Avery
I woke up to the sound of James snoring in my ear. His face was still in the crook of my neck while his leg was wrapped tightly around me, his mane of hair covering my own eyes. I blew the curls out of my face, only for them to fall back down in my sight.
Man. How am I gonna get up?
I pushed his hair out of my face so I can finally look at him. He was wrapped around my body like a koala bear in his sleep- and I really, really didn't want to wake him up. He looked really content and comfortable... somehow. I don't know how he sleeps in some of the positions I find him in. It reminds me of the one time he fell asleep on the floor of a party we went to- he was lying face down on the ground with his ass up in the air.
...Come to think of it, maybe he was just drunk.
I slowly placed my hand on his thigh, pushing it gently off from my waist along with his arm around my chest. He let out a deep groan of protest as he pulled me closer to him, burying his face deeper into the crook of my neck. I let out a sigh in response, my hands finding their way to his lower back.
''Goodmorning, I'm sorry If I woke you up.'' I whispered to him. He laughed at my words weakly as he lifted his head, his dark brown eyes full of sleep gazing at me like he's done something wrong.
''...I've been awake. I just didn't want you to go.'' He looked at me with those sad eyes again- I almost felt guilty.
''I've been here for days, James. You can't keep me hostage.'' I said playfully. His lips curled into a smile at my words, shaking his head in disagreement.
''I can always try.''
He eventually let me get up and get dressed. He watched me in silence as I got dressed, maintaining eye contact with me as I pulled my shirt over my shoulders. He had a distant stare as he watched me pack up my things after I got dressed.... I almost felt bad. I mean, I knew he was feeling better now. I guess he just feels a little clingy.
Now he knows how I always felt.
"You can come over later if you want to, James." I suggested to him. He shrugged his shoulders at my words, finally pulling himself out of bed. He let out a wince of pain as he reached back behind his neck, furrowing his eyebrows at the new discomfort.
"I have some chores I have to do and some homework... and they probably want to do something. I think my papa is going to the church later." He said to me. I nodded my head at his words, zipping up my backpack once I shoved the last shirt I brought into it.
"Alright. Text me if you need me, okay? I love you." I said. I pulled my backpack over my shoulder before walking over to him, leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead.
He immediately grabbed ahold of my shirt in response, pressing his own lips to mine. I felt my eyes widen at the quick kiss, watching him pull back with a flustered look on his face.
"...You can go now."
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I took a deep breath as I stood in front of the doors of my house. I knew he was in there- and was probably talking shit about me to mom and dad. I didn't want to see him at all.
Ever since he went to college he changed. He started going on about how great it is and how I should reconsider going to college, although I already told everyone I wasn't. I just wanted to pursue my music and that's that. At first, my mom was alright with it and dad didn't really have an opinion. Then he opened his big fucking mouth, and now they keep forcing me to fill out these college applications.
I never actually send them.
I finally gained the courage to open the door and walk in, my moms eyes immediately meeting mine as she closed the book she was reading in her hands.
"You finally decided to come home?" She asked me playfully. I couldn't help but smile back at her as I walked into the living room, placing my backpack down on the couch.
"Yeah, James feels better now. I didn't know I was gonna stay that long." I said to her. My dad walked into the room with a coffee in hand, bringing it up to his lips as he looked at me.
"We don't mind that you stay there for a while, it's just your brother came home as soon as you left. He's never around, you know. He was asking about you." My dad said after taking a sip of his coffee. I couldn't help but sigh in disgust.
"To be honest, I don't give a fuck if he was."
"Oh come on, Avery! I really don't know why you're so hostile towards me. I literally just got home." Aren said as he walked down the stairs. I turned towards him, my eyes widening at the outfit he had on. He was wearing one of my favorite shirts and a pair of my jeans- even some of my jewelry.
"Why the fuck are you wearing my clothes? You have a whole closet full of your own!" I yelled at him. My mom walked over to the both of us with her eyebrows furrowed at his outfit, looking back at my dad who already had a destained look on his face.
"You know how Avery feels about his clothes, go take them off so we can have dinner. I made lasagna!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air before hurriedly walking into the kitchen. Dad followed behind her slowly, leaving me and Aren alone.
I don't know why she just lets this happen. She isn't a confrontational person at all.
"I honestly just didn't feel like digging through my clothes. I also wanted to see how these would feel, you know? Trying to change up my style, maybe I'll grow my hair nice and long like yours-"
"Oh fuck off, dude. Seriously, I don't have the patience for your bullshit. You don't know what I've been dealing with for the past few days." I hissed at him, walking past him on the stairs. He remained silent at my words, but followed me up the stairs to my room.
"Didn't you hang out with your friend Jamie? What happened with him now?" He asked me.
"It's James. Why did you go through all of my shit?" I asked him. I felt my heart start beating faster as the question left my mouth- I immediately thought of the stuff I had under my bed. I really don't need him seeing that...
"Is he the one you're using all the BDSM shit on? Like come on, dude. That's fucking gross." He suddenly said to me. I felt my heart drop into my stomach.
"Get out of my room, Aren." I mumbled to him. He pressed himself against the wall firmly as he watched me walk to the other side of my bed. The box was ripped open with the different toys I had, along with the whip that came with the set I got.
I got it as a joke about two years ago from Billy. The joke is that I'm into BDSM and I "torture people in my basement." You know, the usual shit you'd get from Billy. It came with a whip, a gag, a blindfold, and a flesh light for myself. I didn't think I was gonna use it until I actually looked up what it was myself.
Nobody knew I was into it besides Aren. He's a little prick who likes to go through my search history... and now apparently look through my shit. Now he knows that I have that stuff, and it's fucking embarrassing.
"Why do you hate me?" I finally mumbled to him. His stupid grin fell from his lips as i popped the question. He shook his head in disagreement.
"...look. I just want what is best for you. I learned a lot of things at college, and I just think that what you're doing now isn't what is best in the long run. I mean, you're dressing like... this, you're into some weird shit, you're a satanist-"
"So are mom and dad! What does that have to do with anything?"
"Exactly! I'm trying to save you!" He yelled out at me desperately. "This isn't normal! That's why I left, Avery. I just want you to be alright, I can see you're starting to dress like those Lancaster people. It's really worrying me-"
"Mom and dad gave us both a choice. We had to tell them we wanted to go to church with them! We were never forced into anything, Aren. I don't know who the fuck is telling you shit, but I'm not dealing with it. You don't actually care about what I do, you just want to control me." I hissed at him. He shook his head at my words, tilting his head down at the ground before the words left his lips.
"You're going to hell, faggot."
He left me alone in my room. A sigh that I didn't know I was holding in finally left my throat as I put the set back into the box, pushing it under the bed where it should have been.
Do I tell mom and dad what he just said? Will they even believe me? And who is telling him these things? This isn't like him at all. He was more eager than me as a kid to join the Lancaster's church.
It just worries me because of what happened to James's family all that time ago. I don't know if it's just him hanging around homophobic Christians or what, but... I just haven't heard anyone say anything like that around these parts in a while. Ever since that whole thing, even the most terrible of people from the old church stay quiet.
I guess I'll talk to Gabriel about it tomorrow about how to deal with it. He'll know what to tell me, I guess.