1987 [BoyxBoy]

Chapter 13 - Home Sweet Inn

"Be safe. And come to my house the second you guys get back—no matter what time it is. I want to see you the moment you get back, okay?"

"Okay. I promise," Peter weakly smiled. His girlfriend had been holding onto him tightly since he and Billy told her and Sarah that they were headed out of town. Peter was showing obvious discomfort, but Denise didn't care. She held onto him, and kissed him like it was going to be the last time she saw him.

Billy was sitting, watching the couple from his car. He was getting impatient. Impatient and slightly jealous. He was trying to convince himself that the jealousy he was feeling was because he missed his girlfriend, but deep down he knew it was more than that.

The shorter boy's girlfriend finally allowed him to walk back to Billy's car. He opened the door with a look of weariness towards what just happened with her. He slid into his seat and immediately wiped his lips with a sadness to his movements. Peter had never looked so over with something.

"Are you okay?" Billy queried to the boy.

Peter just responded with a fake nod. He'd been thinking about where his relationship with Denise was headed, and he only saw it going south. He'd only been with the girl for almost a month, but something with her just wasn't clicking for him—and he couldn't figure it out.

"Did something happen between you two?" Billy asked, trying his hardest to get some kind of information out of his friend.

"Billy, just drive," Peter urged. He didn't want to get into what he was feeling. He was there to help Billy, not unload his feelings. Though Billy had done it time and time again, Peter knew belting his sudden dislike towards one of Billy's oldest friends wasn't a good idea.

Billy shrugged off Peter's slight anger and chalked it up to nerves. He knew how Denise could be. She probably said something that annoyed him, or was too clingy. "Alright."

The taller boy wanted to pry a bit more, but figured it was best to leave it alone. He'd been in moments of sadness and confusion, and he knew he wouldn't want Peter poking and prying.

He pulled out of Denise's driveway and started the route to Beacon Ridge. Though it wasn't hundreds of miles away, it was still going to be at most two hours before they got there. Billy was hoping Peter wouldn't spend the entirety of the drive in silence. They were going of a road-trip, to some extent, so he'd assumed they'd do the customary things you were supposed to do on them. Granted, the circumstances were very different considering their destination was a town neither of them had been in and they didn't know if they were searching for someone or something.

They were 45 minutes into the drive when Billy finally decided he had had enough of the silence. "So, do you wanna listen to the radio?"

The boy in silence exhaled aggressively. "I don't really care." He hadn't meant for it to come off as rude, but of course that's how it was received.

Billy had had enough. He was starting to feel how he assumed Peter felt that night in the car when he picked him up from Anna Grace's party. The car began to slow down, and Billy parked it on the side of the road. "Dude, what the hell is wrong? Just an hour and a half ago you were totally excited that I invited you along, and now you're acting like I hurt you or something. Did I do something?"

Peter sighed in defeat and realized how he'd probably given that impression. "No, it's not you. It's me. Things haven't been so great in my brain for awhile. Overthinking things about my relationship; about myself."

Billy exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He held a thought in the back of his head that Peter was still hung up on the kiss. He was so sure that he was going to tell him that he wasn't okay with moving on. "That's all? We all feel like that sometimes. Or maybe it's just me and you. My point is, I know what that feels like. And a short, smart-ass once said 'I will be here for you. I won't judge you.' I want you to know that the same thing applies from me to you. I owe you so much for all of my shit you've had to deal with."