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I walk out to the back of the school, awaiting my mother’s arrival. Today has mostly been pleasant. There was nothing particularly displeasing or aggravating as there usually is. Schoolwork like always was simple and quick, Emilio did not show up and his absence has been a blessing, Rudolph and I met eyes and he smiled. Perhaps a sign of him coming around, as he should. I look around the lot watching others get into their cars and ride off, there is no sign of my mother. I watch, waiting to see her car, my eyes scan the lot and the road but she isn’t here.
“HEY KIDDD!!” I hear a very loud, agitating, familiar voice call out. I sigh, hoping I was imagining that voice. As I look up I am eye to eye with an older man, just who I was hoping it wouldn’t be. He has back length grey hair, glasses, and the common cigarette perched in between his lips. Luther, my god forsaken uncle, is picking me up.
“Why are you here? I thought Mother said she would be picking me up from now on.” He smirks down at me. “Well I may have done a little convincing..I thought you might need some new clothes.” I frown, displeased at his rebellion. “I’m quite fine with what I have, Luther.” “Ahhhh sure ya are kid,” His sarcastic remark ticks me off. “with your pale skin and dark clothes you look like Dracula himself, not that you’d know who that is since your weird ass dad doesn't let y'all watch TV. C’mon get in! I won’t have you out drinkin like last time, prommy.” I stare at him with utter repulsion as I climb into the car. “I know who Dracula is and never say the word ‘prommy’ to me again.”
Luther dangerously swerves his car into the parking lot of the mall, just missing a fire hydrant. He unbuckles his seat belt and hops out of the car. I reluctantly follow. “Alright you’re free to go wherever you want, I gotta pick up some things for my kids so suit yourself!” And with that he places a few bucks in my hand and leaves me standing alone in the middle of the mall. I start to walk aimlessly, I have no idea what I even want but I might as well explore. I pass by generic, boring shops like sports stuff and makeup or whatnot. As I continue I see an elevator, I typically avoid these things. I worry it might break on me. Today however it intrigues me, I’ve never been inside one. It wouldn’t harm me to just see how it works. I carefully approach the machine eyeing the button on the wall next to it. It has an arrow pointing up. I press it. I stand and stare expectantly at the elevator listening to it whirr and wondering how long it could possibly take to reach me.
I am about to turn around and choose the stairs instead, but the sound of a small ding and a grumbling voice stops me. “Stupid fucking thing, why do you need to go DOWN when I pressed UP.” The doors slide open and I see a brightly blue haired italian boy with a red hoodie. “Carmelo.” I stare at the garish looking boy dissatisfied. He stares back, a look of shock and annoyance combine on his face. “Oh my god! My day cannot possibly get WORSE! Out of all the people I see today, I run into YOU? What are you even doing at the mall? You don't seem like someone who goes outside at all let alone here,” He yammers on. “Ughhh…What floor do you even want to go to?” I step in avoiding his flailing arms, slightly amused by his pointless anger. “My uncle took me, why is it any of your business?” I eye the buttons, I had not planned as far as to pick a desired floor, I really only wanted to look closely at the machinery. I randomly choose a floor, “Third floor is fine.” “WHAT! Why?! Are you trying to follow me?” I roll my eyes. “Carmelo, I have no interest in your precarious life. It amuses me that you think I care.” He scoffs at me, crossing his arms. “Always with the big words! Can’t you just speak English? No one cares that you’re smart.” I glance sideways at the explosive boy. “It is not my fault you lack basic reading comprehension and common knowledge.” His mouth opens quicker than he can think, always eager to say something else. “I-” Before Carmelo could spit out another disappointing insult the elevator floor rumbles and a slight groan spreads throughout the walls. Carmelo and I topple slightly bumping into one another. We both quickly shove the other. I don’t want his disgusting smell of axe and abundance of cologne leaking onto me.
“What is that?” I knew I had a right to be worried, if the elevator stops right here right now trapping me with this insecure blueberry I don’t know what I’d do. As if God himself heard my thoughts, the elevator completely stops moving, a slight recoil as it pulls against the cables. “Did the elevator actually just stop?” Carmelo rhetorically asks before spam pressing a button in an attempt to make the door open. “fuck..” he says under his breath. It makes me feel weird. I stare at him as he rapidly smashes the buttons. I groan in irritation trying to make a plan as to how I will survive being trapped with Carmelo any longer than I already am. He pulls a phone out of his pockets and starts pressing the screen aggressively as if he is trying to break it. I can hear his fingers hitting it. “What are you doing?” I ask before he stares up at me. “What does it look like I'm doing? I'm calling for help?” I glance at the buttons, “Isn’t there already a button on the elevator for that?” He stares at me, turning red presumably from embarrassment before he turns and presses the emergency button. He goes back to pressing his screen before placing it gently to one side of his face. “Pronto? Mamma?......Sì, sto bene….. L'ascensore si è rotto. potrebbe volerci un po'.” He places his phone back into his pocket and turns to face me. He looks like he expects me to say something snarky. I have no reason to criticize him. “Who was that?” He stares blankly for a bit before responding. “Just my mom, but really, it's none of your biz.” I scoff. however, it is a good idea, I'll need to alert my uncle so if anything happens he knows where I’m at. Hopefully this thing gets fixed before father is too angry, I would hate to get a beating on top of being trapped with a sadistic homosexual. I take out my flip phone and dial some buttons, a subtle ring sounds as I wait for my uncle to pick up. “HELLOOO?” I pull the phone away from my ear as he screeches on the other line. “Goodness. Hello. I just wanted to inform you it appears the elevator has broken. I am not sure when it will be fixed but I'm trapped in here.” I hear random shuffles and conversation before he continues. “Ooooo.. tough luck. Welp, someone will show up eventually. I gotta go, I'm kinda busy so bye kid.” I sigh before putting away my phone.
