New Best Friends 
Jared slammed his locker shut not caring that the metallic clang echoed through the otherwise silent hallway. He let his forehead rest on the cool metal doing his best to calm his breathing. Late again for another fun filled day in this homophobic ass wipe school.

Why did his father take the fucking transfer? It was bad enough in Vancouver knowing you were gay, but at least there were others just like you. You stood a chance of surviving until you graduated. But here, Christ, they all drove pickup trucks, each one complete with a barking dog in the back.

He abruptly turned ready to head to his first class smacking into someone who was quietly passing by. Their heads thunked together sending both of them reeling back a couple of steps. “Fuck man watch where you’re going” a boy stood in front of Jared rubbing his head with the palm of his hand.

“Sorry” Jared mumbled, his eyes were blurred with tears from the unexpected pain. He managed to look at the boy standing in front of him. Their eyes locked. Hazel eyes looked deep within the sapphire blue ones and if Gaydar was sonar you’d have heard the pings in every corner of the school.

The Adonis in the leather jacket, tight blue jeans and plaid flannel couldn’t take his eyes off the new kid. “Brian” he said.

“Jared”

“New here?”

“Yeah”

“That sucks”

“Well I could if you want.” Jared smiled pretending to mishear what Brian had said.

The grin that spread across Brian’s face spoke volumes. “You like sports?”

“Only close contact ones.”

“Need a ride home after school?”

“You drive a truck?”

“Yep, got a dog too.” Brian looked over his shoulder. “I plan on staying alive until I graduate. I like to think of it as my disguise.” 

“Want a new best friend?”

“Does he like to have sleep overs?”
Both sets of eyes were drawn to the straining fronts of their jeans. They looked up at each other and grinned. “Want to skip; we can come back at break?” Brian said.

“I do feel the need for a high protein snack.” Jared was doing his best not to bounce up and down, maybe do a Snoopy happy dance or two. “I am a growing boy”

“I see that” Brian looked around; the hall was still empty of students and teachers. “I know a quiet spot by the river where you could get one.”

Jared didn’t need to be asked twice. He shouldered his backpack and started walking quickly toward the side entrance of the school. Brian had to run to catch up. “Not been getting much action since you moved here eh?” whispered Brian as they burst through the double doors.

The soft lips that brushed his in a fast kiss, so fast that it almost didn’t register spoke volumes. Brian smiled to himself as they walked to the large red truck parked at the end of the student’s lot. Sure enough a slobbery brown dog poked his head up over the tail gate, thumped his tail twice and lay back down.

Later when the two of them were sitting on the bank of the river, both of them still tingling, the taste of each other in the backs of their throats, Jared couldn’t help but think that the move hadn’t been so bad after all. With Brian as his friend for the next eight months until graduation anything was possible.