Forward (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Eleven

Everything Tyler had ever said about Pierce Bradford came back to him, and James saw everything in a new light.

Tyler's distaste for the older Bradford, all of his complains about the other boy, his nervousness around the triplets, his irritation with James after he had been caught noticing the elders attractiveness, and his suspicious implication that he had been in love.

He was angry with his friend, hurt that he had neglected to tell him about Pierce, or his sexuality in general. It was also bothersome to him that Tyler had spent all of this time warning him off of Kalen because he was a Bradford when that was a risk he had secretly been taking himself.

"James?"

He turned his face away from the window and instead looked to the front of the car, where his mother was turned in her seat to look back at him. "Yeah?" He asked, his voice small. She smiled at him.

"Do you want to talk about anything? It seems like something is troubling you". Of course she had realized. He wasn't exactly being subtle about his bad mood— he hadn't said a word since leaving the dinner. "What's on your mind?"

"It's just..." James thought of the best way to phrase it without specifically explaining what he had seen. He was guessing if Tyler hadn't wanted him to know, he certainly wouldn't want James's mother to know. "Hypothetically, if I found something out about Tyler that he wasn't telling me on purpose, do I talk to him about it, or do I wait for him to talk to me about it, not knowing if he ever will?" James inquired, and she blinked at him through the darkness, processing the vague information he had given her. Thankfully, she didn't ask for clarification.

"Well, I don't think you have to wait for him to tell you, especially if it's bothering you so much. You also should consider the fact that we're talking about Tyler, your best friend. If it's really that big of a secret, he's probably dying to tell you but something is holding him back," him mother advised, and James nodded in agreement, turning to look out the window again. He hadn't been thinking about it like that— he had been thinking how could Tyler not tell him, not why had Tyler not told him. There certainly needed to be a reason.

"But-" she continued, and his eyes snapped back to hers. "I think you should take some time and think about how you're going to bring it up. You need to remember to consider Tyler's feelings, even if you're upset with him right now".

With a long sigh, James let his head fall back against the seat. She was right about all of it. "Thank you," he grumbled, and she smiled once more before turning back in her seat.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and was slow to remove it, suspecting who it was from.

From: Ty

Sorry man. I was hanging out in my parents car. See you Monday?

He put it back in his pocket without responding, and turned his head to count the street lights they drove past.

***

By the time Tyler picked James up on Monday morning, he had done a lot of thinking and decided two things.

The first was that he was not going to let Tyler's secrecy upset him. He knew his best friend well, and trusted him more than anything. Something was preventing Tyler from telling him, and James was going to try his best to figure it out while he— and this was the second thing he had decided— waited until the time was right to tell Ty he knew.

It had, however, taken him all weekend to decide these things, so communication with his best friend had been nonexistent. This meant that the second he opened his front door, Tyler apologized to him loudly. "If I had known not saying goodbye would piss you off so much then I wouldn't have left you to talk to Kalen alone".