Price Family Book Store (ON HOLD)

Chapter 26- Disasterous Development

It seemed like a natural response to both young men at the time for Jonah to pay much more regular visits to the Price family, stopping by their house every day, without fail, even if for just a few minutes to have a quick conversation with his boyfriend at the door before they both parted ways once again. After two months, Jonah stopped by, as was expected by now, however, found himself approaching the door from one direction, while a familiar face appeared from the other. The blonde met the darker eyes of the taller teen, his expression blank.

"Hey, Jonah," Matt called to him, not a hint of excitement or welcoming in his tone, in fact, he seemed very unhappy to see him there, "how have you been?" Again, although the question he posed sounded harmless and sweet, his delivery of the words contrasted greatly to the line itself.
Jonah didn't show Matt any form of familiar kindness either, having almost forgotten about the student since his accusations regarding Connor possibly having a relationship with him had been cast away and proven wrong. The only thing that the dark-haired male had been thinking about recently was his lover's condition, however the news had pushed him to study harder, his desire to work as a doctor or surgeon increasing drastically recently.
"Fine," he spoke, "why are you here?"

"I'm here to see Connor," the blonde raised an eyebrow, believing his response was quite obvious, a tone of questioning lingering in his words, "which I think is fair, considering I've not actually seen him outside of school for a few months." Now, there was slight aggression in his tone, Matt's expression finally shifting to one that Jonah could recognise as angered, even if it was very faint.
"Either you were going to be here instead or he claimed it 'wasn't a good idea for us to hang out so regularly'."

"Sorry, Matt, but he's my boyfriend. You know, I'm gonna want to know that everything's fine, considering what he's going through." Despite the increasingly obvious angered tone that lingered behind Matt's words, the darker-haired male only shrugged, thinking back to the day his lover had told him of his condition. Jonah's expression fell as he recalled the words, hearing Connor's voice screaming that haunting line again. His change in expression and aura didn't get past the blonde that stood opposite him and, although he was still relatively mad that he couldn't see his close friend for some time, the young man felt himself growing more sad than angry at the sight of the expression that made its way onto Jonah's face.
With a sigh, Matt took it upon himself to disturb the upsetting thought process he suspected the other male of going through, raising his voice to speak in a much more neutral tone than before. "We're both here for him, right?" his voice got through to the saddened, young man, getting Jonah's attention as he returned his gaze to the blonde, "so why are we standing outside? We're both going to go in and spend some time with Connor, that's all."

With an agreement made for the two of them to not act hostile towards the other, considering how neither of them wanted to put added pressure on Connor, they both pressed on, finally approaching the front door to the house in a comfortable silence.
It was Nina who answered the door when Jonah knocked, greeting him with a friendly smile, exclaiming happily that she 'was wondering when he was dropping by today'. Matt received a sincere welcome too, the small woman stepping aside to allow both the teenage boys into her home, closing the front door behind them.

"Now," she reclaimed both of their attention as she began a serious-sounding declaration, "I know Matt hasn't been here in a while and I know that Jonah likes to stay for a while when he visits recently, but we have to be cautious of time today. We're taking Connor to see a doctor later."
The blonde chose not to speak, due to both how unfamiliar he was with the woman and his immediate acceptance of this information. At least he could see his friend for a little while, he thought. Somehow, Jonah didn't feel comfortable leaving his thoughts unspoken.
"What's it for exactly?"