Notice: Alright, this is a story I've been working on since October. In fact, I came up with it while I was home sick from school one day. I've been really excited about this since October, but so far, I only have two chapters. Just as a warning, I'm only posting to see what people think (so please review or send me a message to let me know). I will probably take this down within the next few weeks, so if it disappears, don't wonder why. It's because I took it down. This story was meant to be kept between my two friends Leah and Chelsea, but I AM curious to get outside opinions... So, on with the story!

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Chapter One

Leo extended his hand over the armrest of his seat. Within seconds, a hand appeared from the other side of the seat and enclosed Leo’s hand in it. Leo smirked, then leaned over his seat to whisper into Robby’s ear.

“Sure you’re not going to pull away the second someone comes up the aisle?” Leo asked him.

Robby rolled his eyes, and squeezed Leo’s hand.

The two settled into their seats and stared at the movie screen in front of them. Their local movie theater, oh-so-originally named “The Premiere,” was having a One Night Only showing of the original X-Men movie. Leo had begged and begged Robby to choose another film, but Robby was unmoved. It was either X-Men, he said, or nothing at all. Seeing as how Leo hadn’t seen Robby all week, since Robby had work and Leo had lacrosse practice, Leo agreed to see the movie…if Robby paid.

“I’m not spending ten dollars to see a movie that you only want to see because you’re a comic book freak and you like to stare at Hugh Jackman,” Leo had stated.

Granted, James Marsden was easy on the eyes, but Leo was never about to admit that to Robby.

Robby had conceded to paying, more because he knew that Leo was saving to buy a Macbook than the idea that Leo would refuse to go with him if he had to pay.

Whenever Wolverine made a come-hither look at Phoenix, Leo just rolled his eyes. Robby’s eyes, however, were glued to Hugh Jackman. If there was even a remote chance that there could be something going on between Robby and Hugh Jackman, Leo would have been very jealous.

Leo and Robby had seen the movie before, but at separate times. When X-Men had originally come out (in 2000), they weren’t together. Quite the contrary, actually. Leo didn’t meet Robby until he and his dad attended a New Year’s Eve party thrown by a colleague from his work a little over a year before, who just happened to be a friend of a friend of Robby’s mother. Fast-forwarding to 11:30 p.m., just a half hour before everyone rang in the new year, Robby and Leo were discovered sharing a pre-countdown New Year’s kiss by Robby’s mother. When she confronted Leo’s father, Kevin, about it after running off in near-hysterics, Kevin merely shrugged and said, “He’s fifteen, what do you want me to do?”

Joanna Prescott blamed Leonardo Parker for “converting” her son to his sinful ways, but little did she know that Robby’s first kiss had been at a party when he was fourteen during Spin the Bottle, and it was with a boy. The rules had been clear: You spin the bottle, and whoever it lands on you have to kiss. It doesn’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl. You have to kiss them. When Joe Schumann spun the bottle and it landed on Robby, everyone gasped. But Joe and Robby were good sports and kissed anyway, much to the delight of the girls and the astonishment of the boys. That kiss was a rude awakening for Robby: he liked it a little too much.

Robby had never had any intention of coming out to his family. He figured that whatever it was he was feeling he could control. He’d “tame” it, so to speak. He could deny it and hide it and live a life that was already set out for him: go to college at his parents’ alma mater, Wesleyan; date a nice Wesleyan girl; get a well-paying job; marry a sweet girl, preferably an alumna from Wesleyan; and have respectful children who would one day repeat the process. Robby’s sexuality, however, put a bit of a damper on Joanna and George’s plans for their oldest son. When Joanna discovered Robby kissing a boy, all of her plans for her son just flew right out the window.

In the car on the way home from the party, Joanna said to Robby in a shaky voice, “Robert, I want you to explain what happened at that party.”

Robby didn’t know that his mother had seen the kiss. He thought she was referring to the Smirnoff Ice he had stolen from the cooler in the corner of the living room. “Mom, it was just Smirnoff.”

“What?” Joanna asked, horrified. She shot a terrorized look at her husband who was seated next to her in the driver’s seat. “You drank?”

