Lush Life (Tradley au)

Chapter 16- Brad's POV

I'm sitting on my bedroom floor the same way I found Tristan not so long ago- curled up against a wall, bawling my eyes out. He'd walked out after our fight about half an hour ago, and try as I might, I haven't been able to get the tears to stop flowing. I'd been holding them back during the time that we'd been yelling at each other, but they'd started to fall as soon as Tristan expressed sympathy for Josh hitting me. Even though he looked horrified, and apologised almost instantly, I'm still in shock at the betrayal- almost no one else (not even James) knows about how Josh treated me, then I made the mistake of trusting Tristan with that secret, which he then proceeded to spit back in my face. 

He cried too, and I remember hearing him sob as he ran out, but I think that it was more down to the shock than anything else. Tristan had held me in his arms the last time I'd cried anywhere near this much, and almost all I can think of now is how much I want someone to to hug me and promise that it's all going to be ok. Before I know it, I'm on the phone to James. He picks up almost immediately, and the first thing I do is let out a sob, as I genuinely can't get any words out. 

"Brad, what's wrong?" he asks, and I can hear the worry in his voice. I try to speak again, but can't, and I instead just start to cry even more. "I'm coming over, ok?" he says worriedly.

"Can you stay on the phone?" I manage to choke out.

"Course I can." he replies, and he does. He spends the entire 10 minute or so journey from his house to mine prattling on about some nonsense. I barely take it in, but hearing his voice is incredibly comforting. When he knocks at the door, I almost sprint down the stairs to answer it. He walks in, takes one look at me and says "What happened to you?"

"Tristan happened." I manage to say, my voice cracking as I break down in a fresh flood of tears. 

James almost immediately wraps his arms around me protectively. "What did he do?" he demands. I'm crying so much that I can barely speak, and this is one of the few times I'm grateful for the height difference between us as James easily picks me up and carries me to my room. When we get there, he sits opposite me on the floor and hugs me again. "You can cry." he says softly. "It's ok."

This I do. I cling to him and he rubs my back as I sob, and then I cry even harder as that's what Tristan did last time I cried. As James is a brilliant friend, he doesn't say anything (apart from whispering to me comfortingly) as I start to pound his chest with my fists as I cry. I don't know how long it is until I stop crying, but when I do, James lets go of me and leans back, but he's still holding my hands. "What happened?" he asks.

I sigh, and start explaining the whole story. "Please don't hate me." I begin.

"Why would I hate you?" he asks.

I bite my lip. "Because it kind of started from something I haven't told you." I normally tell James everything, he's a great listener, but I didn't tell him this. "I was walking Jess with Tristan a few days ago, and we bumped into Josh. Tristan didn't get why I was so upset afterwards, so I had to tell him that Josh used to hit me." This is the first James has heard of that, and his face falls, although he squeezes my hands softly.

"Then what?" he asks, so gently that I almost want to cry again.

I continue talking. "Then we had an argument because he thought I was rude afterwards, and it sort of descended into a screaming match. Then he told me that he got why Josh hit me. I don't think he meant it, but..." I trail off, tears starting to flow again.

James pulls me into a hug and starts running his fingers through my hair softly. He lets me cry into his chest even more, just shifting me from one of his shoulders to the other as I've soaked his shirt with tears. Eventually, he says "I always knew Josh was a twat. And that was a shitty thing for Tristan to have said, but I doubt he meant it. People say stupid things when they're angry. That doesn't make it ok, but..." 

I nod against him. "He cried too, but I told him to go away."

"I don't blame you."James say sympathetically, softly kissing my forehead. As I snuggle further into his arms, I think how lucky I am to have at least one friend who cares about me as much as he does.

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Poor baby 😭 But sorry not sorry for shameless jadley 😉

New update from my boring life- we got my sister back from guide camp today, and she's annoying me already but she's been telling me loads of funny stories. I don't know why some girls breaking a mallet that was called 'the handy biggun' (yes really) is so funny, but I keep thinking of it randomly and cracking up again 😂