It was during the spring of his freshman year that Bobby finally decided to end things with Marci. He liked her enough, but he knew that once school was out there would be a lot more opportunity for the two of them to be together. This would mean that he’d again have to do more than just kiss her. He tried to rationalize it all, telling himself that maybe she just wasn’t the right girl for him. She just didn’t do it for him, probably because she was so inexperienced herself. She also was a religious kid, and he was really over that whole scene. He was sick of the youth group and the roller skating. It all was so lame, and really not his style.

 

He had a couple buds that he hung out with in school, and they were cool. Both were stoners, and they always had a hook up with weed. Bobby was careful not to ever bring pot home with him again, but he got high whenever he got the chance with his buds Steve and Mike. The three of them had a class together, Freshman Geography, and they always sat together in the back of the room. That other kid Shawn was in the same class, but they never really talked to one another.

 

One day that spring as the bell was ringing, Bobby and his pals stood up and headed down the aisle to make their typically quick exit. It was the last class of the day, and they were hell-bent on getting outta there. Just as Steve passed by Shawn’s desk, the kid stood up, not seeing him. Steve bumped right into him. “Hey, watch what the fuck yer doin, faggot!” he said.

 

Shawn immediately fell back down in his seat. “Oh sorry,” he said, “I didn’t see you.” Mike was standing behind his friend and laughed.

 

“Shut up,” Steve said, and then stormed away. Shawn sat there quietly, feeling his face turn beet red.

 

Bobby observed the whole confrontation and was waiting for Shawn as he stepped into the hall. “Hey,” he said, “I saw what happened in there. You all right?”

 

Shawn looked down at the floor and shrugged. “Yeah, whatta ya mean?”

 

“I heard what my friend called you. I’m sorry bout it man. Why do you take shit like that from people?”

 

“Uh, um, I dunno. What am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can fight him or something…”

 

“Well I’m gonna talk to him. I don’t want him pickin on ya. He doesn’t need to be callin you names n shit. That shit’s not cool.”

 

Shawn smiled and looked into his friend’s eyes. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m… um… surprised.”

 

Shawn was standing against the wall, and Bobby leaned into him, placing his hand above the kids head flat against the wall. “Why are you surprised?” he asked, lowering his voice as he did so. Shawn felt his heart start to race, what with this guy moving in so closely to him.

 

“Um, well… I guess I just didn’t expect a guy like you to stick up for me. That’s all.”

 

“I thought we were friends,” said Bobby. “Are you pissed I broke up with Marci?”

 

Shawn shook his head slightly. “I didn’t… um… well I feel bad for her and stuff. She’ll be okay though. No, I’m not angry with you. I think she knew it was gonna happen anyway.”

 

Bobby scowled at Shawn for a moment. “She did?”

 

Shawn nodded and tried to look down, but Bobby was standing too close to him. He looked him in the eye again. “Yeah, she didn’t really think you liked her all that much, not after awhile anyway.”

 

“Can you do me a favor?” Bobby asked, and Shawn immediately nodded. “Tell Marci it’s not true. I like her just fine. She’s cool. I’m just not ready for somethin that serious.” He paused briefly. “Ya know what I mean?” Shawn again nodded. “So what’re ya doin now? You gotta get on yer bus?”

 

Shawn shook his head. He was feeling more nervous by the second. His heart was beating real fast again, and he felt like he was about to slither right down the wall onto the floor. “No…um… I walk. I live in town. What about you?”

 

“Yeah, I gotta get on the bus. Unless you wanna hang out together or somethin. I can get a ride home later.”

 

Shawn knew he had to work at the store at five, just two hours from then, but he didn’t want to send his friend away, not after he’d defended him and all. “I gotta work tonight. I’m sorry. Maybe… another time?”

 

Bobby shrugged and stepped back a bit, removing his hand from the wall. “Sure, that’s cool. Where do you work anyway?”

 

“Country Star.”

 

“The store or the restaurant?” Bobby asked. Oddly enough the supermarket chain also owned and operated restaurants.

 

“Store,” said Shawn. “I’m a bagger.”

 

Bobby laughed, and Shawn looked at him puzzled, wondering what was so funny. “You gotta wear a uniform?” he asked.

 

Shawn smiled, feeling just slightly embarrassed. “Not really. Just a special shirt. It’s a solid color polo shirt. It’s not bad.”

 

“You always dress preppy anyway. Do you even own a pair of jeans?” Bobby asked.

 

“Um… yeah, sure.” He couldn’t believe Bobby had noticed the way he dressed. He couldn’t believe Bobby had noticed anything about him actually. “Yeah, I own a couple pair.”

 

“That’s practically all I own,” he said.

 

Shawn was still smiling. “Well… you own khakis too. That’s what you wear to church.”

