And oh, does he piss me off right now. We had stopped at our usual bus stop to get ice-cream and god knows Mark knew me like his boxer shorts so I did not understand why I was having vanilla cone in my hand.

"I cannot believe you. You know I bloody hate Vanilla. Where's my Ben and Jerry's?" I glared at him as he happily licked his chocolate. Marcie liked more of a mixed taste so hers was a mix of Vanilla and chocolate.

"Calm down. It's not like I gave you poison. See, if you don't like it, give it to Marcie. It would probably make her forgive you faster."

I was very tempted to just toss it in the trash we walked past. Instead, I continued to complain about it to Mark even though I knew he wasn't listening to me.

     We got to his home and I bit back a frown when I saw Marcie open the door. She was tall, taller than Mark who was a couple inches taller than me. And I hated it because she always used it to intimidate me. As if her deep authoritative voice wasn't enough. God bless the man that falls in love with her.

Other than that, she looked almost like Mark. Dark brown hair, same black spots, nose, full lips -though hers' a bit thinner- and light brown eyes. It was so obvious they were related.

"Marcie!" Mark actually squealed and ran to hug her like he hadn't seen her in years. And she had only been here three months ago. "I missed you."

"I'm sure you did." She ruffled his hair and cuddled him against her before she looked up and met my glare.

The bitch smirked, knowing truly well what she was doing. I was half tempted at tossing the ice-cream at her but I really loved my face so I smiled instead and handed her the melting ice-cream.

"I'm sorry I didn't come and see you last time you came. I was caught up in something."

"You weren't." Mark snitched as we entered the house.

"Oh shut up." I hissed as I followed Marcie to the kitchen and got myself a napkin to clean the ice-cream off my fingers.

     Mark came in to take my bag then said to his sister, "Let me drop the bags in my room really quick and we'll catch up." He dropped the cup of mixed ice-cream on the counter in front of her and she reached over to kiss his forehead making Mark beam before disappearing out the door.

     Now, it was just Marcie and I in the kitchen. And I didn't want it like that so I decided to leave. Other than the awkwardness that would suddenly grow, I had apologized to her, hence there was nothing stopping me from leaving.

I had only turned towards the door when she stopped me and I groaned, sending her a glare which she only returned with a cocky smirked that pissed me off. She was licking off the ice-cream I gave her when she stopped and said, "So, have you made any progress?"

Now, I wished I spat in that ice-cream instead. It wasn't that I hated Marcie, hell, she used to be tolerable, but she after she found out about my feelings for her brother, it was just hard to be around her.

And worse, she found out in a really bad way. I mean jerk-off-in-the-bathroom-moaning-Mark bad way. I couldn't run away or lie about it because she opened the door just to be sure who it was. And damn her because it was one of the few times he lets me use his bath soap.

After that, I had pretty much been advoiding her.

"What does it matter? Just ignore me."

Marcie scoffed as she tossed the soaked waffle cone in the trash. "What do you mean? I'm not against it, more like I'm shipping it."

"Ship? You know, your support is not what I want. I know our friendship is doomed for failure if I just upped and confessed." I admitted, shoving my hands in the pockets of my three-quarter pants. "And I plan to do it on our graduation."

Marcie surprisingly frowned and she folded her arms over her chest with an arched brow. "You want to run away right after?"

"Good, you understand. I'm leaving no-"

"Why? You still have a year before graduation and what if he likes you back? Are you going to just end it like that?"

I almost laughed. "Likes me back? He doesn't even see me when I'm around you. And worse, he hates gays -not that I'm gay. He's been bullying Tom and his new boyfriend for three months now. It was why he didn't come over to see you today."

Marcie's eyes widened and she held a hand to her chest. "Tom's gay?"

I wasn't having fun in this conversation. More like, my heart was getting tighter and tighter the more I talked about my recent gay love. Not that it was exactly recent either. It's been over a year since I realized Mark meant more to me than a best bro. I had been able to hold back those feelings but after seeing my entertainment go at it like they didn't have a single care in the world, it made me wonder why I hadn't pushed Mark down yet. Or at least, confessed my feelings.

