Chapter 3: Telling Charlotte and Jasper

Henry's POV

The first thing I see when I wake up is Ray smiling back at me. Reality sets in and my eyes widen as the memories of last night come back. I whip my head to look at Ray, "Did we…?" I trail off not knowing what to say. Ray is simply quiet for a moment then he gets a big grin on his face as he nods his head slowly. I look away and I feel a single tear run down my cheek. "Henry, do you regret it?" Ray asks nervously. I wipe my face and shake my head, "no it was amazing and I've wanted it to happen for a while now but…," I trail off.

"But?" Ray asks curiously.

"I don't know how my parents and friends are going to react when I tell them I'm gay," I sob out.

Ray wraps his arm around me and he pulls me into an embrace as I cry into his bare chest. I pull away and wipe my eyes. "Hey, it'll be okay," Ray says softly.

I search Rays' eyes and I lean in to kiss him. Ray kisses me back and I plant my hand on his cheek. Before it gets too heated I pull away and whisper, "wait."

"What? You don't want to?" Ray asks.

I shake my head franticly and reply, "no it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"I just want to be sure you don't regret last night," I reply.

Ray just looks at me like I have two heads as he says, "no, Henry, I did not regret last night one bit. Last night was the best night of my life." I smile and kiss him. When we run out of breath Ray takes my head into his hands, looks me in the eyes and asks, "Henry, will you be my boyfriend?"

Tears are streaming down my face and I nod, "Yes!" Ray pulls me forward and kisses me heavily.

Ray rolls away from me and flops onto his back. We are both spent and we're quiet, letting our breathing get back on track.

"That was fucking incredible," Ray says out of breath.

I nod in agreement and ask, "now what?"

"We better take a shower and get dressed. Charlotte and Jasper will be showing up for work soon," Ray replies sadly.

"Okay," I say. I give Ray a kiss on the cheek and I head to the shower, Ray on my heels.

We were looking at the navigation screen when Charlotte enters the Man Cave, "hey guys!"

"Hey," I said not taking my eyes off the screen.

"Hey Charlotte," Ray says.

I turn around in my chair and notice Jaspers' not with her, "Where's Jasper?"

Charlotte rolls her eyes, "he told me that he was going to be late because he wanted to go out and buy this new limited edition bucket."

I groan inwardly, "he has enough buckets!"

Ray and Charlotte nod. "I know and I told him that but you can't change Jasper even if you tried," she pauses, "well you shouldn't have to change anyone really."

Tears fill my eyes and I turn to look at the screen before they notice.

"Henry…," Charlotte starts off.

I dry my face and look at her, "yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I lie.

"I don't know you just seem…different?" Charlotte finishes. She sounds concerned and I know I'm going to have to tell her eventually.

"No, I'm fine. I just need to talk to you about something."

"Okay. What is it?" She asks.

I glance at Ray and tell her, "later."

"Why can't you tell me now?" Charlotte asks angrily.

I sigh, "I want to tell you and Jasper at the same time. Okay?"

,

"Okay," Charlotte backs off.

"Let's get to work," Ray speaks up.

It's lunch time and we all decided to order a pizza. The elevator chimes and Jasper walks out. "Hey guys, look at my new bucket," he says holding up his bucket.

We all groan and I decide to say, "looks nice."

"But you didn't even look at it," Jasper frowns.

I glance at it quickly and say, "nice."

Jasper gives up and he sets his bucket down. He walks over to us and grabs a piece of pizza. "Now that Jasper is here can you tell us what you wanted to tell us?" Charlotte asks.

I swallow and I suddenly feel nauseous. "W-what do you mean?" I ask nervously. I look at Ray and he gives me a look that has 'you can do this' written all over it. I take a deep breath and before Charlotte speaks up I say, "okay this is hard to say but," I pause, "I'm gay." It's hard to tell what they're thinking because they have blank expressions on their faces.

Jasper is the one to cut through the silence, "that's cool man." I break out into a smile and say, "thanks." I glance at Charlotte and she seems deep in thought. "Charlotte...?" I catch her attention, "What do you think?" I continue.

She looks at me and says, "I think it's awesome." I feel tears in my eyes and I am overwhelmed with happiness. I feel Rays' hand on my thigh and I turn to look at him. We smile at each other and I lean in to kiss him. I pull away and look at my friends only to notice their mouths are agape. 'Oh right, I forgot to mention that part,' I think to myself.

"I forgot, Ray and I…we're dating. Are you guys okay with that?" I ask. They seem to still be in shock as they slowly nod their heads. "Good," I say. I grab Rays' hand and entwine our fingers together and I'm glad that I have an amazing boyfriend and wonderfully supportive friends