Adam sighed. “Bye, Nate.”
He left the workout area, his mind spinning so fast he was dizzy. He showered and changed on autopilot and then sat down on the bench. He texted his dad, asking for a ride, not sure about all the things in his head about Ru. It had to be an old picture. Probablythepicture that Ru said had outed him. Outed him to the world.Crap. Ru really was famous. A celebrity. Why hadn’t he said anything? Didn’t he trust Adam?
Ru’s hand landed on his shoulder. “Can we talk?”
“Is what he said the truth?”
“About what? Who I am, or all the guys the media says I’m screwing?”
Adam folded his arms around his head, bowing down over his knees, a rush of tears filling his eyes. He fought to keep them from falling. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? I mean, it makes sense. You sing nice and play the guitar really well. And since you’re always working weird hours and stuff. I just thought you trusted me.”
“I do.”
“Then why not tell me?”
“It’s not easy for a lot of people to take. And after what happened with Kris, I’m a little more cautious.”
“Distrustful,” Adam clarified.
“It doesn’t change anything,” Ru insisted. “I’m still crazy about you. I’m still the guy you’ve been hanging out with for the past couple weeks. The stuff in the magazines and TV, that’s all for show. The hair, the makeup. You have to understand that. And there is no one but you. Please believe me.”
“I don’t know.” Adam needed to talk to someone, his dad, his mom, someone not Ru. “Can I talk with you tomorrow? Can I just have the night to sort it all out?” Adam couldn’t look at him; he would shatter into a thousand pieces if he did.
“Okay,” Ru whispered, hurt in his voice. “Let me take you home.”
Adam waved him away. “My dad’s on the way.”
The silence lasted so long Adam almost looked up, but he knew what he’d see on Ru’s face: the worry, the hurt, the fear. He hated putting it there, but he needed time to think.
“Promise me you’ll talk to me before you make assumptions,” Ru finally said. “I know your brain is running away with this, but you can ask me anything. Promise you won’t shut me out forever.”
“I will. I promise. I just need to talk to my parents. I just need a little bit of time to process everything. And I think I just came out.” He was pretty sure Nate would be off telling everyone he was gay and that it would be the buzz of the school by tomorrow morning.
“Okay. Is it all right if I wait until your dad gets here? I just wanna make sure you get home safe.”
Adam nodded, and stared at his feet, not wanting to see the pain in Ru’s face. They sat in silence until his dad appeared. The man shot a questioning look at Ru but led Adam out of the building and into the car without asking a thing. Adam waited until the car headed toward home before letting the tears ago.
When he could talk, he told his dad everything. It felt good to let it all out, and it didn’t hurt as much once he’d put it all on the table. None of it was life ending. He didn’t really believe that Ru was cheating on him. And finding out his boyfriend was famous wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to him, though he was unsure of what it meant for them as a couple.
His father, as usual, was very rational. “I can certainly understand him not walking up to you and saying ‘Hey, I’m famous, wanna go out with me?’”
Adam laughed. The idea a bit ridiculous. “Why me?”
“Why not you?”
Adam shrugged. “I’m nothing special. And he’s a rock star.”
“He’s still a person. And a guy you really like.”
Yes. Insanely like. Love even. Maybe? Was this love.
They made their way into the house. The smell of cookies baking hit him and made his stomach growl in a happy dance. How many times had his mother made those awesome cookies to pull him out of some weird funk? How had she known? He smiled at her as he sat down at the kitchen counter. His dad filled her in on the events of the day. She just nodded, then took another batch out of the oven.
While Adam munched on a handful of cookies, she played with her iPad, finally pausing to turn it his way. “Is this the picture Nate showed you?” She held up an enlarged picture of Ru kissing the other guy.
Adam flinched. “Yeah.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” his mom said. “Kris Turlington, it says. Apparently the guy was cheating on Ru with a half-dozen other guys. The picture is from over seven months ago.” She navigated to another screen. There were pictures of a smiling Ru with an older guy, both glammed up like the picture that Ru had sent Adam late one night. “The other guy in this picture is Tommy Foster, former bandmate to Ru. They are supposed to be really good friends. This picture was about two weeks ago. There are a lot of rumors about them being a couple, but both deny it.” Tommy had his arm around Ru’s shoulders, and they looked comfortable together. The picture showed a level of intimacy that made Adam jealous.
