《NICK'S POV》
One month later
Time didn't solve everything. It only seemed to have made things worse. He and Riven were still friends, that was for sure. But something was just strange now.
Nick would love to change that and just become friends like they used to be, but he couldn't. Because he was not the one acting different... Riven was.
He was acting normal at school, even joking around with him like they had done before all of this went down. And even when they were alone nothing had changed, but that was because they were never alone with each other anymore.
Nick had tried to meet up with Riven after school before, but he always had an excuse. He had even invited him over to his grandparents' home, which he had never done before, but Riven told him he was going to meet up with Matt.
Matt and Riven had actually gotten pretty close over this past month. Since he and Riven were pretty awkward for a while, Riven would usually end up taking to Matt instead during lunch.
Nick was happy for Riven that he had found a good friend like that, but he couldn't help but feel sad that Riven seemed to prioritize Matt over him now. Then again, he kind of prioritized everyone and everything over Nick nowadays, so that shouldn't be a surprise.
Nick was constantly wondering what he could do to restore their friendship, to the point where he could barely concentrate on his schoolwork anymore. His grandparents had noticed, and berated him for his bad grades, but Nick obviously couldn't explain what was going on.
"Nick, what are you thinking about?"
Felix's voice woke him up from his daydream. They were in history class. The teacher let them study for the last 15 minutes, but nobody was really doing that from what Nick could see, and most importantly hear.
He let out a deep sigh, which alarmed Felix a bit. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Nick murmured to himself, sounding not particularly confident in his own words.
"Alright then..." Felix said in an unconvinced tone.
"Have you congratulated Jay yet, by the way?"
"Huh?" Nick asked, while trying to remember what was going on this time.
"He has been in a relationship for 1 month now, and Levi still hasn't ran away screaming. I think that is a pretty big achievement for someone like him."
"Hey!" Jay tuned in on their conversation. "Are you badmouthing me again?" He leaned over his table to try and hit Felix, who moved away quickly.
"Congrats." Nick grinned.
"You're making it sound like you're making fun of me now." Jay said, frowning at him to show his discontent with both of his friends' misbehavior.
"One month? It's already been that long?" Riven interrupted. "Well congratulations Jay."
He sincerely smiled at his friend, with cute dimples appearing in his cheeks.
Nick looked away, afraid Riven would catch him staring.
"Well, we should also congratulate Nick though." Felix suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention back to himself again.
"What for?" Nick asked.
"It's been nearly a month since him and Riven broke up-"
"We didn't break up." Nick interrupted him, but Felix continued his sentence without paying attention to him. "And he didn't even go out with a girl yet! I swear, that must be a record or something."
Riven was now staring at Nick, with a strange look that made him feel kind of uncomfortable. "He didn't?" He sounded sort of shocked, which confused Nick since he had been pretty clear about the way he felt about Riven.
"Wow, Riven you haven't even noticed?" Felix grinned. "Sometimes it really feels like you are a couple that has broken up to be honest. Do you guys even hang out together anymore without me and Jay?"
Riven and Nick made eyecontact. Neither of them seemed to be willing to answer that question, so they just awkwardly stared at each other.
Finally the bell announced the end of their class, saving them from Felix's curiosity.
"I gotta go." Riven jumped up before they could even move. "I'm gonna go look for Matt." With that he was gone, leaving his friends behind.
"Did you guys fight?" Felix asked Nick.
Nick rolled his eyes, annoyed at the persistence of his friend. "If only you were as passionate about doing your homework as you are about our friendship."
"So something happened, right?"
Nick got up from his chair, not willing to say anything, since he didn't know if Riven would be okay with that.
"It's none of your business."
Felix still couldn't let go, stopping Nick from leaving by getting in his way. "Well, it kinda is. I don't want our friendgroup falling apart like this, it was fine before."
Nick focused his gaze on the floor, not willing to look Felix in the eyes.
"Do you not want to say anything to me because... Riven confessed to you?"
"What?!" Nick lifted up his head. "No, he didn't! Jeez Felix, stop speculating like this. If we don't wanna tell you then we don't have to, alright?!"
Felix looked a bit regretful. "Okay then... I just wanted to help."
"Well, Riven didn't confess to me. That's all you need to know."
Apparently Felix genuinely thought Nick would turn Riven down. That idea nearly made Nick smile, but his next realisation kept him from doing so.
So... Felix also thought Riven was into him?
《LEVI'S POV》
Levi rested his head against Jay's shoulder, something that by now had become usual for him. He looked down at their hands. Jay tightly held Levi's small hand in his own, with their fingers interlocked.
He looked aside, to see a little girl curiously staring at them. She had a doll in her arms, which she was hugging tightly. Her mom was staring out of the window, as the bus started speeding up again after stopping for a red light.
Levi smiled at the girl, feeling a bit shy. He wasn't used to being stared at like that, but he understood the girl probably wasn't used to seeing to boys holding hands like this.
He saw the mom finally turn her head and notice what her daughter was doing. Levi couldn't help holding his breath, scared she would make a disgusted face, or say something rude.
