this love ☼ dreamnotfound

{ 21 }

"george?" clay spoke up. he immediately reached over to discard his half-eaten food on the nightstand.

"hm?" george pretended he hadn't seen the text on his phone. nothing was going on between him and jace that would affect their relationship, so george had no reason to panic. he had to act clueless for a few seconds so he could figure out how the hell to explain though.

"your phone," clay pointed out, "someone texted you." he could clearly see the contact name saved as jace accompanied by the message. a million thoughts were running through his head.

george looked over at his phone on the bedsheets for a second time. "oh- jace," george picked his phone up as if he needed to further inspect the text. he casually went on his phone, being careful with his mannerisms and expressions. if he made himself seem suspicious at all, he could accidentally turn an innocent friendship into some huge cheating scandal.

"what the fuck?" clay pinched his eyebrows together. he was angry and didn't have the energy to hide it. "how can you say that so casually?"

"what do you mean?" george questioned. "i can say it casually because it is casual. we're friends." george wanted to slap himself in the face. why did he naturally sound like a bitch every time he spoke?

"you and jace are friends?" clay spoke in disbelief. he kept his tone as calm as he could. "how?"

there was no reason to lie, so george told the truth, "he actually snuck his number into the pockets of that pair of shorts i wore to the boardwalk, and i found it while i was unpacking. i forgot about it for a while, but one night i was just like- really overwhelmed with everything going on and i needed someone to talk to," he took a deep breath, "so i called him, and he listened."

"i believe you," clay decided. "you could've talked to me, though."

"i couldn't," george argued. he explained his feelings, "with sapnap moving, you were just so upset and fragile and i didn't want to dump anything on you. plus- most of our conversations have been about how i can help you."

"so jace is giving you relationship advice?" clay let out a short laugh. he was pissed that george had reached out to jace after promising not to talk to him ever again, but george was human. he could do what he wanted, and clay trusted him.

he didn't trust jace though.

george giggled at the analogy. "kind of," he realized. "he has a girlfriend, and they've been together for like- two years. it's safe to say he knows what he's doing."

that was a huge relief for clay. he was still curious about the text, "so what happened yesterday?"

"we met in his town and we got ice cream and talked about my problems," george told. "it was the first time we've met in person since the beach, before you freak out."

a long sigh left clay. "i'm sorry i haven't been able to be around you recently."

"you have nothing to be sorry about," george reached for clay's hands to hold them comfortingly. "in fact, i should be apologizing. i should've told you that i had been talking to jace."

"i understand why you didn't," clay expressed. "i mean- you knew i would freak out even though you're not doing anything wrong."

clay hadn't made eye contact with george in what felt like hours. george spoke again, "you have every right to freak out. you're protecting me, and i really appreciate it, but you shouldn't waste your time worrying about me."

"i'm not wasting my time," clay raised his voice a little. he didn't mean to, but he couldn't help it.

"clay-," george started.