His best friend shrugged, “It was probably for the best. The two of you needed space. Noah forgiving you so quickly was bound to have consequences had you been around each other all the time. That kid misses you because of the distance.”
That was actually great advice. It really did make sense. The two boys would definitely have been spending every minute together if he were back in Kansas, which would have been awkward as hell if he really was being honest. Noah was the type to drag something on. He had every right in this particular situation, which Timothy hated to admit.
It was such a double-edged sword to be back home. He had his friends, but that beautiful blond boy was so far away. He did wonder about the blonde girl that he used to be with, though. Timothy had to wonder if they were ever going to speak again. Thus far, they had not. They had run into one another once, and he quickly ran. According to Collin, she had reached out to him about talking things over. Timothy just wasn’t ready. It was so disgusting that her response would be that. Yes, he should have been more honest with her.
“You’re overthinking something. I can always tell when you are overthinking something,” Phillip said as he bounced the ball up and down.
Why did Phillip have to be so observant? “Yeah… Just Tara.”
“I saw her the other day. She asked if you were doing alright,” he explained.
“I guess she said the same with Collin too. I’m just not interested in dealing with her right now,” Timothy sighed.
His friend dropped the ball. “It’s ok to be angry at her, and maybe you never will be close with her again, but it might not be a bad thing to try and make things up with her. I’m just saying.”
“I guess so,” Timothy admitted. He didn’t agree but whatever.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
NOAH
Work had been boring. A total of ten customers came in. Technically that was busier than usual but even still. Noah had gotten through the day. It was weird. Timothy was gone, and it was both a good and bad thing. The reason it was good was that he had hurt him so badly. The bad was that he still loved him very deeply. It was obvious the two boys were in completely different worlds, and it was evident since the day they had met. Sure, Timothy had been nothing but nice and was willing to do anything to make Noah happy. That might have been the issue at hand. Timothy was trying so desperately to reinvent himself but was still very much himself. It only became more obvious when they were in Connecticut.
Noah dropped his bookbag down on the ground of his room. Did he want to call Timothy and listen to him talk for an hour? Part of him thought yes. The other part of him knew he needed to study in order to escape Kansas in the fall. He needed to escape Kansas on his own. He always knew that was the way it was going to end. Was he running off to the West Coast? He was still applying to those schools. There was no reason not to. With his luck, he would apply to a bunch of schools on the East coast and not get into any of them anyway, and he wasn’t sure if that was considered good or bad luck at this point.
There was a knock at the door. “Can we talk?” Brick asked his brother.
Noah turned around, “Yeah. Totally.” He gestured for him to sit on the bed.
“Amber just admitted that she has been cheating on me,” Brick explained.
This was not the conversation that Noah thought they would be having. “What the hell? With whom?” Noah asked.
Brick laid back in the bed, “I have no idea. Apparently, there have been multiple guys, and it has been going on since before graduation.”
It took Noah a moment to process this. “Wait, does this mean?”
His older brother sat back up, “Yes. Well, actually, I don’t know what it means yet, but yes. There is a chance that this child will not turn out to be mine. I told her we are getting a DNA test tomorrow. I looked into it. You can actually do it before the child is born.”
This couldn’t be happening. Noah couldn’t tell his brother that he was secretly hoping that the kid turned out not to be his. “I mean, this could change everything,” Noah said.
“Obviously, I broke up with her. I could just tell something was off. I just didn’t want to admit to it. It would be one thing if it was a one-time thing. We could potentially work through it. Multiple guys, though? What the hell is wrong with her? If the child is mine, I will obviously take care of it but not with her. I’ll make sure her smug parents know why too,” Brick looked both furious and relieved.
It seemed that neither brother needed to admit it out loud, but they both sort of already knew the truth. The child was more than likely, not going to turn out to be Brick’s. “So, what happens when it turns out not to be your kid?” Noah asked.
“I think I’ll get the hell away from here for a while. I mean, I’ve been saving money for when the baby was born for an apartment and stuff,” Brick explained.
“Get out of Kansas,” Noah said loudly.
His brother gave him a weird look, “Why?”
“Look at everyone you graduated with. Half of them are already engaged, and the other half have kids on the way themselves. You graduated last May, for crying out loud! You might not end up with Amber, but if not her, it will just be some other girl you graduated with or some girl who went to a different high school in the next town. Mom will understand. I’m leaving the moment I graduate or in the Fall too,” Noah finally admitted to his brother.
“It seems like you have already thought this out for yourself,” Brick pointed out.
Noah had never really thought to tell his family of the whole plan. They knew he was looking into the West Coast, but clearly, no one took him seriously. Everyone talked about going out of state. No one really did. “I need to try,” Noah said.
Brick nodded in understanding, “I don’t know if I’m going to leave Kansas permanently, but maybe I’ll go out East for a little bit and do some sightseeing. I’ve always wanted to check out some of the big cities. So, how is Timothy doing? Have you guys spoken yet today?”
“I guess I should tell you since you just told me about Amber. When we were in Connecticut, Timothy cheated on me,” Noah admitted.
“Wait. What? With whom?” Brick asked.
This was a story he really didn’t feel like reiterating. “Timothy is apparently bisexual, which doesn’t bother me. I’m the first guy that he has ever dated. He dated a girl named Tara for years back home. He went to tell her about him being bi, and instead, they slept together,” Noah explained.
The older brother shook his head in disbelief, “I thought he was a better person than that to cheat on you.”
Noah didn’t really think that Timothy was a bad person. He just thought that Timothy was confused and got caught up in the moment. It didn’t change the fact that he was still pissed off at him. “We are still technically together, but obviously, we aren’t anywhere near one another. He wanted me just to go and finish the school year with him up there.”