Oh, shit, Robby thought. “Yeeeaaahhh…”

“Young man, what did we tell you about drinking?” his mother asked him.

“It’s for adults, and I’m not an adult,” Robby said tiredly.

“He’s going to be the death of me,” Robby’s father, George, commented. Out of the two of Robby’s parents, George was the more easy-going one. Joanna had already confided in him what she had seen between Robby and Leo (she knew it was Leo Robby had been kissing; she had been introduced to him earlier in the evening by the host of the party); he wasn’t happy, but George’s reasoning was that it was just a phase. Robby would grow out of it eventually.

“Wait, what happened?” piped up Robby’s sister, Olivia, next to him. “What did Robby do?”

“Yeah, what did Robby do?” Robby asked in a high-pitched voice, mocking his sister.

“I saw you kissing that Leo Parker,” Joanna said, her voice breaking.

“WHAT?” Robby squealed.

“Isn’t Leo a boy?” Olivia asked, her nose crinkling, “Why would you kiss a boy?”

Robby shot his sister a disgusted look. “Mom, it was a kiss.”

“With another boy!” his mother yelled, “Is there something you’re not telling us, Robert?”

“Yeah,” Robby said, “I’m gay.”

As the words were coming out of his mouth, Robby wished he could stuff them back in. He had just come out to his parents. He had just stated to them, clear as crystal, that he was gay. All hell was about to break loose.

Fast-forwarding again three months to April, and Robby found himself once more at another party thrown by a friend of his mother’s. He had forgotten somewhat about Leo. That night, he wasn’t particularly himself. He knew it wasn’t the Smirnoff; you can’t even get a buzz off of Smirnoff, unless you drink, like, fifteen bottles of it. No, he was more depressed that his flavor of the week, Shaina, had called it quits with him the day of the party. She had supposedly seen him making out in the broom closet on the first floor of their academy with Sidney, a girl in their Geometry class, the last day of school before the holiday break. She had decided to wait until the last day of the year to break things off with him so she could start the year fresh. Robby didn’t try to understand her reasoning. He didn’t care that much about her in the first place, so what difference did it make if he had her around or not?

Shaina didn’t know that Robby was gay. Not yet, anyway. It would take Robby another two months before he’d finally admit to everyone at school that he was gay, and he would only admit it because of Leo. The only people who knew at that time that Robby was gay were Robby’s family, not to mention Leo and his father. Seeing as how Robby never planned on ever seeing Leo again, he didn’t see the point in making a big deal about his sexuality. If he wasn’t going to date a guy, then why couldn’t he just take advantage of his popularity and have any girl he wanted? It would take the Easter party that Mary-Jane Parnell, his mother’s friend, threw for Robby to admit to himself that there was no way he’d ever want to date a girl when he could have Leo.

The Prescotts were the last family to show up at the Easter “Bash” that was held by Mary-Jane, and she introduced the family to all of her other guests at one time, pointing to each member of the family until she went through them all: George, Joanna, Olivia, Robby, and ending with Robby’s little brother, Max. Robby hated being introduced to people he didn’t know; he was shy that way. As everyone at the house stared at him and his family, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a boy that looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t place where. He definitely didn’t go to school with him, so where could he be from?

After the humiliation Robby experienced by the introduction by Mary-Jane, Robby decided to make himself scarce. He grabbed a Coke from the refreshment table and a few finger sandwiches and took off for the backdoor. He knew that everyone inside would be too busy socializing to realize he was gone.

The Parnells had a large, old-style Victorian home that had been refurbished and fixed up. Their backyard was enclosed by a large, brown fence that was meant to keep all the good things in and the bad things out. The backyard had a large picnic table with long benches, a small sandbox and swing set for Jake and Landon Parnell (the seven year old twins), and an adult swing made out of wood for Mary-Jane and her husband Noah. There was only one person sitting outside, who was sitting on the adult swing: the boy that Robby had noticed earlier on.

When the boy heard the backdoor open, he turned around. When he saw Robby, his face broke out into a smile. “Come on over,” he said, “I want to talk to you.”

To say that Robby was creeped out would be more than understatement, but he decided that talking to some crack job would be better than making mindless chatter with people his parents knew and their most likely psychotic children. He walked over to the swing and sat down by the boy, continuing to eat his finger sandwiches.

