“Apparently, my mom is tired of Kansas. Since the house isn’t being rented out here anymore, she is moving back,” Timothy explained.
“Are your parents separating?” Noah assumed that was what was going on.
This clearly took Timothy back a bit. “What? No, I mean, my dad obviously has to go back to Kansas for the rest of the contract, but she will move back into the house. Then he will be back next August.”
Noah tried to figure out what this meant. Then it hit him. “Your parents want you to move back here, don’t they?”
Timothy nodded, “Yeah, they do.” Noah started to turn very pale. “I just want you to know that I’m in-different towards moving back or staying in Kansas. The issue is you, Noah, I’m in love with you. Phillip and Collin will always be my friends. My life here will always be waiting for me if and when I’m ready. The question is, will you be part of it anymore?”
Why was the world testing him? Noah went seventeen years without having anything spectacular or amazing happen to him. Yet now here he was with a boyfriend. Apparently, the universe wasn’t going to just let that happen, though, so that boyfriend had to cheat on him. Then Noah fights back and says, well, I can forgive him just this once. So, what does the universe do?? This. “Are you going to be happy in Kansas for the rest of the year?” Noah asked?
“I’m going to be happy wherever you are. So long as I get to be part of that universe along with you,” Timothy explained.
“You want to move back here after high school, though, right?” Noah asked.
The tall boy sighed, “I really don’t want to move out West. I’m accustomed to the East coast. The West coast is a different world altogether.”
Noah fell back on the bed, “Why can’t life just be simple?”
Timothy walked over and sat next to him. “New York and Philadelphia are not that far from here if big city life is important to you. I’m not saying I’d never move out west. I’m just saying that right now, at this moment, I have no desire to make that move.”
Noah sulked, “I mean, yes, the West Coast is important to me but in a vanity way. I can live anywhere so long as it isn’t Kansas. Obviously, I do have to go back there for now.”
“I mean, with four credits left, you could just stay here and go to school part time really, and even go to community college,” Timothy pointed out.
“You’ve known about this for a few hours and you are already coming up with ideas for this to work?” Noah realized that it was a good thing but still felt awkward about it. He obviously didn’t want to be separated from Timothy, but at the same time, he wondered if the distance would be a good thing for the moment. Noah wasn’t going to say it out loud, though. Could he? He was still very much pissed off at Timothy, but love was overshadowing that anger, and now this. Why was this all becoming so overly complicated? All Noah wanted was a nice guy that he could fall for. Timothy was that on paper minus the cheating.
“I mean, you can think about it. I’m not telling you that you have to, obviously,” Timothy pointed out.
Noah supposed that this was true. He could think about it. Unfortunately, he knew the answer that he was going to give him. He loved Timothy and knew that there was a universe in which they spend the rest of their lives together. He was hoping that it was the universe they currently lived in. He also knew that he was already planning on leaving his family at the end of the school year. It was looking like the East Coast might actually be that home right now instead of the West Coast. He just hoped that Timothy would be waiting for him when that happened.
PART THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY
TIMOTHY
Why was this call taking so long to load? It had been all of a day and a half since he had seen Noah’s face. The boys had hugged for two and a half hours. It felt like before he was forced to get back on a plane for Connecticut. It was so weird to call him over the internet instead of texting him to pick him up so they could hang out in the park. He couldn’t believe that he was on the verge of missing Kansas of all places. Kansas, but it was just Noah that he was missing. Kansas had been a horrid experience the more he discovered about himself as a person.
“Hey!” Noah said with a smile as the page finally loaded.
“Oh my gosh, hey!” Timothy said, very excited. He was getting nervous that the page wouldn’t load. Sure, they could have just spoken on the phone, but it wasn’t the same at all. “Ok, so still haven’t unpacked at all aside from my computer. I’m planning on redoing my room entirely. My mom thinks that I should do some remodeling.”
Noah smiled, “That could be a fun project.”
“I don’t know… I mean, yeah, I won’t go away to school until next fall, but even so, it just seems weird for me to go about a project like that now,” he explained. Timothy didn’t mean to bring up college, but they were high school seniors. It was bound to be a regular conversation for the two boys. He just knew that Noah was still unsure of what he wanted for the fall.
The blond boy shuffled in his seat, “I mean, it will give you something to do. It sucks that you won’t be able to be on the basketball team there this year.”
He knew it did, but it wasn’t like Timothy was going to be playing in college regardless. It was just stupid that the team captain clearly still hated him for something that had happened during middle school between them and, ironically, a girl. It wasn’t Tara. “I’ll survive. Plus, I can still go and see Phillip play.”
“Say hi to Phillip for me! I mean, he texted me a few times yesterday but even so,” Noah said with a smile.
Timothy was glad that Noah had taken a liking to his friends. It just meant that their bond was potentially sticking. They were still in a very awkward place, though. The two boys agreed that they would stay together. Timothy was happy about this. He wasn’t going to give up Noah so easily.
“I’ve got to get going to work. I will text you later tonight!” Noah said with a smile. He hung up the video call before Timothy could say goodbye. He was still being distant.
* * *
“Come on, your shot!” Phillip screamed at Timothy as he stared into nothing.
Timothy realized that they were doing something, “Sorry… I was just thinking about Noah.” It was probably around fifty degrees out, and he wasn’t even cold as it just wasn’t something that was on his mind. “I fucked up so royally, didn’t I?”
Phillip dropped the ball, “I don’t know if I would say that… I mean, you could have gone about things differently, yeah…”
That was terrible advice, but Phillip was never known for amazing advice. If anything, he was known for bad jokes and being awkward, which made sense as to why he and Noah got along so well. “I can’t believe I let Noah talk me into coming back home,” Timothy said.