Escaping the Current

15. Steamy Window

'Mauricio and I talked today.'

Austin noticed Kaden stopped chewing and seemed to struggle with swallowing the brownie in his mouth. His gaze was fixated on Austin's eyes. But Austin gave very little away. He wanted to tell Kaden when he walked into the door, but seeing him in his element sent all thoughts of anyone else out the window. But since they were on the floor in the living room, eating dessert and drinking, he remembered something Mo had said to him.

'It was after practice. Coach kinda forced it, but it went better than I expected, better than I wanted – when it begun.' Austin had a sip of his drink and stared at Kaden, who remained unmoved for a moment.

'I also talked to him,' Kaden whispered after finally managing to send the food down his throat. 'Before he got to practice.'

'I know.'

There was silence. Austin searched Kaden's eyes for a reaction other than guilt. He knew that Kaden had no reason to be guilty. Mo spared him no niceties, he let him know exactly what he thought of him, in regards to Kaden.

'I know you've got feelings for him,' Austin said. He saw the look of horror in Kaden's eyes. The poor boy probably thought the worst. But he reassured him that he wasn't upset.

Austin had known when he saw Kaden and Mo together that there was something between them that was beautiful and raw, which was horrible for him. He told Kaden about the times he had seen him with Mo. There was a particular way Mo looked at Kaden that would upset Austin in a split second. Mainly because it was the way he looked at Kaden. It was a mixture of the feelings of admiration, lust and involuntary protectiveness. It was in Mo's eyes, just like it was in his. Unlike him though, Mo wasn't afraid to go with that full force.

It took a long while for him to get there. A long, messy, almost destructive, and painful while. But he was finally there. Mo knew this, apparently. He knew that it was a matter of time until Austin finally realized all that he could have lost if he let Kaden walk away. He even called Austin a dimwit, which made Austin laugh with Mo, instead of his usual look of disgust that he threw at Mo when he said something.

'We didn't know what was in the air today,' Austin said, grabbing a caramel cupcake. He smiled at Kaden as he thought of what he and Mo joked about. 'We knew that it probably had something to do with you.'

Kaden looked away in an effort to hide his smile. Austin smiled too as he reached for Kaden's chin, turning him to face his own smile. Kaden crinkled his nose, in another attempt to stop smiling. But his efforts were useless as Austin tickled him, bringing him to a giggle that turned into a snort. It was loud and caused Kaden to be overcome with embarrassment. Austin's eyes brightened up and he laughed uncontrollably. He loved Kaden's snort. It was rare to get him laughing in a way that resulted in a snort. But when it happened, Austin loved every second of it. From the sound he made to the moment of realization and feeling of embarrassment. Austin loved it. 

Kaden shoved a piece of the chocolate fudge cake in his mouth. By the time he swallowed it, his embarrassment ceased. And Austin continued to tell him about his conversation with Mo.

They touched on what happened between them. Mo told him maybe they needed the fight to finally get rid of the tension surrounding them. He apologized to Austin for any hurt that he may have caused him during his grief for his father. And he apologized for how he reacted to Mo after the whole thing happened. They agreed to be cordial from that point on. And maybe after some time had passed, they could even be acquaintances, Mo joked. They planted a seed of mutual respect after their talk.

As they walked together to their cars, Mo offered some words of advice for Austin. He told him that Kaden was the type of person you could have only once in a lifetime. There were plenty of people out there, willing to give them 'ordinary love,' waiting for either one of them to choose from. Hell, there were people in school who hit on them, even when Austin was with Rachel. Those types of people could provide them a good time, a laugh and good sex. But it was all replaceable. It was the same. Surface level and superficial.