Breaking the Habit - The Devereaux Case Files, Book 7

Chapter 15

April Fools Day was not Mason's favorite day of the year, but it was an even worse day for him to do what he was about to do. Because of that, he went against his promise to his mother and instead of tackling Toby the very next morning after the embarrassing incident, he took some time to assess the situation before deciding what to do. However, he knew he had to do it, eventually, or else his mother would. And he didn't want that; he wanted to face Toby himself, face-to-face. So on the morning of the third, when he attended school, he kept a careful eye out amongst his friends and Toby.

Everyone was trying to avoid him, not meeting his eyes and keeping a decent distance from him as if he was infectious. He didn't care that they were avoiding him, but he did care that they were also trying to avoid Toby, and that Toby was keeping such a wide berth with him as well. It wasn't until their third class of the day that Mason decided to do something about it. He was sitting next to Toby in that class, the first of their joint lessons for the day, so that was where he made his move.

"I'm sorry about before. I didn't know." Mason whispered quietly as he attempted to catch Toby's attention. He could tell he didn't want to look at him, acknowledge him or even admit that he could hear him. But he wasn't going to give him a choice.

"Didn't know what?" Toby was so curious that he turned and frowned at his words. He was trying to give everyone time to get over their feelings about Mason's question and forget all about it before they started hanging out again. Normally he would have ignored it and he and Mason would have laughed at how stupid they were being about such an innocent and silly question. But because everyone was taking it so badly and he had missed his chance of sticking up for Mason, he realized that he had upset his friend for no reason. He was too ashamed to try to apologize

"That it wasn't normal to ask another boy to a dance. I only asked because you're my best friend in the whole world and I wanted to spend time with you. I thought if we went together it would be more fun. But my mom explained it to me, how not everyone would understand that's what I meant." Mason shrugged it off, and gave a glance at their teacher, who was too busy writing on the board to notice them sitting talking together. Toby was a little stunned by the words he said, about how he hadn't meant anything by his question at all. He had been pretty sure he had, even if it didn't bother him.

"You mean, you weren't asking me out on a date?" Toby asked with a smile, not caring either way whether Mason had been or not. Their friendship, and Mason's family, had expanded his horizons. He had met Sammy and Seth, he had managed to fight against his parents views on life and understand that not everything was able to fit into a neat little box.

"I'm ten Toby. I won't be asking anyone out on a date anytime soon. I have no interest in it just now. But my mom was right about one thing, we're an open minded family and so maybe, one day, I might ask you out on a date. I just don't know yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to think or feel or do in the future. Can you accept that?" Mason laughed at Toby, for thinking that he had been asking him on a date. At ten, he really didn't have any interest in dating anyone, ever. He was pretty sure that he would change his mind at some point, but not any time soon. And when he did, he wasn't sure who he was going to want to date. But he was pretty sure that even if he wanted to date Toby, he was not going to want to date him in return. Toby was the epitome of perfect in his parents eyes, and perfect did not mean dating another boy. If anyone fitted a neat, well organized, straight box, it was Toby.

"As long as we're friends. Yeah, I can accept that. Just don't go asking me on a date anytime soon." Toby nudged Mason with a smile, giving him fair warning that he didn't have that sort of interest in relationships. Mason was his best friend, but he would never be any more than that and it was a shame, but it was the truth. He would never hurt his best friend and he knew that if he didn't give Mason fair warning, then they were both going to get hurt.