~ TRISTAN ~
Tristan stared at the list of films in front of him. He was choosing a film to watch in the cinema with his boyfriend, who was holding his hand right beside him.
"I guess this one's good." He shrugged and Brad just smiled at him. For some reason, he chose the horror film, which is something he knew Brad will never forgive him for. However, Brad looked really eager to watch it. Tristan guessed that it was because he promised to make it up to him, after all. They both bought the tickets for the next screening, which is in two hours, and they roamed around the mall.
They went to various shops in the mall, talked about random things, walked awkwardly together, and do just basically what couples normally do when they're at the mall. Nope - it was all PG-13.
They ate lunch at a cozy café. They felt like it because it was all peace and quiet, plus, they serve quite good cake. When they were done, they went back to the cinema, and they were welcomed with an unpleasant surprise.
"What the fuck is he doing in here?" Tristan muttered under his breath, although Brad was able to understand him. Brad followed the direction of his boyfriend's eyes and saw what he hated to see - James and Connor.
~ BRAD ~
Brad didn't know why his heart broke a little bit when he saw Connor. Was it because of what happened? Or was it because of the fact that he wasn't hanging out with him? It couldn't be the latter - he was perfectly happy with Tristan. He looked at his right eye, and saw that it wasn't swollen anymore.
"Let's just ignore them and watch the film, babe." He told his boyfriend, who was fuming in deep anger. They both watched the two as they went inside the cinema. They followed after them, and for some reason, Tristan wanted to make sure that they could see the two. What was his problem? Brad thought to himself.
They watched the entire film, well, at least Brad did. Brad could see from his peripheral view that Tristan was occasionally looking at James and Connor, as if he was a detective who was working on a complicated murder case. Brad, on the other hand, didn't want to look at the two because of an unknown reason.
When the film was done, the lights went on and all the people started standing up from their seats. James stood up to stretch his legs and arms, then he made eye contact with Brad. He saw James' slightly mad look on his face, which made him look away for a while. When Brad looked at James again, he saw that James and Connor were now getting out of the cinema.
Tristan also got up from his seat, and he had no choice but to stand up and follow his boyfriend. Tristan tried to make it look like a coincidence that they were just right behind the other two, even though that is not the case. They could hear them laughing over the random jokes that they said. When they were out of the cinema, Tristan decided to make a move.
"Hey guys, I can't believe you're here!" Tristan told the two of them, then James held Connor's, who instantly hid behind him, shaking hand.
"'Hey guys'? Really? I don't think I can consider you as one of my friends." James told Tristan.
"I'm hurt." Tristan said sarcastically, or so he thought. "I thought we were friends."
"Leave us alone, Tristan. We don't need your bullshit." James said as he went away, taking Connor with him. During thw whole time, Brad wondered why Connor's eye wasn't swollen anymore. Did he do something to make it less obvious?
"Come on, Tris, let's go." He calmly told his boyfriend, who was fuming in anger.
"I'm so mad at that corndog dude. He's going to pay." Tristan muttered under his breath.
"Okay, calm down, Tristan. He did nothing wrong."
"You're defending him?!" Tristan told him, which made him step back a little. "Brad, he tried to ruin our relationship. He made James hate me. You think I'm going to take this lightly?"
"That's not what I'm say--"
"Oh, shut up, Brad. I'm going to do what I want and no one's going to stop me." Tristan said as he ran away. Brad decided to follow his boyfriend, but he wasn't able to catch up to his boyfriend, who seemed like he was wearing the magical seven league boots.
~ CONNOR ~
...earlier that day...
He was all alone in the living room watching some boring educational TV show. His parents went to work, while his little brother went out to practice with his football team. When he was slowly falling asleep, he heard three knocks on his front door, to which he immediately went to.
"James! I wasn't expecting you." He said, then James gave him a confused look.
"Aren't you supposed to have a swollen eye?" James said as he slightly poked Connor's right eye.
"I woke up with it already gone. I guess the medicine worked really quick."
"I'll say. Well, it looks like I owe Kath."
"How?"
"She said you'll be fine by now. I didn't believe her, but it turns out that she was right. That's amazing." James told him with a smile.
"That's part of the reason why I'm freaked out by her sometimes. She knows the future."
"You and me, Condor." He said. "Are you free today?"
"I'm the only one in the house, so I guess I am."
"Want to come to the mall with me?"
"James, the mall? You know how much I hate going there..."
"I know. I just thought that maybe we could watch a quick film then we'll be done. No shopping, I promise." James told him while raising his hand as if he was pledging, which made Connor giggle mentally.
