Page 12 of His Secret

I relax a little. “Hmm.”

“Will you lie back down? You can go to sleep. I promise I won’t bother you anymore.” He gives me a crooked smile.

“Fine. But going to sleep with this information is going to be hard.”

“Why?”

I shake my head. “Never mind. Good night. Or morning.”

He chuckles. “Night.”

My mind will not shut down. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been awake for like eighteen hours. I’m wired, trying to understand how the guy I’ve been crushing on is now telling me he’s also into guys, and I’m in his fucking bed. Okay, it’s not like we’re sleeping together. We’re still just friends. But come on.

“You’re moving an awful lot for someone who’s supposed to be asleep,” Adrian says, his voice scratchy.

“Well, you’re clearly awake.”

“You keep stealing the covers every time you move. It wakes me up.”

“Sorry.”

“Turn around.”

I roll over onto my other side and find him in the mirrored position.

“What do you want to know?”

“When did you know?” I ask, already having thought about twenty questions.

“Pretty early on. Middle school maybe.”

“You’ve never thought to tell anyone?”

“No,” he says, drawing out the word. “Remember mementioning my dictator parents? Yeah, well, they would never be okay with that. I couldn’t risk them finding out. I overheard plenty of conversations that made it clear what they thought about gay people.”

“That’s sad.”

“We can’t choose our parents.”

“No, but you can choose your family. You can find people who will accept and love you regardless, and you make a point to keep them close.”

“Do you have a chosen family like that?”

“Not really,” I say after a few seconds. “But I have my parents. They’re good people. I’m just not good at putting myself out there and making friends. Too introverted, I suppose.”

“We’re friends.”

“Yeah, well, you kind of forced yourself on me.”

He laughs. “God, don’t say it like that.”

I snort. “I’m glad you told me.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “And I promise I won’t tell anyone. It’s your secret and it’ll stay between you and me.”

“Thank you,” he says with a smile. After a few seconds he says, “Can I ask you another question?”

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