Tames followed Cole to greet the boys back from their football practice. Marcus and Mattew were benched almost half the time so Cole was prepared to hear their complaint.

They stopped by the lockers and watched as a couple of boy strolled out, talking loudly like the obnoxious teenagers they were.

"I guess I should be going?" Tames said after a while of waiting.

"Sure." Cole replied plainly. He never asked him to follow him anyway.

"Okay. Uh, could you sleep over in our house tonight?" He asked.

Cole frowned at him, "What is this? Is this some prank because I would never..."

"No." Tames shook his head quickly. "Payne, the neighbor, is staying over and I wanted you to meet him."

"I don't trust you." Cole answered bleakly.

Cole didn't miss the shock and pain that flashed in his brother's eyes but the thing was, he didn't care. He just wanted the conversation to be done.

"Oh. Then I'll see you later." His brother covered it up with a smile then walked away.

Just then, the twins came out, arguing about God knows what.

"Why are you complaining?" Mattew was saying. "He picked you at first."

"Yeah but when you joined all the complements went to you." His twin argued back.

"I don't know, Marcus. Maybe if you were a little more serious, Coach would have noticed you." Mattew teased, knowing very well how pissed Marcus was.

Cole was smart enough to pull Mattew away from Marcus' arm's way because his brother was already lifting his fist. Standing between them, Cole finally asked, "What's going on?"

"Coach is going to bench one of us and Marcus thinks it is him because I'm better." Mattew answered from behind him.

The finals was coming up and Cole knew everyone was stressed about it. Since yesterday, the boys have been leaving him in the house to practice and have been coming back beat.

Cole could say Marcus was trying his hardest but if Mattew said he could be better, then he could. Mattew knew the difference between working hard in school and working hard on the football pitch.

Marcus was going to get better.

"Marcus. How about you put aside your differences and let Mattew teach you."

"What?" The twin echoed.

"Mattew, you did say Coach Everton might bench Marcus. Why not make him good enough so it would be a struggle to pick between you two?"

Marcus sighed then turned to his brother, "Sorry I yelled."

He replied with a scoff and said, "Stop being a wuss. Good to get some natural spanking from your bro."

They both grinned at each other then looked at Cole. Mattew said as he wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulder, "Funny how for once, your mouth didn't say crap." Cole glared at him and he continued, "You better hitch a ride with the bus or something because we wont be going back home."

"Bye sport." Marcus waved as his brother pulled them away.

Cole shook his head as he thought of where the bus was going to drop him. He really didn't want to go home.

"Clever thing you did there." Coach Everton's coarse voice rang out and Cole quickly turned to see the astonishing Australian man. He had a deep voice which fitted his very manly appearance. He had his thick black hair into a loose bun which complemented his really brown eyes.

Coach Everton ran a hand along his short beard and said, "Those two aren't bad at all"

Cole took a deep breath before answering. This man was the kind of guy every girl wants to lock up in their closet. Hot is not even a complement enough for him. "T-then why did you say you were going to bench one of them?"

"They were the ones who took it too serious." He replied as his brow creased. "They were arguing about crap again so I said I was going to bench them. They must have heard it wrong because they weren't listening."

"Eh? Shit, what a waste of good advice."

He laughed heartily then gave Cole a good pat in the back. "Seems to hardly come from you, I see. Anyways, Cloud said I should call you in.

"Cloud?" Cole could already feel the butterflies again. Just the sound of Cloud's name could give him butterflies.

"Yes. Now don't mess the place up." He added as Cole ran in.

He couldn't even pretend. He wanted to see Cloud so badly.

Cloud was on his phone as he leaned against the lockers. The locker room was entirely empty save for the both of them. Cloud looked up from his phone as Cole approached him slowly.

"You said you wanted to see me." Cole couldn't help the happy thrill in his voice.

Cloud grinned as him as he dropped his phone on the bench. "You came to watch me."

He shrugged. "I knew you won't make it to the man cave so I thought I drop by."

"But you watched the entire thing?" Cloud rose a brow.

"I guess seeing you in tights are unbelievably thrilling." Cole responded as he dropped his bag on the bench.

They both sat down and Cloud said, "About that date..."

"I loved it." Cole confirmed.

Cloud didn't wipe the grin off his face as he said, "So this Friday is our last practice and Saturday is the finals. Would you be able to come?"

"I've never missed a football match. You can count on me." Cole answered with a grin and Cloud cupped his face.

"Good." He then leaned in and as his lips neared Cole's, he drew in a breath.

Seeing Cloud this up close made his heart stop. The smell of his cologne, his ruffled hair, his deep gray eyes. Cole could hardly move as Cloud pressed his soft lips against his.

They moved against each other slowly. Cloud's lips caressed his softly as Cole draped his arms around him. He scooted closer to him as Cloud slipped his wet tongue into his mouth. It circled, tasting every bit of him and his hands, sliding from his cheeks to his hair and successfully pulling it made Cole moan deeply.

Cole would do anything to continue but he needed to breathe and the bell just had to stop every other thought. They pulled away and Cole huffed in annoyance.

