Chapter 17

 

        Alex was pretty upset over that week at school. The way Sean kept trying to avoid him saddened him. Questions about what he had done wrong for Sean to do this kept popping in his head. He racked his brain for the answer, but not a single one was found. No matter how much he went over everything he did, he couldn't think of any reason for Sean to be acting like this.

        It was Saturday now and it was a little late in the evening. It was real dark out due to the dark clouds that hung overhead. Drops of rain pelted the somewhat small umbrella that Alex had over his head. He had been taking a walk around town, trying to get his mind off of everything that went on that past week. Luckily he had his umbrella with him at the time when it started to rain. Otherwise he would've been completely drenched.

        As Alex neared the lake, his eyes wandered over there to spot a figure sitting near the edge of it. Alex squinted his eyes a little in an attempt to peer through the darkness to make out the figure. As he got closer to passing the lake though, he soon realized that it was Sean sitting there. Alex quickly walked over there.

        “What the hell are you doing out here?” he asked Sean as though he was crazy.

        Sean looked up towards Alex before looking away. He didn't bother answering.

        “Come on, get up,” Alex commanded, speaking loud enough to make sure that he could be heard over the heavy rainfall.

        The drenched boy got to his feet and Alex practically yanked him close to him so that he was standing underneath the umbrella. Sean blushed a little as he practically felt Alex's warmth radiating off of him. Alex started walking, pulling Sean a little to make sure that he would walk with him.

        As they walked, Alex looked over towards Sean. He saw that he had a black eye, but he didn't ask about it right now. Sean was also shivering some due to the cold, wet clothes that he was wearing. A sigh escaped Alex's mouth before he started to remove the gray sweater he was wearing while also keeping the umbrella above them.

        “Here, take this,” he said. “Might help you stay a little warm.”

        Without even giving Sean a chance to decide, Alex draped the sweater over the boy's shoulders. Sean blushed a little as he looked down at the sweater. Not much else was said as they continued to walk down the street. It wasn't long until they came to Sean's house.

        “Here's your stop,” Alex said as they walked closer.

        Sean looked towards the house. The car wasn't there, which meant his father and possibly even the other two weren't home. He was kicked out of the house earlier by his drunken dad and Sean was a little too afraid to go back right now since it would probably only lead him to get even more of a beating than what he received earlier.

        “I can't get into my house,” Sean said. “My family's gone and I don't have the keys to unlock the door.”

        “Alright, come stay the night at my house then.”

        Before Sean could protest, Alex just yanked him by the arm to keep him walking. A quiet sigh escaped the dark-haired boy's mouth as his gaze went down towards the wet road underneath their feet for a moment. He then looked over at Alex, who seemed to be shivering a little now due to the chilly air.

        “Want your sweater back?” Sean asked.

        “Just keep it,” answered Alex.

        “But you're shivering.”

        “Yeah,” Alex said quietly.

        Sean let out another light sigh. He looked down at the sweater for a moment before taking it off of him. He put it around Alex's shoulder's now, thinking that the boy should have it. It was his sweater after all. A small smile came on Alex's face when he felt it being put around him. He glanced towards Sean, who was staring down at the road, before looking straight ahead again.

        The two reached Alex's house a few minutes later. When they got there, Alex had Sean take his shoes off and stand there at the door while he ran to get a towel so Sean could dry himself off. Once he reached the bathroom on that floor of the house, he grabbed a towel and walked out.

        “Something wrong Alex?” his mother, who was standing there at the stairs leading down into the basement, asked.

        “No,” Alex said. “Sean's going to be staying the night though.”

        His mother nodded and watched Alex move towards the door where the soaking wet Sean was. He handed the boy the towel, who used it dry himself off. When he got the excess water off of him, Alex took him upstairs to Alex's room.

        “Go in the bathroom and take those clothes off,” Alex said. “I'll get you some dry ones you can sleep in for the night.”

        “Okay,” Sean replied a little quietly as he moved towards Alex's bathroom.

        The brown-haired boy walked over to his dresser. He searched through the drawers until he found a pair of loose shorts and a somewhat baggy white T-shirt that Sean could wear during the night. Alex walked towards the bathroom to see Sean standing there in nothing but his boxers. A concerned look came on the older boy's face when he noticed a few nasty bruises on Sean's back. Sean seemed to notice this from the mirror above the bathroom sink. He quickly turned around so the bruises wouldn't be visible anymore and looked at Alex.

