¤ LONGLISTED IN THE OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2022 ¤
// COMPLETE
- stand-alone sequel to featherlight -
Chase Collins steps onto a late night train, his last in the city before he moves to a new state with a job promotion.
What he doesn't expect, how...
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Kyle's jaw clenches. Something ignites behind those dark eyes of his. He shakes his head. "Look here, Chase Collins," he starts, his low voice steely. He swallows hard, and Chase watches his Adam's apple shift. "Look, Collins," he reiterates, stretching the syllables out. "Don't act like it's my fault, okay? Don't stand there and act all high and mighty. It's not like you were trying hard to keep in touch. What does it take, huh? Hi. That's all you needed to say, and I would've responded. Communication is two-way, Chase! Don't think it's all about me being an asshole."
"What the hell are you talking about, Kyle? What does me being high and mighty have to do with any of this?" Chase takes a step towards the other man, but Kyle retreats. Chase stops, utterly dumbfounded. He feels the rising wave of anger in him and tries his hardest to quell it before it spills over. He remembers their football coach telling them to never lose their temper on the field during a game. Nobody ever does anything intelligent when they're mad, he would say. And he'd rebuke Kyle each time he let his emotions get the better of him.
Football: that's what Kyle would get angry over. That, or a stupid quarrel at a house party after downing one too many beers. He never snapped at his friends. Not at him, or Ashton or Mat or Steve.
They've never fought before. They have had their disagreements, but it has never led to an argument of any kind. They knew each other too well for that. They needed each other too much for that. Well, there was that one week where Chase had ignored Kyle back in either sophomore or junior year. He had been tired of being crazy about a guy who would never like him back; tired of Kyle's relationship with Zoe Gonzalez. And most of all, he had tried to keep his distance in order to avoid falling even deeper into whatever it was he was falling into.
But that hadn't really worked out. And if Kyle ever noticed- and thinking back now Chase realized he probably did- he never said anything about it. A friendly smile and a joke: that's all it took for things to settle back into place.
And it strikes Chase how absurd it is that they have met after eight years and have managed to change that already.
"You're the one who knew I loved you and stayed silent about it! You're the one who promised me at that sushi place that you wouldn't lose contact with me!" His voice grows louder with each word. "It's not my fault I lost my phone and didn't put in the effort to talk to someone who obviously wasn't bothered about not talking to me!"
A string of expletives fall from between Kyle's lips. "It's not that I didn't try, Chase," he snaps. "And I told you I'm sorry for not saying anything about what you felt for me. I was stupid, even more stupid than I am today and that's saying a hell of lot. I should've spoken about it, I know."
"Yeah," Chase cuts in. "Yeah, you should've."
"Let me fucking finish," Kyle says tightly, and it comes out as one long word. "I should've. I know I should've. I should have talked to you. I should've done a hell of a lot of things in my life that I didn't do and which have come back to bite me in the goddamn ass, Chase. But I don't know what you want me to fucking do about it. You know I'm sorry, and you also know that there's not a single thing I can do to change the past- which happened years ago."