After Robby sat down and had successfully opened his Coke can, the boy broke the silence. “So, you don’t remember me, do you?”

Robby was in the middle of taking a very large gulp of his soda, and wasn’t willing to choke, so he took his time swallowing. After he swallowed, he looked over at the boy and said quite plainly, “Am I supposed to?”

The boy laughed, his semi-long brunette hair rocking back and forth as he did so. “Well, I’d hope so, since you were my first new year’s kiss ever.”

Robby’s mouth dropped open. He was about to shove a finger sandwich in his mouth, but the boy’s comment had frozen him right in his tracks.

Smirking, the boy ruffled Robby’s hair. “So you do remember me. I guess I’m kind of hard to forget, aren’t I?”

Robby composed himself and rolled his eyes. “I never did catch your name.”

“Leonardo Parker,” the boy said, holding out his hand for Robby to shake.

“Robert,” Robby replied, taking the boy’s hand, “But I go by Robby. Or Prescott, if you want to jump on the bandwagon with that nickname. Do you actually go by Leonardo?”

“I used to,” the boy nodded, “But then I went to kindergarten.”

Robby laughed and said, “So, is it Leo now then?”

“Yeah, unless you think Nardo sounds cool.”

“Nice to meet you, Leo.”

“This is hardly the first time we’ve met,” Leo said.

“You know what I mean,” Robby said, waving his hand.

“Right,” Leo said, “So what have you been doing with yourself? My dad told me something about your mom coming up to him at the party on New Year’s and freaking out about us kissing. I guess we should have chosen a bit more of a private place, huh?”

“Ha ha,” Robby said, “My mom flipped her shit in the car on the way home. You’d think I was selling drugs or something. All we did was kiss.”

“You didn’t like it?” Leo asked, feigning shock, “I didn’t think it was possible for a guy not to like kissing me.”

“And I suppose you have a lot of experience kissing guys?” Robby asked, finishing off his last sandwich.

“Probably more than you,” Leo stated, “Then again, do you have any experience kissing guys?”

Robby glared at Leo. “What makes you think I want to kiss guys?”

“Are you seriously asking me that question?” Leo asked incredulously, “Dude, you came on to me, remember? We were standing at the refreshment table, and I was pouring a glass of punch when you randomly came up behind me and whispered in my ear that you wanted to take a walk outside. With me. Alone.”

Robby cringed. He had almost forgotten about the entire situation in itself, but he selectively chose not to remember that part. It was too embarrassing.

“So we went outside, I said it was cold, and you told me you could warm me up. So the next thing I know, I’m thrown up against the side of the house and you’re kissing me. Did I leave out any important points?”

“Yeah,” Robby said, blushing, “The part where you stuck your tongue in my mouth.”

Leo smiled. “I told you I’m more experienced than you.”

“I have plenty of experience,” Robby said, “Just…with girls.”

“Because yes,” Leo began, “having experience with girls will come in so handy when you’re gay and never going to be with them.”

“Why am I even discussing this with you?” Robby asked, “I don’t even know you.”

“I can see I’m making you uncomfortable,” Leo said, “Whatever. Here…”

Leo pulled a pen out of his jacket pocket (Robby didn’t question why he kept a pen in his pocket) and scrawled some numbers down onto Robby’s hand.

“That’s my cell,” Leo said, jerking his head at Robby’s hand, “Just in case you ever, you know, want to talk.”

“So that’s it?” Robby asked, “We talk for a few minutes about one experience I had with a guy, a.k.a. you, and then you just write down your number and leave?”

“Did you expect more?” Leo wanted to know.

“Yeah,” Robby said, “Why don’t I recognize you?”

Leo smirked. “I dyed my hair. The blonde was obnoxious.”

Leo took off for the house again and went inside to find his father. Robby tried to picture Leo with blonde hair, and immediately remembered the whole night. Personally, Robby couldn’t blame Leo for dyeing his hair. He did look better as a brunette.

What Robby did next could be construed as one of the most romantic things that would ever happen to Leo: Robby whipped out his cell phone, typed in the number written on his hand, and sent a text message to Leo.

