It's a Hard life | Hardzello♡

3. I know you

That afternoon, Ben is spending time with his new friends.
He quickly learned that Gwilym the father of the group is. The most mature of them, at least. 
Rami is the annoying one, if Ben has to be honest. With his stupid jokes and stuff.
And Joe, Joe is the bad ass of the three. He pushes his boundaries and isn't afraid of anything. At least that's the impression the ginger gives Ben.
"So, why did you get kicked out of the house?" Rami asks curiously.
Ben freezes for a moment, but at the same time he feels relieved. Because if this question is asked, that means they don't know about it yet.
"Probably because he is gay." Joe says with a big smirk.
Rami and Gwil roll their eyes.
"Don't worry, he thinks everyone is gay." Rami says when he sees Ben's surprised face.
Ben chuckles softly. "I'm not gay."
Joe shrugs. "If you say so dear." He says with a wink.
Ben raises his eyebrow as he lets out a scoff. "Who's the one sounding gay now?" He looks up in surprise when Gwil and Rami both burst out in laughter.
"Ben, he is gay." Gwil says with a big smile.
"Oh. Well that explains." Ben says with a soft giggle.

After a while of talking, Joe gets up. "Let me get us some more drinks."
The others murmur in agreement.
"So Ben, you're not really a talker, are you?" Gwil asks when Ben hasn't said anything for a while.
Rami nods, as a sign that he agrees with Gwil.
Ben raises his eyebrow. "What do you mean? I've been talking with you all afternoon." He says.
Gwil crosses his arms, and shakes his head. "No, you've been responding and reacting to the things we said. Not a single thing about yourself. So tell us something."
The blond boy swallows for a moment. He has to think this through before starting to talk about himself. He has to be careful, because these boys live in the same village as where it happened. "Well uhm, there really isn't that much to tell. I have been living in this village my whole life. Went to school here and everything. I was a quarterback on my school's rugby team. That's it, basically. I'm pretty boring." Ben says with a shrug. He nervously smiles at Gwil and Rami. 
And then, Ben sees the look on Gwil's face chance. If this was a tv cartoon, a light bulb would appear above Gwil's head.
"You went to high school in this village? So did I. Wait, I think I know you. Ben... Ben Hardy isn't it? Class 5B." Gwil says. "But I haven't seen you at school anymore lately. Is that because of-"
Ben sees that Joe is approaching, and he knows Gwil is about to reveal his secret. And so he doesn't give Gwilym a chance to finish his sentence. He can't lose his new friends after one day already. "DON'T!" He yells. Quite surprised himself by suddenly raising his voice like this, Ben gets up. "I uhm, I need some fresh air." He walks towards the front door, leaving a confused Rami and Gwil behind.
The moment Joe heard Ben's raised voice, he had to do his best not to drop the drinks. 
"What the hell was that about?" Rami asks confused. Both he and Joe gives Gwil a questioning look.
"I uhm, was about to say something but apparently Ben didn't want me to." Gwil mumbles. "I should go find him. It's still freezing outside and he didn't take a coat or something with him."
Joe and Rami nod. "If he stays out there for too long he'll die, you have to find him quick." Joe says with a worried look. 
Gwil gets up and takes a deep breath. "Do you have a coat or something I can take with me for Ben to put on?" He asks Joe.
The ginger nods. "Yeah. Just grab something off the coat rack. Please text me when you've found him?" He says to Gwil.
The latter nods, and leaves to go look for Be . 

The moment the sound of the front door closing is heard, Joe sees Rami looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?" The ginger asks surprised.
Rami shrugs. "Oh nothing. Just surprised about how much you seem to care about Ben." He says with a slight smirk.
Joe gives him a questioning look, not understanding what Rami is trying to say. "What do you mean?" He asks. 
Rami stays silent for a moment, and just looks at Joe.
"Ugh spare me the dramatic silence Rami. Just tell me what you mean for God's sake." Joe grumbles annoyed.
"Well, you offered Ben to stay as your new roommate, and you worry about him when he's gone. So either you like him, or you're planning on actually making him one of your whores." Rami crosses his arms and looks at Joe, waiting for an answer.
The latter rolls his eyes. "Jesus Rami, seriously? I don't like him, I offered him to stay because this house is big enough for the two of us, and he obviously needed help. I've been living alone for a year now, and I don't mind having a roommate. And of course I'm not gonna make him my whore, why would I?" Joe says.
Rami shrugs and looks at Joe with a small grin. "Well, it happened that way with the last boy you took home."
Joe rolls his eyes once more. "We just had an agreement to help each other out sometimes, I don't call that a whore."
It is true what Rami said though. A few months ago he met a boy in a bar, and he took him home. But both of them knew they weren't in love or something, so the two came up with an agreement. Whenever they felt like they needed it, they'd make a booty call to relieve some tension. Ever since that started Rami has been judging him for it.
"Well I do." Rami mumbles, just loud enough for Joe to hear it. "Haven't you dumped him yet?"
Luckily for Joe, the conversation gets interrupted by a phone making a noise. If he tells Rami that he got dumped this morning, all the boy would talk about is how this is a good thing and more crap like that. The ginger grabs his phone from the table and looks who messaged him.

(15:38 Pm) Gwil: I found Ben. He is sitting in some hangout. I'll talk to him, I will text when we're on our way back.

/////

"Hey, why are you outside without winter clothes? Again?" Gwil says to Ben.
The latter shrugs, and looks the other way, his whole body shaking.
"Here, takes this. I don't want you to die." Gwil throws a coat onto Ben's lap, as a sign for him to put it on.
"You'd be the first." Ben mumbles while staring straight ahead.
Gwil frowns. "I'm sure that's not true." He says as he sits down next to the boy. "I'm sorry for almost telling Rami and Joe about... well, you know what I mean." 
Ben shoots him some weak smile, while putting on the coat. "No, I am sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I just don't want them to know because they will hate me when they find out." He says.
Gwil shakes his head. "They won't hate you. I know about it, I saw it happening, and I don't hate you. So why would they?" He says.
Ben looks at him as his eyes widen. "You- you saw it happening?" He stammers.
Without answering Ben's question yet, Gwil gets up. "Let's walk back to the others while talking, shall we. I'm getting cold." He says with a smile.
Ben nods and gets up.
"My house is not far from where it happened. I saw it happening from my bedroom window. Which is why I know it wasn't your fault." Gwil explains while they're walking back to Joe's house.
A small and relieved smile appears on Ben's face. "Whoa. Someone that doesn't hate me and lives in this village. That's unlikely." He says jokingly.
Gwil chuckles softly. "Don't worry, we're your friends now. I think they would understand it if you explain it to them." He says.
Ben sighs and shrugs. "Yeah maybe. But I'm just scared that Joe will think it was, in fact my fault, and that he will kick me out or something. Then I'll end up in the snow again." He mumbles.
"You won't. If he kicks you out, I'll kick his ass. I promise." Gwil says with a wink.
Ben chuckles softly and smiles at his friend. "Thanks Gwil." He says. He didn't expect the day after he got kicked out of the house to go so well. He made new friends, and he has found a roommate who saved his life. Maybe things could be going the right way after all.

___________________
How do you all like the story so far? Please let me know!

How is life going? My life is just exhausting at the moment. With the exams all I'm doing is studying. Luckily there's just one more week of exams to go🥲

But because the twins were just born a little over a week ago (At 27 weeks and 1 day), me and my boyfriend are the ones to take care of my other two siblings, since my parents are in the hospital with the babies. I've never had such respect for all parents before, I can tell you🙃

Anyways, take care everyone!
Much love from me❤