Bobby was shaken up when we left the theater. As we stood in the lobby, he was trying to hold back from crying because he didn’t want people to see him. I put my arm around him and could feel him trembling. An old woman even stopped us and asked if he was all right.
By the time we left, he was feeling a little better. We still hadn’t talked about what had happened. I was pretty sure that Scott hadn’t hurt him. If I hadn’t arrived when I did though, it is hard to say what might have happened.
As we walked through the mall, I turned when I heard someone running up from behind. At first, I was afraid it was Scott. Instead, it was Ryan.
“Wait a minute,” he said breathlessly. “Can I talk to you guys?”
“What about Scott?” I asked angrily.
“He’s still back at the restroom nursing those kicks you gave him.” He sounded as angry as I was.
“Good. He deserved it,” I said.
“So, can we talk?” He gave me a pleading look.
“Sure,” I replied as Bobby and I continued to walk through the mall. I had no reason to be angry at Ryan. Other than having a bad choice in boyfriends, he seemed like a pretty nice guy.
“I’m Ryan,” he said as he stopped and turned toward us.
“Mark. This here is Bobby.” His features were very striking. He had beautiful gray eyes, or at least they appeared gray. His soft brown hair flowed down just above his shoulders. He had really sexy lips. I couldn’t help but stare at him.
“I get that a lot,” he laughed.
“What?” I was embarrassed that he had caught me staring at him.
“People looking at me. It’s awkward sometimes,” he said sadly.
“Sorry,” I said. I guess I never thought about how sometimes good looks could be a curse.
“You all right, Man?” he asked, putting his hand on Bobby’s shoulder. Bobby flinched at first but relaxed when he realized that Ryan posed no threat to him.
“Yes, I think so. I’m pretty scared though. He was trying to rape me.” I looked at him and saw tears in his eyes. I reached over and held him while he softly sobbed into my shoulder. Ryan gently rubbed his back.
“I’m really sorry,” said Ryan as he looked around to see if anyone was watching us.
“It’s not your fault,” Bobby said as he sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes.
“What’s with Scott?” Ryan asked. “I’ve never seen him act like that before.”
“Can we go somewhere at talk?” I asked. I thought that Ryan needed to know what Scott was doing at school, but I didn’t want to discuss it in a crowded mall.
He looked at his watch. “The food court is open until 11. It’s only 9:30.”
We walked quietly to the food court. Ryan kept looking back to see if Scott was following us, but he wasn’t.
We spent the next half hour talking about Scott. We told him how he had outed us to the school and how he had been threatening us. I even told him how I had gotten suspended for three days because of him. Ryan didn’t say much. He listened to us talk and shook his head as we told him about Scott’s behavior.
He told us how he had met Scott. They had been standing in line for a ride at a local amusement park during the summer. They started talking and ended up riding the ride four times together. He said that Scott asked his uncle if he could spend the night with him. They had been boyfriends since that night. They got together on the weekends and chatted online almost daily. I looked over at Bobby and gave him a knowing smile.
“Should we tell him?” I looked over at Bobby for his approval. He nodded his head.
“What?” Ryan asked.
“We’re trying to get revenge on Scott,” I informed him. I told him how Bobby had put posters all over school with his parents' pictures, but it didn’t seem to have had much of an effect.
“From what you’ve told me,” he said angrily, "someone needs to get him. After tonight, I might do it."
We sat quietly for a few minutes. I looked over at Bobby, and he was deep in thought. I knew he was thinking about how we could get revenge on Scott.
“I’m such a fool,” Ryan said sadly. “He told me he loved me. I believed him.”
“That’s it!” Bobby said excitedly. “We can use that against him.” Ryan and I gave him a puzzled look.
“How far are you willing to go to get even with him?” Bobby asked Ryan.
“After tonight, I’d be willing to do anything,” he replied.
“Anything?” Bobby asked.
“Anything,” Ryan stated again. Bobby looked at me and gave me a big grin.
“I think we have Plan B,” he smiled broadly.
“What?” I asked. I could tell by the expression on his face that he had devised a good plan.
“Not yet,” he said. “I need to think about this for a while. We can’t make any mistakes.”
I frowned, but I knew Bobby. He wouldn’t tell me until he was ready. We talked a little longer and then Ryan called his dad to come get him. We exchanged phone numbers and told Ryan we’d get back with him sometime during the week. He seemed as excited as us about getting even with Scott.