Leo had found his father and was sitting on a couch with his him listening to him talk about someone at work, when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and stood up off the couch, making his way to a corner where he could read the message without someone (namely his father) reading it over his shoulder. The number on his screen was someone he didn’t recognize, but he opened the text message anyway. It read: So I want to talk to you. I like your new hair.

Leo laughed. There was nothing special about the message at all. In fact, to most people, it would be considered a waste of a text message. But Leo didn’t think so. He loved it.

Leo walked back outside again to find Robby sitting exactly where he left him. He walked back over to the swing and sat back down next to him. “I like my hair too,” was all he said.

Robby leaned back into the swing, resting his head against the back of it. He glanced over at Leo, who was grinning at him. Robby grinned back, “What?”

“You’re cuter than I remember.”

“What makes you think I’m gay?” Robby asked.

“Oh, not this again,” Leo said, groaning.

“What?” Robby asked innocently, “How do you know I’m gay?”

“Because of this,” Leo stated. And before Robby could put in his two cents about it either way, Leo had started to kiss him. Robby was never really sure how he could describe it, but he always said it was one thing in particular: electric.

Leo pulled back first, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. Robby shot him a look that Leo took to mean, “That’s not fair.” Leo laughed.

“Straight boys don’t kiss like that,” Leo said, laughing even harder.

Robby wasn’t really mad. He just acted like it because he knew it would make Leo laugh, and for whatever reason, Robby liked to see Leo laugh. “Okay,” Robby said, “I’m gay. You’re right.”

“I know,” Leo said, “I’m usually right.”

Robby rolled his eyes. “Conceited much?”

“Coming from the guy who said he has a lot of experience with girls?”

“What about you?” Robby said, “If I recall correctly, you told me you have a lot of experience with guys!”

“Mine counts for more,” Leo said, “Since my experience will be more useful than yours.”

“Kissing is kissing,” Robby said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s with a boy or if it’s with a girl.”

“Do you like kissing girls?”

“Sure,” Robby said, “But I like kissing you more.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Leo asked, a slight pink tinge forming on his cheeks.

“You could say that.”

“What if I’m not interested?”

“I can make you interested…” Robby said suggestively.

Looking back on it a year later, both Robby and Leo would have said that their exchange was immature and hardly grounds to make a relationship. Except, it worked for them, and within weeks, Robby was officially referring to Leo as his boyfriend, much to the discontent of his family. When Leo explained to his father that he had a boyfriend, Kevin only laughed and said, “It’s about time.”

It was difficult for them to make time for each other, for several reasons. For one thing, they went to different schools; Robby attended a local private prep school (Lucas Hills Academy) and Leo went to the public school about a half hour away from Robby’s academy. They lived within ten minutes of each other, but Robby had to leave almost an hour before Leo even got up to commute to Lucas Hills. After school, Robby had work at the golf course his parents belonged to as a caddy and Leo had soccer (in the fall), track (in the winter), or lacrosse (in the spring). The most they could ever see each other was on the weekends, and sometimes they missed their dates for one reason or another, like Robby needed to baby-sit Max or Leo’s estranged mom showed up for an unexpected visit with her only son.

The date to the movies that Robby had planned had been one of their first dates with each other in almost a month. It was towards the end of the school year, and Robby had been busy with his end-of-the-school-year work, as well as making plans for his caddy job over the summer. Leo had been busy with school work as well, but also had lacrosse to worry about; his team was doing very well, and they were well on their way to the championship game three weeks before school ended. The problem with that was that it put a very big dent in Leo’s social life, due to practices every day after school until six and on Saturdays until four.

Robby and Leo had been together for over a year. Robby had long since come out to everyone at school. Leo, who had always been upfront about his sexuality, only had to make it known to his close-knit group of friends that he officially had a boyfriend. Robby explained that he had a boyfriend to his friends too, and they all seemed to be relatively okay with it. Regardless of their acceptance, however, Robby still felt a bit threatened by them. When they introduced their girlfriends (or boyfriends, in the case of his female friends), the questions that were asked were simple, like their age, their zodiac sign, what their favorite food is. When Robby told them about Leo, the questions were a bit more serious: Is he out? Does your family know? Isn’t it weird to kiss a guy?

