Mason Maloney

Saturday morning at the bakery was busy. Luckily, Sam had arranged for Sandy to take his shift even though she would also be working in the afternoon. I didn't understand why she would work a double shift in exchange for some lousy dinner, but I didn't ask. Soon enough my shift was over and I was able to leave Sandy and her constant bragging about her date with Sam.

I lied on my bed, holding Pride and Prejudice above my head, completely immersed in the novel. I had already read it plenty of times, but I still couldn't get enough of it. I was so taken my the book that I didn't even realize someone had come into my room unannounced.

"Mason, get up," Bella demanded, ripping the book from my grasp and tossing it aside on the floor.

"What do you want?" I asked her, realizing Pete and Ross had walked in behind her.

"We're going out," she answered blandly.

"Where?" I asked, looking over at Ross. He just shrugged.

"We haven't thought that far ahead," Pete said with a solemn expression.

I heaved myself off of my bed, grabbing my book and placing it neatly on my bedside table. I stretched my arms high above my head, causing my taut back to crack refreshingly. I nodded toward the door and led my friends out of my room and down the stairs. Once we were outside, we made our way into Ross's car where Pete took the front seat.

"We should go to the mall," Bella suggested. "I need clothes."

"No," was Pete's instant reply. "I can barely tolerate you when you aren't shopping, it's worse when you are."

Bella instantly scowled at his words and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm going to have to agree with Pete," Ross said with a tight-lipped smile. "We aren't going to the mall."

Bella looked to as to get my opinion. I just shrugged, not wanting to get into it with her. Ever since I had found out about her and Sam, it was hard for me to interact with her. Nothing felt the same and it was even worse now that something had gone on with Sam and me. It almost felt like we were in some type of love triangle that she knew nothing about. Though, I knew that wasn't the case. Whatever it was between Sam and me was just based on physical attraction. I doubted he even wanted to do anything more with me than we had already done.

"We can go to the trampoline park," Pete suggested. "I need to get some energy out."

"You always need to get energy out," Bella retorted, rolling her eyes.

Without much more discussion, we decided to go along with Pete's suggestion. He was more than happy that we agreed and started doing a little dance in his seat, swaying side to side. I just laughed at my friend and shook my head fondly.

The park wasn't too far out of town and we were there in no time. Pete excitedly exited the car, barely waiting for Ross to park it.

"Pete!" Ross exclaimed in a chastising tone. "We talked about that! Do not open the door when the car is moving."

Pete just waved him off as he continued walking toward the building, the rest of us following him. Ross scoffed and sped up to reach him, slapping a hand on his shoulder when he did. I tried speeding up too so that I wouldn't have to be alone with Bella, but she decided to spark up a conversation with me.

"You would have rather gone shopping, right?" she asked with a light smile.

"Sure," I told her calmly, happy that she kept the conversation light. "Whatever you say."

Bella giggled and shoved my shoulder, causing me to stumble slightly. "Don't be a jerk like Pete."

I held my hands up in front of me in mock surrender. "Alright, alright."

The two of us eventually caught up to Pete and Ross who were already inside buying tickets.

"We're doing dodge-ball dudes, be ready," Pete announced with a teasing smirk on his face.

Bella raised her eyebrows. "You're going down, Pete."

While the two of them argued about who was the better dodge-ball player, I stepped ahead of them to buy my own ticket and then stood off to the side with Ross. The two of us stood side by side, watching Bella and Pete argue.

"Should we force them onto the same team?" Ross joked, nudging my shoulder.

I let out a laugh which caught the other two's attention. I shook my head, looking over at Ross for a moment before motioning them to follow me toward the trampolines. Since we were doing dodge-ball, we had to wait for a new game to start so we took our shoes off and put on the socks given to us before heading toward the side trampolines to warm up.