We both decided to return to my house when Mom picked us up. Bobby called his dad and got permission to spend the night. It was after midnight when we finally went up to my room. We quickly undressed and crawled into bed. Bobby scooted over and curled up beside me, pulling me into him.
“I love you,” he whispered. “You saved my life tonight.”
“I love you too,” I replied as I hugged him tightly. “I would have killed him if he had hurt you.”
“It looked like you were trying to,” he said. “The way you kept kicking him.”
“It crossed my mind,” I confessed. “But I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison and never be able to see you again.”
He laid his head on my chest.
“You know the worst part,” he said softly. “I could feel him trying to rape me.” He stopped talking and started to cry.
“I kept thinking that I always wanted you to be my first. I thought he was going to take that away from me.” I wrapped my arms around him tighter.
“I will be, Bobby. Whenever you’re ready.” I clutched him tightly. “I love you.”
“I know. I love you too.” He nestled comfortably into me.
“Have I told you I love you?” I said while kissing his neck.
He giggled and replied, “Yeah. About three times in the last five minutes.”
“Then I guess I owe you about ten more.” We quickly fell asleep in each other’s arms. I slept one of the most peaceful nights I could remember in a long time.
We woke up when the sun came peeping through the curtains. We got dressed and headed into the kitchen just as the doorbell rang. I walked over and opened the door to a smiling Richard and Randall.
“What’s up, Guys?” I said. They walked into the kitchen and sat down. Bobby came around and grabbed me by my waist. He stood on his tiptoes and put his head on my shoulder, grinning down at our guests.
“How was the movie last night?” Randall asked. “Tell me it was good, please. I’m taking Richard there tonight.” He reached over and grabbed Richard’s hand and held it.
“You won’t believe what happened!” Bobby exclaimed. We spent the ten minutes telling them how we had seen Scott and Ryan at the movie. We told them what we saw Scott doing to Ryan in the theater.
When I told them about Scott trying to rape Bobby in the boys’ restroom, they both became angry. We had to talk Randall out of going down the street and beating Scott up right then. He was mad. He walked out the back door and paced around in the back yard for a while, trying to cool off. Richard followed meekly behind him, unsure of what to do.
When they came back in, Randall had finally calmed down. Richard grabbed his hand and held it tightly. They had just met, but they seemed to be silently communicating well with one another.
“I’m going to kill him,” he threatened. “Let me him alone somewhere and I’m going to mess his pretty face up.” His voice was filled with anger. “No one touches my friend and gets away with it.” He looked over at Bobby.
“I have a better idea,” Bobby said. “And we won’t have to go to jail.”
“What is it?” I asked. I could tell that he had been giving this some thought for several days.
“Plan B,” he said.
“What’s Plan B?” We all asked in unison. Bobby looked at us and grinned.
We sat at the table and Bobby explained how he was going to pay Scott back. He was going to expose him as the hypocrite that he was. He had been going around school telling everyone how he and I were gay, when he was himself. Bobby was intent on outing him to the school the same way he had done us.
“And how do you plan to go about doing this? I asked somewhat suspiciously. “He’s not just going to come right out and admit it.”
“Then we need pictures,” Bobby replied. “Ryan said he wants to get even too. We’ll call him and arrange for them to go to the movies again. We’ll sit behind them and I can use my phone and take pictures like we did with Amy.”
“It’s too dark in a theater,” Richard said. “No one will be able to see what’s going on.”
Bobby frowned. He knew Richard was right. “Then we need to find a place where they can have sex where we can take pictures.” He looked around the room hoping someone could come up with a better idea.
“I got it!” I screamed. Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? Aunt Janice would be away next weekend. We could use her house. Scott knew that Ryan lived in Riverside. Ryan could say that my aunt’s house was a relative of his and that they were away for the weekend. Bobby and I could hide in a closet and videotape them having sex.
“Mark!” Bobby screamed. “That’s it!” He leaned over and gave me a big kiss on the lips. “All we have to do is convince Ryan. After last night I think he’ll be more than happy to pay Scott back.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Richard asked excitedly. He was as anxious to see that Scott got what was coming to him as anyone else. “I really want to nail him. This just might work.”
“I have a Plan C,” Randall said with a grin. He looked at us and started laughing.
“What?” I asked.
“Can’t tell you guys, except Richard,” he said. “I don’t want you involved. You’re already taking a big risk with this.” He looked over and gave Richard a wink.
“Revenge!” I screamed. I put my hand on the table. Bobby put his on mine, and then Richard and Randall placed theirs on top.
“Revenge!” We all shouted at the same time.