Victory had been achieved, even if it's a short-lived one. My selfish dream had been achieved. He made it possible for it to work. At that moment, I didn't care whether or not the people would hate me or question me. I may not have lived with the negativity he has for all of my life like but I had to ask when I got the chance. Hell, I may not even have the same sexuality yet here I am finding interest in dating a boy. Funny if it were the dream watching that made me gay, or if anything, made me realize it or perhaps I'm only into boys who turn into spiders overnight. Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt to try. Just because some old, small town fools don't approve of it doesn't mean it could never happen.

Eighth period ended finally after my internal spiel, people rising from their square desks made of neatly shaven wood with plastic stools and chairs being tossed into each other as everybody else swarmed out. I still had Thomas' number in my contacts, so I decided to try and text him something simple, a greeting. When a few moments passed, I made my way out of the now vacant classroom, hiding my phone in my pocket quietly.

As I stepped outside, the soft breeze sifted through the fur I adorned, sending a bizarre tingling sensation foreign to me while I walked out of the school. When the school doors shut behind me, another chill shot through me. An aura of pure perfume walked along the space around me, brushing up against me that kicked my attention away from my surroundings and instead to who was right beside me, causing me to ignore the rumbling in my pockets.

She wasn't in a sleep state, bearing a pure white skin hue and thin, sparse clothing that barely cloaked her body. Her hair was a bright blonde saturated beyond belief to the point it hurt to look at. Instead of bearing a backpack, she had a decently sized bookbag strung on her shoulder like a large purse suspended in the air. "Hey," She waved at me, a kind yet sly tone washed over it. "Heard you came here recently."

"I have," I answered, standing still so that it was easier to converse. "Who are you?"

"You don't know me?" She blinked. "I'm Tam. It's a pleasure to meet you, Spencer."

"You know my name?"

"Of course I do!" Tam gasped. "I try to know people's names before I meet them."

"Why's that?"

"Makes talking less awkward," She positioned herself so that she stood in front of me. "You know, my sleep state is a deer too."

"Is that so?" I blinked in surprise. I didn't know two people could have similar sleep states. "Is that normal?" I queried.

"I don't think so," Tam smiled. "Maybe that means we're like-minded."

"I'm not sure," I shrugged. "It could just be a coincidence."

"A coincidence?" Tam glanced at something behind me, which made me turn to see what she could've gestured to. Beside the school doors was a group of girls, around four or so, giggling and watching our conversation unfold. "I don't think it is," She stated, pulling my attention back to her with a vague rope. "You see, I've... I've wanted to get to know you, so𑁋"

"I'm sorry but𑁋"

"Let me finish!" Tam exclaimed, cutting me cleanly off. "I was wondering if you had the time for a𑁋"

"I'm sorry but no." I sighed. "I have plans today."

"Then maybe tomorrow?"

"I don't know." I murmured. "I've been planning on spending time‒"
"With somebody else?" Tam added meekly, stepping backwards from my position.

"...A friend," I answered.

"You know it's obvious..." Tam muttered.

I blinked, my eyes trained on where she was staring at now. They were concentrated solely on me, ripping through my flesh and gnawing on the remains. "Wh-what are you saying‒"

"You already have a girlfriend," Tam crossed her arms.

"I don't," I shook my head.

"You do," Tam looked down. "Otherwise, otherwise you..."

"I what?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I need you..." She growled quietly, a desperate string of saliva exiting her lips. Her eyes no longer met mine. They pinned my feet down to the ground with even sharper daggers than before. My feet were practically planted to the ground, unable to move an inch. When my lips trembled open, she stomped a foot forward before collapsing onto her knees pathetically. "I... n-need you..." She sobbed, holding her hands over her eyes.

My head creaked back behind me to the group of girls chortling at the sight of Tam, covering their mouths with wide smiles and smirks. When I returned my vision to her, she was staring up at me. "Can we please...?"

"...Why is it that you need me?" I asked softly, kneeling down to meet face level with her.

"I'm... not in the best position right now," Tam muttered. "I really need a boyfriend. My last one broke up with me a few weeks ago and none of the boys I had a crush on seem to care about my existence anymore. I wanted to ask you out. You're rich, tall, strong, handsome. You're everything a girl is attracted to‒"

"No I'm not," My head slid into a tilt. "I'm just a dude. My riches mean nothing in how‒"

Then the world momentarily stopped moving. My body stopped being able to perceive time and the space happening around me. She was directly in front of me, eating my face. If anything, she was trying to ferociously devour it, pin me to the ground and consume me like roadkill. Her arms were in a deadlock around my back, clinging to me with such force that could easily snuff the air out of any unexercised human. A slimy tendril kept trying to enter through my lips, attempting to coerce them to open but to no avail. Shock began to trickle out of my body as I grabbed her by the shoulders and gently pushed her off of me, sending her dramatically tumbling to the ground, panting. "You don't... do that..." Tam grumbled animalistically, a monstrous visage painting her expression.

