This wasn't Supposed to be a Romance Story

“You said that this was going to be a simple prank! This isn’t ‘simple’ at all!” 

“Hush, will you? We’ve already made it past the point of no return. You’re in this for the long run now. So, shut up, and take these.” 

“W-wait a minute! Ow! These are…no. No, no, no. I did not agree to this! You said we were just going to mess with them a little bit, you did not mention anything about rope or ball gags or–”

“Relax. We’re not kidnapping them, but we can’t let them get away either. It’s a temporary thing. Listen, we’re just going to tie them up to make sure we don’t get jacked in the face, then we’ll take the pics we need and be on our way. That’s not so bad, now, is it?”

“And what about when we untie them? How are we going to get away from that? One of them is the running back of the team! They’re going to pummel us! We’re going to be ground beef before we make it out the window.” 

“Well…” 

“Niko, what is that?” 

“Er–you know–a little nap won’t hurt anyone.” 

“A little nap! Niko, that’s a smoke bomb! Where did you even–? Nevermind. You know what? I’m out.” 

I stood up and started out of the bush when Niko grabbed me by the arm. 

“You promised you would do this for me,” he said. “After what they did.” 

I had promised–and screw my guilty conscience because I never wanted to go this far. I just thought that we would be taking a few blackmail photos of them in the shower or something, not drugging and tying them up and who knows what else! 

Despite my internal protests, I knelt back down. It was also true that what they had done to Niko was far worse than anything he brought today. At least there weren’t any weapons (if nitrous oxide smoke bombs didn’t count). 

“Do you even know how to use that stuff?” I asked, nodding to the bomb. “You know too much of that can kill someone right?” 

“Buzz off, Candy. I know what I’m doing.” 

“Sure you do.” I didn’t even know what you were doing until now–how can I trust that? 

The sun wasn’t set until late that evening, since it was mid-November, so we waited in the bushes together. Then, Niko gave the signal, swiping his hand forward, and we darted across the front lawn to the first-story window.

Of course this is his room, I thought. Easier to sneak out on the first floor. 

Conveniently for us, it was also easier to sneak in. 

Where Niko learnt to break into windows, I did not know and didn’t care to ask. He grunted as he pushed the window up and we quickly climbed inside, taking our positions on either side of the bedroom door. 

“When he comes in, we jump,” he said, tossing me the other side of the rope. “We have to be quick.” 

“He’s going to kill us.” 

“Yeah, well, I can’t die twice,” grumbled Niko. 

They hadn’t literally tried to kill him or anything, but they did a number on his reputation when they forced him out of the closet at the homecoming game. Since then, only Travis and I were still willing to hang around him. 

I mean, he was our band mate, our family. We couldn’t just abandon him like that. When his family kicked him out, we were all he had left. 

“Now!” 

Oh crap, I wasn’t paying attention. I missed the cue and was too late to get the rope around Graham’s body–not that we would have succeeded anyway, he was bigger than the two of us put together. A single flex could have busted the rope. 

“Niko? Candy?” He lowered his arms. 

I hardly knew Graham. Well, I knew him as well as I knew any of the football team players, which was all thanks to the fair amount of rumors floating about the school. So perhaps it was more accurate to say that I didn’t know him at all. I knew a picture of him.

I also knew that he was the one who outed Niko at halftime when he turned to his buddies at the bench and let loose a series of obnoxious queer jokes just as Niko walked by. Now Niko’s sexuality was a moderated secret, but his temper was not. He rushed them and tackled Graham to the ground, where they wrestled until he called him out on it: 

“What the heck, man? What–are you gay or something?” 

I say it was a secret, but if you had one conversation with Niko, you would know. By that logic, the whole school pretty much knew about it because he was a social butterfly, but there was a difference between knowing about it and accepting it outright. Maybe the school knew it, and quietly tolerated it, but no one talked about it. No one acknowledged it. Out of sight, out of mind, and in a few months, he would have made it to senior year without the hassle of jeering classmates or dirty looks in the hall. 

Yet thanks to this idiot, walking through the school hall was like walking through a minefield and he came home to our garage miserable every day. 

Until today, when he decided he’d had enough and he would get his revenge on Graham with ropes and gags and laughing gas and a camera. 

Except Graham now saw all of these things and already escaped phase one. 

“Oh man, dude,” Graham sighed, running a hand through his hair when he saw the hot tears welling in Niko’s eyes. “I heard about what happened with your family and all. I didn’t mean to–look, I know there’s no excuse for it but–” 

“Shut up!” 

Clearly, Niko didn’t know what he was doing. He tossed the smoke bomb and detonated it with the click of a button on his belt–and we were all caught in the crossfire. 

To be honest, I expected to wake up in jail, but when I opened my eyes I was still on Graham’s bedroom floor, listening to Niko and Graham laughing as they tore at each other’s clothes, nuzzled noses and kissed. 

I put my head back down and closed my eyes again, succumbing to the hazy fact that I would never understand high school.