Secrets that Kill (boyxboy)

Unlikely Alliance

Nate cranked the heat up to high on the shower, scrubbing at his skin till it was red and raw. God, he couldn't believe Zack and he had...gah, he couldn't even think about it. This was so not how things were supposed to have gone. At all.

Then again, what else had he been expecting when he'd accepted Zack's invitation? Some nice little picnic with rainbows and ponies? Yeah. Right. Because his whole life had just been one brilliant fucking fairy tale up until this point.

What had made him think this would be any different?

15 minutes later, Nate was lying in his bed, wide awake, his damp hair matted to his face. He'd hoped the shower would take some of the edge off the frantic feeling clawing at his chest. It hadn't.

The alarm o'clock to his right read 2:17 A.M. in bright red numbers. He really should get some sleep. The last thing he needed was to be saying shit that would make things worse because he was tired and groggy. The problem was, though, every time he closed his eyes, he saw the look on Erik's face and the two words that had been trumping the rest of his thoughts since then.

Absolutely Nothing...

Gah. It wasn't just the way he'd said it...or the tone in his voice...or the fact that, for once, Nate was actually scared Erik might take the hint this time he'd pushed him away. It was the look in his eyes, the undeniable knowledge that he'd actually hurt him.

It wasn't as if he hadn't done enough to warrant it. He'd lied to him about the whole Sean incident. He'd rejected just about every advance he'd made. He'd gone and had sex with...god, he wasn't a virgin anymore. And he couldn't even remember it.

Yup. Just another part of his life he'd managed to royally fuck up.

Yeah, this sleep thing was so not happening.

Reaching for his phone, he dialed Amber's number. She was probably asleep, like most normal people at this time. But, really, he couldn't find the energy to care all that much, considering she'd played a big part in this whole god damn mess.

"Hello?" A groggy voice mumbled, obviously Amber's.

"Good. Your up."

"Nate? What the hell? Do you know what time it is!"

"Listen, Amber, I talked to Erik?"

Amber's voice went uncharacteristically silent on the other end.

"Amber? Hello?"

"Hi...listen...you should know something."

"Oh, fuck. What the hell did you do now?"

"Nothing...it's just...you saw Erik, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

"Well, umm, did he look a little off?"

Nate opened his mouth to tell her to stop asking stupid questions and let him get on with the story before it struck him that she was probably talking about his bruised eye and busted lip.

"Yeah, he looked like he'd gotten into a fight or something. Do you know what happened?"

"Well, I'm not saying this is for sure or anything, but rumor has it after your little study date him and Sean got into it, bad...over you."

"Over me?" Nate could feel his throat tense up like he'd just swallowed fire.

"Yeah...something about a note or something like that, and him threatening you. Did that actually happen?"

Nate hadn't heard her last question. He was such a fucking asshole. God. He'd gone out partying with the attitude that he didn't owe Erik shit while Erik had confronted his best friend- well, at least Sean had been his best friend at some point- to clean up his mess.