"You don't suddenly try and kiss someone!" I exclaimed. "I wanted to see if you were okay‒"

"I am okay!" Tam yelled. "I felt... you felt‒"

"I don't care how you felt!" I bolted to my feet. "Don't do that again to anyone ever."

"Why do you h-hate me...?" Tam vibrated, scooting away from me.

Do I hate her? Hate is only applied to those who truly deserve it. She did force herself on me and she didn't care about what I told her. What she did wasn't villainous or heinous, though. I don't hate her. "Why would you think that?" I asked out loud.

"Because you aren't saying yes..." Tam whined. "Everyone says yes. Everyone wants..."

"The girls here are all like this," A rejoiced voice returned to my eardrums. Thomas returned, stepping beside me. "She does that to every boy." He huffed.

"Shut up..." Tam sat up, growling. "Nobody likes you..."

"I do," I swiftly responded, patting Thomas' head.

"He's the one getting your attention?" Tam gasped, standing straight on her feet. "Don't you know he likes men? He probably has a cr-crush on you. Isn't that weird? Uncomfortable?"

I shrugged, "I don't really care if he's gay or not. We're just nice friends to each other."

Thomas' array of eyes were drawn to me, glistening similarly to before. An entire galaxy of purely stars likely populated the innards of his vision with all of the sparkling wonder drooling from his eyeballs.

"So you go to his house?" Tam crossed her arms.

"He wants me to look at his dreams," Thomas shrugged, a dead stare being given to Tam with an unrelenting brutality cutting into her body eight different times. "That is the only reason I go. He's new. It's understandable that he wants me to see them because it's interesting to him. Plus, these sessions are not intimate, something you seemed to fail to understand."

"You hugged me..." Tam murmured.

"An embrace doesn't immediately lead to sex," Thomas scoffed. "Now go away. Your next hundredth boyfriend isn't standing before you now."

"Stupid g... stupid..." Tam grumbled, returning to the group of now guffawing friends.

Thomas quickly snatched me with every single one of his circle of arms, dragging my feet across the sidewalk roughly with a strength I could've never anticipated. "Don't talk to anybody who does that," He warned.

"Why?" I squeaked.

"They act like they're in a romance novel," Thomas grumbled. "Much like you do but way worse and way more obnoxious."

"What do you mean?"

"What else do I mean?" Thomas groaned. "They act like finding a boyfriend is going to jumpstart their adult life of seven children, huge house, and eternal relaxation, so they reenact the drama of kissing boys other people want so that they get jealous and mad, then run off with the boy that everyone said was destined for him and all hate you."

"Um..." I blinked.

"Then they forget you and make fun of you," Thomas mumbled. "Then they live on and she has a perfect life leeching off of her prince forever because she did everything in her power to make sure she was the princess and you were nothing!"

"Are you okay?"

"No I'm not!" Thomas stopped yanking me to the middle of nowhere. We were already past the path to my place, near a forested area close to the suburban area for those in poverty. Other than the sidewalk beneath our feet and the houses that were blotted out by wooden fences and depraved trees, it was desolate. Not a single soul surrounded us. It was a quiet place with nowhere to sit other than the bench that silently sat behind both of us. Each of Thomas' breaths were heavy, pulling his face down to the earth below him with a strength stronger than gravity and the wind bumbling by us. "They're gonna start spreading shit about you and me. Then, one of us will slip up. Finally, someone steals you from me and gloats about it while you can't do anything about it because then she'll hurt you countless times, over and over again until you can't leave anymore forever and ever and ever! It's pointless. Every endeavor is pointless. If I keep going, every single person in this town will stop it with every fiber in their being and make me miserable, my parents even more mad at me, and more people hating me. I don't want everyone to be gone again. I don't want everyone to stop loving me again. I don't want... I don't..."

"Hey, calm down‒"

"I c-can't..." Thomas swiftly seated himself down on the bench, holding his hands over each eye, minus two small ones that presented a fraction of his armada of tears.

It was difficult to comprehend everything that he mentioned. Steal me from him? Even if he said no to trying to date, is he not denying he's attracted to me or wants me to be with him? Everything that happened to him caused him to think the way he does, right? I have to ask. So, disregarding anything that could possibly be caused by this query, I asked him, "Can you tell me what happened to you that's caused you to be like this...?"

"There's no point..." Thomas muttered. "Even if I tell you, what's it going to do? Will people hurt me more? Will people want me to avoid them more? Will my parents love me?"

"Your parents don't love you?"

"They never did," Thomas murmured. "I wish they did. Then they wouldn't yell at me for things that happened before he vanished..."

"Vanished?"

"Vanished with no trace and no mercy."

"Do you mean he‒"

"I'll... explain," Thomas dropped his hands. "A pointless endeavor."