Page 3 of Offside Attraction

Dakota sat, unsure of what to expect.

“You want a drink?” Hayes asked, offering the bottle.

“I shouldn’t,” Dakota said, hesitating. “My dad said—”

“Yeah, well, they all say a lot of crap. Just take one sip. You’re my friend, right?”

Reluctantly, Dakota took the bottle and sipped, coughing as the liquid burned his throat. Hayes laughed but encouraged him to try again. This time, Dakota took a bigger gulp, forcing it down.

“You did good,” Hayes said, his smile widening.

For a moment, Dakota allowed himself to relax. Maybe Hayes really had changed. Maybe—

“I’ve always liked your hair,” Hayes said, moving closer to Dakota. “And your eyes. What a beautiful shade of blue,”

“What are you doing?” Dakota asked, his voice shaky.

“Nothing. Just checking.” Hayes leaned closer, taking Dakota by surprise as he kissed him, his fingers running through Dakota's blonde hair.

Dakota is too stunned to kiss back. He took him a second or two to mold his lips against Hayes’s as he felt an electric shock run through his spine and all over his body. His brain shut down for a minute with his eyes squeezed shut as he let Hayes run his tongue around the seam of his mouth.

He’s a good kisser.Dakota thought.

Then the door to the shed burst open and Ezra and another boy he recognized as Harris walked in.

Hayes shoved him hard, and Dakota hit the ground.

“You disgusting fag!” Hayes yelled, his voice venomous. “You kissed me! God, you’re fucking sick!”

Dakota is too stunned by what just happened to defend himself.

“No—“ Dakota tried to speak.

“No, what? I always knew you were a faggot.” Ezra said, slamming his fist against Dakota’s cheek.

“I can’t believe he’d think I like him. You disgusting little shit.” Hayes said, slamming his feet into Dakota’s stomach.

Dakota could barely process what was happening before the boys started to hit him. Punches rained down, and Dakota curled up, trying to protect himself. He could hear their laughter, their insults, but everything hurt too much to respond.

Eventually, they stopped. Dakota’s vision blurred, and through swollen eyes, he saw Hayes kneel beside him, smirking.

“God, you’re pathetic,” Hayes sneered.

“Come on, let’s go before someone sees us.” He heard Ezra’s voice.

“Go, I’ll be out in a minute,” Hayes said.

“Come on, Harris,” Ezra said to the other boy as they rushed out of the shed.

“I can’t believe you think I really like you. How stupid can you be?” Hayes asked and tutted. “If you’re smart, you will shut up about this or I’m going to tell everyone you forced me to this shed and I agreed to come with you because I thought we were friends. And then you wanted me to drink alcohol and when I didn’t agree, you tried to kiss me and force yourself on me, but I pushed you away. You came onto me so I hit you in self-defense. And everyone’s gonna believe me, no one’s gonna believe you. You wanna know why? Because they’d think you’re an unstable child since your daddy is dying and everyone knows your mother isn’t reliable and a drunk and sometimes forgets to pick you up from school.” He stood up and watched Dakota for a second as he took a deep breath.

“Stay away from me, Miller. I don’t like you and I’ve never liked you. I still can’t believe you think you and I could ever be friends,” he laughed, the sound maniacal. “So pathetic.” And then Hayes walked away and the tears he’d been holding in, slipped out before he passed out.

CHAPTER 1

Ihatethistown.

And my hatred has nothing to do with the people who live here. Or because there’s nothing special about it. Maybe there is. I don’t know. I don’t care.