Stronger Together (bxb) ✔

Chapter 30 - Chase

Chase's POV

"Chase I'm so sorry! I really wanted to stay until-"

"It's ok!" I immediately try to stop the guilt that Mason is probably feeling at cutting his visit short. After our backyard camping last night, he was supposed to spend the entire day here and leave once Jesse got back from Bryan's house at five this evening. However, little Amy came down with a fever. Although both Justin and Chloe are there with Aerial, I can tell that Mason is beyond worried so I convinced him to go.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait until Jesse actually gets here?" Mason asks for what I swear is the hundredth time.

"Jesse said that he will be back in under ten minutes," I lie and roll my eyes. "Besides I'm a grown man, I'm fine on my own for a few minutes." Or a few hours, since it's only about eleven in the morning and I didn't text Jesse about Mason leaving early.

He has barely been able to see Bryan since they reconnected and he's already so enamoured with Bryan; I know that he will be disappointed if his time is cut short. I was also a complete jerk to him over the past two days and I owe him, this is the least I can do to try to make up for it. Besides, I'm not a baby in constant need of supervision.

"Go," I urge Mason, shooing him towards his car.

Mason frowns and seems to be in deep thought for a moment before he relents. "Ok, I'm going. I'm sorry I couldn't stay as long as I planned!"

I flash Mason an appreciative smile. I wasn't expecting to spend any time with him at all. I know how busy he is, especially with the new baby. So I'm actually quite happy with the little chunk of time he was able to carve out for me.

I wave at Mason, watching him drive away. As I'm reentering the house, my phone pings and I unlock it to see a message from Jesse. I mentally prepare myself for all the incoming messages about how hot Bryan is and what Jesse will do to his body. Jesse has always been very open about these things and has absolutely no problem divulging any details about his sex life to Shawn and I. I furrow my eyebrows upon not seeing a message about Bryan's chocolate abs or bubble butt as he likes to describe it.

Dork: Baby bro! How was your camping thing with Mason?
Me: It was really fun! We ate a bunch of junk food!

It was actually really fun. We talked a lot about Aerial and the baby and I told him about meeting Diego and my phone call with him earlier that day. I sigh and plop down on the couch. I stuff a pillow under my head and swing my feet up onto the couch. Weird. Why isn't he telling me about Bryan? Is it because of what happened with Mike? I see the three dots as Jesse starts to reply:

Dork: Did you save me some?
Me: Nope! But I'm sure your boyfriend Bryan is feeding you well

I wonder if I bring up Bryan if he will start behaving like he normally would. I always shy away from his suggestive comments about his latest flings but it's even weirder that he isn't mentioning anything provocative. Usually his first message is some comment on the sex or what they will do later. Why isn't he telling me?

I stare at my phone, waiting for Jesse to reply. Jesse really hasn't had any solid relationships and Bryan is the first guy that he has ever been interested in who isn't a total player. I really hope that Bryan will never hurt him. But from what Jesse has told me about him, I have nothing to worry about.

It's been fifty four seconds and Jesse still hasn't replied. I'm starting to get worried that he's treating me differently and is no longer comfortable talking to me about his life. He's already stopped telling me about his emotional state. He's always worrying about me and never talking about himself. I don't think I could handle it if he stops telling me about the more trivial things in his life.