October 5th, 2015

Chad and I sat on the sofa in my room, aimlessly trying to defeat each other in this intense video game. But as always I win again- by this point it was lame. Chad was crap but he still begged to play in the hopes he'd win. I was tempted to let him win once but knowing his ego he would never let it go, so no.

"I don't know how, but you're a cheating man, I know it." He exclaims in disbelief.

"You're one sore loser. Just face it I'm better than you!"

"Yeah right, I'm the brains here"

"Sure you are....."

"What are you morons arguing about this time?" Lexi says strolling into my room. Hers was the one right next to mine and it was annoying because she could hear everything that happened in here through the thin walls.

"None of your business " I mumbled.

"Hey, silva has arrived!" Chad says excitedly, looking out the window.

"Damian's not coming, he said he had plans," I respond bored

"Uh, isn't that his car outside?" Chad says pointing out the window

I peer through the window, he was correct that was Silva sleek, black mustang and that was him climbing out. But he was parked on the opposite side of the street, not on my driveway as usual. Then instead of heading for my door he headed for-

"What the fuck is he doing going to Kate's!" Lexi shrieks.

"I don't know!" I say defensively, but I too, am curious. Then as if on cue Kate opens the door smirking at Damian. She looked gorgeous, as always, in a pair of skinnies and a plaid shirt- casual but cool.

"What the fuck are they talking about?" Lexi shrieks again. "He looks so Goddamn nervous!" It was true, he did look nervous. He also looked like he had put an effort into his appearance. Dressing up more than His usual casual and comfort first self. Kate just looked amused, eating up the awkwardness and very obviously eyeing Silva up and down. A streak of jealousy sparked from inside me.

"Someone please explain to me what's going on?" Chad asks his tone confused and laced with a tinge of hurt.

"I-I don't know" I respond utterly confused. Kate then takes a step to the side and another figure emerged.

"Well if it isn't Noah" Chad draws out, annoyed.

"Okay, I get that Noah would be at his girlfriend's on a Friday. But what the fuck is Damian doing there!" Lexi shrieks even louder this time as if by getting louder would make the answer appear faster.

Suddenly Kate is shutting the door and Noah and Damian are leaving her house. Then Silva does the most uncharacteristic thing possible he opens the door for Noah and helps him in.

"What is the boy retarded? Can't open a door himself" Chad scoffs.

"I don't think it's because he can't open a door, Them," Lexi says as we watch them drive away. Then she plops herself on my couch muttering incoherent words to herself as she makes sense of everything.

"Do you understand what just happened?" I ask confused.

"What if Noah and Kate weren't dating?" She asks me finally looking back at me. "What does that look like to you. Between Noah and Silva?" She says raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, them going for a drive" she laughs.

"No stupid, the way they were acting. It was as if it were a date. They dressed up smarter than normal. The time he picked him up. The way he attempted to be a gentleman. All of it. It's as if it's a date" she says as if having a yereeka moment. "All bless him, he's finally got his shot," she says smilingly happily. "Noah better not hurt him or I'll Kill him! You boys better help me kill him, okay?"

"What do you mean got his shot?" Chad demands.

"Silva has been crushing on Noah ever since he moved here and now he finally has a shot to make it happen" Lexi squeals happily.

"Silva isn't a faggot!" Chad yells.

"No he isn't" I agree.

"No he isn't- he's gay- so there isn't any need to be vulgar about it" Lexi states matter of factly.

"But Kate and Noah are dating!" I say.

"They've been seen kissing around school and we saw them go into her house to have sex. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're dating. I mean neither of them have confirmed it. Think how many girls you've been with that you haven't dated"

"You have a point," I say feeling a sudden ember of hope rise within me.

"So they're friends with benefits?" Chad asks

"exactly!" Lexi squeals

"But that doesn't mean silva and Noah are dating." I state still not getting how Damian could be gay- he's the captain of our basketball team, for crying out loud!

"Nope, but it leads open the opportunity for them to. Ooh, I can't wait to get all the details about it tomorrow" she squeals

"I don't believe you!" Chad states like a stubborn child

"Fine don't, just ask Alec"

"Why does this have to do with Alec?"

"Oh come on, he's the only person Damian ever opens up to. So he knows everything about silva and what's going on." Lexi says matter of factly.

"Fine let's go see what Alec says, he'll clear up this mess," Chad says still infuriated at the idea that Damian could be gay.

So now we are all in my escalade driving the ten minutes to Alec's house. "For all we know he's out enjoying his Friday," I say. Alec Martinez, was a smart and nice member of our team. He was a senior and always someone we could look up to. After all the shit Damian went through Alec took him under his wing and helped him. I've always been a bit jealous at how Silva always went to him for help when I was supposed to be his best friend.

"Oh, come on Alec is a good boy. He won't be getting into anything fun" Chad says relieved that momentarily we would have everything explained.

We pulled up at his suburban home. It was your standard two story house, with green shutters and a matching green door. The white picket fence, just eluded to the stereotypical atmosphere of this entire neighbourhood. However, Alec wasn't from your stereotypical nuclear family. He was the third oldest out of seven siblings from a very traditional Hispanic family. They were a lively bunch, who were always so inviting. But they also could be very intimidating as they were so friendly.

We hopped out to be greeted by two of Alec's younger siblings Cara and Avan. It was a weird trait in their family. All the males first names began with an 'A' after their dad: Adam and all the females names began with a 'C' after their mum, Charlene. It was quite cute, so different from our family where it was a miracle if our parents remembered our names and there was only two of us. "Hey guys is Alec home?" I ask, smiling at their cute round faces.

