Joe's POV
"Rosa" I call banging on the bathroom door once again "Were you put on this earth to make me late?" I call jiggling the doorknob while Ollie tugs on my pants.
"Not now Ollie, I'll play with you when I get back ok?" I try to reason with him while banging on the bathroom door.
"Nooo" He whines his lower lip trembling, I kneel down so we are eye level.
"Ok how about if you let me go out with my friends today I'll take you to play soccer next week. Okay?" I try to reason with my little brother. A grin spreading across his small face and his lip stopped trembling. Ollie started copying everything that I do when he was little so when he saw me playing with my old friends he started wanting to play with me and now it's something we do together often.
"Yay okay. I'm going to go practice" He cheers running back to his bed room. I get back up and bang on the door once more. "Rosa!"
"Can I help you?" She asks pulling the bathroom door open with full force making me stumble a bit.
"What the hell are you doing in there that takes a full hour?" I ask crossing my arms over my chest and frowning down at her.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She says with a smirk and I roll my eyes and shove past her to grab my hair product.
"Why must you go out at the same time that I do?" I ask fixing my sandy brown hair and staring at her in the mirror while she applies some nude lipstick onto her lips.
"Well I'm sorry that Esther asked me to go shopping with her on the same day that you're going to watch a movie with your fiends." She tells me shoving my shoulder with her's.
"Whatever" I say shoving her back but we're both grinning.
"So you and Esther are becoming close then?" I ask following her out of the bathroom.
"Yeah I guess, we study together in our free periods and she's really nice to me even though I'm only year 10" She explains grabbing her phone and purse and leading me outside to the car.
"Yeah that's good." I say opening the door of our silver Toyota and sliding into the backseat beside Rosa. "Why can't David be as nice as his sister."
"I swear if I have to hear about David one more time I'm going to hit you in the head really hard" She replies and I pout. Rosa has had to deal with my complaining far more than anybody else so I guess she's allowed to threaten me.
My mum drops us off in front of the shopping centre and Rosa and I part ways as she goes to meet Esther at Mecca and I head towards the cinema.
"Joey, hey" Ally shouts waving me over, she heard Rosa call me Joey one time and and never let it go. I don't mind it but sometimes I feel like it makes me sound like I'm 5 and not 16.
"Hey" I reply taking in her outfit, she's wearing a floral dress with cute wedges. "That's a cute dress"
"Oh my god thanks I bought it last week but I wasn't sure about it" she says looking down at her dress.
"Nah it's really cute" I try to reassure her and she smiles and gives me a hug and I make sure not to miss the jealous look that crosses over Josh's face and I chuckle to myself.
"Hey man" I greet and he nods at me but I can still tell he's bothered that Ally is so affectionate towards me. I want to reassure him that I'm not going to try and date her but then he might work out I'm gay. Ally is really pretty and nice and no straight boy wouldn't want her, I mean seriously guys are checking her out right now.
"Ok come on guys we need to get our tickets" Ally says pulling Josh and I by our arms.
While we're waiting in line I notice that the boy at the desk is extremely cute and I feel myself already beginning to clam up. This is why I hate having to socialise with cute boys I basically become mute. The line moves up and I take a deep breath and move to the counter.
"Can I have o-one ticket to the 1 c'clock m-movie" I try to ask confidently but instead I start stuttering hopelessly.
"Yeah, $15 please" He replies not even noticing how uncomfortable I am which I'm grateful for since I'm acting like a total weirdo. I hand over the money trying desperately not to make skin on skin contact like the uncomfortable, awkward gay I am.
"Do you guys want popcorn?" Ally asks once I finish having a miniature gay-crisis.
"Alright" I say and Josh nods in response.
Once we get into the cinema I sit on the isle, Ally sits next to me and Josh beside her. I notice Josh is leaning slightly towards Ally and I smile to myself. That boy is hopeless and it's kinda adorable. Once the movie starts I turn towards the screen and shove a handful of popcorn into my mouth.
About halfway through the movie one of the actors gets out of the shower and walks around with a towel wrapped around his waist and water droplets rolling down his chest and abs. I can't help but lean forward and get a closer look.
"Oh my God isn't he so hot?" Ally gushes out loud and before I can think about what I'm doing I reply "I know right"
My eyes widen when I realise what I just did. I hope she was concentrating on the movie and not on me openly admitting that I think a male is hot, which he is. So very hoy. Once the movie is over we decide to head to the food court for some lunch. I grabbed some sushi which is my favourite food. Ally and Josh stick to McDonalds eating fries and burgers.
"So Joe, what did you used to do back in Sydney?" Josh asks while dipping a fry into his milkshake.
"I played soccer with a few of my friends and some of my cousins. I really enjoyed it, I guess the whole Italian boy stereotype works for me" Except that I'm gay and not a player, but I don't say that one out loud. "I did study a lot though which was really boring but my dad is a lawyer and there's pressure to be successful." I tell them biting into my sushi.
"So Joe, did you have a boyfriend back in Sydney?" Ally asks wiggling her eyebrows at me while begin to choke on my sushi, I take a long sip of water before answering.
"Boyfriend?" I ask in a strangled voice trying to remain clam while my heart starts beating erratically in my chest.