"Fine. Just let me change, then. Maybe we could also grab lunch before going?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea." James told him, then he went up to his room and changed his clothes. When he went downstairs, he found James chatting with Kath.
"What're you doing here?" He asked his neighbour because she didn't say that she was going to visit.
"Oh, James called me. He knew I lived right beside you, and he owes me."
"That's not what I expected from you, to be honest." He said, referring to the little bet they made.
"You didn't let me finish! That's why I came here to tell him that it was just a joke. He doesn't really owe me anything." Kath further explained, and she got a little nod from him in reply.
"You coming, Kath?" James asked her, who was staring blankly into space, or so both of the boys thought.
"Unfortunately, no. I have a huge project that I have to do for extra credit. Perhaps another time?"
"Yeah, I guess it will be alright." James said with a smile. Connor smiled back, then they went their own ways - Kath back to her house and Connor and James to the mall.
They had lunch in one of the stores that were open. They walked around for a bit before going to the cinema to buy tickets. They purchased their tickets then went inside the cinema.
While they were there, they can't help but feel someone staring at them. Connor knew that it wasn't because of the movie, which he wasn't really scared of depite being 'one of the scariest horror movies of the decade', but it was something else. It was as if someone wanted him to stay away from a certain somebody.
His thoughts were proven true once they went out of the cinema. Out of all the people that could run into them, it happened to be no other than Tristan and Brad - two people he didn't really expect to see, or wanted to see now for that matter.
"Hey guys, I can't believe you're here!" Tristan told the two of them, then James immediately took his shaking hand.
"'Hey guys'? Really? I don't think I can consider you as one of my friends." James told Tristan.
"I'm hurt." Tristan said sarcastically, however, Connor wasn't convinced. He could see how hurt Tristan was through his eyes. "I thought we were friends."
"Leave us alone, Tristan. We don't need your bullshit." James said as he went away, taking Connor, who stole a little glance from Brad, with him. When they were finally out of sight, Connor started talking.
"James, you didn't have to be so cross with him." He spoke softly, calm as ever.
"I didn't have to? He gave you a black eye, even if it is now gone, Connor. I don't like people who hurt my friends." He said, with a bit of anger in his tone.
"I know, but--"
"No, Connor. I know you're younger than me, but you're my best friend. Honestly, I don't want anyone hurting you, okay?"
Connor simply sighed as a reply to his friend. He didn't bother contradicting his friend. Knowing him, though, he didn't like it when all attention was on him, and that's the very reason why he didn't want James to be cross with Tristan - it was the best way for him to leave them alone.
They went out of the mall and went to 'the cliff', which was basically the place where they could talk about everything in depth with no one else listening. They found it with Kath when they were out for a drive one day and got lost. They got out of the car and sat on the bonnet.
"I don't get it." James told his friend after looking at his left to see him. "Why're you being so nice to Tristan? He accused you of cheating and punched you for no reason."
"No, he's right. I should've said no to Brad when he said that we should meet in secret."
"Am I missing something here?"
Connor looked down on his thumbs, which looked a lot more simple than the life he was having right now. "Tristan warned me."
"About what?"
"He warned me about meeting with Brad. That's part of the reason why we only met in secret."
"And you're only telling me this right now?" James told his friend, who looked really guilty for what he has dome. James did a facepalm while Connor watched him with guilt.
"I'm really sorry, James. I thought that telling you would mean bringing you in a complicated situation." Connor added. He didn't want to lose James.
"Forget it." James said, immediately forgiving his friend. "It's okay. I should've seen it coming." He said with a slight giggle, which also made Connor do the same.
~ JAMES ~
"Anything you wanna share, then?" He asked Connor, who was now silent for quite a while now.
"Well, I knew more about him, and he even considered me as a friend, you know."
"Like, close friends?"
"Yeah, you can say that."
"How's your crush on him?"
"Oh, I can't even keep myself calm whenever I would meet with him! He was just so charming, and, well, it seemed like we clicked. He has a boyfriend, though, so I don't really want to push him to like me or something."
"You little rat. Of course he'll like you! One day, that is." He said, with a little pain in his heart. Why did his heart sink when he mentioned his friend's crush liking him?
"If he isn't then he's missing something quite big." James added. In fact, he was bring completely honest with this. Does he like his own best f--
"Thanks, James. The ego boost is working." Connor told him, and they both laughed at the same time before giving each other a warm hug. After talking about anything under the sun, the pair decided to go home as it was getting late.
He dropped Connor off and he went to his house. Just like what he did almost every night, he opened his books so he could revise. Deep inside, he still wasn't sure on what he truly felt for Connor when they were at the cliff.
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Published: 29/09/16
Updated: 20/02/17