The One You Love || Dreamnotfound

Chapter 5

After lunch was over, Clay found himself feeling bad. He didn't really miss Techno- no more than usual, at least- but he felt guilty. He felt like he had disappointed Techno in some way by not being there for their usual lunch meeting.

He swallowed the feeling and headed to class, but it was a feeling he couldn't shake off. After school had finally ended, he decided he should search for George. It was Wednesday, and Clay needed George dead before lunch on Friday. He couldn't miss a single chance to seclude him and get the hit.

Fortunately for him, George seemed to consider Clay a friend already. A stupid move, but Clay wasn't complaining.

Well, he was, but not as much as he would if he didn't need to 'talk to' George alone.

What he truly didn't appreciate was the other man making an effort to be friendly by hugging him from behind and happily shouting "Dream!"

Clay glared back at him and gave an angry "George." in a warning tone.

"...Clay!"

"George." He repeated in the same tone.

George blinked and quickly let him go. "...hi Clay."

"Hi George."

"...hi."

"Yes?"

George looked down, clearly feeling a bit awkward now. "I... I was just gonna ask of you wanted to hang out or something? Like, I could get us ice cream or something?"

Clay blinked a bit and looked at him, taking a second to process what he just said. George seemed so determined to dig his own grave that it was almost astonishing to him.

"I... uh..."

And yet, when he went to respond he felt that same gross feeling in his stomach and the same disgusting heat in his face. He was sure that George was doing this intentionally, though he had no clue how. He told himself that he wouldn't be trapped in George's mind games. He would persevere.

"Sure!"

Got it. Boom. Perfect. Clay would be fooled by no one's mind games, especially not George's.

George, on the other hand, simply grinned at his response. "Great! Are you ready to go?"

Clay blinked a bit, confused as to why George seemed so eager to go. "Uh... I guess so, yeah?"

George smiled more and grabbed his wrist, pulling him along down the hallway. Clay just let himself be dragged along, keeping up but barley.

Clay was zoned out for the duration of their walk, questioning George's motives. He didn't understand- George was smart enough to make him feel all weird like he did, but not enough to not lead himself to certain death? That just felt weird. Maybe George had a counterplan? Maybe he was testing Clay- a test set up by techno?

His thoughts were cut off by George snapping him to his senses. The two were in front of an ice cream truck in the park across from the school, their fingers now intertwined.

"What do you want, Clay?" George questioned, tilting this head.

"Huh? Oh, uh..." he looked up at the menu and pointed, looking over at George as if asking him to order for him.

George looked over at him and giggled a tiny bit, finding Clay's actions cute. George's cheeks turned a light pink as he ordered for Clay and paid.

Clay thanked George instinctively, going to eat his ice cream as he felt his phone ring. He ignored it for awhile, just silently walking around with George. Eventually, he gave an annoyed huff and let go of George's hand to check his phone.

Seeing who was calling, his heart dropped. He dropped his ice cream and nearly dropped his phone, shaking a bit.

Seeing his friend's fear, George gave the reaction anyone would give.

"Clay? Clay, what's wrong?"

Clay didn't manage to muster a response for a solid second.  "I- uh- I gotta go. Techno's calling."

He quickly ran off. George took a step after him, but stopped. He knew that he shouldn't chase him down or anything.

And so, he let Clay leave.