Pete instantly started jumping and doing flips as soon as his feet hit the trampoline. He wasn't kidding when he said he needed to let out some energy. Ross started jumping with Pete and the two of them began to shove each other around while Bella and I jumped lightly on the sides, staying away from them.

Bella rolled her eyes as she watched our two friends wrestle each other. "They're like twelve years old."

I let out a laugh and nodded along in agreement. "Pete definitely brings that out in Ross."

Bella hummed in agreement and grabbed my hand, pulling me along as we jumped around, steering clear of our two friends.

Eventually we were able to get in on a dodge-ball game, much to Pete's delight. Ross and Pete joined one team while Bella and I joined another. When the game started, Pete immediately whipped the ball over at us, trying to hit Bella. She let out a shriek as she jumped away from the ball before picking it up and lobbing it back onto Pete's side.

"Not so hard, Peter!" Bella chastised with her hands on her hips.

He looked slightly apologetic but still had a playful gleam in his eye as he threw the ball over at Bella, softer this time. She picked up a ball that rolled by her feet and handed it to me. I spotted Ross who was bending down to pick up a ball and threw mine directly at him. The ball smacked him in the head as he stood up, causing him to stagger backwards. He scowled and pointed at me.

"That doesn't count, it was a head shot!" Ross yelled, throwing his ball at me. I easily dodged it with a sardonic smirk.

I was so busy looking at Ross, I hadn't seen Pete aim at me. It was too late by the time I noticed the ball hurdling toward me speedily. I tried to move out of the way, but I wasn't fast enough as the ball grazed my shoulder. I groaned in defeat, throwing my head back.

Pete got down on his knees, shaking his hands uncontrollably as he cheered triumphantly. I shook my head in defeat and plopped down on the side, watching the rest of the game.

***

"Can I have a bite of that?" Pete asked, peering over my shoulder to look into my cup of frozen yogurt.

After leaving the trampoline park, Bella suggested that we got out for frozen yogurt. Pete quickly agreed and we were on our way. Pete had tried to get Bella and me to pay since him and Ross had won at dodge-ball, but he quickly shut up when Bella gave him a look that could kill. I sighed before handing Pete my cup so that he could taste my frozen yogurt.

"Just feed it to me," he said, opening his mouth expectantly. I glared at him but complied anyway, taking some yogurt on my spoon and shoving it into his mouth.

"That's good," he told me with his mouth still filled. "What flavor is that?"

"Strawberry cheesecake," I answered blandly, taking a bite for myself. Pete hummed happily before going back to his own food.

"We should go out like this more often," Bella spoke up, placing her cup down on the table. I nodded in agreement along with Ross.

"We should do a movie night tonight, but with a theme," Pete answered excitedly.

"What would the theme be?" Bella asked.

"Like a certain genre," Pete replied.

"Horror," I suggested and Pete automatically nodded along.

"Yes!" he agreed excitedly.

"No!" Bella protested. "I hate scary movies!"

"You're out-voted three to one," Ross pointed out to which Bella just crossed her arms and huffed.

"It'll be your faults if I have nightmares," she said, placing blame on us. Pete rolled his eyes.

"You'll be fine," he started. "Don't be such a baby."

Bella glared at him before picking up her spoon and flicking some of her yogurt at him, hitting his face dead on.

"You're lucky I'm a nice guy," he said, the yogurt dripping down his face.

"You are?" she replied mockingly. Before he could throw any of his food at her, I took his cup away from him and shielded it from is grasp.

"Not in public, please," I pleaded, giving them each a stern look.

"I'm just saying since we didn't do what I wanted to do today, I should get to pick the movie genre," Bella argued persuasively, trying to make herself look innocent so we would agree.

Pete pouted, crossing his arms. "Fine."

Bella let out an excited shriek and clapped her hands together, blowing Pete a mocking kiss.

"She's going to pick chick flicks," Ross told him with raised eyebrows.

Pete groaned. "I know!"

"Let's be honest," I started. "She would have been screaming through the whole movie if we watched horror."