Yes, Leo was out. Yes, Robby’s family knew. But why, oh why, would it be weird for Robby to kiss a guy when Robby was gay? Robby never understood it. Why couldn’t his friends ask him the same questions about Leo that they asked everyone else? It’s not like Leo didn’t have an age, a zodiac sign, or a favorite food (all of which Robby knew: 15 [at the time they first started going out, Sagittarius, and anything chocolate). He felt insecure that his friends were insecure.

Robby always wanted to ask Leo about how his friends took the news that Leo had a boyfriend. He finally built up the courage to ask one day, and when Leo answered, Robby felt even worse. Leo’s friends all knew from the beginning that Leo was gay and they all expected him to get a boyfriend eventually, as Leo was a very attractive and popular boy in their school who was always getting hit on by girls they met at the mall or movies until he explained to them that he just didn’t swing that way. His friends all knew that one day he was going to tell them that he had a boyfriend. When Leo finally did, the questions that they asked him about Robby were all the ones that Robby wanted to be asked about Leo. To Leo’s friends, it wasn’t about Leo having a boyfriend. It was about Leo having a relationship at all. For some reason, Leo’s friends were able to look past the prefix of the word “friend.” It just didn’t matter to them whether it said boy or girl. All they cared about was that Leo was happy, and if Robby happened to support the Phillies or the Mets.

This was always in the back of Robby’s mind when they went on dates. He wasn’t surprised at all when Leo asked him if he was going to pull his hand away from Leo’s if someone came up the aisle. Unfortunately, Robby had a habit of doing this whenever they were in public. If they were by themselves and no one was looking, Robby had no reservations. But, as soon as someone else came along, a wall just flew up around Robby and no one, not even Leo, seemed to be able to break it down.

When the movie was finally over, Robby and Leo piled out of the theater with everyone else until they were outside. It was almost nine at night, and the spring breeze was wafting the scent of honeysuckle and freshly mowed grass through the air. It was a clear night; the inky black sky seemed dark and desolate behind the bright stars. There were no clouds in the air. It was a beautiful night.

Leo thought so as well, and he voiced it as they began walking towards the park. “It’s pretty out.”

Robby wrapped his hand around Leo’s. “Not as pretty as you.”

Leo laughed. “That’s a pathetic pick up line.”

“It’s not a pick up line,” Robby said, stopping walking and pulling Leo to a stop too.

“Oh really?” Leo asked, stepping in front of Robby on the sidewalk.

“Yeah,” Robby said, nodding, “It can’t be a pick up line since I already have you…”

“Aren’t you a charmer,” Leo said, a slight smile creeping onto his face.

“That’s why you love me, right?” Robby asked, “Or is it my dashing good looks? Or my sweet personality? Or the way I dote on you?”

“Sure…” Leo said, “Expect I’ve seen better looking guys than you. And you’re kind of an ass. And the last present you gave me was for my birthday back in December.”

Robby pouted and Leo couldn’t help but giggle uncontrollably. “Come on, baby… Let’s go.”

The park was their meeting place. It was an exact distance from both Robby’s house and Leo’s house. They often met there in the middle of night so they could be alone. The park wasn’t locked at night, which was perfect for Robby and Leo. It was at this park that Leo and Robby would part ways for the night.

“So are you going to call me tomorrow?” Robby asked.

“After practice, sure,” Leo replied, pecking Robby quickly on the lips. “Do you work tomorrow?”

“Until three,” Robby nodded.

“Well, I’ll call. I promise.”

“Good,” Robby said, “I’d hate to think you’d forget about me with all those guys running around you during practice.”

“You’re ten times hotter than they are and you know it,” Leo told him, “So don’t be jealous. Play nicely.”

“Uh huh,” Robby said, “Well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say good night till it be morrow.” Leo quoted to him.

“No Shakespeare. Please!” Robby begged.

Leo laughed. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” He gave Robby one more kiss, his lips lingering on Robby’s for several seconds before turning away and walking in the direction of his house.

Robby watched Leo walk away until he was out of sight, then took off for his own house.