Miscommunication (boyxboy)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

~ Cole ~

warning: crude language

Something was up with Adam.

Cole had waited outside his boyfriend's classroom as one o'clock approached. When students finally began filing out the door, Adam trailed out last with bags under his eyes and his hair a dishevelled mess as though he'd been running his hands through it all morning.

Adam had shuffled over to him. Cole had greeted him with a kiss on the cheek and Adam murmured something happily in response that Cole couldn't make out but aside from that, he looked like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Cole wanted to ask but wouldn't pry. Everyone had bad days.

Still, even now as they were walking to the east side of campus, Cole couldn't help but think something was really up with Adam. The other boy had barely spoken a word and he looked more tired than Cole had ever seen him.

He pulled the trigger. "Adam, are you okay?"

Adam glanced up from the sidewalk. "Hm?"

"You look like shit."

Adam laughed softly but it wasn't with the usual warmth that enveloped his joy. "I'm fine. Just didn't get much sleep last night. Studying." He waved it off like it didn't matter.

"Have you eaten today?"

"Uh, I forgot this morning."

"You forgot to eat?"

"It's no big deal, Cole. It happens all the time."

Cole didn't like Adam's easy dismissal of his health. While he didn't look starved, Adam was thinner than he should've been for someone his age. Toned muscle mass could only support the body so much. "You need to eat, Adam."

"I do." Adam smiled. "I promise, Cole. I'll be fine."

Surprisingly, Cole didn't believe him, but he let it slide this time.

"So, you wanna tell me where we're going?" Adam asked as they continued their trek across campus.

"No chance."

"You know, you don't need to do the whole surprise date thing. You already have me."

Cole gave a sharp shake of his head before the sudden rush of feelings inside him had time to bloom. Instead, he smirked at Adam and asked, "Who said this was a date?"

Adam rolled his eyes and Cole took the momentary distraction to admire the other boy's beauty. The chill of spring had Adam's cheeks flushed a bright pink, long lashes highlighting the slope of his jade-green eyes. He was beautiful without trying, and it made Cole feel awake in what had felt like a lifetime of sleeping.

Their walk didn't go unnoticed. Eyes tracked their movements as they made their way across the quad. Adam didn't seem to take any notice of their unwanted attention but Cole scowled at anyone whose eyes lingered too long. Cole was already the topic of enough scrutiny in this small town; he wouldn't let Adam be drawn into it.

Still, they must've been a perplexing sight. If Cole were to adopt the tabloids' crass title for him as "The Crown Prince of the Decker Empire" then Adam's choice of dress rightfully suited the role of pauper. Adam didn't seem fazed by it, and Cole was sure as Hell nobody's picture of a respectable business man. He had one too many ripped seams in his jeans for that. That, and the severe attitude problem.

A tree line wrapped around the back of campus, giving way to a scenic forest that enveloped the land surrounding Holland University and most of Spring Creek. There was an empty field between the forest and English building where the sun shone brightest at noon, and Cole was pleased to find that everyone else had chosen to situate their trivial lives elsewhere.