“What’s the special occasion?” Kyle’s voice invades our bubble, and I turn to see him standing alongside us.
“Nothing that concerns you,” I say, not in the mood for any of his bullshit tonight.
“Oh come on, Choi. Don’t be like that, I’m just trying to be friendly,” Kyle says with a smile, though it’s anything but friendly. “It sounded as though you were celebrating Donovan’s first time at something?”
Donovan flinches next to me so I stand a bit taller and broaden my shoulders. “I said it’s nothing that concerns you.”
“Yeah, you’re right, virgins don’t interest me, especially when they’re frigid.”
I don’t even think, my fist connects with Kyle’s face, something cracking on impact. Blood gushes from his nose and onto his shirt as he lets out an angry scream, “You broke my fucking nose!”
Donovan
“Yeah, you’re right, virgins don’t interest me, especially when they’re frigid.”
Kyle’s words feel like a hit to the stomach, but before I can fully process them, his head jerks and blood gushes fromhis nose. Stephen turns to me, shaking out his hand… Holy shit, he punched him.
“You broke my fucking nose!” Kyle screams.
I instantly go into flight mode and as the bouncers make their way towards us across the courtyard, I grab Stephen’s hand and pull him along with me, running away and leaving Kyle in a bloody mess. I lead us through the mass of writhing bodies on the dance floor and out of the entrance. Once in the street, Stephen pulls me to a stop.
“I know I shouldn’t have done that, but it felt really fucking good,” he says. “Are you okay though? What he said—”
“I’ll be fine,” I interrupt, “right now we need to focus on getting out of here, who knows how many friends Kyle has in there to come after us.”
He nods in agreement. “Good point, let’s go.”
We hurry back to campus, barely talking as we go, only stopping once we’re safe in our room. Stephen sits on his bed, head in his hands; he’s whispering but the words make no sense to me. I grab some ice from our mini fridge and wrap it in a towel before sitting next to him.
“Here, for your hand.”
“Oh, thanks,” he says, holding it to his knuckles.
I nudge him playfully. “Shouldn’t you be looking after your hands, aren’t they insured like other pro-athletes?”
“Not yet,” he chuckles, “maybe I should though if I’m going to start punching people. Shit, I really shouldn’t have done that, if he reports it, it might go on my record.”
“Kyle would be stupid to report it, there were so many witnesses there who heard what he said, he won’t come off in a good light.”
“Yeah, maybe, it was still stupid though.”
“Stupid as it was… thank you. It means a lot that you stood up for me like that.”
“Anytime.” He nudges me back and smiles.
“I don’t know what I did to make him so angry,” I say. “After that one interaction we had, did it really warrant him calling me out like that?”
“He wasn’t calling you out, he was being an asshole and spouting bullshit. He thinks he’s god’s gift to guys and I doubt he’s been rejected before, he’s bitter.”
“I’d hardly call what happened a rejection, more like I panicked and ran.”
“To Kyle that will be a rejection,” he says. “He needs to be in control, and not in a good way.”
“Hmm, even so, I’m not thrilled about the fact that loads of people heard I’m a virgin. I mean, technically I’m not, I had sex with a girl once… but I guess I am when it comes to guys.”
“Donovan, no one in there would have given a shit either way. Virginity is a social construct, the entire rhetoric around it is bullshit.”
I can’t help but laugh. “You just sounded so much like Beth, that’s exactly something she would say.”
