Forward (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Twenty Three

Six hours later James was awoken by his mother lightly shaking him. Since him and Kalen hadn't actually fallen asleep until well into the early hours of the morning, he immediately rolled away from the touch, hugging the warmth pressed against his chest.

It occurred to him then that the warm thing was Kalen, and his mother was standing next to his bed, seeing them.

Quickly, his blinked his eyes opened and then turned his head to peer up at his mother, who just looked down at him with crossed arms and a stern expression. Kalen shifted against him, his bare skin smooth against James's, and James's eyes grew wide. "I swear to god we're both wearing pants," he whispered to his mother, cautious of the boy still asleep in his bed.

All she said was, "hallway," and then, when he didn't immediately move, "now".

As gently as possible James lifted Kalen from his chest, slipping a pillow under the sleeping boy's arm to hug instead. Kalen groaned at all of jostling, but eventually sighed contently and relaxed into the pillow, making a smile pull at James lips.

When he looked up to where his mother was watching him from to doorway, he was glad to see her expression had softened some, making him far less nervous to follow her out of the room and into the hallway. Gently, he pulled the door closed behind him.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then, since they were having the conversation because of something James had done,– or neglected to do in this case– he broke the silence. "I was going to tell you".

"Well that doesn't mean anything now, does it?" She asked, though the question lacked any of the harshness that James had been expecting. "I... I suspected, after the way he immediately hugged you yesterday, but then I thought it couldn't be possible, because after everything that happened with Taylor, I didn't think you would withhold something like this from us and betray our trust".

"Mom-"

"Oh God. You've been sleeping alone in that room together for months—"

"Mom," James cut in. He understood his mother's distress with this. They had only allowed him and Kalen to share a room together because they had thought this wasn't a possibility. "We're not having sex".

She peered up at him with very blue eyes, her hand pressed against her mouth.

"I promise. The nights he's spent here... what you saw in there is literally all that happens," James assured. This wasn't really fault, since the majority of their kissing happened during the day, and if they did kiss at night, it was usually on the couch in the livingroom. Even the few times they had gotten one another off had taken place during the day. Their nights in James's room had strictly been left for sleeping.

"How long has this been going on?" She demanded after a pause, and James breathed out a long breath of air.

"About a month," he admitted.

"Why didn't you tell us, James? You know we adore him. You couldn't have been worried that you wouldn't have our support—"

"That wasn't it, mom," James assured. "I didn't tell you guys, because I was worried that if I did, Kalen would feel pressured to tell his own parents, and that was something I didn't think him, or his father, was ready for".

Her eyebrows raised. "You're worried about him telling his father?"

"Not anymore," James grumbled, glancing at the door to his bedroom. "He told his father on Sunday. That's why he's here right now".

"Oh," James mother said before recognition showed on her face. "Oh. Poor boy". James nodded his head. "The Bradford's don't know that you two are together, do they?"