Sugarcoated (BoyXBoy)

Sugarcoated {7}

AIDEN

From: Toby

Dani is at cheer practice. Come over.

My heart jumped at the message. I ignored it and checked myself in the mirror before running down the stairs. I shut the door behind me, shoving in my earbuds as I made my way down the street towards the familiar path that led to Toby's house. I had always loved walking there rather than driving; Even though the car wasn't in the driveway, I probably would have walked even if it was.

Looking both ways, I crossed the street stopping for a second in his driveway. I already knew that if his parents were home things would be a lot more complicated than they already were. They had a three-car garage which left it impossible to tell if everyone was home.

I sighed before climbing the stairs and ringing the doorbell. As the chimes echoed back to me my heart stopped and I felt panic surge through my body. This was a mistake. I shouldn't have come here, and I knew it. There was no good that could come of this. Why would Toby have wanted to try to start up any sort of friendship again anyways? Why would he risk everything he had with Dani-?

-"Still zoning out, I see?"

I jumped as I snapped out of my trance as I was face to face with Toby. How had I not noticed him open the door?

"Sorry, I was just-"

"Panicking?" Toby finished, "You've always had a tendency to overthink, Ay."

I gave a nervous laugh before he stepped aside leading me up to his bedroom. It was completely different than it used to be. Instead of his twin sized bed with the Star Wars bed-set he loved so much, he now had a futon mattress folded up into a couch with two throw blankets thrown over it. Where he used to have his boxes of Pokémon cards, there was now a mini fridge with a single picture of him and Dani held on it by a magnet. His dresser was replaced with square shelves with multicolored pop-up, fabric boxes. The TV on top of it was no longer the antient box TV that he loved so much but was replaced by a flat screen smart TV.

His walls were what shocked me the most. He used to have posters up of Star Wars, vintage band posters, and the glass incased poster of his favorite movie Not Cool, there were a lot of pictures of him and Dani and posters for football teams. All of this stuff was nice, and it went well together, but it just wasn't Toby.

I looked back at him, his gaze not meeting mine, ashamed. He knew what I was thinking. He knew I was disappointed with how much he had given up for a girl he was with out of fear. There was nothing visible of who he really was.

"Dani told me my room was nerdy," He said in barely a whisper, clutching an end pillow from the futon close to his chest, "She said to let her take care of it. You know my mom likes to redecorate so she gave us her credit card, and this is what she chose," He gave a weak smile before looking back up at me, "She tried to throw all my posters away... and my cards. Well, she did."
"You let her?!"

"Yeah. She threw it away, but the moment she left I dug my posters and cards out of the trash," He pointed to the closet, "They're in there."

Yeah along with your sexuality, I wanted to spit out bitterly but held my tongue. I looked at the closet sadly, knowing that everything that Toby had loved was in there. It was like he himself was trapped in there and replaced with the insecure boy on the couch who was suffering in silence.