Zayden looked sidelong at Alyssa. "Is there a reason we're here?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"And that required that we come out to the wilderness?" He waved an arm around him to indicate the hiking trail that was fifteen minutes from Josh's place. They used to come out here to party until Josh figured out he could throw parties at the house when his parents weren't home.
She laughed. "Yes, I don't want you running away."
"Okay, now I'm nervous. What's going on? If you tell me that you're pregnant I might laugh at the image that creates."
"I'm not pregnant." She sighed and tossed a rock, watching as it hit several others and created a little landslide. "The youth pastor at my church has these sayings, he calls them universal philosophies." She smiled at him. "One of them is, there are billions of stars in the sky if you focus on only the brightest of them then you're missing most of the picture."
"Another way of saying stop and smell the roses," he told her with a smirk.
"No, a way of telling you that you need to look at the big picture. If you focus on only one thing then you miss the rest of what's happening around you. Zay, you've been spending a lot of time with Seth and we're worried about you."
He stood and began stalking back toward the car. "I'm not having this conversation," he called back to her.
She scrambled after him. "Dammit, Zay, we're concerned about you!" She grabbed his sleeve and yanked. "Stop!"
He spun to face her. "No! I'm tired of you telling me what I should and shouldn't do!" He laughed bitterly. "It's like being back with my parents."
"That isn't how it is and you know it!" she shouted. "We are worried about you!"
"No, you're worried about your precious Weston! If you'll remember, he walked away, not me!" he spat. "Give me the fucking car keys. I'm leaving."
"Zayden, why won't you listen?"
"Because there's nothing for me to listen to! All you care about is keeping me under control, just like my parents!"
She drew back from him. "You can't believe that?" she asked quietly.
"You don't give a shit if I'm happy, no one does. I'm through, Alyssa, I'm done listening to you and Josh. It's my goddamn life. Leave me the fuck alone."
"Zay, you can't exactly avoid us, you live in Josh's house."
"Then I'll move out."
"Zay!"
"Keys, Alyssa."
"And what, you're just going to leave me here?" she asked waving a hand at the wilderness around them. "That isn't you, you'd never do that."
"Keys, I'm not going to ask again."
"Fine." She tossed the keys at his feet. "Goodbye, Zayden, I'm sorry you feel this way." She turned away and pulled out her phone.
"I'm not leaving you here, I want to drive so you don't try and take me anywhere else to have another little talk."
She didn't turn as she lifted her phone to her ear. "Goodbye, Zay."
"Lyssie, please—"
She dropped the phone from her ear. "Oh, so you get to say please and beg for me to listen but I can't do the same? Fuck off, Zay, you told me how you feel, go before you make it worse." She lifted the phone again "Yeah, Josh can you come pick me up?"
"Lyssie ..."
She spun to face him. "Go! I'm done, you're the one who knows everything and we're the idiots, I got it! You win. Shove us away because you don't want to hear what we have to say, run and hide, you're good at that." She turned and walked away from him.
He remained where he was standing, watching as she went and sat on a rock. This wasn't how he wanted things to be, he wanted them to let him live his life. That wasn't going to happen, they were insistent on the fact that Seth was no good for him. He turned and went to the car, where he sat until Josh pulled up.
"Dude, why am I here if you are?"
He started the car. "Because we are no longer speaking. As soon as I can find someplace to go, I'll move out."
"Whoa, hey you don't need to move out. What the hell happened?"
"Just make sure Lyssie is okay." He backed out and left, when he glanced in the mirror he saw Josh standing there staring after him. This wasn't how things were supposed to be now. He'd come out, he had a boyfriend he liked a lot. His parents were no longer in his life, no longer able to keep him under their control or that of the church. Everything was supposed to settle in and be good now. Tears made trails down his cheeks. He didn't want to do this, to lose Alyssa and Josh from his life. He didn't want to lose anything else. He pulled his phone out and dialed Seth.
"Hey, I thought you out with Alyssa?"
"Are you home? Can I come over?" He sucked in a breath to keep from bursting into tears.
"Whoa, hey, what's wrong, talk to me?"
"Can I come over or not?"
"Of course, you can, Zay. What's wrong you don't sound good?"
"I'll be there in like twenty minutes." He hung up and gave up his fight to keep from breaking down. It was too much, too quickly, and he couldn't do it.
When he pulled up in front of Seth's house he was standing outside waiting. Zay scrambled from the car, rushed up the driveway, and threw himself at Seth.
