laminated lavenders | dreamnotfound

3

3 - circumstances

~

"thank you, clay. i had fun." george smiled softly, and clay smiled back. looking down at the shorter boy before him. tucking a strand of hair behind george's ear, clay laughed lightly when george flushed red as a beet from the gesture.

"no problem, george." clay responded, pressing his forehead against george's; making him giggle lightly, "let's go home, yeah?"

"yeah, sure." george muttered. the two boys cleaned up their mess and stood up, walking back to their neighbourhood.

when george got home, his mum wasn't mad, but she looked rather sad. and the brit didn't know why. he greeted the older woman and gave her a peck on the cheek, noticing the way his mum tried to smile through her sadness.

"how was your day, sweetheart?" george's mum asked, the older woman went to get her tea from the kitchen - one for george and one for herself. once she returned in the living room, her son gave her a bright smile.

"it was so great, mum! clay and i went to this lake, and it was so beautiful!" george beamed, then breathed and calmed down - looking down at his hands with a fond look, "then, we just talked. but it was so comfy and i just...i had a fun day, mum. how about you? where did you go a while ago?"

"that's great, george. and, i went and bought some stuff from the store, no biggie." his mum responded, smiling sadly at the boy, taking a deep breath before actually getting to the point. "but, i have something to tell you."

"oh, what is it, mum?" george asked, staring at his mum with an unspeakable innocence deep within his eyes. george's mum felt a little bad, her son grew up in this neighbourhood, he experienced his firsts in here, but that doesn't matter. she wanted to be with her father.

"i know that you like it here, and you grew up here." she sighed, before continuing. "but we have to move back to england."

"what? why?" george questioned, his eyes filled with worry and shock. he didn't have that much friends here, and there wasn't much to like about the neighbourhood he grew up in, but there was clay, and there was the lake. even if he didn't have much - he valued what he had. he valued clay. clay was his everything and it doesn't matter if clay doesn't feel the same - what matters is he loves the blond.

"sweetie, your grandpa, he's very very sick. and i want to be with him." george's mum explained, "he doesn't have much time left, george." she mumbled, tears trailing down her face, and george felt guilty - he missed his grandfather but he didn't want to leave clay.

clay doesn't do well whenever he get left alone.

george understood, his grandfather was a nice man, the young boy remembered baking cookies with the man whenever he visited, but he was very down about what was happening. everything, it was all to fast for him to comprehend. how is he going to tell clay? will he and clay still talk? what about the bubbling attraction they both didn't know about? questions plagued the brit's mind. he wanted answers but at the same time, the thought of what the answers might be terrified him.

"we'll move in a week." she muttered, and george sharply looked up at her, disbelief written across his face. george's mum felt smaller, she slouched and was a little startled from her son's actions.

"a week? why didn't you tell me sooner?" george raised his voice, his mum flinching lightly. he was upset, rightfully so. his mum had just dropped a bomb on him.

"i just, i wasn't ready, george." she responded, pleading with her eyes, and george's features softened. even if he was mad, he did love his mum very much - she raised him with all the love in her heart, though he didn't meet his father, his mum didn't fall short upon loving him. "i just found out a while ago, when your gramps sent me a letter."

"can i...spend as much time as i can with clay?" george asked, looking down at his mum, "please, i'll help you with what you need help with, but please - allow me to spend time with him."

george's mum looked at her son, seeing the anguish in his eyes. she had a feeling that what george felt for his best friend was more than platonic, she didn't mind, however - she didn't know that his love for clay went deeper than normal, and so, she nodded. allowing the two boys to spend time together is the least she can do.

"thanks, mum." george mumbled, "and i'm sorry for raising my voice earlier. i just wished you told me sooner rather than slapping it across my face."

she was silenced, staring at her son's figure, watching it get farther and farther away from her as he walked up to his bedroom.

when george entered his bedroom, he crumbled, sobbing into his hands as the thought of leaving clay behind struck him. clay was alone, granted - he was popular, but his parents weren't there. clay was emotionally neglected, and they were dependent on each other. they should not be separated.

his chest heaved, and his breathing was erratic. tears continuously flowed down his face, and his right hand flew quickly up to his lips to silence his broken sobs. he felt lonely, and soon, he will feel even more lonely without clay.

george preferred to be alone back then, but clay was persistent and wanted to be his friend so bad. and so, the brit gave in, and befriended the loud, yet kind blond.

whenever george didn't feel like speaking, clay talked enough for the both of them, and george always stared up at clay - always so interested with his stories, whether it'd be about him defeating a crocodile, or him hopping on treetops, george listened and smiled at the blond's gestures.

george didn't want to lose clay, he just couldn't, and gosh it hurts. it hurts him so bad. he didn't know how to explain it, there isn't a unit of measurement to show people in numbers how devastated he was to be separated from his best friend.

clay was charming, he'll get new friends and forget about george in no time. and the thought hurt him, it haunted him. of course, he wanted clay to move on and get new friends, but forget him? no.

they were supposed to be together, they were supposed to experience life together. and now, they only had a week to spend time with each other.

was george going to tell clay about them moving? was he going to tell his best friend that he'll leave and he had to forget about him?

george looked up at the ceiling, and made up his mind.

he wasn't going to tell clay.

--

02/10/21 - first draft
03/09/21 - edited