Mr. Lone Boy /BoyxBoy/

||Thirteen||

"Devin."

He was standing just a few steps away from us. By then, Jake had already backed away and neither of us said anything.

"What are you doing?" Devin asked stiffly.

I swallowed, confused. "What?"

For a split second I forgot about Tom.

Just for a split second.

Then I felt like slapping myself repeatedly.

"It's not what you think-" I started, Devin just shook his head at me.

"What about Tom?"

"I-"

"Nate..." He sounded disappointed more than anything. "What's going on?"

"If you'd let me continue, I would have explained already," I snapped, surprised at my own anger.

Devin seemed shocked too, his lips parting and his eyes widening in surprise.

I remembered how I used to dream of those soft lips, how I wished I could just taste them, feel them against my own, at least once. Maybe twice.

I shook the thought away.   

"Tom and I broke up," I blurted.

"When?" He frowned.

I tried to act natural and said, "A couple of days ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I shrugged.

The he glanced at Jake and raised his eyebrows.

I bit my lip. "Uh..."

"We need to talk." He said.

Jake shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other. "I should probably go..."

Talk about awkward.

"No," Devin said, pointing his finger at his chest. "You stay."

I closed my eyes and prayed that I would magically be whisked away to some other place. Anywhere. Back to the time where nothing was complicated, when I didn't have to invest my time and effort in lying to my own best friend.

I opened my eyes but we were still in the same dim lit parking lot, filled with nothing but unmoving cars and the three of standing around, each clearly wanting to do anything but that.

"Let's talk upstairs," I said, rubbing my temples which started to throb as soon as Devin began bombarding me with all those questions.

No one tried to protest.

"What do you want to know?" I asked once we were safe behind my apartment door.

The dog was whining softly in a corner, obscured under a table as if he could smell the awkward tension surrounding him.

"Everything. Where were you for the past few days? Why did you break up with Tom? Why were you kissing your tutor?"

Maybe it was the right time to tell him the truth, I thought. It didn't matter anymore, the only thing stopping me was our years of friendship.

But what if he asked why?

What would I tell him then?

Oh, I had a crush on you. Yeah, I know, my best friend. I chose to lie to you instead of just confronting you because I'm a freakin' coward like that, and I knew it was wrong from the very start but I'm just an idiot so there.