 

“Dude, that’s dressin up for me.” Bobby laughed. “Ya know, you should loosen up a little bit. You always seem so nervous all the time. Do I make you nervous?” He was toying with him, seeing what the kid would do. He saw the little guy’s face start to redden.

 

“No… why do you think that?” Shawn’s voice was about an octave higher than normal.

 

“I dunno. My bad. Guess it’s just me. You seem nervous to me is all. I hope I don’t make you nervous though. Like I said, I thought we were friends.”

 

“Oh we are!” Shawn assured him. “Or I mean I hope we are. I…um…I like you. I wanna be your friend.”

 

“Good,” said Bobby, flashing his crooked smile. “I can use more friends, especially ones like you. You seem like a cool guy.”

 

“Thanks,” said Shawn. “Thanks for sayin that.”

 

“It’s true,” said Bobby, “trust me.” Before he turned to walk away, Bobby added one more comment. “If you aren’t workin tomorrow after school, let’s hang together? All right?” Shawn nodded silently.

 

He was pretty sure at that point that he’d have trusted anything that Bobby said, and as he watched his new friend walk away, he smiled again as the bad boy cockily raised both arms in the air and pumped his fists upward, once again affording Shawn a perfect view of that ass.

 

**********

 

Bobby didn’t realize that he was smiling for most of his bus ride home. This was actually very unusual for two reasons. Firstly, he hated riding the bus. It was just so un-cool, and if he ever had an opportunity to avoid the bus ride he’d do so in a heartbeat. Had he not lived out in the country, he certainly would have walked to school rather than subject himself to that kind of humiliation. The second reason that it was unusual for Bobby to be smiling this way was because he rarely broke out into a full smile. He smirked, sort of half-smiled. One might call it a crooked smile, where one side of his mouth would be raised slightly, just enough to acknowledge assent or approval.

 

But something had really made Bobby happy, and he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He just liked the way that Shawn kid looked at him. It seemed to Bobby like that boy had a thing for him. It was weird, really, because when that kid Eddie liked him, Bobby wanted to bash his face in. Shawn was different, though. He wasn’t at all like Eddie. He wasn’t overly girlish and effeminate. He didn’t swish when he walked and go around snapping his fingers and calling everyone “girlfriend”. And he definitely wasn’t loud, obnoxious, and in-your-face.

 

Shawn was bashful, and he had those big brown eyes that always seemed to be staring at Bobby like a puppy dog. His short, conservative haircut was just a little messy, and it made the kid look sort of nerdy but in a rather cute way. His gestures were soft and deliberate, almost like a girl’s, but not exactly feminine. Did that even make sense? He was about four inches shorter than Bobby, and very slender. His diminutive features reminded Bobby of one of those Precious Moments figures that Diane collected.

 

And he made Bobby smile. He made him just a little bit excited, in a way that Bobby couldn’t exactly explain. It was very peculiar, a feeling unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Bobby didn’t even make a mental connection that the attraction he had towards this boy may in any way be sexual. Those teenage hormones that seemed to be kicking in at all the wrong times, didn’t make an appearance yet, not when he thought of Shawn. It was so much different than that. It was something so much simpler, at least in Bobby’s mind. He liked the kid, and he was very excited by the possibility that they may become friends.

 

All of this was so very uncharacteristic of fifteen-year-old Bobby. He’d never had a friend like Shawn before, nor had he ever wanted to. His buds were guys who liked to have fun and who spent most of their energy fighting the system rather than conforming to it. None of them were preppy. In fact, Bobby always hated preppy kids. Usually they were either rich brats or they were trying to act like rich brats. In either case, they irked him. He viewed them as an annoyance.

 

So what was it about this preppy little church boy that got to Bobby? He had teased Shawn about acting so nervous around him, but for some reason he was feeling a little edgy himself. For a few seconds he rationalized the situation, telling himself that he’d felt sorry for the kid. He didn’t like how the other boys picked on him, and so he’d intervened. But hadn’t he picked up some sort of vibe from Shawn long before the incident in geography class today?

 

That day last year when he had met Marci at the church, Shawn was with her. He ended up goin out with Marci, but wasn’t it really Shawn that he was most interested in getting to know? Hadn’t he felt Shawn looking at him, checking him out? And even if this kid was checking him out, why was that okay? He should be pissed about it. He should want to beat his ass the same way he wanted to do to that faggot Eddie.

 

Was there any possibility that Shawn was the same as Eddie?

 

All of this was just too much to contemplate, especially on the noisy, smelly, moron-infested short bus he was forced to ride home. He called it the short bus cause most of the kids who rode it acted like retards. All he knew for sure was that he thought it would be cool to get to know the kid a little better. Diane always encouraged him to make new friends, and she especially emphasized that it’d be nice for him to get to know some of the kids from youth group better. Well, that’s what this was. That’s all it was. He just wanted to be Shawn’s friend. It was all cool. Very cool.