More Than Friends (boyxboy)

Chapter 20: Out of character

"He's my friend and it's none of your business. "

☆

"I'll see you tomorrow." Lena leans in for a kiss as Archie sees her on to her bus. Her friend Jojo, waiting just a short distance away, looked on at the interaction briefly, before looking down at her phone. Archie places a small kiss on her cheek. Only half committed, with the other half of his thoughts becoming preoccupied with Bay. It wasn't as if they had ignored each other for the rest of the day, but things hadn't been right. Maybe he could have a minute to catch him before he got on the bus. Ask him away from the others what was really going on with him, but so far, he hadn't shown. 

"Lena, come on!" Jojo calls over as the bus' engine is switched on, making the whole vehicle shudder. 

Lena pulls herself away from her boyfriend as she makes her way to the doors. "Bye." She says as she gives off a small wave, following Jojo onto the vehicle. 

Archie watches as she takes a seat. He smiles at her before his eyes gravitate along the bus. Had Bay got on already, and he had missed it? The windows of the bus weren't the cleanest, but as hard as he looked, he could see no sign of his friend. He glances around him. There didn't seem to be anyone in a hurry for the bus. No late stragglers, no Bay. He pulls his phone from his pocket and dials the number, feeling a sudden sense of panic consume him. As Archie puts his phone to his ear, he waits for the call to Bay to be picked up, but it rings….and rings. 

"""

"Are you going to get that?" Mark questions as he looks at Bay, walking beside him. Both males seemingly taking their time as they walked around the back of some houses on a quieter route off of the school grounds. 

Bay looks at the flashing phone, vibrating in his hand. The name 'Archie' is written across the screen. He presses red to end the call. "Not right now." Bay says as he drops his phone into one of the zipped compartments of his bag. He swings the bag over his shoulder, ignoring the phone going off once again.

"Does he know where you are?" Mark begins, seeing who had tried to call.

"He's not my mother. He's just a friend, that's all." Bay replies, almost cutting Mark off from his sentence. 

Mark looks down at his slow walking feet, trying his best to contain his smile. He couldn't help but feel maybe just a little bit smug at the sound of Archie being confirmed as 'just a friend.'

Bay looks around him. It was the first time they had been alone together out in the open. "Are you not worried your friends will see us?" 

"They're otherwise occupied." Mark smiles back at him. "Y'know. The usual after-school get together."

"I don't, actually. It's usually just Archie and me." Bay says, feeling bittersweet about the sentence and how things had become so strange between them.

"Maybe I can change that if you'll let me." Mark says as they eventually reach the nice suburbs in which he lived. They soon approach the secure gate, with Mark tapping in the code, and Bay, once again back at the house from which he fled just a few days before. Mark turns to see the other boy, looking a little hesitant as he stops just shy of the gate, closing behind him. "Whatever I said before, I still mean it, but I know where we stand." 

Bay takes a step forward. "I'm sorry, y'know about leaving like that. You did nothing wrong. I know it must have taken you a lot to say what you said." 

Mark smiles at Bay. "Thank you. It means a lot."

Bay feels a surge of confidence, walking past Mark as he makes his way to Mark's front door. "Well, you will never have a friend as good as me." He stands on the step to the door, turning around to Mark. "Are we going in?" 

Mark grins as he heads to the door, unlocking it as they both head inside. "Just leave your stuff there." He gestures to a corner of the spacious hallway as Mark heads into the kitchen. 

As he lowers his bag, Bay can still feel the vibration of his phone going off. He again pulls it from his bag, seeing yet another call from Archie. Bay looks up at Mark, momentarily out of sight as he covertly takes the phone to his ear. "What do you want?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm on the bus."

"No, you're not, I waited for you. Where are you?" 

Bay's lips go tight. "I… I'm at Mark's ok?"

"Mark Lester?" Bay pulls his ear away from the phone as Archie seems to shout down it. "Why are you there after school? Didn't you go at the weekend?"

"He's my friend, and it's none of your business.  I can go to Mark's if I want to, I'm doing nothing wrong." Bay says through clenched teeth. He expects an immediate response, but the line goes quiet, with him having the urge to fill it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"You're right. You don't have to tell me, it's none of my business." Bay suddenly hears the line go dead. The action made an unexpected cut through him like a knife. He momentarily stares at the now quiet screen before being distracted by Mark once again as he looks up at the boy approaching him with a gaming handset.

"You ready?" 

Bay drops his phone one last time into the opening of his bag as he takes the controller being offered to him.  The interaction between him and Archie felt somehow like it had happened to someone else. Not him and his best friend. 

Bay forces it from his mind as be takes the controller.  "Sure, let's go."