The Web I Spin for You ~ Richpez & Rosenwalker

Chapter 20

Heads up you're going to hate me after this chapter

"Sorry, I just have to study. I need an A on the chemistry midterm to pull an A in the class for the semester."

"It's all okay, I completely understand. Maybe we could hang and talk next week, once finals are over and we finally have a break from school?"

"I'll see, I'm not sure what my schedule's  going to be with my family; you know, Hanukkah and stuff."

For the past few weeks, every attempt Joe had made with Brian had gone somewhere along these lines; with Brian being too busy to spend time with him. While Joe had been trying his best to tell himself that these were all perfectly reasonable excuses, his anxiety wouldn't let off the idea that something else was going on.

"Do you wanna maybe get coffee in the morning?"

"Eh, I'm honestly just really tired from all of the studying; I need the extra forty minutes of sleep."

"No worries, I get it. You get caught up on sleep, I'll meet you at your locker with a coffee."

"You don't, you don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to; I want to Bri."

"It's fine. I, I don't think I'll want any. I'm probably going to study before trig anyway; I'll just see you in Glee." 

It didn't help that this whole Brian being too busy to spend any time with him thing had started right when he had promised him that they were going to discuss taking things to the next level.

"FaceTime tonight?"

"I'll see, I have a lot of homework I have to get done after my piano lesson. I'll, I'll call you if I get the chance."

Joe sighed, feeling the tears beginning to swell up in his eyes. "Okay. That's cool." He said sadly as the bell rang. It was the first time in over a week that Brian hadn't had some sort of meeting he had to attend during lunch. Joe had been so relieved when Brian and shown up and sat down next to him at the table with their friends; but then Brian had spent the entire time with his nose in a book, not talking to anyone, especially him. Even when he managed to get him physically within his presence, Brian seemed to be doing everything he could to remain absent from his life.

As everyone else rose from the table, Joe didn't move, watching Brian place the book he'd been reading into his backpack. Could he not tell what he was doing to him? Did he not care? Was he doing it on purpose, just like Zoey had?

He couldn't take it any longer. Before the younger boy could stand up, Joe grabbed his wrist, stopping him from leaving. "Do you, do you not like me anymore?"

Brian pulled his wrist back, staring down at the ground. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Brian, please. You've been acting so weird for almost two weeks; I can't take it anymore. Please, whatever I did, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Will you p-please, please just talk to me?"

Brian continued staring at the ground, his heart breaking at the sound of Joe sad. The question was swirling around inside of his head; are you just using me to make Zoey jealous? It had been playing over and over again in his brain every second of everyday, but he couldn't bring himself to ask it. What if Joe realized that he was, and left him for her?

"Everything's fine. I'm just super stressed out with finals and stuff. I'm not mad at you; I'm sorry if it seems like I am." He stormed off before Joe could say anything, tears falling down his face. He didn't know how to handle it—he was confident that if he confronted Joe that he could lose him, and he couldn't let that happen; but by the looks of things, if he continued doing what he was doing, he was going to lose Joe anyway.