The Halls of Westwood [BxB]

Chapter 12

Markos stared out the limousine window feeling his heart clench. Anxiety washed over him as he neared Westwood knowing very well that in a few hours he'd have a phone call with his mother. A phone call that would make or break his entire future...

His dad had agreed to help Markos in any way he could. So he and Markos sat down together and wrote out a letter to give to Mrs. Ariti... Mrs. Ariti was a professional and traditional woman so something as formal as a letter would work miracles. And a miracle was exactly what he needed...

The letter was an agreement. An agreement for Markos to uphold the perfect nephew role, to listen to her, and to exist around her without picking a fight on one condition. She stopped calling him Rhea and respected that he had changed for the better. He knew it could either go very right or very wrong. He could only hope for the former.

He climbed out of the limousine, being sure to grab his bag filled with new clothes his dad had bought as an 'I'm sorry' gift. Markos had also found a cactus... He found it in a cute small business that they had driven by and he insisted they stopped at. It was too adorable to pass up... So he bought a plant and named it Henry.

Henry fit in the palm of his hand which only made the entire thing more exciting for Markos. God knew why he was so excited to have a tiny plant he'd have to take care of, but he loved it. He was sure Austin would make fun of him for it, but he didn't care because Henry was all that mattered at this point in his life.

Up in Aiden's room, Beau was sitting criss-cross on the bed trying desperately not to look at Aiden as the boy changed out of an old t-shirt that stank like weed and into a baggy hoodie. To keep himself distracted, Beau droned on about what visiting home had been like.

He tried to stay home as often as possible... He avoided town at all costs and only went into town if his mom was with him. Even then, he got dirty looks and could hear people whispering about him. Everybody knew about his and Lukas's relationship... Those precious two weeks that Beau tried so desperately to hold on to for himself were now the worlds to know and he hated it.

Most of his week had been spent mindlessly wandering the property, lost in a daydream about how things could have been. He would sit in an apple tree at the edge of the woods and watch Lukas glare up at him, demanding that he came down before he hurt himself. He would go down to the river and watch Lukas pull him in. He'd see him running in the fields, he'd see him sitting in Beau's bedroom laughing at an Indiana Jones movie, and he'd see him obnoxiously singing to any Elvis song. But they were all just memories playing on repeat. There was never anything new and there never would be.

He still couldn't bring himself to visit the grave. He had tried a million times... But every time he neared it he'd run home. He almost made it once... But then he saw a few girls from school sitting at it so he left before they could see him. He tried to hang out with his family. He tried to play board games with Lucy, but it wasn't the same without Lukas there to mock him. He tried baking with his mom, but it wasn't the same without Lukas dunking his finger in the batter or eating the chocolate chips they planned on using. Heck, he even tried playing rummy with his dad but even in card games, he saw Lukas pouting when he didn't get a good hand.

He was relieved to be back at the asylum. At least here everything made sense for the most part... Everything except his feelings for Aiden. He hated that he got excited when Aiden walked into a room. He hated that he couldn't sleep without him. He hated that Aiden's kisses and hugs made him so excited he wanted to squeal like a little kid on Christmas. That wasn't right... He shouldn't feel that way.

"How was seeing your family?" Beau asked as he finished telling Aiden about his boring vacation. He left out most of it... He only talked about his family and the treatment of the town. He didn't want to bother Aiden with Lukas anymore... He knew it would just make things awkward. Aiden groaned and collapsed onto the bed.