"You're damn right!" Bella agreed with a laugh. "And you guys have a soft spot for rom-coms, don't even act like you don't."

She was right, but I wouldn't admit that out loud and neither would Ross or Pete.

While conversation continued about whether or not Pete enjoyed a good romantic comedy, I pulled my phone from my pocket to check it. There was nothing. I sighed in disappointment. For some reason, I had expected Sam to text me today. Even though nothing else had happened between us since our first few kisses, I was hoping he would get in touch with me today. The two of us hadn't talked about much since our make out sessions. Sam was still arrogant and flirty while I felt like I was tripping over words with him, but nothing we said lately had any value.

After checking my phone at least five more times and receiving nothing, the four of us left the frozen yogurt shop and headed to Bella's house where she had all of her movies. She spoke happily about the movies she wanted to watch, but I paid her no mind as I stared out the window, watching as we drove by the colorful trees.

Bella excitedly leaped out of the car when Ross parked it outside of her house. The three of us followed her sullenly as we knew we would have to endure at least three hours of romance movies picked out by Bella.

We settled in her living room once we were inside while Bella was presumably up in her room gathering movies. I checked my phone once again, but there was still no text from Sam.

"Okay!" Bella said, clapping her hands together and grabbing our attention as she descended the stairs.

"What are you making us watch?" Pete asked, spreading out on the couch where Bella sat beside him.

She looked at him excitedly before holding up two movie cases. "We are watching Love, Simon and Bridesmaids!"

Bella's smile was so wide it took up her whole face while Pete, Ross, and I gave her blank stares. Pete grabbed one of the movie cases and examined the front and back of it. After looking at the case, he glanced up at Bella with a raised eyebrow.

"You're making us watch a gay movie?" he asked slowly.

My breath hitched in my throat and I felt as if the room had grown hotter within the last few seconds. I looked to see the reactions of my friends, but none of them seemed to notice my sudden tense posture.

"It's a good movie," Bella defended, getting up to put it in the DVD player. "You'll like it."

"Not that I have anything against gay people," Pete started and I almost rolled my eyes. "But why would we want to watch this when none of us are gay?"

While I was still questioning my own sexuality, I found myself tensing even more at his words. It was like I had some dirty little secret that I was ashamed to tell my friends. I guess I did. It wasn't like I necessarily wanted them to know that I made out with Sam.

Ross scoffed and crossed his arms, leaning back into his chair. "Watching a gay movie won't make you gay, Pete. Get over it."

I silently praised Ross and let myself loosen up.

"Thank you!" Bella said appreciatively, sitting back down next to Pete as the movie started playing.

In the opening scenes of the movie, Bella excitedly squirmed in her seat and even let out a squeal when the main character was on the screen.

"Nick Robinson is so cute!" she exclaimed happily, not taking her eyes off the screen.

Pete have her a deadpanned look. "He's gay."

Bella smacked his shoulder. "His character is gay, he's not."

"Even if he was gay, she could still find him attractive, asshole," I added argumentatively, yet still feeling nervous as I said it.

Ross nodded along in agreement while Pete held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm just saying!" he said loudly. "Stop making me out to be some homophobic asshole."

"Then stop acting like one!" Ross replied quickly, reclining further in his chair.

I chuckled quietly at Ross's response while Pete just shook his head, clearly annoyed. I found myself quite enthralled with the movie as it went on. Part of me related to Simon in a way and the other part envied him. At least he knew who he was and how he identified. I still had no clue.

I checked my phone again, but it was still left void of any messages. It took all of my shriveling confidence to find it in me to text first. I angled my phone away from my friends so that I would be the only one who could see my screen. After typing out my message, I let my thumb hover over the send button as if debating whether I should actually go through with this. It wasn't actually a big deal, but since it was Sam it felt like it was.

Hey.

The message sent.

I ended the night without a response.

**

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