Brad & Nick

chapter twenty-one: the demise of our friendship

I'd love to say that the day after prom, Brad and I had cooled off, had a hot makeout session followed by incredible makeup sex, and became the super powerhouse couple that we were destined to be. But unfortunately, this isn't a movie, and Brad was a stubborn asshole. He was never the first to apologize, and I couldn't expect this time to be any different.

I refused to be the first to apologize - not this time around. Brad had cheated on me. Me? His best friend, who he was supposedly irrevocably in love and couldn't be without. How could we move past that? It was simply unforgivable.

Sure - He and Georgina didn't technically have sex that night, but it wasn't for lack of trying. That big dumb brute had thought I was born yesterday. That was cheating in my book. If anyone deserved an apology it was me. Brad should have come after me the moment I walked out his door the morning after prom. He was the one who should be begging for me back.

But as time went on, I realized that that actually wasn't going to happen.

Were Brad and I done for good?

Weeks had passed - so many that I had even contemplated texting Brad first and just letting it go. My phone was filled with a ton of very well written texts that I had composed on the toilet - all which I never had the courage to send. I missed him for sure. I mean he was my best friend, and I was pathetically lonely without him.

I had turned to shamelessly stalking his social media pages like some low life stalker - just to see what he was up to. He was basically radio silent on his pages as well, except for a few TikToks he was tagged in of him at some sort of football conditioning camp.

I must say camp had done him well. He was certainly looking more like a hot Viking. I'd be lying if I said some of his TikToks hadn't made their way into my solo play collection.

You'd think as neighbors we'd have awkwardly run into each other more often, but I hadn't bumped into him once this summer. It had appeared that Brad had thrown himself deep into football as a ploy to purposefully avoid me.

This was the longest Brad and I had gone without speaking to each other since like ever.

But I didn't let Brad icing me out stop me from having fun this summer. In fact, I had actually used all my free time away to hone my soccer skills, retake my SATs, and I even took a language class for college credit. And if it wasn't for that language class I would have never discovered that Connor Greggs had moved back in town. As his mom was actually my professor, and it was Connor who would pick her up on class days.

Who was Connor Greggs? Well... Sweet red head Connor was one of Brad's good friends in elementary and part of middle school. Hell, they were on the same little league team. He was part of the reason Brad had discovered he was bi. You don't forget your first crush. Brad was destroyed when he found out Connor's mom had gotten a job at another university and was moving to the next state over. I, of course, had been slightly jealous of their friendship at the time. But once he was out of the picture, Brad and I's best friendship status had solidified.

What a shock it was when I discovered Connor had returned to town. I was even more shocked to see how much of an absolute stud he had turned out to be. Puberty did him well. In middle school, he was tall, gawky, and annoying. Now he was tall, thick, and an absolute treat to look at.

I may have spent majority of my summer hanging out with him - completely platonically of course. I mean I wasn't even sure if he was gay or not. That hadn't exactly come up in conversation and my gaydar was a bit rusty now a days.

But that of course didn't mean that I couldn't fantasize, especially when he was sitting a few feet away from me shirtless, hand making us pizzas in his dad's brick oven. He was carrying on about being nervous about his first day tomorrow. I was too busy imagining all the places I wanted to bend all 250lbs of him over on this pool deck.

Can you tell I hadn't been laid in forever?

"Nick," Connor groaned, throwing a pool noodle at me. "You're not listening."

I jerked up from my fantasy, wiping the small bit drool from my lip. "I am. You were talking about being the new kid - but you're not exactly new. Trust people are going to remember you from middle school."

Connor smirked. "Yeah I wasn't exactly popular in middle school - people only talked to me to get to Brad remember."

I sucked my teeth. Yeah Brad certainly generated attention wherever he went. He certainly had a following on TikTok. Things always came easy to Brad. He was a good-looking kid who grew up to be an ever-better-looking semi adult. He didn't have any awkward periods or had to worry about being liked. It was sickening. Meanwhile I had braces for the better part of middle school. Those braces caused me to have a bit of a lisp, which I think I would have gotten more shit for, hadn't Brad threatened a bunch of guys.

"How is Brad by the way?" Connor asked.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "We haven't spoken since the junior prom. We had a bit of a falling out actually."

Connor chuckled, handing me my pizza. "A falling out? What? You fuck his girlfriend or something?"

I bit into the pizza, trying to change the subject. "What are you Gordon Ramsey? This pizza is fantastic. Fresh basil? A nice touch. "

Of course, Connor easily read through my ploy. "You don't have to explain. It's cool. Explains why you didn't mention Brad's party tonight."

I nearly choked on my cheese. Brad's party? I hadn't heard anything about a party. Usually, Chip threw all those end of summer shindigs. But I guess Brad had taken the torch now that Chip had finally graduated. Only took him three times to pass senior year. Talk about super senior.

I had expected Brad to reach out with an olive branch prior to the start of school. I mean he couldn't avoid me forever. We basically aligned our schedules last year so that we had most of our classes together. For him to throw a party, and to not invite me - this was serious.

Brad and I really weren't friends anymore.

"I was actually hoping you'd be my "in" to the party," Connor spoke up. "But if you and Brad aren't on the best terms - "

I quickly interjected. "No. We're going. I mean - it's literally next door my house."

Brad and I were going to see each other eventually. I'd rather know where I stood prior to the start of the semester. The least I could get was a free drink or two out of it. It would also give me a chance to get to know Connor a little better. Maybe with a little liquid courage, I'd build up enough to ascertain which side Connor was leaning toward. I could use a bit of action. I wouldn't mind helping him alleviate all that stress he was under with the start of new school year at a new school.