Holding On & Letting Go [✓] (Boyxboy)

Chapter Twenty

The flight to Maine was just over seventeen hours with two stops along the way.

It made sense now why Jack had flown there. He was from Maine and his parents lived in Portland. He'd moved to Los Angeles for school when he was thirteen and ended up staying permanently.

To think, if Jack had never moved to California, I would've never met him, become friends and roommates and then more. It made my heart heavy to think about so I stopped.

The entire plane ride I was a nervous wreck. I had rehearsed what I would say to Jack countless times in my head, but the closer I got to my destination, the more I would be consumed by nerves and everything would leave my head again.

Truthfully, I had no idea how Jack would react when I just showed up at his doorstep. After all, he ran to Maine to get away from me. What would he think when I just show up and demand a love confession?

Not that I was planning to of course. Demanding a full-fledged soliloquy from my best friend about his feelings didn't seem like the right way to approach the subject.

I took a cab from the airport to where Jack's parents lived. Similarly to me, Jack had come from a financially-comfortable family and the estate they lived in reflected such affluence. I wouldn't have known which of the large, grandeur houses it was if I hadn't been there once before.

The cab dropped me off outside a large, impressive-looking house. Thankfully, the gate is open when I arrived and I walk slowly up the driveway.

"This is a bad idea," I muttered to myself as I approached the set of double doors, hesitance settling in. "I shouldn't have done this."

It was too late now to think about that. As I neared the front doors, I stopped for a moment and attempted to calm my panicked breathing. I was here now, and it would be no benefit to walk away when I'd come all this way.

"Maybe they're not home." I continued talking to myself. Raising a hand, I knocked hesitantly on the wooden door. "They could've gone for a walk. Or maybe they went for a drive-"

The door was flung open and Jack's mother, Natasha, stood at the door with wide eyes. "Troye?"

Immediately, I was pulled into her embrace as Jack's mum hugged me tightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "Let me get a look at you. Oh, look how handsome you've become!"

"Tash, who's at the door?"

David, Jack's father, appeared in the foyer. "Troye, we didn't know you were coming."

"I'm sorry to show up like this." I stepped forward to shake David's hand in greeting. "I was just, um-"

"Troye?"

There he stood. Halfway down the stairs, Jack had stopped mid-step from where he'd been coming down and stared at me through widened blue eyes.

I swallowed nervously and tried not to smile in relief. "Jack."

Natasha watched our exchange carefully, a knowing look on her face. She turned to me, "Something tells me you showing up here like our son a week later isn't a coincidence."

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked from the stairs, still frozen in shock as he stared at me.

My gaze flickered between Jack and his parents before focusing on the former. My feet shuffled nervously. "I need to talk to you."

"So you came all the way to Maine?"

"Jack has a point," Natasha spoke up and looked to me. "Aren't you supposed to be in Milan right now."