Exposed (boyxboy) (Book #2)

~Chapter Thirty~

Several hours earlier

Will felt as though he was drowning. He had arrived at the party and since then the water level had risen, and he was freezing in its depths. Eleanor was dressed as a fairy, sporting a pink dress and some fake fairy wings she'd ordered online only a few days prior. Minimal effort seemed to go into everyone's 'costumes', and when he looked around, he suddenly realised he didn't want to be there.

Somehow in the short time he'd been in the frat house he had acquired a drink and was wordlessly listening to the shit music coming from what he was assuming was a bluetooth speaker hidden in the corner of the room somewhere. Each room was playing a different song, and the different sounds seemed to clash together in the worst way possible.

Eleanor was being chatted up by a guy dressed as a doctor, the only scary element of his outfit being the fake blood staining the blue scrubs and the desperation in his eyes as he drunkenly flirted with the girl.

Will decided very quickly that he needed a cigarette.

The alcohol provided was served in red solo cups and was the same 'punch' that Parker had described. He wondered if it really was just fruit juice and every frat boy here was drunk on their own ego. He couldn't help but roll his eyes as he watched a group of boys yell as their friend chugged a White Claw.

Pitiful.

Pulling out the pack of smokes from the back pocket of his jeans, he glared at the people passing him, clearly contemplating asking him for a cigarette. More people began to clock his presence out in the garden though, and suddenly he felt like a deer in headlights.

And then the pointing began.

Immediately he knew something was up when people began snapping photos of him.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

He pulled out his phone.

Three missed calls from Jack.

Dylan's trial had been brought forward. There was also a link to an article. He skimmed over it and saw his picture below the headline.

And he was going to react. He was going to snap at the girl who used the flash on her phone camera to capture him in the dark.

However, a loud crack followed by gasps seemed to derail everybody's attention.

-

Will knew what it felt like to want to die. He knew that the lowest point in his life was only resting a layer above what seemed like Hell. And when he did try to kill himself, it felt even worse that he'd failed at doing such an easy task. Like he wasn't strong enough to just steep down to that low level and stay there. Something pulled him out of it.

But that article. Something about that article had him sinking down into the depths of his soul, to that disgusting pit of sadness that had swallowed him like a black hole a few years ago.

That crack that sounded beside him was someone else who had succeeded in doing what he had wanted to do that very first summer he was in New York. There was nobody strong enough to pull them out of that black hole, not when their bones were broken in places Will didn't think possible.

The frat house was probably three stories tall. And they had jumped from the tallest window. Blood poured from their skull, their eyes wide open in shock, as if at the very last moment they'd regretted their decision to leave the world behind.

A choked sound fell from Will's lips as he rushed to the body.

Nobody else seemed to move.

Nobody else seemed to want to go near the crippled body bleeding on the concrete.

"Somebody call nine one one!" Will yelled, reaching his hand out to feel for a pulse.

Nothing.

After that, people seemed to remember that they were humans that could move and not spectators in a disaster movie. And even as Will kneeled next to the dead body, people gawked at him like an animal in a zoo.

-

An ambulance arrived at the scene not long after.

And they questioned Will, of course.

And then he was sent home.

Home.

All Will could think of was Parker. The fact that Parker was still in New York and he needed him. Needed him while his vision was red, seeing blood and the image of a dead body. The image of an alive body falling from a window and then not being so alive anymore.

But Parker wasn't in New York.

And Will knew that it was over.

It was really over between them.

Just as their secrets were exposed to the world.

End of Act Two

Act Two Playlist:

Apocalypse- Cigarettes After Sex

Edge of Town- Middle Kids

Hanging Off Your Cloud- Courteneers

The Last Man On Earth- Wolf Alice

The City- Ella Jane

Fade- Cailin Russo

Would've Could've Should've- Taylor Swift

my tears ricochet- Taylor Swift

About You- The 1975

this is me trying- Taylor Swift

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this book. I have been so bad with writing lately because of university, but I can now officially say I submitted by last ever uni essay last night! So hopefully updates will be more frequent (and better quality) from now on. 

I'm also obsessed with the lyrics from 'this is me trying' by Taylor Swift, as it fits this chapter so well. The lyric is:  "and it's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound". 

Enjoy the rest of your day. Lots of love- Sian <3