The Chaotic Interim (boyxboy)

Chapter 28

"Well it felt like forever to us," Carson mumbled.

It grew quiet, but Josiah spoke up before it could get awkward. "When do you get to leave the hospital?"

"Early next week, I think. As long as I'm doing alright and nothing goes wrong, I should be able to get out of here." Ayden smiled at the men. "So, guys. Fill me in on all I've missed."

Josiah and Carson both share a brief glance that Ayden was somehow oblivious to. The brunet bit at his bottom lip and let the older man answer the blonde’s question.

Shrugging, he said, “Not really anything too crazy, I guess…”

Ayden cast a disbelieving glance at her boyfriend and shook his hand that was clasped in hers. “Come on,” she whined. “I’ve been checked out of the world for three months. It’s June now. The last time I was awake, it was still chilly outside and we were in the middle of the semester. At least tell me how school went.”

Carson smiled and shook his head. “School sucks, like always. We passed all our classes, though.”

“Oh shit,” Ayden muttered. “I just remembered that I finished this really awesome paper the night that…”

Ayden trailed off as she thought about where her sentence was going. Three months had passed. That meant that there were three months where she was completely inaccessible to her best friend who had to deal with one of the most horrifying things you could go through. Her face screwed up in worry as she stared at Carson.

Before Ayden even opened her mouth, the brunet knew what she was going to say. With the way her sentence withered and died off and how her face betrayed the same kind of pain it had when she had first found out about his rape, it wasn’t hard to figure out what was on her mind.

“I am so sorry, Car--”

“No, don’t worr--”

Ayden shook her head and interrupted her friend. “I will worry. Because while I was completely unaware of everything, you had to deal with some of the most messed up shit I could think of. What’s happened? You’re okay, right?”

Carson chewed on the inside of his cheek. He didn’t feel the urge to cry, or anything. He hadn't really talked much about that night, but it had been enough for him to get the big things off of his chest. Either way, he knew he didn't want to talk about it with Ayden, because he didn't want to upset her over something she couldn't change or affect.

Having spent every single day with the brunet, Josiah knew all of this. It took only one brief glance at his boyfriend to be reminded of it.

The curly-haired man, squeezed Ayden's hand. "He's doing amazing," Josiah said, making eye contact with Carson before he turned back to Ayden. "Trust me, he's handling it all way better than I ever could. I'm proud of him."

Carson felt his face start to warm up a little and propped his feet up on the end of the bed for something to distract himself with. If he was honest, though, he was pleased by Josiah's words.

"I'm glad about that," Ayden said. "Even though I'm really pisses that I wasn't here for you, at least you had Joe."

"Yeah," Carson said, letting his eyes land on his boyfriend. "I was really lucky. I don't know what I would have done without him."

Josiah felt his own blush coat his cheeks. With a chuckle he said, "Oh stop, you're embarrassing me, man."

Catching them all off guard, Carson abruptly said, "I'm sorry for getting you into this mess, Ayd. If it hadn't been for my bad decisions, you wouldn't have ever gotten into that accident."