"Yup, he's inside doing the dishes. We just finished dinner" Cara chimed innocently. I turn and glare at Lexi and Chad- we were so intruding. "Do you want to come in?" She ask as she begins to lead us through their front door. The house was messy and flamboyant as ever. It was great! Such a change from the sterile and pristine of my house. "Alec, you've got visitors," Avan says excitedly tugging at his big brothers trouser leg.

"Who? I wasn't expecting anyone. If it's Silva, cause he already screwed up his date in like five minutes. Tell him I'm not helping him." He says turning around slowly.

"I told you they were on a date!" Lexi squeals again in excitement.

"Lexi...Chad...Jaxon... Not to be rude, but what are you guys doing here?" He says as he looks from each of us in turn. Yeah, we don't come here that often and when we do it's always with Damian. This, I think is our first time any of us have been here without him.

"We need you to clear up something for us" I explain.

"Which is?..." He asks getting impatient. We definitely should have called first.

"It's about Noah and Silva," Chad says in effort to be helpful.

"Oh..." Alec says avoiding our gaze. Then he turns to Cara" tell madre, I will finish the dishes later, I have to sort something out first" he says then indicates to us to follow. We follow him up the stairs to his room, which he shares with Aiden who is a freshman at our school.

"What do you want to know. Bear in mind I don't know what Damian wants me to tell you and what he doesn't" he says taking a seat on his desk chair. We all climb onto his twin bed, which was awkward for two over six foot guys and a fully developed teenage girl.

"Are they dating?" Chad burst out, that's one way to go-straight and blunt.

"Define your definition of dating," Alec says avoiding the question. This only spiked my curiosity.

"In the kitchen you said something about not helping Damian if he screwed up his date already. Who was he going on a date with?" I question

"Why don't you ask Damian about this tomorrow?" Alec offers.

"Because we want to know if he's gay!" Chad cries out.

"And what if he is?"Alec glares at us.

"Then it means I was right all along" Lexi sings.

"Is that all you care about- if you guessed it right?"Alec questions, raising an eyebrow.

"I just want to know what my best friends going through so I can there for him," I say finally being honest.

"Being patient with him is how you can be there for him?" Alec says to me sympathetically.

"It's not fair, he tells you everything yet claims I'm his best friend" I whine. Okay, yes I do know I sound like a three year old, but I can't help it. I want us to go back to how we were, before Damian's dad died all those years ago. But that never happened.

"You are his best friend," Alec says softly to me, as if I am an errant child.

"For all I know Noah is his new best friend" I retort stubbornly.

"Trust me, friendship is not the relationship Silva is after with Noah," Alec says rolling his eyes.

"So they are dating, is that the type of relationship he wants with Noah then?" I ask, calling him out.

"You aren't going to leave me alone until I answer this are you?" He asks

"Nope," all three of us say in unison.

"Urgh, fine Silver and Noah are on a date right now"

"His names not Silver it's Silva," Chad says defending him. Alec chuckles.

"Dude I know. Silver is what Noah calls him- something to do with his eyes glowing silver when he's happy or something. Silva goes on and on about how cute it is when Noah calls him Silver that I guess I've got use to it"

"Awww, Noah has his own nickname for him" Lexi cooes.

"It's not cute, it's stupid" Chad spits out.

"Dude what's your problem?" I ask getting annoyed with Chad continuous angst. I never took him as a homophobe, I mean, yes it's a bit of a shock, I never thought of Silva or Silver or whatever he wants to be called, as gay, but he can't help it, can he. So we all are just going to have to get used to it.

"Nothing" Chad grumbles.

"Just don't say anything to him about it, he'll tell you when he's ready to. It's all quite new for him too. But he really does like Noah, like a lot, so fingers crossed it works out." Alec continues ignoring Chad completely.

"Okay, I promise to keep my lips sealed, just tell me this" Lexi says sitting forward on the bed.

"And what is that?" Alec asks skeptically.

"Have they kissed?" suddenly all three of us are looking at Alec, anticipating his answer. He remains silent, but the color spreading in his cheeks is answer enough.

"I can't believe it!" Chad exclaims for about the hundredth time on the drive back to my house.

"We get it! You don't believe it. But it doesn't change anything. He's still our Damian, who cares who he dates." I say getting irritated with Chads constant insensitivity to Silva.

"Who cares? Who cares? Are you seriously asking me that? God cares! That's who!" He shouts. I pull up into my driveway and turn around.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I scream "you can't seriously say you think of silva differently because of this new piece of information?"

"How can I not!" Chad yells back.

"Get out my car," I say calmly, pointing towards his door.

"What?" He asks stupidly.

"I said get out of my car!" I shriek and he quickly does. I scramble out of my seat and come around to his side.

"Now what?" he asks irritated. Oh he's mad at me, I'm not the homophobe here.

"Here's what!" I say, hitting him square in the jaw. He's so unprepared he stumbles back losing his balance and falls down.

"Wow, Jaxon I didn't think you had it in you" Lexi chuckles from my side.

"I can't believe you're okay with this, with him!" Chad spits as he stumbles to his feet. Lexi rolls her eyes, then knees him in the groin. He then begins to topple forwards as he does so Lexi menacingly whispers in his ear:" you don't know how long I have wanted to do that"

She kicks him once again, once he's fallen to the floor, then tells him to get off of our property. She turns to head into our house.

"You coming brother?" she asks politely, completely ignoring the pained groans coming from Chad. I take one last look at him, but I realise he must be the reason Damian doesn't want to come out. He's scared of people treating him differently. No wonder he didn't want to tell me, he doesn't want to lose me. It makes me sad and pissed to think people care so much about sexuality, so I turn on my heal.

"Yes, I'm coming Lexi. What do you want for dinner? I'm thinking Chinese."