Chapter Nine

 

        When Greg arrived at his house, he quickly went up the stairs and into his bedroom, closing the door behind him before falling onto the bed. He sighed as he thought about what had happened minutes ago. His fear took over him at the moment when he saw Zach leaning in for the kiss. Part of him was glad that he pulled away because it would save him from any trouble he might have again by getting into another relationship, but there was also a part of him that wished he would've allowed the taller male to kiss him.

        Another sigh left Greg's mouth as his gaze shifted towards the window. He started to think a little about the relationship he had with Kyle and the pain that it brought.

 

        It all started near the end of his Freshman year. He came out of the closet about half a month before the school year ended. His friends still accepted him regardless and they were still real good friends like they had been since middle school. Greg was happy about this, but not completely. He wanted to get a boyfriend, but he didn't know of any other gay guys that went to his school, or at least not until that particular day during lunch.

        “O-M-G, guess what I found out?!” Heather said excitedly as she sat down at the table.

        “What, you're not really a girl?” asked Andrew with a small smirk.

        Greg couldn't help but to laugh a little.

        “Shut it Andrew,” Heather murmured before looking at Greg. “And you too Greg.”

        “Just ignore them,” Sarah told her. “What did you find out?”

        “Well, I was sitting in Spanish –”

        “C'mon, just cut to the chase,” Andrew interrupted.

        “Shut it Andrew,” snapped Heather, glaring at him for a split second before looking back at Sarah. “Anyways, I was sitting in Spanish class when I overheard a few girls talking about someone being gay. And guess who it is!”

        “Jim Smith?” asked Greg.

        “No,” replied Heather.

        “Robby Williams?” inquired Sarah.

        “No,” said Heather while giving Sarah an odd look. “I don't even know who that is.”

        “Just tell us already,” Andrew said before Sarah had a chance to talk.

        Heather sighed and rolled her eyes while saying, “Fine.” A bit of the excitement she had before returned afterwards. “It's Kyle.”

        “Which one?” asked Greg.

        “Kyle Palmer,” answered Heather. “You know, the Sophomore with the blond hair.”

        “Really?” said Sarah.

        All four of them looked over towards a table a small distance away from theirs where Kyle sat by himself.

        “Yeah, that's what I heard them say,” replied Heather.

        “Maybe you should try talking to him,” Sarah suggested to Greg as she turned her head to look at him.

        “I don't know. . .” Greg said, unsure about it. “I might not be his type.”

        “C'mon, don't be such a wuss!” cried Heather.

        Greg didn't answer, but the unsureness of the idea still showed on his face. He looked over towards Kyle, who was getting up from his table and walking towards the part of the cafeteria where the food was bought. The brown-haired male had to admit that the Sophomore looked kind of cute. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try?

        “Alright, I'll do it,” Greg said.

        He stood up from the table and walked over to where Kyle was. When he got close though, the blond had turned around and bumped into him. Greg stumbled backwards a little.

        “Sorry,” Greg quickly apologized. “Guess I wasn't watching where I was going.”

        Kyle didn't answer right away, but instead quickly looked Greg up and down before smiling a little.

        “Don't worry about it,” he replied.

        “If you want, I could buy you those cookies for you as a way to make it up to you,” suggested Greg with a small smile.

        “Sure,” Kyle said without a moment of thought.

        “Alright,” Greg replied.

        After grabbing a couple sugar cookies, he walked with Kyle to the end of the line. He hadn't planned on something like this happening, but he definitely thought it probably couldn't have went any better.

        “Oh, I'm Greg by the way,” Greg introduced himself upon realizing the fact that he hadn't done that yet.

        “Kyle,” replied the Sophomore, giving a small smile.

        “Nice to meet you,” Greg said.

        The two started to talk until it was their turn to pay for their stuff. Afterwards, Greg invited Kyle to sit with him and his friends, and the blond accepted. At the table, all five of them talked and, as lunch progressed, Greg started to feel as though he was beginning to like Kyle.

        Since that day, Kyle started to sit with Greg and his friends during lunch and Greg's feelings for the Sophomore increased. He started to wonder if the other male felt the same way towards him, and it wasn't until a Friday when he found out. Kyle had asked him to meet him at the park after school. When Greg got there, he found Kyle sitting on a bench.

        “Hey,” he greeted.

        “Hey,” Kyle said back, smiling some as he stood up. “Wanna take a walk with me?”

        “Sure,” Greg replied.