"Yeah… boyfriend?" She asks again looking slightly confused like I should be comprehending what she's saying.
"Not girlfriend?" I ask cautiously.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I just… I thought you were gay…" she says looking down a little trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Why would you think that?" I ask frowning. Have I been extremely obvious this whole
"Well first of all I don't usually just assume somebody's sexuality but I thought it was obvious so I'm sorry but, you called my dress cute, you called the actor hot and you were very interested in that shirtless scene, like almost drooling on your lap interested. The whole time I've know you your eyes have stayed above my chest. So I just thought… aren't you gay?" I hesitate and look between Josh and Ally as I take a heavy breath in. I hope that my friendships with them aren't affected, I really do.
"Yeah I'm gay" I say hesitantly waiting for them to turn on me and call me disgusting. I wait for Josh to walk away and tell me not to check him out. I wait for my whole life to start falling apart in front of my face but none of that happens. Instead neither Josh or Ally's facial expressions have changed at all.
"Ok, so did you have a boyfriend?" She asks me again.
"Wait you don't care that I'm gay?" I ask them slowly trying my best to understand the lack of reaction.
"No why would I?" She asks cocking her head to the side as if I asked her something extremely confusing.
"What about you?" I ask turning to Josh with bewilderment.
"Of course not" Josh replies with a shrug but I gape at the two of them and they glance at each other and then back at me.
"Is this…. Is this the first time you've told anybody?" Ally asks me slowly and I nod my head with my mouth still hanging open.
"Back home I went to a Catholic school and it wasn't exactly easy to come out. There was a lot of bullying. Plus I'm from a catholic Italian family so it's not exactly something that my family openly supports so I've never told anybody, not even my sister. I was going to tell people when I moved here since we don't go to a catholic school but… I heard some people calling this kid a fag so I just assumed that things would be the same here…" I trail off avoiding their eye lines and I feel a set of arms wrap around me.
"I'm sorry Joe. Nobody should have to go through that but things aren't like that here, I mean people can be ignorant and yes there are some homophobic people at our school but they don't deserve to be around you anyway." She says rubbing my back slightly
"Thanks, I feel like this huge weight lifted off my shoulders" I tell them and Josh gives me a fist bump.
"Don't worry we got you man" He tells me and I chuckle slightly at that.
"To answer your earlier question I have never had a boyfriend" I say "I've always been a single pringle"
"That's too bad" She says and I shrug
"Well considering I was in the closet until a few minutes ago it's not that surprising" and they both chuckle in response.
"What about you guys?" I ask them
"I mean I've had a few random kisses but not ever a girlfriend" Josh says
"I have a boyfriend actually" Ally causally slides in and my eyes widen in shock and Josh visibly pales worry and jealousy clearly etched onto his face.
"What? Who?" He rushes our clearly in a panic but Ally busts out in laughter.
"I'm just kidding. I'm a single pringle just like Joey" we high five at our loneliness.
Once we finish up eating we walk around the shopping centre for awhile. Now that Ally and Josh know I don't have to tone down my excitement over fashion so Ally and I were constantly floating in and out of stores and Josh did look a little bored but Ally just stuck her tongue out at him.
"What about this one?" Ally asks walking out of the dressing room with a small burgundy dress. It accents her body slightly while still looking presentable. I notice that Josh sits up straighter and his eyes rake over her body not so subtly.
"Woah you look amazing" He says smiling like a fool and I chuckle to myself, I don't understand how Ally is so oblivious to his feelings for her.
"Really, Joe?" She asks doing a slight spin so I could see her from all angles.
"Yeah it makes you look really nice, but where are you going to wear it?" I ask reaching out to straighten the hem of her dress.
"Well my brother got engaged a few months ago so the wedding will probably be soon and I thought I could wear it there." She says glancing at herself in the full length mirror.
"Yeah it would be nice for a wedding, maybe with a pair of black heals" I say and she turns around and hugs me.
"Where have you been all my life" She laughs and I chuckle along with her truely grateful for her friendship.
"Oh god this is going to be my life now isn't it?" He asks running his hand down his face in frustration.
"Pretty much" We reply in unison and then high five again.
"You should defiantly get that dress" Josh pipes up and she smiles and walks back into the changing room. I walk back over to Josh and take a seat next to him.
"So you're really ok with me being gay?" I ask now that Ally is no longer within ear shot.
"Yeah it's not that big of a deal. I mean why does who you want to date change anything between us." He says calmly and I nod since that does make a lot of sense.
"I mean I like girls and you like guys. We never have to be jealous of each other" He says and I laugh at that.
"Hmm yeah that was a problem for you before huh?" I ask nudging him with my shoulder.
"I don't know what you're talking about" He says turning away from be.
"Please, I see the way you look at her and I also see the way that you looked at me every time she hugged me. Plus before when she joked about having a boyfriend I thought you had an aneurysm" I say chuckling and he frowns but doesn't deny anything. He opens his mouth to continue but Ally opens the door to her changing room and his mouth snaps shut. Ally pays for her dress and then links her arms with me and Josh and moves onto shoes.
This is going to be a long, long day.