“I know the two of you have a rough past, but that doesn’t mean he’s ever stopped caring about you. Yes, you hurt him. But he never hated you for it. Just... wanted to understand.”
This is too much. Too many feelings, too much accepting things I’ve been burying down and trying to forget.
“Whatever is going on between the two of you, I hope you can work it out. I know a lot of time has passed, but it’s not too late.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I rasp out.
She smiles, putting her hand on my arm. “I think you do. Just take your time. Be patient with yourself and Bennett. And if you need anything, like I said, I’m here.”
She gives my arm a pat before turning around and leaving me standing there, feeling like a little boy who needs a hug from his mom.
Before I know what I’m doing, I'm following after her.
She turns around, eyes surprised, and lets out a huffed laugh as I wrap my arms around her. “Thank you.” My voice is thick with emotion.
“You have nothing to thank me for, sweet boy,” she tells me. “You’ve always been like a son to me. Nothing has changed.”
She has no idea just how much I needed to hear that.
Chapter 14
Bennett
Easton is avoiding me again. He’s doing what he did before. Staying out late and only coming back when I’m sleeping. I know a lot of it has to do with his shift at work and how late his hours are, but he’s gone even on the nights he’s not working.
The only way I know he’s been back is because the bed is a mess in the morning, and his dirty clothes hamper is full.
I thought after we had that talk, and he opened up to me, that things would change. I was wrong. If anything, it might have made things worse.
And I don’t know why.
Did he think I’d judge him, or make fun of him? Because I wouldn’t. Maybe he thought I’d pity him?
I don’t pity him. I hurt for him. To know that all this time he’s been hiding his sexuality because he feared for his life? It fucking killed me to hear that.
All I wanted to do was tell him I was sorry, that he didn’t deserve that, and that we could start over with a fresh slate. But before I could get any of that out, he took off. He ran like he always seems to do.
I’m trying to be understanding, because I get it. He’s afraid, confused, hurting, and closed off. He has every right to feel that way, but he can’t run for the rest of his life.
Are we just never going to talk about what happened? Never going to talk about the kiss again and everything that came after it?
Was his confession supposed to just be that? The answers I was looking for and now that they're out, that's it? No friendship, nothing more?
We’re just going to go back to acting like we’re strangers? Like we can’t stand one another?
I sure as hell can’t do that. And I don’t know how he could.
Even though he’s avoiding me, I’ve seen him watching me when we’re in the lunch room. He sits with his team, I sit with mine, but he’s watching me, always looking away when I catch him.
And when we’re studying in the library, he’s with his friends, I’m with mine. But I feel his eyes on me.
Somehow, everywhere I am, so is he. But any time I try to talk to him, he takes off.
It’s driving me fucking crazy.
“You okay?” Aria asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Huh?”