So far, about 30 minutes have passed. Both me and Carmelo have sat down, he was the first. I lightly tap my finger on the floor, carefully watching him. He scrolls on his screen doing who knows what, occasionally giggling. “Why does Rudy like you now?” I stare him down, feeling jealousy bubble beneath my skin. He looks up at me, slightly confused. “Why would I know?” He doesn’t give a second thought before returning to his phone. The screen making his eyes shine. “Because he talks to you. What does he say? What have you said? Is it because you let him beat you in a fight?” He scoffs and turns his phone down. “I never said anything to him okay? All I did was help him when he needed it. And it wasn’t a fight, he caught me off guard." I roll my eyes. “I thought you didn’t even like him, you always bullied him and now all of a sudden you guys are best friends?” I press him. “Look, I just felt bad for him. I’m allowed to have a change of heart. He needed help and you weren't there to help him, Tobias. I don’t know what happened between you two but whatever you did is your fault, not mine.” I grit my teeth. What I did? I had a reason to, Carmelo never had a reason to hurt Rudy besides hiding his homosexual feelings from himself. “Well I don’t know why he sticks around but I hope you know you’ll never get him to love you, Carmelo.” His face flushes a bright red and scrunches as if trying to hide it. “L-love him? I don’t- I’m not- I don’t feel that way towards him!” I scoff, amused at his discomfort. “If that’s true, why did you get so defensive when you learned of our sleepover? Did it really bother you so much that I might've had sexual intercourse with Rudy? Carmelo, anyone could take one look at you and make the rather wise assumption that you are gay.” Although I thought it was impossible, Carmelo's face turns an even more vibrant red than before. “Shut up! I mean I can prove to you that I'm not gay! Everyone knows I would never like guys. That’s sissy shit, i’m not a fucking faggot so back off”
“Prove to me? And how exactly are you planning to do that Carmelo?” He stammers, staring at me with a defensive face. He gets up off the floor and into a crouch as if deciding his next move. “I’ll uh…Why don’t I just kiss you!” I stare at him in utter disbelief, silently sitting trying to process what he just said to me. I reluctantly respond, “What..?” He jumps into a full stand, pacing ever so slightly around the elevator. “If you really think I’m a fag then I can just prove to you I’m not by kissing you. If I don’t like the kiss it proves I don’t like guys!” I look down, my first thought is that Carmelo’s grades really do show his intelligence. How idiotic could it be to think kissing me shows me he doesn’t enjoy it, in fact the thought alone makes me have suspicions he wants to kiss me. However I do remember how I tried the same with Emilio, proving to myself I wasn’t gay. Maybe he’s right, as hard as that is to admit. “Fine. But frankly I think your plan is dumb. You could be faking disgust or even worse, continue the kiss because you like it.” “Pshhtt I won’t do that. I know I’m not gay.” I tilt my head back sighing at my decision. “Whatever you say, Carmelo.” He hesitates to walk towards me, his face still red as that of a cherry. I do not move. He kneels down in front of me. Slowly, he moves his hand close to my cheek, he cups my face and looks into my eyes. A nervous hesitant expression stares at me. He staggers as he leans into me. “Hurry up.” I say in a faint voice. I can see every detail on his face. He’s ugly. His eyes are dark blue, they almost look black under the shade of his hair. I can see the barley visible streaks of blonde in his hair that he missed when dying it. His face is warm, I can feel it radiating off of him. He gently squeezes my cheek as if to confirm what he’s about to do. He leans in closer, his breath hitting mine. I can hear his nervousness through the heavy breathes he’s taking. he’s eyelids lower as he looks at my lips, his mouth slightly agape. His lips are a pretty coral pink color, they look soft. He leans in again, closer than last time. I can almost taste him from here. Hes moving too slow, this needs to be over with. “carmelo hurr-“ I can’t finish my sentence as I am cut off.
SCRAAPPPPPPPEEE We both turn abruptly to see the doors being forced open. A few men along with my uncle and Carmelo’s mother wait outside. I immediately hop up violently pushing Carmelo off me as I run to my uncle's side. Luther leans down and whispers “I knew you were gay Tobias! I could tell by your little femboy legs.” I grimace at him in disgust before storming off to the car. I can hear Carmelo blabbering behind me, “It really wasn’t what it looked like! It was more like a dare! I promise! You have to believe me!” I chuckle under my breath. At least I wasn’t the only one being harassed.