Finding Home || bxb

21

"Your hair looks good kid," Mike commented as he ruffled my hair. He'd been sat beside me at the table.

"Not for long if you keep touching it," I moaned gently slapping his hand away. I's gotten silk pillowcases, which were delivered a couple days ago, as a Christmas present to myself and it had been making my hair a lot easier to sleep on without getting all frizzy and damaged. "Do you know how long it takes me to get it looking like it does. I have to spend like ages putting products in it."

"Is that why you take so long in the bathroom sometimes? I hear the water go off thinking I'll be able to go in but then you don't come out for ages," Charlie said.

"Whoops. Sorry. Yeah, I'm doing my hair if I'm taking ages," I explained.

"Can't you do it in your room or something?"

"No coz it's easier to do in the bathroom," I argued until we were bickering back and forth about my showering habits. We concluded with the fact that I was going to keep doing what I did, and Charlie was just going to have to deal with it. He didn't seem too happy about the conclusion we came to though.

Oh well, that's his problem.

——

"So why did I have to come with you again?" I asked Charlie after he dragged me into town.

"Pay back," he replied.

"For?"

"For refusing to take less time in the bathroom."

I sighed as he dragged me from one shop to the next. Apparently, Charlie quite liked shopping and he wanted to spend some of his Christmas money that he'd been holding onto.

"So, what happened on new years?" Charlie asked as he looked at shoes.

"Nothing. We just like made out, but nothing else happened," I told him. "He gave me this this necklace, as like a belated Christmas gift, when we went out for dinner. I felt bad coz I didn't get him anything."

"That was nice of him though. He seems like a cool guy. I like him. Is he like your boyfriend or something?"

"No!" I said quickly. "We're like nowhere near that. I mean we haven't even had sex."

"You know you can become official without having sex, right?" Charlie questioned.

"You can?" I've never really been in a situation like this before, so it was a little confusing for me. How does someone get a boyfriend exactly? I feel like a lot of guys I kind of had a thing with I treated like they were my boyfriend already and it just freaked them out and made them leave me.

"Yeah mate. Haven't you had a boyfriend before?" Charlie asked like it was no big deal while he tried on a pair of trainers he liked.

"No," I grumbled.

He looked up at me then like he saw me differently or something. "Oh. Sorry. Are you a virgin?"

"Seriously? No."

"Okay, I'm just asking."

"I've just never been in an actual relationship. How do you even ask someone to be your boyfriend?"

"Well, with my ex, I literally just asked her. Like I just said, 'do you wanna be my girlfriend?' and that worked," Charlie explained.

"Is it really that easy?" I asked confused. I mean Roman being my boyfriend is definitely the path I wanted to go down. I didn't want him to be just some fling. I wanted things to be different with him. I wanted things to be better.

"Yeah. It's that easy."

Charlie paid for his shoes at the till and dragged me with him into the main shopping centre, but I didn't mind anymore. I feel like I had a bunch of questions to ask him. He was the only one I knew who had been in a proper relationship and for a decent amount of time. He'd told me once that he was with his ex for like a year and a half, the same ex he lost his virginity and all his other major firsts to. They might have broken up in the end but only because she broke up with him. He could still give me advice on how to get in a relationship if he managed to make his own one last as long as it had.

"How do I know the best time to ask him though?" I asked Charlie as we walked. "I mean what if I ask too soon and he freaks out and leaves. Or what if I ask too late and he thinks I don't care and leaves."

"I don't know mate, you kinda just know when it's the right time. And if he's a decent guy then if you ask him too soon he'll tell you he's not ready but still stick around until he feels more comfortable. You do have to be careful about leaving it too late though."

"I told him I wanted to take things kind of slow."

"Well then he can probably understand if it takes you a little longer than he's used to, but Alden, he might ask you to be his boyfriend himself and it could be you that has to say yes or no."

"Fuck. I forgot that could happen."

"How have you gotten any guys before if you're this clueless?" Charlie asked. I knew he didn't mean what he said too harshly but it still kind of stung a little.

"Well, they were really only interested in one thing so all I had to do was say yes. Most of the time anyway. Sometimes they don't really care what you say," I said feeling dejected about my past. It was hard to accept that things could he different now when all my previous experiences had not been the best. Everything felt so new with Roman.

"Mate, have there been guys who have hurt you? Like...like that," I knew what Charlie was asking even if he couldn't say the words.

I shrugged. "I guess. Yeah. But I put myself in that position, so I don't know."

"Doesn't matter. If they hurt you, then they hurt you. I'm sorry that shit happened to you Alden." He really looked like he meant it. "If Roman ever does that shit to you, you have to tell me, okay? Don't brush it away like it doesn't matter because you think you deserve it or something for whatever reason. No one deserves that shit."

I hugged Charlie then. It was brief and only for a second, but I mumbled a quiet 'thank you' not just to Charlie but also to the world for giving me another person who seemed to actually care about me like Dahlia did. Like my parents would have.

"Speak of the devil," Charlie said nudging his head in the direction behind me.

When I looked around, I saw Roman of all people! He had a little girl in his arms, but I knew her to be his sister Genie. He must have somehow sensed that I had my eyes on him because he turned around just then and caught my eye. I need to stop blushing every time I see him.

Roman handed his sister over to the man and woman I was sure was his parents and started walking over to me.

"Well, I guess I've tortured you enough by making you come shopping with me. Seeya," Charlie said before he left without another word.

Bastard.

"Hey," Roman greeted. It surprised me when he leant over and gave me a chaste kiss to my cheek like that was what we always did when we said hello.

"Hey..." When was I ever going to learn to stop blushing around him?

~~~~~~~~~