He saw her look at their hands, after which the realization finally hit her.
Then... she smiled at him. Levi couldn't hide how shocked he was at her acceptance, and stared back at her with his eyes widened in disbelief.
She quickly turned to her daughter. "Ellie, don't stare like that. That is rude."
Levi felt how Jay moved their hands a bit, and when he turned his head he saw that Jay had seen what had happened as well.
He sent Levi a cute grin, and squeezed his hand a bit in a reassuring way.
Levi was happy they could hold hands now. They first had taken the train and now the bus, to a city a bit further away. This was so they could just act like a regular couple and not fear running into anyone.
They had also gone out on dates this past month in their own city, but they hadn't been able to hold hands or show affection in any way.
Levi sighed, resting his head on Jay's shoulder again. He could barely believe it had been already 1 month since they started dating. But he also felt like they had been together forever.
Jay just had a certain way of making him feel comfortable to totally be himself whenever they were together. Levi frowned. When he was with his family he felt suffocated, as if he had to play a role the entire time.
The role of the perfect son, who would never lie to his parents. The perfect son who would go on to meet a nice girl and then marry and have a lot of children with to bring them all to church and tell them to be just as perfect as his parents made him feel he should be.
"We should get off the bus this stop." Jay said.
Levi realized the bus was starting to slow down already, so he quickly got up. Levi waved at the little girl as they walked past her, and she waved back.
Jay grabbed his hand as soon as they got out. There was a fair in town, so they followed the other people who had gotten off the bus, knowing they'd probably know the way there better than they did.
Levi felt very excited, since his family never went to this kind of stuff, so he was happy he'd finally get to experience the rush of flying through the air, and spinning around to the point of throwing up.
He heard people screaming in the distance, which made him smile. "We are nearly there, right?" He asked Jay. "I'm ready to spend all my savings on this."
Jay chuckled. "I don't doubt that, with the way you've been nonstop talking about how excited you are for the past few days."
"Yup! I'm nearly as happy about this as I am about getting to spend time with you."
Jay stared deeply into his eyes for a moment, and finally he softly spoke: "I'm glad about getting to spend time with you as well, Minnie."
Levi didn't know how to respond to that, and overcome with shyness, he tried to divert Jay's attention. "Oh, look over there!"
Jay looked at what Levi was pointing at. "Ice cream? Don't you want to get on some rides first?"
"I- Last time I tried to have some ice cream you made me run away before I could even taste it, so you better get me some now."
Jay started laughing. "I didn't really make you run away though, but I'll just ignore that part since I actually also want some ice cream right now"
Levi sat down on one of the red chairs in the shop, while Jay sat down across him. They chit chatted a bit while waiting for the waiter to come get their order.
"Have you talked to your dad yet?" Levi asked.
Jay's smile faded a bit. "Nope. He hasn't really said much to me yet, he's kind of ignoring like he did before. But it seems like he is more purposely doing it now, when before he just forgot I even existed."
Levi stared down at the table they were seated at, not knowing how to respond to that. "I'm sorry about that, Jay. I honestly don't know what to say."
Jay's smile reappeared. "It's fine Minnie, don't worry about it. I'll talk to him whenever I get the chance."
"Excuse me, can I take your order please?"
The guy's voice sounded oddly familiar to Levi, so he quickly raised his head to check who it was.
He gasped, instantly recognizing him.
Jay didn't notice Levi's reaction to the waiter. "I'd like vanilla and strawberry cheesecake, and for him it's mango and chocolate, with mango on top if that's possible."
At the mention of Levi's order the waiter quickly glanced at him, but he didn't seem to realize who Levi was at all.
Before Levi could even think of what to say, he was gone.
"Minnie... are you okay?" Jay looked a bit worried.
Was it even him? He should have been able to recognize him instantly, right? It had been quite a while since they had last seen each other, but still...
"It's nothing." He mumbled. "The waiter just looked like someone I used to know."
"Oh." Jay said, clearly a bit confused by the way Levi was acting.
It didn't take too long for their ice creams to be prepared. Levi had been looking forward to the waiter arriving, so he could figure out if he was just seeing things, or if this person was actually who he thought he was.
"Here is your vanilla and strawberry cheesecake..." The boy put Jay's order on the table in front of him.
"And here is your chocolate and mango, with the mango on top." The waiter smiled at him.
Levi was certain it was him. No matter what happened, he would never forget that smile.
"Enjoy." The guy said, but as he turned around to leave, Levi got up without even overthinking it, grabbing the guy's sleeve.
"Wait!" His voice was louder than he intended it to be, so the couple that was sitting 2 tables away from them looked up to see what was going on.
The waiter turned around to find out what he had done wrong, and stared Levi straight in the eyes for a while.
Levi could see when the realization slowly hit him, and then doubt started to kick in.
"Benjamin?"
《END OF THIS CHAPTER》
Ohh look at me not updating for a month so you could feel how long exactly that month was ehehehhehe