The Boarding House

Dinner and Fireflies

A/N Thank you all so much for pushing me over 200 reads and for all the votes and feedback! Y'all are amazing! Keep it up! ~Aiden

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Joey floated around the huge farmhouse turned brothel on a cloud of excitement most of the day. Whatever it was about Bobby that calmed the chaos inside him was the same thing that had Joey bubbling over with anticipation about spending more time with him.

Joey was sitting in a lawn chair in the backyard eating a ham sandwich amongst a sea of evidence of last night's party sprawled across the yard. His body buzzed with a giddiness he'd only seen in the Rom-Coms he used to watch with his ex-girlfriend when he heard the wooden screen door slam against the door jam.

A few seconds later his blood went to boiling when Tre cleared his throat. "I wanted to talk to you about last night." Tre offered. His voice sounded Cullen and unsure.

"What about last night?" Joey shook at the anger he heard the sharpness in his own voice. It was an extreme swing from cloud nine where he was less than a minute ago to his current state of seething.

"I shouldn't have don't that last night." Tre responded with regret evident in his voice.

Tre was bigger and older than Joey, however, that didn't slow the words that roared out of Joey's mouth. "You shouldn't have done a lot of fucking things this weekend Tre!"

Joey kept his back to Tre. The only acknowledgment he offered Tre was his laser-focused reply. "I just, I didn't know how to get you to slow down. You were being crazy and I felt respon..."

"You're not responsible for a fucking thing I do Tre!" Joey interrupted him. "You're responsible for what you did to me!" Inhaling, Joey paused to put his words in order. "I am responsible for me. Not you! You took advantage of a helpless drunk!" He yelled still looking out across the backyard. "Yes, I was being wild and reckless. No, you're not responsible for me!" He finished, his voice trembling and his face flush with anger.

Tre's voice was soft and his words were slow. "I get that, I really do. I feel like what I did, put you on a disastrous course and I owe you an apology."

"You owe me more than a fucking apology! No... you don't owe me shit!" Joey snapped again. "I don't need a fucking thing from you!"

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything." Tre succumbed to accepting Joey's seething allegations.

Tre's words hit Joey in a different way than he was expecting. His anger, the hurt waned in him holding him silent for a few clicks. He was being stupid, regardless of what had happened between him and Tre. That really didn't excuse his actions. He was ultimately correct, Joey was solely responsible for Joey.

"It really had little to do with you Tre." He admitted. "Yeah, things happened, you took advantage of a situation, but what I did with that is on me." He finally turned to acknowledge Tre. "Apology accepted."

Joey turned away again staring out over the copious amount of empty bottles and cans. He tried to process the remaining anger while thinking about how much fun he had while being reckless. The last thing he wanted to do was carry any of that drama into his date with Bobby.

Tre stood behind Joey but didn't speak again for the few minutes he remained. If Joey would have looked back, he wouldn't have been able to miss the remorse that was written across Tre's face or his slumped shoulders as he watched Joey ignore him. Assuming all was said that was going to be said, Tre turned and headed back inside.

Date time was fast approaching and Joey sat on the front porch ready and waiting. He felt cute in his blue jeans and a tight-fitting white polo shirt with his hair neatly styled. All that was missing was to see Bobby's car coming up the driveway.