The Bully And His Quiet One

Chapter 41

Blake's POV

New Year's Eve

Alex is throwing a New Year's party at his house as his parents are out of town. I was going to try and avoid it to keep Aiden out of that environment, but someone told Aiden about the party and now he is insisting that we go.

"Why don't you want to go?" he asked me.

"Because, it's Alex's party, Aiden. There's going to be a ton of people, all dancing and sweating. He doesn't know the definition of too loud for music that you can't even hear the person next to you. Plus everyone is just going to be drinking, I don't think it's actually going to be as fun as you think."

"You used to go to his back-to-school parties all the time, are you seriously going to tell me that you never had fun?" I sighed at him, "Come on Blake, we're eighteen, we don't have work in the morning. We should be going out and having fun. You worry about me too much and need a break." I groaned. "Blake, I want to go so, I'm going. Are you coming with me or not?"

I groaned again, "Fine." We showed up at Alex's house at about ten, and surprising a lot of people were there already. 

"You made it!" I could hear Lindsey yell as she came up to us. "Come on, the girls claimed a couch." 

I quickly grabbed him before Lindsey took off. "Blake, I promise I'll come find you if I need anything and I won't drink. Now go have fun and don't worry about me." He gave me a kiss and took off. I sighed but went to the kitchen and grabbed a soda. 

"Blake, my man," Alex walked in, "I didn't think you were going to come."

"I wasn't. Aiden somehow convinced me."

"Well then I should thank him. Here have a drink, let's have some fun." I took the cup from him, which knowing him was probably mainly vodka. I walked around with the cup for a while, not drinking it before I was able to abandon it while he wasn't looking. I didn't see Aiden again until a few moments before the countdown, where he sat down in my lap where I was at on the couch.

"Hey, there you are, you having fun?" I asked.

"I am," I could smell alcohol, but I couldn't tell if it was from him or one of the people around us.

"You haven't been drinking right?"

"Oh, one of my drinks was spiked, it wasn't a lot so I didn't notice it right away."

"How much was it."

"I don't know how much was put it. I only had like three drinks and then I realized it so I dumped the rest." I handed him my water to get some in his body to hopefully offset the alcohol he drank. Once we had the countdown, he disappeared again almost as suddenly as she showed up. 

About an hour later I decided to try and find him again. I wondered around the main floor and when I didn't find him, I walked down to the basement. I eventually found him sitting in a corner of the basement with Leo, Lindsey and some of her friends. "Hey babe," I sat down behind him. "How's it going?" He smiled at me and gave me a kiss. "Any more spiked drinks?" I took the cup out of his hand and took a drink, immediately tasting the obvious amount of alcohol in it. "Babe, this one is not spiked. It's clearly a made drink."

"Blake, I promise it the first and only one, I'll have."

"Okay, I trust you," he kissed me again.

"Blake," I looked up and saw Ryan walking over. "Have you seen Max around? I can't find him."

"I saw him sitting on a couch upstairs, I'll help you find him." I looked over at Leo and he nodded knowing that I was warning him to keep an eye on Aiden. At about 3:30, I went to find him again to go home. At some point he had made his way back upstairs as I found him dancing with Lindsey, Leo watching them from the side. "I swear if he wasn't gay, I would be worried that your girlfriend is trying to steal my boyfriend."

"I can say the same thing about him trying to steal my girlfriend. Is he doing okay?"

"I think so, he seems to be doing a lot better than he was in August. Why, is there something that I should know?"

"Dude, since you left I replaced like 10 of his drinks with un-spiked ones while he wasn't paying attention. I think he may have gotten a couple under my radar." I shook my head and looked at Aiden again. "I see why you are always worrying about him now."

I sighed, "At Christmas he told me that he sometimes has the craving to feel the way he does when drunk. But he also told me that he doesn't have the craving to drink, but you never know. That's why I was trying to avoid tonight. I think he's fine until it is right in front of him, ya know?"

"Yeah that makes sense. I'm sure he'll be fine, he has you after all."

I smiled at him and then went to grab Aiden. I could tell right away that he was a little tipsy. "Babe," I grabbed his waist, "Come on, let's go home."

"Now?"

"Yes, Aiden. It's late, I want to go to sleep." He groaned but obliged, taking my hand as we walked out. It was a bit difficult to get him upstairs when we got home, but I finally got him to his bed where he sat there watching as I pulled out sweats and a shirt for him. "Come on, hands up." I pulled off his shirt that was a bit sweaty and put a new one on. "Pants," instead of standing up to change his pants, he pulled me into him hugging my waist. "Aiden, come on baby, I'm tired."

"You're mad at me."

"No I'm not baby, I'm tired."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For drinking after I told you I wouldn't, but I'm not that drunk."

"That's because Leo kept switching your drinks out with those that did not have alcohol."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"I'm not mad at you Aiden, I just want to go to bed."

"Oh," he answered and he stood up, changed his pants and then sat back down, letting out a sigh. 

"Hey," I knelt down in front of him, "look at me." He picked his head up to look me in the eyes. "I am not mad at you okay?" He nodded. "I am not disappointed in you, at all. I know how easy it is to say one thing, but then once you are in that position to do the opposite. I get it. I want you to understand that I am not mad. I really am just absolutely tired." 

He leaned forward and rested his forehead on my forehead. "Okay, thank you."

"I love you. Forever." I pushed him back up, kissed his head and he climbed under the covers.

- - - - - - - - - - - 

A couple months have passed since the party, it's now March and Aiden is really starting to perk up. He seems to be feeling better, happier, and seems healthier. Prom is next month and I want to properly ask Aiden to go as I didn't last year. I enlisted Anna's help and we planned a scavenger hunt around the city for him. Now all I have to do is set it up and I'm excited for it.