Public Displays of Affection (boyxboy)

Home - Chapter Eight

The next morning Jared was shockingly normal.

He knocked on Travis' door when he was running late and chatted easily while they walked to school.

That moment in Jared's bedroom kept replaying in Travis' mind though, and he wasn't quite able to match the level of friendliness that Jared seemed to have mastered.

As usual, they went their separate ways as soon as they entered the building. Travis was grateful for that and managed not to think about Jared once until he sank into the seat next to him in history.

Travis watched Jared unpack his things out the corner of his eye. He shifted, feeling like he should say something. Try to keep up pretenses as much as possible, but Mrs. McAllen entered entered before he could think of anything.

"Good morning," she said cheerily.

This time, her gaze sought Travis out before she even read attendance.

"I'll have that essay now, Travis," she said before taking a seat at her desk.

Travis swallowed. He hadn't managed to finish even one of his assignments. How the hell was he supposed to with Jared around distracting him?

What was he supposed to say? This was supposed to make up for the classes and unit test he'd missed. He'd need like a ninety on the exam without it.

Jared cleared his throat awkwardly just as Travis opened his mouth to speak and face the consequences.

Travis looked at Jared. He was giving Travis an odd look, gesturing with his eyes to the stack of paper that he had set in between them.

Travis' jaw dropped.

The small stack of paper had Travis' name typed across the top.

He looked at Jared and the blond shrugged awkwardly and looked away. Stunned, Travis took the essay and walked it to the front of the room.

Mrs. McAllen didn't seem to notice that anything was amiss. She smiled and thanked him and waited for him to return to his seat before beginning class.

Travis couldn't really pay attention to it though. Not with his mind reeling over this.

Jared was always nice, but this went above and beyond. Was it supposed to be some sort of peace offering? Was he trying to win Travis over?

A warm hand fell gently onto his thigh under the table. He glanced at Jared. His friend didn't meet his gaze but he squeezed Travis' leg almost comfortingly.

It wasn't comforting though, just more confusing.

When the bell rang for lunch Jared finally removed his hand, packing his things silently.

"Thanks," Travis muttered quietly as the class filed out.

Jared flushed and shrugged.

"It was nothing," he said. He waited for Mrs. McAllen to go, leaving them alone in the classroom before he went on. "It's just a stupid project," he said. "There's no reason to flunk because of it."

He hesitated a moment, the pink in his cheeks deepening as he looked down at Travis, still planted in his seat. Finally, he reached into his bag and pulled out more papers, handing them to Travis.

Travis gaped at the pile. All of the questions for calculus and another essay for English.

"I don't have chemistry though, so you're on your own there," Jared said.

"Mr. Slater gave me the week to do it..." Travis said.

"That's good."

He slung his bag onto his shoulder, clearly planning to leave. But he couldn't just walk off with Travis getting more and more confused by the day and by the minute. That wouldn't be fair.