The Chaotic Interim (boyxboy)

Chapter 32

Carson sighed heavily as he pushed through the back door of the building. He ripped his Dunkin’ Donuts uniform hat off and ran his hand through his sweaty hair as he walked to his car. The summer’s heat had been unbearable so far that season and by the end of July Carson had a nice tan to his usually pale skin.

Normally he enjoyed his summers, but this year had been awful unlike any others. At first it had sucked because his best friend was in a coma, but then it got worse when he had to lose his other best friend who had also become his boyfriend for a short month. Then, said boyfriend had to go and tell his girlfriend everything so now she wasn’t speaking to Carson either. But then you had to add on that he got stuck working at Dunkin’ Donuts in his hometown because his parents wanted him to do something productive with his days.

Oh yeah, Carson thought as he cranked the air conditioner in his borrowed car, this summer sucks.

He almost hadn’t believed that Josiah actually told Ayden about them when he got the angry text from his blonde best friend. It hadn’t been lengthy, but it used a few choice words that had left him stunned and horrified. The easiest way to put it was that Ayden was royally pissed off and wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

Of course Carson knew that the only way she could have found out was if Josiah had told her, so he’d called the guy up that night only for them to end up yelling at each other over the phone for ten minutes. They both said some hurtful things, but Carson had ultimately been unwilling to forgive the man he loved for telling Ayden about them without consulting him first.

For over a month, the brunet had let his anger of having lost his oldest best friend simmer and stew inside him. He had vented about it all so many times to both of his parents and, yes, even his therapist the one time he went back to see her. Carson had spent the rest of June ignoring all calls and texts that Josiah sent him to try and reconcile their relationship or friendship, but the truth was that when Josiah stopped trying, Carson only felt empty.

He was so tired of being bitter and angry, but he felt stupid and childish for how he had simply cut off Josiah because he was upset. For the last two weeks, Carson had been snappy at work and lazy and mopy at home. He really felt lovesick because he virtually had no one to hang out with or talk to besides his parents.

At night when he laid in his bed, tossing and turning in his sticky and sweaty sheets because his air conditioner was defective, he couldn’t stop his mind from replaying the highlights reel of when he was on speaking terms with his best friends. The truth of the matter was that he wanted Josiah back in his life, and he wanted Ayden back too. He just didn’t know if either of them would ever forgive him.

The way Carson saw it was that if he ever figured out how to swallow his pride and apologize for everything he had done wrong in the last couple months, he would be a million times happier than he was currently feeling. Because honestly, he was pretty miserable. The biggest problem, though, was that he didn’t know how to man up and beg for forgiveness, which was why he was stuck in limbo for the time being.

*

Josiah was jolted awake when a large weight jumped on him. The heavy paw pressing down on the middle of his chest didn’t help. He groaned and wheezed while his German Shepherd panted in his face. The man used his hands to push the dog away and slowly sat up.

“Christ, Milfred,” he complained, glaring at his dog.

Milfred only barked happily and Josiah shook his head. He yawned loudly and stretched out his arms. The early August sun was filtering into his room and falling across his face. He squinted so that he wasn’t blinded and slowly dragged himself off of his bed.