        The two started to walk, but neither of them said anything right away.

        “So how's come you wanted to meet me here?” asked Greg curiously.

        Kyle shrugged. “Just wanted to hang out with you for a bit.”

        Greg nodded, though he wished that there was more of a reason to it than that. The two started to talk a little more, but about nothing in particular. It wasn't too long until they reached the cement bridge and they stopped there, leaning against the railing. Greg looked down at the stream, watching it for a little bit, before looking over towards Kyle to see him fidgeting a little.

        “Something wrong?” he asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

        “No,” said Kyle, looking at Greg for a moment before looking towards the ground.

        “You sure?” questioned Greg as he stepped closer to the Sophomore male.

        Kyle didn't answer, but instead looked down at the brown-haired boy, staring into his eyes. Greg stared back before feeling a hand caressing his cheek. Next thing he knew, his lips were locked with Kyle's. His eyes fluttered closed as he felt an arm wrap around his back, pulling him close to the taller male. The kiss felt like it lasted for hours on end when it only lasted for about ten seconds before Greg felt Kyle gently breaking the kiss. Greg reopened his eyes to look up at Kyle.

        “I love you,” Kyle told him, smiling.

        “I love you too,” Greg said, smiling back before wrapping his arms around Kyle and resting the side of his head against the blond's upper chest. He could faintly smell smoke on Kyle's shirt, but he didn't think anything of it as he felt the Sophomore return the hug.

        The two of them spent a little more time in the park before Greg's mother called him saying that it was time for dinner. Kyle walked Greg home and, when they reached his house, they kissed before parting ways. Greg felt like he was on top of the world.

        That feeling didn't really last for too long though. After that weekend, it all started to go downhill. It was Monday and the last period of the day had ended. Greg was at his locker, getting the things he needed in order to do his homework that night.

        “Hey Greg, did we have any homework in Biology?” asked a guy that had a locker next to him.

        “No,” said Greg as he erected his posture and shut his locker door.

        “You sure?” asked the guy. “'Cause I could've sworn she assigned some.”

        “She didn't,” replied Greg.

        “Okay, thanks,” said the guy as he turned back to his locker.

        “Mhm,” Greg hummed as he slung his backpack onto his back. He spotted Kyle just a ways away and walked over to him. “Hey,” he greeted his boyfriend upon reaching him.

        “Why were you talking to that guy?” questioned Kyle.

        A slightly puzzled look came onto Greg's face. “He was just asking what the homework was,” he answered, giving a small, reassuring smile.

        “That was all?”

        “Yeah.”

        “Alright, just making sure.”

        “You aren't jealous, are you?”

        “No. Why the hell would I be jealous?”

        “Just asking,” Greg replied with a small shrug.

        “Come on, let's go,” Kyle said.

        The brown-haired boy nodded before following Kyle out to his car. They drove to the park so they could spend a little time together like they had planned earlier that day. The two walked around hand-in-hand for a few minutes before sitting down on a bench. Both of them didn't say anything right away as Greg looked around the rather empty park. When he looked back at Kyle, he was a little surprised to see the Sophomore pulling out a packet of cigarettes.

        “What are you doing?” asked Greg, a hint of shock in his voice.

        “Just having a smoke,” answered Kyle as he pulled a cancer stick out of the packet along with a lighter. “Got a problem with it?”

        “Kind of,” murmured Greg, shifting a little on the bench.

        “Oh well,” replied the blond as he lit the cigarette. He was about to put the packet away before looking at Greg. “You want one?”

        “No, I'm fine.”

        “Why not?”

        Greg shrugged. “Just don't.”

        “C'mon, it's fun.”

        “No, it's okay. I don't want one.”

        “P***y,” murmured the Sophomore as he slipped the cigarettes back into his pocket.

        Greg didn't say anything as the acrid smell of cigarette smoke filled the air, which felt a lot like poison to the Freshman boy. A few seconds later, he felt the blond wrap an arm around his shoulder before placing a kiss on the side of his head.

        “I love you,” Kyle said.

        “I love you too,” Greg said back, but a bit half-heartedly.

        Their relationship continued to get worse though. Kyle had eventually isolated Greg from just about everyone and he even started to hit him too. Greg kept finding himself making excuses for these things, such as telling himself he deserves the small beatings he ended up getting even though deep down he knew that wasn't really the case. He also found out that Kyle drank alcohol a lot too, which made Greg a bit more repulsed by the Sophomore. However, he was never able to break up with him. He was too afraid of what the consequences would be for doing so.

