William 

"Ok, so it was an accident," Harlow said ignoring my comment, "And who were you going to send it to?"

"The owner of the jersey." I whispered, fighting against my instinct to pull my hand away from hers in order to crouch into a smaller ball.  

"Is he your boyfriend?" She whispered.

"No. No... Austin and I... we are not like that." I fought the urge to say we were never like that. If anything I barely existed to him except for that one time.

"Ok...then why were you sending it to him?" 

Harlow's questions were increasingly probing, and they made me feel exposed in ways I didn't think I would ever be ready for. I shrugged, "It's stupid." 

"We are sitting in the dark holding hands and I feel like my oxygen might run out any second now...all we can do is talk about stupid stuff," She huffed. 

"We hooked up." 

Harlow was silent for a very long time and I wasn't sure if I was meant to take the silence as shock or as a silent plea of go-on. Instead of saying anything I waited beside her. 

"Ok. And..."

"We only hooked up once," I whispered before automatically saying, "It's not like I am gay or anything. We just... I just. We got stuck at a bus stop one time and my mum came to pick me up but she invited him over because we couldn't just let him get wet out there all alone. So he came over and I don't know how but late at night when everyone had gone to bed we just... We just... He ... I don't know ...we just made out a little bit and then we ended up in bed." 

Ok, so it wasn't a little bit but remembering that night always prompted feelings I didn't like addressing so getting everything out fast while I still could was the only way.

Harlow squeezed my hand, "So you slept with him?" 

I groaned internally because this girl couldn't leave well enough alone, "Yeah, kind of. Not exactly."

"Did he force you?" 

"No. I wanted it. I wanted to... but that doesn't make me gay, ok."

"Listen to me Will'os, you don't have to remind me you are not gay. Ok?" Harlow squeezed my hand and I nodded hoping the movement would travel to her somehow. She squeezed my hand again and continued, "I won't force you to be anything you are not. But if you need to convince someone else here who isn't me then you might have a pro...you might need to re-evaluate what you know."

Way to go Will. Made your Best friend think you have some sort of mental condition that warrants her worrying about you. I pulled at my shorts with my free hand and squeezed Harlow's hand with my other one. Squeezing her hand was the most I could do without speaking and I was sure If I spoke one more time I was sure to blurt out that I wasn't gay. 

"Ok now that we have gotten that out of the way. Tell me about the shirt and the snap?" 

"I don't know. I just. He never texted me after that day so I figured I would try and..."

The silence lingered between us and Harlow shifted beside me.

"I don't know, get him to reply. I lost my cool for a second and in a momentary daze of stupidness. I put his shirt on and took the snap. And well, instead of sending it to one person I ended up putting it on my public story for everyone to see..."

"Oh."

"It was stupid. I know."

"It wasn't smart. But it wasn't stupid either. It was very brave of you." Harlow squeezed my hand gently this time, "So... What did he say." 

"I switched off my phone." I whispered.

"All this drama and you didn't even check if you got a snap back?" Her voice sounded incredulous. 

I groaned trying to figure out how I could explain the stress I had endured from said snap. Instead I shrugged and hoped Harlow would just leave it alone. 

But of course, she didn't. 

"Don't you think we should check?"

"No." I said pulling my hand out of hers. What would be the point if he didn't even respond after all I had gone through. Besides the only notification that I saw regarding that snap was that one one weirdo who took a screenshot and that definitely wasn't Austin. 

 Harlow grasped fingers in a tight grip and moved even closer to me. I rolled my eyes and continued, "It was stupid and I think we have spoken about this enough. Can we pretend it didn't happen? I don't even know what I am going to do on Monday."

Harlow shuffled again, when she spoke her voice came out a tad bit shaky, "Oh I can help you fix this. Don't worry about it. I might not be straight but I know how straight people think...I think." 

I didn't get to reply because Harlow flinched and practically plastered herself to my side, "Not to scare you or anything but..." Harlow leaned into my ear and whispered, "I think something is in here with us."

I contemplated telling her it was just the shirt hanging weirdly from the hanger but the idea of revenge sounded so much better. So with my voice low and my lips just beside her ear I whispered, "Now that you mentioned it... I think one of my brothers lost their pet snake somewhere in h..."

I didn't get to finish my sentence before Harlow was jumping out of the closet, "Nope. No. No thank you. I did not come out all those years ago just to get mauled to death by a snake. Do you know what those things do." Harlow shuddered as she dusted herself of as if she had actually touched the snake. 

I held my laughter for a good thirty seconds before I doubled over laughing. 

Harlow glared at me and whispered, "That's cold Will'os. Real cold."

I grinned tumbling out of the closet, "It's only a shirt in the dark, Harl's. It's not that deep."

Harlow narrowed her eyes and whispered, "Revenge is a dish best served cold, Will'os." 

The threat of her revenge left me feeling a bit more normal despite the apprehension worming under my skin.