Tony's POV

I was squealing inside my head as he held my wrist! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I wish he was holding my hand, but oh well.

This day was starting off to be so fun! I had a chance to chill out with Mark without any distractions, until his other jerky friends came along. We were pretty lucky to live near the beach, or else, things would've gotten bad. I don't think they saw us, because if they did, they would've called Mark's name and followed us.

We arrived at his house. We weren't wearing any shoes, but our feet were covered in sand. His mom greeted us on the porch by telling us to dust off our feet. Once we cleaned them off by slapping our hands on them, she handed us some snacks and sent us off to Mark's room.

We went in his room and it was completely spotless and organized, thanks to his mom. He rolled his eyes at his clean room, put his surfboard in the corner, and sat on his bed.

I did the same and sat next to him. I accidentally placed my hand on top of his. Even though we were outside surfing most of the day, his hand was soft and warm. He looked down at my hand on top of his, gave a weird stare at my hand then at me. I quickly moved it out the way, blushed again and placed my hand on my knee. We sat in silence for a little while, hearing nothing but our breathing.

"What do you wanna do?" He asked, breaking the silence.

That's a good question, what should we do?

"Play video games?" I suggested.

He leaned back on his bed and looked at the ceiling, thinking about it.

"Like what?" He asked, still staring at the ceiling.

"COD Black Ops 3?"

He thought about it for a second before nodding his head. "Sure."

We set up the game, then once that was done, we started playing it in silence for a while. Of course, I sucked at this game while Mark zoomed through it with little to no problem. I pouted every time my character was shot, which was a hell of a lot.

Mark helped me get though the levels and I thanked him for it, but the whole time, he was playing with a straight face. It wasn't the neutral kind of straight face, but the straight face he makes when he was thinking about something. His eyes were narrow, eyebrows were low, and lips were shown no sign of a smile nor frown in them.

After an hour or so, we got bored and sat in silence again. The silence was driving me crazy! What has gotten into him? Why doesn't he wanna talk? I thought he likes to talk, in fact, we both do.

"You ok bro?" I asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He replied in a quiet and a tiny bit sad tone with the same face as before. I could tell he was lying a little.

I scooted closer to him and placed my hand over his again. He looked at it weirdly again, eyebrows knotted and all, but this time I ignored it and turned to him.

"You don't look like you're fine. I'm your best friend, you can tell me what's wrong." I reassured him.

He doesn't say anything for a while, as if he was thinking about how to say it correctly, then began with a sigh, "It's kind of sad how my friends don't like you, and I don't know why."

I sighed too. It was kind of sad how his friends don't get along with me, all because of a secret only his friends, my mom and I know about. It's even more sad because Mark doesn't know, and he's been my best friend since forever.

"Yeah, sorry about tha--"

"Do you have any idea why?" He interjected, making me jump a little.

"Y-yeah, I-I do know why." I said, stuttering and hesitating a little.

He looked into my eyes with his pretty brown ones and sat up a little with his hand still under mine.

"Then tell me why." He pleaded.

I want to tell him because he's my best friend and he should know. But then again, I'm kind of nervous to tell him because what if he doesn't like it and ends up hating me, just like the rest of his friends do?

I sighed, then began, "Your friends don't like me because I'm..." I trailed off. His eyes get wider, telling me to go on. I closed my eyes for a while, then opened them again. He still stared at me, patiently waiting for me to finish.

I took a quick breath then finished, "Your friends don't like me because I'm gay." He stared at me hard, speechlessly. "I'm gay as in... I like boys." I add.

He didn't say anything, which scared me. Hopefully he wasn't secretly plotting revenge or thinking about something worse than that. I let my head down and stared at the floor.

"Wow," he started off. I lifted my head up halfway. "That's stupid."

I froze. I didn't breath or blink, just absorbed what he said, 'That's stupid.'

"Ok then, your opinion is your opinion. I'm sorry." After I said that, I burst into tears. His body shot up.

"You ok? What's wrong?" He asked in concern.

"Nothing, it's stupid. I should probably go then." I began to stand up, with my eyes glued to the ground. And so does he.

"Why?"

What does he mean why? He told me that what I said was stupid, why shouldn't I leave?

"Well..." I started off hesitantly, slow, and stuttering like. "Y-you just said that..." It was getting hard for me to go on, I couldn't stop crying and sniffling. Then I took a deep breath, looked into his eyes and continued, "You just said that me being gay was stupid."

His eyes widened as he held his hand over his mouth. "Oh, no dude. I didn't say that was stupid because of that."