"Hey, come on, it's okay, I got you," Seth told him as he folded him into his arms. "What happened?"
"She wanted to talk to me about you. They don't care, they want to pull us apart, it doesn't matter to them that I'm happy!" he sobbed.
Seth separated from him, clasping Zay's face in his hands. "Come on, you don't believe that. Alyssa cares about you, she's your best friend, and she wants to be certain you're okay. Come on, Zay, I don't exactly have the best track record with staying out of trouble. West can tell you that."
"I'm so sick of hearing about goddamned West!" He shoved away from Seth.
"Zayden, relax okay?"
"I'm done, I can't listen to their lectures anymore, it's like being back with my parents." He stalked in a circle, his hand in his hair. "Can I stay here for a bit?"
"Yes, of course."
"Your parents won't mind?" he asked as he halted his pacing.
"Dude, I live alone. No parents."
Zay stared at him. "You do?"
He nodded. "I moved out as soon as I turned eighteen. Not exactly a stellar home life. I am from the wrong side of the tracks, my friend."
Zay laughed. "The bad boy from the wrong side of town. Living up to all of the stereotypes are you?"
Seth pulled him into his arms with a grin. "You know it. Shall we go pack your stuff?" He glanced beyond Zay to the driveway. "And get your car, isn't that Alyssa's car?" He pulled away from Zayden. "You didn't leave her somewhere, did you?"
"Yes, and no."
"Explain," Seth demanded.
"Yes, I left her, but not before Josh showed up to get her."
"Okay, I was about to be disappointed in you."
"Seems as if everyone is lately."
"Come on, don't be like that. Let's get your stuff and get you settled."
"Okay." They climbed into Alyssa's car and drove to Josh's house.
"Shit, Josh's truck is here that means they're already back. I was hoping I could do this without running into them," Zay said as they parked in the driveway.
"Hey, remember that they're your friends and they're concerned about you. Right now, you just need a little space from them. That doesn't mean you can't come back."
"You weren't there when Alyssa and I fought. I don't think there's any going back. Come on, let's get this over with." He opened the door and got out of the car. Seth followed him to the house and they headed for the stairs.
"I was beginning to think I was going to have to report my car stolen."
Zay winced and turned to face Alyssa. "I'm sorry, but I needed to get Seth to come to help me pack."
"So you are going to leave? Wow, good to know how much our friendship means to you." Her eyes went to Seth. "You hurt him there won't be any place your scrawny ass can hide that I won't find you. When I do, you better pray like hell I make it quick. Then pray some more that someone up there gives a shit about you." She spun away and left.
Seth looked at him. "She scares me."
"If she does then you're one of the smart ones," Zay told him with a chuckle.
"Let's get your shit and get out of here before she decides to castrate me."
Zay burst out laughing. "All right, let's go you big tough biker."
"I may be a tough biker but that girl is tougher," Seth told him in a grumble.
It took them about half an hour to pack, most of his things were still in the boxes they'd packed them into when he left home. He hadn't felt much like unpacking and had only emptied the boxes that contained essentials.
"No, it won't all fit that way," Seth told him as he pulled boxes out of the back of the car. "Put the seats down. We won't be able to see out the back windows but at least we won't have to make two trips. Too bad we can't ask to use Josh's truck."
Zay snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure that would go over well right now."
"I did say it was too bad." He took a box from Zay and puzzled it in with the boxes he'd already put back into the back of the car. "I guess it's a good thing your parents got you a cross-over, anything smaller would be a problem."
"I wanted a truck like Josh's they deemed it too dangerous. I guess the only good thing I can say is they allowed me to pick out the one I wanted and didn't argue when I saved up to pay for it myself."
"They probably also thought you'd put a couple of sleeping bags in the truck bed and get some girl pregnant."
He chuckled. "Yeah, probably."
Seth stood back. "It ain't pretty but it works. Homeward bound!" He slammed the tailgate shut.
Zay held out the keys. "You drive, I don't feel like it."
"No problem, anything for my old lady."
Zay rolled his eyes. "Stop it."
"No promises," Seth told him as he climbed behind the wheel of the car.
Zay glanced back at the house as they pulled away and saw Alyssa and Josh standing out front. Josh's arm around her shoulders. He turned back around with a sigh and Seth grasped his hand.
"It will be all right."
He had no response because he didn't think anything was ever going to be all right ever again.