A/n: It's my b-day and i got a motherfucking guitar!
Craig's POV:
"Has TJ been acting weird to you lately?" I asked Robert, who was making himself a cup of coffee that morning. Over the course of the last week or so, he's been acting so weird.
"You say that like he's not always just a bit quirky."
"I mean besides that. Almost....." I tried to think of a good word to say, but couldn't find much. "Flirtatious?"
Robert looked at me. "You think that TJ's being flirty?"
"I can't think of any other way to describe it." It was true, the constant attention, the isolation, the way that he walked and talked and even smoked occasionally, it was all as though it had a sexual undertone to it.
"He hasn't really been acting that way to me," He shrugged. "I guess if it really bothers you, then you should ask him about it."
"Ask who about what?" Max asked, entering.
"TJ's acting weird," I explained.
"Oh, yeah. He's totally becoming a flirt around you. It's dreamy." His eyes sparkled.
"I told you!" I exclaimed to my other bandmate.
"I can't be asked to pay attention to every whim that TJ has." He raised his hands in defense.
"Wonder why he's trying so hard to get that kind of attention from you," Max thought allowed.
I thought about what TJ had told me about a week ago. He'd said that he was gay, and worried that it would change our friendship. I didn't really understand why he would worry about something like that. I mean, he's still a close friend to me. I honestly thought that he was just saying that because he could never find himself a woman that he actually liked. Now I think that he might have been actually coming out to me. And I just blew it off so casually! "You really think that he's only doing it to me?" I asked.
"Of course he is. God, I wish that my girlfriend would walk like that for me."
"Walk like what?" I wrinkled my nose.
"You haven't noticed?" He looked surprised.
"Noticed what?"
"He walks like a model now. It's like he taught himself overnight."
Kevin entered the room. "Who's walking like a model?" He asked, sounding somewhat curious, but mostly like he wasn't confused at all.
"TJ," Max answered for me.
"Oh, him. It's strange, isn't it?" He looked away and got himself some water from the mini-fridge.
"So you haven't noticed that he's been giving Craig extra attention?"
"Nope."
"I'm not the only one!" Robert pointed out.
"Not even a little bit?" I asked, worried that Max paid too much attention, and that I paid too little attention.
"Maybe he's being a little flirty, but it might just be because he can't give anyone else that kind of attention," Kevin shrugged.
"You know something."
"I don't."
"Yes, you do. Tell me what you know."
"I know who he had that dream about," He confessed. "And it is, in fact, a real person. It's just not someone that you'd expect."
"Who'd he dream about?" Max asked.
"What are we all talking about?" TJ asked, finally entering the front of the bus with the rest of us. A silence fell over the room. "Okay, then. Don't tell me. I don't really need to know anyway." He started to walk towards the stairs to get off of the bus.
"Where are you going?" I asked, taking note of the way that he was walking. Dammit, Max is right! He is walking more with his hips.
"To get a muffin. Do you want anything?" Has his voice always sounded like that?
"N-no," I stuttered on accident. "I don't want anything."
"Can you get me a blueberry muffin?" Max asked loudly.
"Sure," TJ replied, shrugging. Then he left.
"Good God, does he always talk like that?" I asked.
"Like what?" Thrasher asked.
"His voice. It sounded like.....like...." I struggled to find a word to describe it with.
"Honey?" Max guessed.
"Exactly!"
"He never talks that way to me," Robert admitted.
"So we're agreeing then? He's giving me special attention?" I asked, looking around. There was a resounding nod, even from Thrasher.
"I can't imagine why," Kevin sighed. "He's never done anything like that before."
"You told me that you knew who he had the dream about. Who was it?"
Immediately, he grew silent. "Well.....I kinda sorta told TJ that I knew and he asked me specifically not to tell anyone else."
"So why bring it up?"
"Just think about the description."
"Okay, that description fits everyone in every band in this genre," I pointed out. "Give us something more to go off of."
"This particular person is the reason why he ever dated his ex in the first place."
"On recommendation?" Max wrinkled his nose. "Why would anyone do that to him?"
"Not exactly on recommendation per say." He looked like he wanted to say something more about it, but didn't. Interesting. Very interesting. Either way though, TJ's definitely flirting with me.
And I've got to stop it from working.
YOU ARE READING
How it Happened is Irrelevant (Mabbell)
FanfictionFor some people how it begins is everything. Sometimes it's chaotic. Sometimes it's not. But for us, all that matters is that it happened at all. (It's a love story between TJ Bell and Craig Mabbitt from Escape the Fate.) #1 in craigmabbitt 7/18/21