I tilted my head with a confused look on my face. "Then what did you mean?"

"I meant that it was stupid because my friends hate you because of the type of people you like. I really don't mind that you're gay."

All my life, there has been a huge weight on my shoulders, as if I've been carrying the entire Earth. Now that I told him my little secret, and he was ok with it, the weight is gone. The carrying is over.

I started to cry again, but this time, they were tears of joy, and I came over to Mark and gave him a big hug. He took a step backwards, a little surprised, but then he hugged me back. He's so warm and comforting, I want to hug him all day.

"I love you, Mark." I whispered into his neck without acknowledging what I just did and said.

He pushed me gently, and raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?" He asked.

I widened my eyes, thinking of a way to play it off and not admit what I told him. "I said thank you. Thanks for accepting me and not hating me."

He smiled his perfect, gorgeous smile, then said, "No problem, dude."

We stood here in awkward silence. Well the silence wasn't awkward to me, but maybe for him. We stared into each other's eyes, smiling, and holding each other's arms in comfort.

I am crazy for this boy. I want him to be mine, but sadly, he's obviously straight. I think he might even have a girlfriend... nah, if he did, he would've been told me. But yeah, he's straight. I'm kind of disappointed at that, but I'll have to accept him.

He made that face he usually makes when I've stared at him for a long time... again. It's an adorable face, but I think it sometimes makes him uncomfortable, which is probably why he makes that face. I let him go and cover up my face, giggling like a girl. When he heard me giggle, he laughed.

Then we flopped on his bed and continued laughing. His dad came in on us. "What are you guys laughing about?" He said smiling.

Mark sat up, cleared his throat, and stopped smiling. "Nothing, just a little surfer joke." He said in a deep, serious tone that I never heard him use.

"Oh ok then. Tony, don't forget, your mom wants you home at 8:00 tonight. And you can stay for dinner if you would like."

I was a little confused. One, my mom never cared about what time I came home, as long as it was before 1:00 am. And two, if she did care, why would she want me home so early? It's summer y'all, so 8:00 pm is early.

"Ok then." I told him. He held his thumb up, and left the room.

"What happened? You ok?" I asked Mark in concern.

"I almost forgot... my parents are homophobic." He explained, depressingly.

I slowly start to frown. "Oh no, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize."

"But, I'm gay and they're homophobic, which means we can't be friends anymore." I let my head down.

"That's not true, as long as they don't know, we're still cool."

I was relieved to hear that. "Yeah, you're right. So you're not homophobic?"

"Nope. Like I said, it's kinda stupid to hate someone for that. It's just as stupid as hating someone for the color of their skin, or for the country they are from."

"That is so true. This is why we're great best friends because we think alike." We both smiled at each other. "What do you want to eat?" I asked, patting my stomach.

He pats his stomach too. "I'm not sure really. What about you?"

"Umm... I don't know either, but I am hungry. Let's say what food comes into our mind at the same time."

He thought about it, then nodded. "Ok then. Ready?"

"Yeah. One... two... tacos!"

"Fried chicken." He said at the same time as I did. We both stared at each other, then laughed.

"Well, we almost have the same mind. They both have meat in it, and they're both delicious." I managed to say while laughing.

"True, but what could we have?" We both stared at the ceiling.

"What's your mom cooking?"

Mark sniffed the air. "I don't know, but I smell chicken!" Then he ran out the room, and went downstairs. I chase after him.

We ran in the kitchen, and saw that his mom was wrapping up something in a tortilla.

"Ha! We're having tacos!" I raised both of my fists in the air.

"Last time I checked, tacos don't smell like chicken." He stuck his tongue out. I wanted to grab his tongue with my teeth, and wrestle his tongue with mine, but one, his mom was right there, and two, he's just my best friend. My straight, smokin hot, sexy best friend.

"Well if the tacos want to smell like chicken, let 'em smell like chicken." That's when I stuck my tongue back at him.

His mom laughed. "That's where you're both wrong."

We stared at his mom with our eyebrows raised. "Huh?"

"We're not having chicken or tacos. We're having chicken fajitas!"

"Ooh yay! Chicken tacos!" I clapped.

Mark laughed. "Chicken tacos?"

"Well, that's what they basically are."

Mark and his mom nodded, then we got served chicken tacos. I bit into it, and it was so yummy! From the way the chicken was fried and seasoned with pepper to the salsa having a rich taste in vegetables, the taco made my tastebuds dance.

