Forward (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Seventeen

Things progressed, but not in a way that was expected.

Actually, that wasn't true. They progressed in a way that was unsurprising to James, but seemed to be completely perplexing to Tyler.

For the next few of, Kalen and James spent even more time together than they had when they were living together. What was once afternoons spent with Tyler became afternoons spent with three of them, which evolved into evenings spent just Kalen and him alone in his bedroom. They grew closer, and closer, but just as friends.

For the first two weeks, James assumed Tyler's sudden frustration caused by the current situation was jealousy. Maybe he was jealous that Kalen was getting the majority of his time, and Tyler was not. Maybe he didn't like watching James grow closer and closer to another person.

But then the pestering started. It began with perplexity: What do you mean you're not together, you spend all of your fucking time together? Then, it was, why aren't you together again? Or, you should really just do something about your feelings, or, currently:

"This is pathetic. The sexual tension is killing me". Tyler was laying on the futon in James's room, glaring at him, and James shot a quick look at his bedroom door before allowing his attention to move to his friend. At the moment, Kalen was in his kitchen fetching the snacks his mother had left for them since she was working late, and James didn't want the other boy to overhear one of Tyler's stupid you should be together speechs. It would just be embarrassing for all of them. "James".

"Tyler," he responded, though his voice held much less vigor. He actually sound tired, he realized, though that wasn't really surprising because he was. Tired of the conversation, that is.

He understood that him and Kalen would be good together. They had that kind of chemistry, where things just clicked, but it didn't matter. James enjoyed being the other boys friend and getting to know him better, and he was positive that's what Kalen wanted as well. He had said it himself before, that their friendship was important to him, and that he wanted to preserve it.

"No, James. He's here all of the time... do his brothers know?"

James frowned at this. "I... I think they know he's here all the time, I just don't think they know why".

"But you do, right?" Tyler asked, and James just shrugged.

"Sure. He's here because he can be himself here when he can't at home-"

"Ugh, no James! He's here because he likes you," Tyler accused, and James just shook his head and adverted his eyes back down to Kalen's chemistry book. They were studying together, and had both been sprawled out across James's mattress until Kalen rose to go get food. "James, look man-"

"No," James cut in. "No. We've talked about this before".

"Talked about what?" Kalen asked as he moved into the room, socked feet quiet against the hardwood floors. In his hand was what James immediately recognized as a galon bag full of his mothers carmel corn, and he made a happy noise, reaching his hand out for it. "Ah, here. Your mom is so extra".

"James's mom is a wonderful woman," Tyler agreed, and James watched skeptically as Ty climbed off of the futon and approached them. Kalen took his place on the bed next to James, close enough that their sides were pressed together, and pulled open the bag James had put on his text book.

"This is amazing," Kalen moaned after putting the first piece in his mouth, and James would have smiled if he wasn't watching Tyler so closely. "Oh my god, I love your mom".

"Maybe you should act on that then," Tyler said, finally stopping in front of them, and reaching down to get his own handful of popcorn. "I mean, if you feel something, it doesn't make sense to not do something about it, right?"