"Tom's not gay." I answered weakly, looking away from her confused face that looked so much like Mark's. "He's more bi...or pan. Whatever. I just know he's dating who he loves at the moment."

Sighing, I added as I headed for the door, "I'm going upstairs. If I continue this conversation, there's going to be water works and since Mark's gonna notice, I should prevent it."

Marcie didn't say anything until I was out the door and she ran to hug me from behind, pulling me closer to her. She smelt sweet and it made my stomach awkwardly twist. She felt so soft, I was tempted to copy Mark and just cuddle with her.

Yeah, I needed my girlfriends back in my life. After that fight with Yale, all three of them dropped my ass and Mark's. I miss their bitching.

"You should give it a try. Don't just give up."

I didn't reply to that and she let me go, allowing me to go up the stairs to Mark's room.

     Twisting the knob, I was absolutely baffled when I found it locked. Why would it be locked? He normally dressed up in his bathroom when I was around so I wouldn't accidentally see the bits I've never seen before.

     Knocking, I was fully prepared to piss him off when I saw the look on his face when he opened the door. He looked confused, kinda between scared and angry. Mark opened the door wide for me to enter and I did, cautiously because something felt off.

     As I glanced around the room, trying my best to find it, Mark suddenly threw my bag at me and came to push me out the door.

"What? What's going on?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Just leave."

"Like hell I am leaving." I let my bag fall to the floor and I pushed back on the door before it closed. "What the fuck are you doing? Open up."

"I do not have a sister complex!" He shouted from behind the door where he pushed hard.

"Just keep lying to yourself. And besides, that can't be why you're mad. I've said you've got a sis-con since I knew you. Why are you kicking me out of the room?"

"I don't want to see your face!"

I frowned. There has got to be a reason why he was mad. I hadn't said anything to him since we got to the house, and he never came down to meet his sister again.

Never came down to meet Marcie?

No! Did that mean... No!

Pushing the door open, I looked back at Mark and my heart dropped to my stomach. Mark was angry now, not scared, angry.

"You heard?" I wanted to be sure. My heart was beating too fast, I couldn't think seriously.

"Damn right I did." His eyes sparked and I froze. "If you think for a second, Ian, that I would let you hold me, talk to me, sleep on my bed again, you must have totally lost your mind."

"M-Mark!"

He shook his head. "Get the fuck out of my room. Leave!! I don't want to see your damn face anywhere near me. You and Tom and that other disgusting faggot are the same."

I swear the waterworks were coming before something snapped and I felt cold. So cold, I actually shivered.

"You don't mean that." I breathed.

"I do." Mark's tone hadn't changed. He was still pissed and was stalking closer to me as if to get in my face.

There was where he made a mistake.

The second his face neared mine, I forgot all decency and attacked him. And no, I don't mean with cute butterfly punches, I meant with my lips.

     Mark fisted my collar but I only parted his lips with my tongue, feeling my heart swell at the taste of his mouth. It tasted like the orange gummy bears on his table and I moaned, caressing his tongue with mine. My heart was beating faster with every second Mark didn't retaliate. Did he like it? Was he okay with it?

     I started to pull him closer to me, to feel him against my body when Mark suddenly pushed me. I wanted to ask if he liked it when I saw the rage in his eyes, like fire. Mark push me down on the floor and I never got to defend myself as the punches kept flying in. A shout tore through my throat against my better interest and soon enough I was crying, letting Mark hit me all over my face and body.

     Normally, Mark would stop and cradle me in his arms but now, it didn't look like that was going to happen. Everywhere hurt and I felt like I was choking on something.

     If Marcie didn't come into the room when she did, Lord knows I would have broken more than just my ribs and nose. Something else was at the verge of shattering.

__________________________
Well, that's sad.
Ian at the top because why not?

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