Gentle, Please! [boyxboy]

Chapter 23

_Chapter 23_

Elliot Warren

"Why are you being so absent minded these days?" Ricky wondered and shoved one of his just bought french fries in his mouth. "You can't keep telling me that nothing happened."

"You're one to talk, you've been acting strange, too." I pointed out. For some reason he had been too overly conscious with our surroundings. Before, he didn't used to be so cautious. It was always the complete opposite. He used to be slightly too careless actually.

"What do you mean? I'm acting normal now." I just sighed at that and shook my head. "At least I'm not the one who is continuously looking so down."

"I'm not down," I corrected. "There's just a lot of things going through my mind right now." For instance, that the baseball match was starting in less than twenty minutes. But with one glance to Ricky, I could tell that he was no way near close to being satisfied with my answer. "Look, there is really no need for you to worry."

"You make it so hard for me to believe that, though."

Christo joined us directly afterwards, also just returning from getting himself something to eat, looking a little gloomy for some reason. Even though he seemed totally fine when he just left. What happened?

"Are you alright?" I worried and nudged him. He looked up at me and smiled despite having a sad expression.

"More or less," he shrugged.

"Where is Derek? What happened?" They had been standing in the queue together just a moment ago.

"He's talking to a girl," he said in a monotone voice which was also enough for me to understand what was going on. "It's Baochi. She has had a crush on him for a while now. And the funny thing is, she even asked me to help her get closer to him."

"And? Did you do it?"

"What do you think, I can't just refuse her. How would that look?" He sighed.

"Do you ever plan on telling Derek for real now? You do realize that at this rate, this will never lead to anywhere." He remained silent. As if he already knew what I was talking about. "Why are you so afraid of telling him?"

"Are you serious? What if he doesn't approve, what if he find me disgusting or what if things will get too different? I don't want that." But at the same time we all now that things couldn't stay like this either. He would just end up more and more hurt.

"Then things will get different, it's how it is. But tell me, do you seriously believe that it will be more painful than this? Besides, I don't seriously believe that Derek will treat you any differently, nor that he would suddenly find you pejorative. He's not like that."

"But we've been friends for so long and losing him as friend would be-"

"Christo," Ricky interrupted him. "By the many years you and as well I have known him, I can tell with guarantee that he won't ever in his life mistreat you. You would really be the last person on this universe for him to do that."

The blond haired still seemed troubled. "I'm still terrified to tell him, though."

"Whether you confess to him or not, it's nothing I can decide for you. But what I see is you suffering now and in the past couple years as well. Hell, even I didn't even know since recently and that's still bugging me. And to be honest, if it was me being in his shoes then I would rather be mad at you for going through this alone and not telling me from the very start than for you liking me more than you should."

Christo remained silence for a while, probably taking the time to contemplate his next moves now and hopefully comprehending that there is no hope nor future in the way he has been dealing with it until now.