My Middle School Crush (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Players in Disguise

The second Mason's finger licked 'post' for the fourth time that day, his body went slack as he released a dejected sigh. He was now slumped onto his desk, his phone falling with a loud crack onto the wood. He'd been working on his second instagram page for the entire day. He created post after post, putting all of his energy into these graphics to give himself something to focus on other than his evaporating social life. He thought that the worst of it would be the stalemate with his best friend. Yet, he knew at the end of the day they would somehow come back together. But, with Mark, Mason did not have that same assurance.

As per usual, when Mason went to check his notifications, he already saw several likes. His page was gaining popularity and thus the likes were instantaneous. Still, they did nothing to lift his spirits.

Mason left instagram to look at his messages. He knew that he shouldn't. Doing this only made him more upset. But Mason clearly had an affinity for pain because he didn't anyway.

Mason put his chin on his palm, staring sadly at the messages between him and Mark. A few weeks ago, their chat would have been lively. They would have talked and joked for hours or asked to see one another whenever they had the time. They were eager to spend time together and just be in each other's presence. That was a far cry from what Mason saw now.

With almost a business-like professionality, they asked if and when the other person was available to fuck. Walks through the town or dates at the fair were nowhere to be found. Dates and times exchanged with the efficiency of robots were found there instead. There was nothing in these messages that would indicate that they were exchanged between Mason and Mark other than their names. Mason's frown deepened just looking at them.

When he asked for distance, he never knew how bad it would get. In the weeks following that sad day in front of Mason's house, their relationship had grown terribly cold. Gone were the days of cute days and hours of foreplay. Now, it was simple. Meet up, have sex, and leave. No time was wasted on meaningless conversation or teasing each other before the main event. No. They just did what needed to be done and left after that.

Mason was very conflicted over how things had unfolded. He'd gotten exactly what he'd asked for. No one would confuse them for boyfriends. It was now incredibly clear that there relationship was about sex and nothing else.

But Mason missed the complicated. He missed being able to mess with Mark's hair when no sex was involved or to rant about his problems while Mark held his hand, listening attentively. If he was being honest, those were his favourite parts. 

Yet, Mason's heart was protected. He couldn't pretend to be dating Mark anymore and now, when Mark eventually left him for someone else, he wouldn't be surprised and definitely wouldn't be hurt. All he had to do was to convince his heart to stop wanting more. To stop wanting commitment out of Mark.

Mason suddenly felt the intense urge to sleep. It crept over him like a storm and tried to block out any other thought he had. For a while, Mason listened to it. He dropped his head back onto his desk and laid there, skin lightly touching the wood where the makeshift pillow that was his arms didn't hold him up. But after a while, he got the hunch that sleeping the rest of his evening away would be a bad idea.

With every once motivation he had left in his skinny body, Mason pulled himself off of his desk. When standing up to leave his bedroom, Mason tried not to grimace at the small puddle of drool he left behind. He briefly considered leaving it but in the end got some toilet paper from the bathroom to clean it up before he went downstairs.

When Mason got to the bottom of the steps, the first thing he noticed was how empty the house felt. It wasn't that it was quiet because with only three people living there, quiet was normal. It just had the feeling of emptiness. Mason's body instinctively knew that he was alone.