Obstacles

6

Warnings:
-This would have been gay panic but it's without the gay.

Clay's POV

I sat my detention out and went to the cantina where George was waiting for me. I walked up to him while he was scrolling through Instagram and smiled.

'Hi! I'm done,' I exclaimed as I sat down next to him. He was startled and smiled.

'How did it go?'

I rolled my eyes. 'Boring,' I giggled. 'Anyway, I'm excited to go to your place.'

George smiled shyly and stood up. 'Did you go to school by bike?'

I nodded. 'Yeah, I don't live too far away. And you?'

'Just fifteen minutes with the bike,' he answered as we walked to the bike storage. I already knew that, but I acted oblivious.

I grabbed my bike and stepped up on it, cycling next to George who was awkwardly looking around him.

'Do you live with your parents?' I asked even though I already knew the answer.

He nodded. 'Well, I live with my stepmom and my dad,' he smiled. 'And you?'

'My dad. My mother passed away.' He didn't know that.

'Oh, I'm so sorry. It's really hard to lose a family member.'

I sighed softly. 'It is, but I'm okay though. I don't want pity or whatever, a divorce is just a hard.'

George didn't answer and looked in front of him. 'I'm sorry, I'm just a bit shy. I don't want to say anything wrong.'

'It's fine. I'm quite confident, I'll find conversations easy unless I'm really nervous or whatever,' I replied. 'Don't be scared if you don't know what to say, I'll just talk about random shit.'

George giggled and looked at his hands. 'That helps. I was quite nervous to make a fool of myself.'

'No worries. You won't make a fool of yourself.'

George sighed nervously and his cheeks turned red as he started to tap his fingers on his bar handles on the bike.

I just started talking about random things and made him feel as comfortable as I could. Before we knew it, we were already at his place and I walked in behind him.

'So, they are my mum and dad,' George mumbled as he pointed at two people on the couch.

I walked closer to them and stuck my hand out. 'I'm Clay!' I happily introduced myself. 'I'm here for an assignment we have to do together.'

'Hi,' his mother greeted me. 'Nice to meet you. Haven't you been here before, you look a lot like-.'

George cleared his throat and coughed loudly. It was quiet for a little and I looked at George who interrupted his mother.

'Uh- a d-drink,' he stuttered. 'Do you uh- want uh- a drink?'

His mother frowned. 'Are you okay, honey? You seem a bit red, are you sick?' she asked him.

'Uh- n-no. A drink,' he muttered, pointing to the kitchen. I walked with him and he opened the fridge.

'Some cola is fine,' I answered with a smile.

George nodded and grabbed a glass. He seemed really nervous and his hands were shaking as he tried to fill the glass with cola. I just patiently waited for him to be done and he gave me the glass, getting water for himself.

'We can go uh- upstairs?' he offered which caused me to nod.

I carefully walked behind him to his room and we put our glasses down on his desk, closing the door behind us.

'I'm sorry, I would have tidied it here if I knew you were coming over,' he mumbled.

'My room looks way worse. Don't worry about it,' I giggled, standing up to get my glass with cola.

I was about to grab my glass as I saw his notebook was opened. I glanced in it, seeing drawings in it. They made me remind our old times and I smiled. George looked at me and walked closer to see what I was looking at, having his face flush red as he grabbed the notebook, throwing it into his bag.

'Uh-.'

I grinned, sitting back down on his bed with a smile while I tried to hide how happy I was. He drew us together? Or did I just see it wrong?

I decided to ignore it while George bit his lips with a sad face.

'Do you want to start reading?' I asked as I sipped a bit of my cola.

'Uh- I'm uh- I- mhm.'

I smiled and he sat down on his bed, far away from me.

'I won't bite you,' I giggled as I scooted closer to him. He hitched a breath and looked at his hands with big eyes.

'B-book,' he stuttered, standing up to run to his bag again. I found it incredibly sweet to see him this nervous and just wished to hold him right now but I knew I couldn't just do that unfortunately.

He sat down again with the book and opened it at page one. 'I read this bit already so uh- do you want me to read it?' he whispered.

'If you want.' I leaned back against the wall and scooted closer to him so I could read with him.

I smiled and he looked away with the reddest face I had ever seen. I grabbed the book. 'I'll continue.'

I started reading now and he was really quiet while staring.

'Are you okay?' I asked as I finished the chapter.

'Y-yeah,' he squeaked. 'I need water.'

I smiled. 'It's on your desk,' I pointed.

He nodded and sped to his desk, drinking big sips while looking away from me.

I was lost in thoughts as I was startled by George's voice. There was so much tension between us that even I got overwhelmed now. I was so nervous that I didn't know what to say anymore and stood up. 'Toilet?'

'Uh- to the left,' George mumbled as I quickly walked off to go to the toilet. I just wanted to talk about what happened in the past and why he suddenly never came over anymore. I wanted to tell him how much I missed our friendship and that I wished he would come back again.

I sighed softly as I locked myself in the bathroom. How could I ever act normal around him? I was so anxious and nervous around him that my stomach was almost hurting.

I still decided to go back and act like I was totally fine.

1067 words