Soul Mates (English) (Boyxboy)

Chapter 13

Sam never cried in front of others, and was already too old to start. But now he though it wouldn't have mattered anyway, cause he wasn't able to stop himself. His abdomen was sore from sobbing the whole day. Now he cried uncontainable tears, silently, expressionless.

His reason told him there was no need to blame himself, but his heart claimed it was his fault. If he had paid more attention, if he had been busy trying to fix this rather than feel jealous of his best friend, Joan would still be... 'You know she wouldn't. She didn't left suddenly.'

That was true. Their relationship wasn't going over railways since long ago, and they both agreed silently that it didn't matter. What a mistake, of course it mattered! At least for him it did. Sure, they had stupid fights and stopped talking for a couple of days, but they always ended looking for each other to make up. The problem was that eventually they stopped making up. The resentments stayed while they made their best to ignore them, to contain every complain on the tip of the tongue, ready to be used on the next argument. The worst is that they didn't have a last argument.

"I met someone."

Sam didn't react. He expected the sudden meeting to be something like this, and he still wondered if there was a possibility he could be wrong. He didn't look at her, just stared at his hands, crossed over the table.

"I understand," he muttered.

Joan frowned, but said nothing about his indifference. She knew he was trying to make it easier, tough it still pissed her off. He felt that too.

"Is this person...?"

"No."

"I see."

"I'm sorry." She meant that.

"There's nothing to apologize for," he said, standing up. He approached her and ruffled her soft red hair. "I wish you two the best." He didn't rush out of the coffee shop and certainly didn't look back at her one last time, because he wouldn't have resist it; his stoic mask had already a huge crack.

Now it was shattered.

Sam didn't use to be so serious, especially when he was with Dan; because Dan was bright and joyful but tended to feel lonely, and Sam hated that. He liked to see him happy, that's why he made himself a surprise box; and it worked. Dan would laugh till tears even with the most stupid joke he could do. He often suspected Dan laughed for the mere pleasure of doing it.

His phone rang: a message. Wiping another tear, he took it and found a picture of a huge teddy bear dressed as the master of ceremonies from a circus. It looked pretty to his burning eyes.

DAN.T.: ERIC WON THIS AT THE AMUSSEMENT PARK.

SAM_FROST: HOW ROMANTIC! HE GAVE YOU A SUPREME TEDDY BEAR. AW. I KNEW HE HAD A HEART... DEEP INSIDE.

Sam felt nasty for pretending, but didn't want to burden others. Not when Dante was so happy having the perfect date with his mate. He wished he could have that too.

DAN.T.: IT'S FOR HIS SISTER, IDIOT.

SAM_FROST: EH... YOU ARE SO MEAN TO ME.

He waited for a reply that didn't come. For a moment he felt it was really mean, then realized Dan meant nothing serious with that. In fact, if he knew he was in this state, he would ditch Eric in the spot and run to his apartment, risking his life by crossing the street at full speed without waiting for the traffic light. He would break the door down and appear at his room holding a box of peach desserts. He would turn the lights on, wipe his tears and sit by his side. He would force him to eat and wouldn't stop poking his arm if he refused. He would make him angry and somehow find a way to make him laugh too, and then just tell him he wasn't alone, not with words, but with his actions. 'Dante is a really good friend...'

Sam somehow picked the pieces of his heart and managed to put them together. He didn't feel ready to go back to school yet, but couldn't have the luxury to skip the exams without a sick note. Being that so, early Monday he was standing in Allen Wright's gate, waiting for Dante and praying for Russell not to appear.

Leaning over the wall, just to feel less alone, he took out his phone and started tipping furiously a short message, erasing it, and tipping it again and again. When he considered enough time had passed, he pressed the send button.

SAM_FROST: WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?

The response came some seconds later.

DAN.T.: I'M ON MY WAY!

Sam sighed. Surely he would appear with Eric.

Is not that he had something against him. Well, in fact, he did (for beating Dan all the way), but he couldn't blame the guy for rejecting someone he didn't loved, especially when the wooer was as insistent as Sam guessed Russell had been to have suffered that much. By now he could only breathe deeply and restrain his emotions. He didn't want to worry Dan or show weakness in front of Eric.

Suddenly, they appeared turning the corner and Dan immediately spotted him there, standing on top of the stairway. He ran dodging the other students and trapped him on a tight hug of his waist, because that was as high as he could reach. After all, Sam was one of the tallest guys in the whole school. Sam ruffled his hair, teasing.

"Ok, you should let go. Eric's looking at me as if he's gonna kill me right here."

"He will not. Or else he won't have a dream summer," Dan's reply sounded muffled over his shirt, but loud enough for the alluded to hear it clearly. Eric blushed and looked at the ground. That was the first honest smile for Sam in days. Dante finally let go of his abdomen and suddenly jabbed his broadside with four fingers, just below the ribs. "Jerk! Why didn't you answer my phone calls?! I was worried as hell! Don't you dare to be my friend if you're planning on doing that again!"

The pain made him bend down, and Dan took the opportunity to take his face in his hands and look directly into his eyes. After a moment, he stepped back and gave him time to recover before snapping. "What happened?"

For God's sake, of course he knew. And he wasn't polite enough for not commenting about it. Denying it would be useless. He sighed.

"Well, some... interesting things happened this weekend and..." His gray eyes found the matching asphalt as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's really nothing. You must not worry."

"Sam... Is it... Joan?"

He wanted to turn around, hide his face and run away, but he couldn't, that would have woken some flags on Dante. 'There's absolutely no need of me to burden people with my stupid problems. Yes, my girlfriend dumped me, my soul mate left me. I can live with that. I must.'

"Kind of. Nothing I cannot handle. I'll tell you some other time."

"Yes, but-"

"Apparently," Eric interrupted, talking for the first time, "we need to hurry, you see. We have only five minutes before the exam starts. Let's go." He pushed Dan's shoulders, making him walk inside the school before he could complain. Sam watched them go, and when Eric turned around to look at him over his shoulder, Sam gesticulated a quiet "thanks" with the lips. Eric smiled back and kept walking.

'Great, now I owe him one.'