his hips stopped him. “You’re beautiful.”
Ellis’s heart stuttered, and he tried to make the fact that he’d been self-conscious less obvious. “Girls are beautiful. Guys are handsome.”
“Well, you’re both.”
“But I can’t—”
Dale arched his back, and his erection pressed against Ellis’s ass, making him yelp.
“I don’t care what you can or can’t be. I just know I think you’re hot, and so does Little Dale.”
Ellis looked at Dale and laughed. “Little Dale? Seriously?”
“Yup. Now, are we going to make him happy or not?”
“Only if you make Little Ellis happy too.”
“I think I can do that.”
Dale wriggled around and took his T-shirt off, and Ellis couldn’t take his eyes away from the muscles Dale had uncovered. It made him feel self-conscious, but then Dale was kissing him again and every worry flew right out the window.
A Good Enough Reason Page 20