"Easy there." Cloud laughed then continued, "There's more where that came from."

"Sometimes I doubt it."

The boy with the sexy chest grinned then stood to pick up his bag and phone. Cole copied and asked, "I guess we'll see tomorrow."

"Yeah. I'll call you later. Say hi to your dork twins for me." He said then left a small kiss on his lips before he left with a wave.

Cole watched him leave, mostly checking out his ass, before he sat down in bliss.

This couldn't be happening. He was getting Cloud after all. Which meant he'd have to come out when they start going out...if they start going out.

But was he ready to come out?

Cole stood up and moved quickly to his last period class. He had missed enough for just one day. Although, there wasn't much difference to missing class because all he did in it was think about coming out.

Would he be hated?

Would he be loved?

Would girls hate him?

Would girls fawn over him?

Would guys take him as a role model and be more open?

Would they hate him and curse him for his decision?

Many questions flooded in and out. He could hardly answer one but did he care? That was a question and the answer to that was no. The main people he trusted and loved knew about him already.

His family knew and they hated him. His friends knew and they loved him even more. He didn't care about the rest because they meant nothing to him. If he got bullied, he had someone to call.

Except if that someone was Cloud.

But it can't be. Cloud liked him and Cole could see it every time in his awfully beautiful eyes. Cole trusted him and that was one step to a wonderful relationship.

The end of school bell rang and Cole quickly texted the boys that he would have to stop by his house to get more clothes so he might be home late.

They replied with an OK and Cole got on the bus. The bus ride was certainly not entertaining and bored him until he fell asleep. It was the purple haired girl beside him that woke him up when it was his stop.

He stood in front of his house and released a sigh of relieve when he didn't see any car at the drive way. Quickly, he rushed into the house and ran up the stairs to his room.

Unlike before when it was so dusty, he coughed every time he entered, now, it was spotless. Like someone had repainted it, changed his sheets and cleaned all the furniture inside. Like he was still living here.

Cole felt something like a tiny needle prick his beating heart. Was that neighbor living here? He ran to his wardrobe to see it neatly arranged but they were still his clothes. He checked his drawers and his boxers and other shirts were there. Neatly arranged and, from the way they smelt, clean.

Cole stepped away from every object in the room. This wasn't his abandoned room.

Cole was too absorbed into everything to notice the voices coming towards his room. It was when Tames and a taller person entered the room that he looked up.

This taller person, who Cole guessed was Payne, wasn't what he was expecting. Cole had expected a normal high school kid but this person was a man. Muscled arm, nice body which was droll worthy, great blond hair which he could whip to slay and nice green eyes which could kill.

Payne and Tames stopped short when they saw Cole and Tames was the first to speak, "Cole? I thought you weren't coming."

His brother blinked back to his senses then glared at the two of them, "Why is my room clean?"

"We thought we keep it clean for you." Payne's deep voice echoed and Cole's eyes strayed to him.

"You are Payne aren't you?" He asked to be sure.

He smiled. "Yes. Who knew Tames would talk about me with his brother? Nice to meet you Cole."

Cole was irritated. What did his parents see in this man that they could accept and not accept him? How could they even see any thing good in him when all they say is Cole was a mistake? Cole didn't like him one bit.

Cole got his bag and started to pack what he wanted, "I'm not staying for anything that was why I didn't say I was coming."

"Okay but at least say a thank you for keeping your clothes clean." Tames said with this goofy smile on his face and it only angered Cole more.

"I don't know Tames," He said as he zipped his back then strapped it on. "If I wasn't shown so much hate, maybe my clothes would be clean all day."

Cole ignored the hurt he could see on Tames' expression and the shock he could see on Payne's. Scoffing, he brushed passed them then said, "I'll just see you whenever."

No one came after him as he walked slowly out of the house. The Lumberg's place wasn't far so walking there wasn't so hard. Then he and Mrs. Lumberg could finish their Eating Out movie. That series was crazily intense with hot men and Gosh, Chris Salvatore is a Hottie.

He was what you could call Hot mess. Bloody Hot Mess.

Cole was just happy Jane understood him and felt the movie like he did. He enjoyed the time he had with her.

"You know he is trying to make up for what he did, right?" The familiar deep voice he had heard only moments ago said from a place not too far away.

Cole turned to see Payne again and said, "I don't care."

"You do."

"Again, I do not care."

"And I would say it again. You do because admit it, everyone wants their family to be okay with them. You are happy that even though it's not everyone, you've still got your brother."

Cole laughed. This dude had no idea how much he hated his brother. "No. I'm happy because I've got my friends. They might have had a problem with it at first but they accepted me with open arms. Even their parents accepted me. Payne, if I have the chance, I would ask them to adopt me."

Payne fell silent. Of course he had nothing to say. How could he compare his parents to the Lumberg's? He couldn't even use the 'they gave birth to you' line because they treated him like trash the moment he told them who he really was.

Cole didn't get it. Why does he even bother? His family was dead to him.