Mark also bit into it, closed his eyes, and made an "Mmm" sound. When he went "Mmm", I blushed, that sounded so adorable and sexy.

"Delicious, isn't it?" His mom asked.

I nodded, while Mark went "Mhm", which also sounded adorably sexy. I took another bite, then looked at the time on their stove. I immediately jumped.

"Oh shit, it's almost 8:00." I said with my mouth full.

"What? I can't understand you, you have food in your mouth." Mark told me, which was a little ironic because his mouth was full too.

"Boys," his mom's voice raised a little. "Please don't talk with your mouth full."

"Sorry." We both said with our mouths full, then we swallowed our food.

"I said that it's almost 8:00. I need to get home." I gathered my food. His mom also made a chicken taco for my mom, just in case she'd like one, so I wrapped that up too.

"Wow, time flew by fast! I'll walk you home." Mark suggested, gathering his food as well. I went in his room, grabbed my board, and walked to my house with him by my side.

A couple of seconds later, we arrived at my house. We live in the same neighborhood, so it doesn't take too long to get from each other's house. We went inside, Mark greeted my mom, I hugged him, then he left.

"How was it at his house?" Mom asked.

"It was good. Why did you want me home so early?"

"Well, y'see, I didn't feel like cooking, and I know that Sara was cooking, so I told her to wrap that up for me. Then you were taking fooooorever at Mark's house, and I got hungry, so--" She explained.

"Ugh! Mom! You made me choke down my food for nothing!" I interjected, rolling my eyes.

"No, not for nothing, because I got hungry. If you'd let me finish my sentence, you would've known that, you dumbass." Mom smacked the back of my head.

"Ouch mommy! That hurts!" I whined like a little child. I have a really cool mom who looks a little bit like me, long blonde hair, hazel eyes, little to no wrinkles on her skin... yet. We're usually mistaken for best friends, even for siblings.

"Deal with it, pain hurts." She bit into her chicken taco. "Ah, ah!" My mom screamed, fanning her mouth.

"Mommy, mommy! Are you ok??" I ran to her.

"This chicken fajita is delicious!"

"I know right! Could I have a piece?" I reached my hand out for it. Mom slapped it away.

"Uh uh, this is mine. You need to go to bed. Don't you have school in the morning?"

"No! It's summer break, we don't have school!"

"Well, don't you have somewhere to be tomorrow?"

"No not really. Just probably out to the beach with Mark--"

"That's a place you can go to."

"I don't have to wake up at 5 in the morning to go there, but I see that you want me to leave. Goodnight mommy, love you."

"You fool! Whatcha goin' to bed for? You don't have school or anywhere to be in the morning."

"What?!" My voice squeaked. "I thought you wanted me to leave--."

"What did you do all day?" My mom rudely interrupted. Yep, I have a crazy but cool mom.

"Well, like every morning, I go to the beach and surf with Mark--"

"After that?" My mom rolled her eyes. She knows that I do the same thing every morning. "Throw this plate away while you're at it."

I took her plate, and threw it away while saying, "We hung out in his room, played games, talked about stuff--"

"Like??"

"Mom, if you interrupt me one more time, I'll--"

"You'll do what??"

"I'll... I'll go to bed."

I know it was a pretty lame excuse, but at least it made my mom quiet for a while, then she pleaded, "No, I need my sweetie heart. But I want to know what you guys were talking about."

"Why do you have to be so nosy?"

"BECAUSE I'M YOUR MOTHER! Now tell me." She scooted her chair closer to me.

"Well... I um..."

My mom was looking at me with her wide hazel eyes, which distracted me. "Oh sorry honey, go on."

"I'm being serious mom." And so, she became serious too. "Mom, I... I told him that I'm gay."

Mom just stared at me, and put her hand over her mouth. "Oh wow, how did he react?"

"He's ok with it, he doesn't mind." I said with relief.

"Oh good. Well, I bet you're glad that you did that. I remember when you told me that you were gay at first, and as a supportive mother, I accepted you. Then you told me that you had a crush on Mark, but you were afraid that he wouldn't like you back, so you were crying in your room, thinking about that." My mom recalled, and laughed when she mentioned that I cried.

"Mommy! You're so cruel!" I whined. "I'm going to bed." I turned my heels and walked the other way. I sometimes forget that I don't have stairs in my house, like Mark does, so I almost ran into the wall, then she laughed even harder. I stuck my tongue out and went to my room.

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(2/25/2018) Re-edited, thanks to the wonderful members of The Marshmallow Book Club! I hope