        “How'd you get the bruises?” Alex asked as he held out the shorts and shirt for Sean to take.

        “Just clumsy, that's all,” Sean replied as he grabbed the clothes and began to put them on.

        Alex just gave a slow, unbelieving nod. Something told him that Sean was probably lying, but he didn't bother prying right now. Instead he went back into the room and just sat down on his bed. Sean came out of the bathroom a few moments later. He slowly walked over and sat down on the bed just a small ways from Alex.

        “So you forgot the keys to your house huh?” Alex asked a few seconds later.

        “Huh?” Sean went as if he had no idea what Alex was talking about. A look of realization then came on his face as he said, “Err, yeah.”

        “You're lying,” Alex stated.

        “No I'm not.”

        “Yes you are.”

        A sigh escaped Sean's mouth as he stood up from the bed and walked a little ways away from it. Alex also got up from the bed and walked over towards Sean.

        “What's the real reason?” he questioned.

        “That is the real reason,” Sean tried to tell him, wishing that he would just believe it.

        “No it isn't. I know you're lying.”

        Alex went to grab Sean by the shoulder to try to spin him around so Sean would have to face him. However, when he did this, Sean winced in pain from a bruise that was on it. He naturally pulled away from Alex before turning around to face him.

        “And are you lying about the bruises too?”

        “Let's just not talk about this right now, okay?”

        Sean walked a little further away from Alex with his back turned on him. Alex only ended up following him.

        “Okay, then let's talk about something else,” Alex began. “Why were you avoiding me this past week?”

        “I already told you, I wasn't avoiding you,” Sean said as he turned around to face Alex.

        “Why do you keep lying like this?” Alex asked.

        Sean's mouth opened for a couple seconds as if he was about to say something, but then it closed. He looked down towards the floor a little.

        “Come on, just tell me the truth,” pleaded Alex. “What did I do wrong to make you do this? Do you hate me for something I did?”

        Sean didn't answer right away, but instead looked up at Alex. He stared at those hazel eyes of his for a moment before slowly looking away.

        “I don't hate you,” the dark-haired boy said.

        “Then why did you keep trying to avoid me?”

        “I just didn't want you to hate me.”

        “For what?”

        “For . . .”

        Sean couldn't continue the sentence. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth as his eyes remained fixed on the carpeted floor underneath their bare feet. He couldn't bring himself to tell Alex the reason. He didn't want to see Alex becoming angry with him for becoming attracted to him.

        “Sean, I don't hate you,” Alex told him. “There's no way I could even bring myself around to do something like that. I . . . I love you.”

        The dark-haired looked up in surprise. Right when he did, Alex cupped his face in his hands and kissed him on the lips. Sean's eyes widened a bit out of surprise before they slowly fluttered close. They both remained there for a few seconds with their lips locked until Alex pulled away. He looked down towards the floor for a moment before looking at Sean, who stood there and looked up at him. Sean then threw his arms around the older male with the side of his face against his upper chest near the shoulder.

        “I love you too,” Sean said.

        Alex smiled down at the boy before slowly wrapping his somewhat muscular arms around him. A soft smile swept onto Sean's face as he closed his eyes, listening to the brown-haired boy's heartbeat for a few seconds. Sean then slowly pulled away just a small bit so he could look up at Alex. The two smiled at each other for a little bit until Alex reached down and kissed Sean, who kissed back.

        The two walked over to the bed now to sit down. Alex wrapped an arm around Sean and the two sat there and talked a little. When it got pretty late, the two went to bed.

Author's Note

I hope to hell I did a good job writing this chapter. I wanted to play off a bit of...drama (for lack of a better word) before going into the romance. Did I play both parts off well enough? Was the romance part a little too short? Anything else that could've been a little improved on?

Reviews

[Amy]

Well...I'm just glad this finally happened. It was a good chapter, I like it very much!

[Amund Schofield]

Maybe you could add a small tidbit about the two being nervous about the whole thing when they kiss... and a small tid bit about them cuddling together as they sleep.