        The two continued with their relationship and it eventually progressed into the middle of summer break. One day Greg had went over to Kyle's house to spend some time with him. Kyle's father was currently at work, so they had the entire house to themselves. The two decided to watch television in the small, messy living room for a while. Greg didn't really pay too much attention to what was happening on the show they were watching though, but instead mainly stared off into space.

        However, Greg snapped back into reality when he felt Kyle's hand caressing his cheek. The cold touch was practically bone-chilling to him, but he looked towards Kyle and forced a smile regardless. Kyle then leaned in and kissed Greg on the lips and the brown-haired boy forced himself to kiss back. A couple seconds later, he felt Kyle's tongue press up against his lips, asking for entrance. He permitted it to enter and he felt Kyle push him down onto the couch as the blond got on top of him.

        The two continued to French kiss, but it was soon broken when Greg felt Kyle trying to unbutton his pants. He abruptly broke the kiss before grabbing onto Kyle's wrists to stop him.

        “What are you doing?” questioned Greg.

        “Come on, you know you wanna do it,” Kyle said a bit seductively, which only sounded like venom to Greg's ears.

        “No, not really,” Greg replied.

        “But you love me don't you?” asked Kyle as he caressed Greg's cheek a little.

        Greg didn't answer. Part of him wanted to yell at Kyle about how much he loathed him, but the other part of him wanted to say yes because he was sure of the consequences that would ensue if he did try to tell the truth. Kyle stared at Greg and the anger slowly started to show on his face as the smile he had worn faded away.

        “Answer me!” Kyle yelled. “Do you love me?”

        “Y-yeah, I do,” Greg replied weakly.

        “Say it like you mean it d****t!” Kyle snapped as he smacked the younger male.

        “Yeah, I do!” Greg practically shouted, the fear prominent in his voice.

        “There, that's better,” Kyle said calmly as he gave a small smile before kissing Greg on the lips, caressing his cheek some more. “Now, if you love me, you shouldn't have any problem with doing it with me.”

        “I don't know. . .” Greg said, unsure of it.

        “Come on, it will be fun. I promise.” Kyle's facial expressions then became a little more meaner. “Unless, of course, you don't really love me anymore. I hope that's not the case,” he said sternly.

        Greg didn't try to protest anymore. When they had finished, Kyle told him to leave and Greg did just that. He felt completely dirty for doing that, especially with someone he didn't even love.

        Later that night, while Greg was laying in his bed, which he had spent most of his time doing whenever he was at home, he received a text message from Kyle saying that he wanted to break up. Even though he held a hatred towards Kyle, it still kind of hurt him after what they had did earlier that day. It made him feel completely used and violated. It made him feel like a rag doll that someone just got tired of and decided to toss to the side.

 

        Greg let out another sigh as he started to drift back into reality. He had spent the rest of that summer trying to get over everything that he had been through. It worked for the most part, but the fear of being abused in another relationship lingered. He wanted to let go of that fear though. He wanted to try again, but with someone else—particularly Zach. His fear wouldn't let him though. It constricted him like a boa, holding him back and preventing him from making any movement forward.

        Not only that, but the way the event had been played out didn't really help Greg much either. It resembled way too much of what Kyle did when they fell in love. It completely scared him when he realized it because during that second when it happened, all the things Kyle did to him played through his head.

        Greg sighed once more, hoping that Zach didn't take his reaction too harshly. He knew he would probably have to explain to Zach why he reacted that way and he hoped that the Junior would be able to understand.

Author's Note

Now that I've written this chapter, I'm not too sure if I've portrayed Greg accurately enough, so I want to know what everyone else thinks about it. Also, are the parts in this chapter believable?

Reviews

It's believable to me. But it confirms why Zach thinks Kyle's so bad. So, pretty much, Kyle forced himself onto Greg and Greg's too scared to tell his friends for fear of them not believing him or Kyle going into the extreme.

But I'm trying to figure out why Kyle's so mad when he's the one that wanted to break up with Greg.

So yes, this is very accurate and realistic too. It just goes to show that domestic abuse doesn't occur in heterosexual relationships. It can happen between two males. Can't expect all guys to be fighters.

This was powerful, and I hope that Greg opens up to someone. Otherwise, the abuse he suffered at Kyle's hands (and Kyle still wants to subject him to) is going to have an unhealthy effect on him. Keep up the good work.

[Drake Parker]

Wow! I really like it!!